One day, the car broke down and Meg knew nothing about what was under the bonnet, so she just sat there with the dog and waited for an AA man to come to help. It happened to be a route assigned to an AA man with his motor cycle and he came along in due course. He asked, “Are you in trouble, Miss?” “Yes, I am.” And he said, “Are you a member of the AA?” “Oh no,” she answered, “but my father is.” She thought that was good enough. He said, “I will mend your car.” When he finished, he asked, “Have you anything for me to wipe my hands on?” She thought that the AA man was very inefficient! He should have had his own rags to wipe his hands on. However, she picked up a piece of paper, which was on the floor of the car, and gave it to him. He looked at the paper and then looked at her; it was a gospel tract that she had offered him. There was a man in town, who used to go around and put these tracts in cars. And since that tract was the only thing she had, this is what she gave him to wipe his hands on.
He asked, “Are you a Christian?” “Of course I am!” she answered, “I was born in a Christian country, we do not have idols and my father is reasonably rich; of course I am a Christian!” Then he said, “Are you saved?” She did not know what that meant. “Well,” he continued, “if you had had an accident and had died today, you would have gone to hell!” That straightforward remark made her very angry. She pressed the button, started the car and left him standing.
The car broke down thirteen times on that same road during that year. And every time she had to wait for the same AA man. Of course he preached the gospel to her before he mended her car. He brought her all kinds of booklets and books for her to read and said, “Do read them.” “Yes, I will read them,” she politely said. Whenever she gave them back to him he asked, “Have you read them?” She always responded, “Yes, I have read them,” but of course, she hadn’t. She was just leading him on. Yet he was so persevering every time that eventually she began to wonder why. Perhaps she was on the wrong side and he was on the right side of the fence. She began to lose her sleep and became irritable. She quarrelled with her friend, which she had never done before.
She decided to write to her mother and tell her that she intended to go home to her. She knew very well that her mother did not want her, and, besides, she was living in a caravan in Surrey. However, she did write a letter and took the dog out for a walk to post it. Then she thought, “Well, this is a stupid thing to do. I am earning my living and doing pretty well at it. Why should I run to mother?”
She went around town to calm down a bit, and as she was walking there she heard people singing. Meg had always been very fond of singing; all in her family were musical. She discovered some steps up to a flat in a big building; the door was half open where the singing was. She took the dog under her arm, went in and found a small group of people sitting there. At once she recognized she was in the wrong place. All the ladies were wearing hats and stockings and all people gathered there had Bibles. She decided she must get out of this room as soon as she could! So she made ready to escape quickly. But the man in charge caught her and said, “Are you in trouble, Miss?” “No, no, I am not in any trouble.” He whispered something to his wife and then said to Meg, “Come home with us and have some supper.” “Oh,” she thought, “that is very strange. They don’t know me; why should they invite me for supper?” Nevertheless, she was a bit down and so she agreed to join these complete strangers for supper.
While the wife was getting the supper, her husband brought out a little black book and started to read the fifteenth chapter of Luke—the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Then he said to her, “Why do you think the woman in the parable was so anxious about that lost coin?” “Well,” she answered, “she could not afford to lose it; she was poor.” And he said, “I think God is looking for you!” “Oh,” she said, “I don’t believe in God, anyway.” The wife finished preparing supper and they ate together. Before she left, the husband said, “Well, before you go, we will speak to Father.” “Speak to father? Why had they not asked the old man to supper?” But then she understood what her host meant; they knelt down and he prayed. She had never heard anybody praying before. She had a lump in her throat, but she hardened her heart, said “good-night,” and with that she left and went home.
The next day, when she went to the common market of Barnstaple, she saw the AA man up at the other end of the market. She did not want him to see her and therefore she hid herself. She thought he had not seen her … but he had! So he came down to her and said, “Good afternoon, Miss! Good afternoon!” She did not bother to greet him. He told her, “My wife said the next time I see you, I should invite you for supper.” “Why does she want me for supper? She does not know me!” “Well,” he said, “if I told you why, you would not understand.” “Give me a chance anyway. Tell me why,” she insisted. “Well, we have been praying for you. We have been getting up at four o’clock every morning to pray for you since I first met you and repaired your car,” he answered. “Oh, how foolish,” she thought. “Well, I ought to go for supper.” So she accepted his invitation.
At the appointed time, she made her way to their little house. They had two small children and the five of them sat at the table for supper. Before they started the meal, he took out a little book and started to read it. It was the book called, ‘Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment’, a little gospel tract written by George Cutting with a very nice, clear message. Suddenly, she stopped him and asked, “How can I find God?” He said, “Well, I can’t help you.” “You can’t help me? You have been chasing me all this time and now when I want to find God, you say, you can’t help me!” “No,” he said, “you get down on your knees and talk to God yourself.” She had never done that! She did not know what to say. Yet she managed to get down on her knees and looked at the children who were looking over the table at her. Her tongue was too big for her mouth and so dry. The clock went tick, tick, tick. She was confused. “You must say something!” he said. So eventually she blurted out, “Oh God, I am sorry, I have given you so much trouble. Amen.” And the Holy Spirit came down upon her and gave her life and baptized her. Immediately she knew that she had become a sheep on the Shepherd’s shoulder.
On her way home she asked everybody she met on the road, “Are you saved, are you saved?” Of course they were as bewildered as she had been before, and she did not get any answer from them. On coming home she went to her friend and said, “Oh, I have become a Christian!” “Oh, dear, have you become a Christian? Have you joined the happy band of pilgrims? Well, I don’t know if we will be able to get along together. But anyway, let’s see…”