He dropped his head upon his hand in his weakness to pray for strength,
and a great calm came to his soul. The prayer and Bible-reading had
steadied him, and he had been able to get hold of what he had to say as
the story of the young man Saul progressed. But when he heard himself
being introduced so simply, and knew his time had come, he seemed to
hear the words he had read that afternoon:
Fear not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy
God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I
will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Courtland lifted up his head and arose. He faced the sea of faces that a
few moments before had swum before his gaze as if they had been a
million. Then all at once Tennelly's face stood out from all the rest,
intent, curious, wondering, and Courtland knew that his opportunity had
come to tell Tennelly about the Presence!
Tennelly, the man whom he loved above all other men! Tennelly, the man
who perhaps loved Gila and was to be close to her through life! His
fears vanished. His soul burned within him.
Fixing his eyes on that fine, vivid face, Courtland began his story; and
truly the words that he used must have been drawn red-hot from his
heart, for he spoke as one inspired. Simply, as if he were alone in the
room with Tennelly, he looked into his friend's eyes and told his story,
forgetting all others present, intent only on making Tennelly see what
Christ had been to him, what He was willing to be to Tennelly--and Gila!
If they would!
Tennelly did not take his eyes from the speaker. It was curious to see
him so absorbed, Tennelly, who was so conventional, so careful what
people thought, so always conscious of all elements in his environment.
It was as if his soul were sitting frankly in his eyes for the first
time in his life, and things unsuspected, perhaps, even by himself, came
out and showed themselves: traits, weaknesses, possibilities; longings,
too, and pride.
When Courtland had finished and sat down he did not drop his head upon
his hands again. He had spoken in the strength of the Lord. He had
nothing of which to be ashamed. He was looking now at the audience, no
longer at Tennelly. He began to realize that it had been given to him to
bear the message to all these other people also. He was filled with
humble exaltation that to him had been intrusted this great opportunity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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