"The Duke"

 

"the Quiet man"

Gentle Reader,

I just ran across this story and while I can't say it's true I won't say it isn't either. It points up a truth that is truer that true. Read, enjoy, and comment if you like. Be sure to read the comments that others have written and my response to them.

See you at the end.

THE POWER OF A LETTER

Most of you know John Wayne as an actor. You may not know what happened to him before he died. This is
that story! Robert Schuller's teenage daughter,
Cindy, was in a motorcycle accident and had to have
her leg amputated. John Wayne is a big fan of Robert
Schuller. He heard Dr. Schuller say on one of his
programs that his daughter had been in an accident and
had to have her leg amputated. John Wayne wrote a
note to her saying: "Dear Cindy, Sorry to hear about
your accident. Hope you will be all right." Signed,
John Wayne.

The note was delivered to her and she decided she wanted to write John Wayne a note in reply. She wrote:

Dear Mr. Wayne, I got your note.
Thanks for writing to me. I like you very much. I am
going to be all right because Jesus is going to help
me. Mr. Wayne, do you know Jesus? I sure hope you
know Jesus, Mr. Wayne, because I cannot imagine Heaven being complete without John Wayne being there. I hope, if you don't know Jesus, that you will give your heart to Jesus right now. See you in Heaven. And she signed her name.

 She had just put that letter in an envelope, sealed it, and written across the front of it "John Wayne" when a visitor came into her room to see her. He said to her:

" What are you doing?" She said: "I just wrote a letter to John Wayne, but I don't know how to get it to him." He said: "That's funny, I am going to have dinner with John Wayne tonight at the Newport Club down at Newport Beach. Give it to me and
I will give it to him". She gave him the letter and he
put it in his coat pocket.

There were twelve of them that night sitting around the table for dinner. They were laughing and cutting up and the guy happened to reach in his pocket and felt that letter and remembered. John Wayne was seated at the end of the table and the guy took the letter out and said: "Hey, Duke, I was in Schuller's daughter's room today and she wrote you a letter and wanted me to give it to you. Here it is". They passed it down to John Wayne and he opened it.

They kept on laughing and cutting up and someone happened to look down at John Wayne.
He was crying. One of them said: "Hey, Duke, what is
the matter?" He said (and can't you hear him saying
it), " I want to read you this letter." He read the
letter. Then he began to weep. He folded it, put it
in his pocket, and he pointed to the man who delivered
it to him and said: "You go tell that little girl that
right now, in this restaurant, right here, John Wayne
gives his heart to Jesus Christ and I will see her in
heaven." Three weeks later John Wayne died. You never know how your witness to another will effect their eternity!

So there you have the story of "Duke" and what I like to call a defining moment! Each of us have at least one in which God becomes a wee bit more visible and steps into time as it were to touch you in a way that perhaps you can not explain, but can say "I know that there is a God in heaven, because He touched me"!

 Love you the most, until the next time Gentle Reader,

Denis