The Story of Tommy, the Sidewalk Missionary
Often, when I am discussing the importance of sharing our faith with others, I’m reminded of a true story I heard when I was young—the story of Tommy. Tommy was a little crippled boy. He lived in poverty with his aunt in a small third-story apartment of a rundown tenement on a busy city street. He was so severely handicapped that all he could do was lie helplessly in bed.
One day he asked a newsboy friend of his to bring him the book about “the Man who went about everywhere doing good.” The little lad searched and searched for this unnamed book, until one book dealer finally recognized that he must have been talking about the Bible, and the story of Jesus. The newsboy scraped together what little money he had, and the kindly bookseller gave him a copy of the New Testament, which he took back to Tom on his third-floor pallet.
They began to read it together, until Tommy was wonderfully converted by the words he read, and he decided that he too wanted to do good, like the wonderful Man in the book. But Tommy was crippled and could not even leave the little one-room apartment. So he prayed and asked God to help him, and the Lord gave him an idea.
He began to laboriously copy helpful verses from the Bible onto tiny scraps of paper, which he would then drop from his window to flutter to the busy street below. Passers-by would see them drifting down and curiously pick them up to see what they were, only to read the words of the Man who went around everywhere doing good—Jesus Christ! Many were helped, encouraged, comforted, and even saved through the simple ministry of this little lad and his Bible.
One day a wealthy businessman was wonderfully converted through reading one of these little verses. He later returned to the spot where he had found the tiny scrap of paper that had led him to the Lord, seeking some key as to how it got there. Suddenly he noticed another little bit of paper floating down to the sidewalk from above. He watched as a poor, tired old woman stooped painfully to pick it up, and noticed her countenance brighten as she read it—and there seemed to be new strength in her step as she journeyed on.
The businessman, now transfixed to the spot, kept his eyes glued upward, determined to find the source. He had to wait a long time, for it took poor Tommy many painful minutes to scrawl even one verse on one of those pieces of paper. Suddenly the businessman’s eyes were drawn to a certain window, as he saw a scrawny little hand reaching out to drop a tiny piece of paper, like the one that had brought a whole new life to him. He carefully noted the location of the window, dashed up the stairs of the dirty tenement, and finally found the humble dwelling of tiny Tom, the sidewalk missionary.
The businessman soon became a close friend of Tom. He brought Tom all the help and medical attention that he could. One day he asked Tom if he would like to come and live with him in his palatial mansion outside the city.
Much to his new friend’s surprise, Tommy answered, “I’ll have to ask my Friend about it”—meaning Jesus!
The next day the businessman returned, eagerly seeking Tom’s reply. Oddly enough, Tom asked him some strange questions: “Where did you say your home is?”
“Oh,” said the businessman, “it’s in the country, on a luxurious estate. You’ll have a beautiful room all your own, servants to care for you, delicious meals, a good bed, every comfort and attention, anything your heart desires. And my wife and I will love you dearly, and care for you as our own son.”
Hesitantly, Tommy queried again, “Are there any people that would pass under my window?” Surprised and somewhat baffled, the businessman replied, “Why, no, only an occasional servant, and perhaps the gardener. You don’t understand, Tommy, this is a gorgeous country estate, far from the tumult of the city. You’ll have quiet there and be able to rest and read, and do all you want—away from all this filth and pollution and noise and the busy throngs.”
After a long and thoughtful silence, Tom’s face looked very sad, for he hated to hurt his new-found friend. Finally he said quietly, but firmly, with tears in his eyes, “I’m sorry, but you see, I could never live anywhere where people don’t pass under my window.”
Hearing this simple true-life story was a turning point in my life. When my mother recounted it to me, I determined then and there, by the grace of God, that I would never live anywhere that people could not pass under the window of the ministry of God’s love in my life. As Tommy said, “I could never live anywhere where people don’t pass under my window!”
Having once met the Man, Jesus, who went about everywhere doing good to those who passed under the window of His life, how could I ever live selfishly again, where people could not pass under my window and receive the same? As Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give,”1 and “to whom much is given, from him much will be required.”2
Are you living where people can pass under the window of your life? Are you ministering to those who do? There are people passing under our windows all the time. Are they going to receive what they need?
Here’s the story of someone so simple, so helpless and so isolated, you might have thought he could never have had any ministry at all. He would seemingly have had every excuse for not helping others, but rather expecting to be helped himself. But love found a way!
Someone passes under the window of your life every day! Has your love found a way to help them? Has God’s Love, Jesus, shown you how you can help them? He will, if you want to, no matter what your conditions or your limitations—for God has a window too, and He has promised that if you obey Him and open the window of our lives upon others, He “will open for you the windows of Heaven, and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”1
Are you caring for others, giving them the sunshine of God’s love through the window of your life? Please don’t fail them, but give them what they need. Share God’s love and His Word with others as you “work the works of Him who sent [you] while it is day,” before the night comes, when no man can work.2 “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”3 If you give of yourself more and share your faith more, God Himself will do more for you—more than you ever dreamed!
But if you selfishly withhold from others, what you have will come to naught. “There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.”1 You can’t out-give God!
David Livingstone, the famous Scottish missionary and explorer who left everything he had in order to reach the people of Africa with God’s love, and died there in the Lord’s service, once said, “I never made a sacrifice!” He had discovered that he could never out-give God. Although he gave his life, he has reaped eternal life and dividends of immortal souls—thousands saved forever! How can we out-give God?
But it costs something! King David once declared that he would not give unto the Lord that which cost him nothing.2 You have to give something, you have to open the window of your life, and you have to be faithful. You have to give to get, pour to receive, sow to reap, invest to profit, die to yourself to live! “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”3
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1 Matthew 10:8
2 Luke 12:48
1 Malachi 3:10
2 See John 9:4
3 Ephesians 5:16
1 Proverbs 11:24–25
2 See 2 Samuel 24:24
3. John 12:24
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