THE POWER OF A LETTER

Marion Mitchell Morrison,
better known by his stage
name John Wayne and by
his nickname "Duke", was
an American film actor,
director, and producer. An
Academy Award-winner for
True Grit, Wayne was
among the top box office
draws for three decades.

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!

***Have you preached the gospel today? ***