John Wayne
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!
To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the
heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1
Do not set your goals by what other people deem important. Only God
know what is best for you.
Do not take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them
as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.
Do not let your life slip through your fingers by living in the
past nor for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live
all the days of your life.
Do not give up when you have something to give. Nothing is really over
until the moment you stop trying. It is a fragile thread that binds us to
each other.
Do not be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we
learn how to be brave.
Do not shut love out of your life by saying it is impossible to find.
The quickest way to receive love is to give love. The fastest way to lose
love is to hold it to tightly.
Do not dismiss your dreams. To be without dreams is to be without hope.
To be without hope is to be without purpose.
Do not run through life so fast that you forget, not only where you
have been, but also where you are going. Life is not a race, but a journey
to be savored each step of the way.
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