Three Lost Boys

 My Story #54

Three Lost Boys

Once in about 1980-81, my wife and I had put to bed three cute little boys, which were ages about 4, 5, and 7, the day had wound down, and my wife and I had settled down for a nice rest for the night.

But before we were in our bed to sleep for the night, the phone rang, and the party on the other end of the call was a neighbor and a member of the church that I pastured at that time. He said, "Are you missing some boys?" I said, "No, my boys are in bed asleep." He answered, "Well, there are three little boys here in my living room that look a lot like your three little boys."

Stunned and confused, I went into the bedroom where my boys were supposed to be asleep and noticed that there was not even one little boy there. Well, you can image how confused and anxious I was.

When my wife and I got to the neighbor's house, he told us that the oldest boy told them that I said they could come to his house, which, of course, I did not. I took the boys home and scolded them straightly with a little fear in my heart, because the road that they had walked down to get to the neighbor's house was a very busy road with a lot of traffic.

Now, this is only the beginning of the story. A month or two later my wife and I stopped at a house in the town to visit a yard sale. I told the lady who I was, and she said, "Oh, you are the one who has the three little boys who walked down the road to the neighbor's house running away from home, aren't you?" I said, "How do you know about that?" She answered, "Well, nearly everyone in town knows about that!"

Boy, what a reputation an innocent pastor can get just because he has three little boys who tried to run away from home. I shall never live this down--now I am telling everyone about it myself! How about that?