I turned the radio on two Sundays ago in the middle of a Pastor’s message and I was truly blessed at the story he told. It is really Sam’s story (I couldn’t understand his real name) but I will share it with you to the best of my ability.

Sam was a young Vietnamese man who served as an interpreter for the pastor during a trip to Viet Nam. After the pastor returned home Sam was arrested and put in prison where he was brainwashed with much communist material. After time spent reading required books and literature it began to make sense to him. He asked God for a sign of what to believe. He asked God to reveal Himself to him, if He was real.

The day after making this request Sam was assigned to clean latrines. That day he found a piece of paper with English writing on it. He took it from the bucket and washed it clean then folded and saved it. That night after his roommates were asleep he read the paper. It was a page from a Bible containing a part of Romans chapter 8. Reading this, he knew God had answered his prayer. The next day he requested latrine duty again. Each time he had that job he found a page from the Bible. Someone had given the Bible to a prison worker who saved it and tore pages from it to use as toilet paper.

When Sam was released from prison he began building a boat with the intention of escaping the country. One day four Viet Cong came and questioned him about his plan to escape. They shouted at him to tell the truth. Sam said it was not true. Sam was convicted about having lied to them so when they returned he told them it was true, he did plan to escape. He asked if they would put him in prison again. The men replied, “No! We want to go with you.”

When the boat finally set sail the four young men were aboard. They ran into rough seas when Sam did not know what to do. Without the knowledge of the four Viet Cong they may have been lost but with their expertise they made it safely to Taiwan. Sam later came to the States where he called his pastor friend and told his story.

The message I heard in the story is this. God will never, ever leave me. His Word will never change, no matter the condition of the pages. God is, and always will be, a God worth praising, loving, and serving. To believe and live this message will bring blessings far greater than any I can ever imagine or comprehend.

By Wilda Caplinger