Page 7 - Good News August 2012 paper

n the island of Mindanao, Filippino boy came from an
in the southern archi- extremely poor family. He lived in
Opelago of the Philippines, a palm-thatched hut and had no
is a small coastal barrio called shoes or proper shirt, but only a
San Jose. ragged pair of shorts to wear to
school. He had found a single
A number of years ago an evan- sheet of notebook paper but he
gelist by the name of Gonzalez had no pencil.
founded a church there. The
church grew and a number of The teacher told him he was sorry, on the nearby beach. God gave it to me.”
people accepted Jesus Christ as but he could not write the test
Lord. Soon nearly all in the since he had no pencil. He would His eyes filled with tears as he sat I was in San Jose the following
community became Christians, have to wait outside until the test down, his arms folded around his year, a guest of Aley Gonzalez. I
and a school was started. was over. knees, his single sheet of note- talked to the little boy. He showed
book paper in his hand. As me his pencil. He had used it over
When the elder Gonzalez died, his Heartbroken, the little boy walked children will do, he rolled the and over and had broken the lead
son Aley carried on with the out of the class and sat on the notebook paper into a small a number of times and often
ministry. Aley believed in a God of front steps of the little school cylinder, rolling it back and forth sharpened it with his father's
miracles and told the people in the building which was also used as a between his open palms, tears machete. But it was still a good
barrio and church that the age of church on Sundays. He remem- dripping down his cheeks… pencil, and there were no other
miracles had not passed. Many bered Pastor Aley Gonzalez's pencils like his in all of the barrio.
believed him. Both the church and sermons on miracles, and about Then, as he twirled the paper in
the school continued to grow. the great God Who did impossible his hands, he felt something hard The reason pencils appear to little
things. - round and hard - inside the Philippino boys, the reason
One afternoon the second grade paper. He quickly unrolled the Davids kill Goliaths, the reason
teacher announced a test. He told “Dear God,” he prayed, closing notebook paper, and there in the unlearned fishermen preach with
all the children to be sure to bring his eyes and raising his face middle was a bright, shiny yellow power while some learned theo-
a pencil and paper the next day for toward the sky, “Please send me a pencil! It had a brand new eraser logians often elicit nothing more
the test. Since most of the chil- pencil. I want to take the test.” He on the one end, and the other end than yawns from their listeners,
dren were very poor, they did not opened his eyes and looked all was machine-sharpened! the reason old men capture
ordinarily carry pencils and paper around, expecting that God would walled cities and slay giants - is
to school. drop the pencil out of the sky. But He quickly ran into the school- childlikeness. They believe in a
there was nothing. Only the shiny house, waving his pencil. The God Who fulfils dreams and does
The following morning all the white pebbles on the sand, the teacher asked him where he the impossible!
children showed up with pencil sound of the wind rustling the found such a magnificent pencil. [From: Where eagles soar by
and paper except one. This little branches of the coconut palms, The little boy paused, thought, Jamie Buckingham, Kingsway
eight-year-old, brown-skinned and the gentle lapping of the surf and finally said, “The impossible Publications , 1980].