Hi Rhonda, 
I think it is a wonderful story.  I cried the whole time I read it.  
Virgie and Hoshi 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rhonda Partain" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 1:35 PM
Subject: Re: The Pearl


> That was a wonderful story! Thanks!
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Electronic Church [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of VIRGIE UNDERWOOD
> Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 1:10 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Fw: The Pearl
> 
> My echurch family,
> I hope you enjoy this wonderful story.
> Virgie and Hoshi
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "rcuster" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "patti" <[log in to unmask]>; "VIRGIE UNDERWOOD" 
> <[log in to unmask]>; "richardcampbell" <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 7:46 AM
> Subject: Fw: The Pearl
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: Allan Lockerbie
> To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
> Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 5:53 AM
> Subject: The Pearl
> 
> 
> The Pearl
> David Morse, American missionary to India... became great friends
> there with the pearl-diver, Rambhau. Many an evening he spent in
> Rambhau's cabin reading to him from the Bible, and explaining to him
> God's way of salvation.
> Rambhau enjoyed listening to the Word of God, but whenever the
> missionary tried to get Rambhau to accept Christ as his Savior -- he
> would shake his head and reply, "Your Christian way to heaven is too
> easy for me! I cannot accept it. If ever I should find admittance to
> heaven in that manner... I would feel like a pauper there... like a
> beggar who has been let in out of pity. I may be proud... but I want
> to deserve, I want to earn my place in heaven... and so I am going
> to work for it."
> Nothing the missionary could say seemed to have any effect on
> Rambhau's decision, and so quite a few years slipped by. One
> evening, however, the missionary heard a knock on his door, and on
> going to open it he found Rambhau there.
> "Come in, dear friend," said Morse.
> "No," said the pearl-diver. "I want you to come with me to my house,
> Sahib, for a short time... I have something to show you. Please do
> not say 'No'."
> "Of course I'll come," replied the missionary. As they neared his
> house, Rambhau said: "In a week's time I start working for my place
> in heaven; I am leaving for Delhi... and I am going there on my
> knees."
> "Man, you are crazy! It's nine hundred miles to Delhi, and the skin
> will break on your knees, and you will have blood-poisoning or
> leprosy before you get to Bombay."
> "No, I must get to Delhi," affirmed Rambhau, "and the immortals will
> reward me for it! The suffering will be sweet... for it will
> purchase heaven for me!"
> "Rambhau, my friend... you can't. How can I bear you to do it...
> when Jesus Christ has suffered and died to purchase heaven for you!"
> But the old man could not be moved. "You are my dearest friend on
> earth, Sahib Morse. Through all these years you have stood by me in
> sickness, in want... you have been sometimes my only friend. But
> even you cannot turn me from my desire to purchase eternal bliss...
> I must go to Delhi!"
> Inside the hut Morse was seated in the very chair Rambhau had
> specially built for him... where on so many occasions he had read to
> him the Bible.
> Rambhau left the room to return soon with a small but heavy English
> strongbox. "I have had this box for years," said he, "and I keep
> only one thing in it. Now I will tell you about it, Sahib Morse. I
> once had a son..."
> "A son! Why, Rambhau, you have never before said a word about him!"
> "No, Sahib, I couldn't." Even as he spoke the diver's eyes were
> moistened.
> "Now I must tell you, for soon I will leave, and who knows whether I
> shall ever return? My son was a diver too. He was the best pearl
> diver on the coasts of India. He had the swiftest dive, the keenest
> eye, the strongest arm, the longest breath of any man who ever
> sought for pearls.
> What joy he brought to me! Most pearls, as you know, have some
> defect or blemish only the expert can discern, but my boy always
> dreamed of finding the 'perfect' pearl... one beyond all that was
> ever found. One day he found it! But even when he saw it... he had
> been under water too long... That pearl cost him his life, for he
> died soon after."
> The old pearl diver bowed his head. For a moment his whole body
> shook, but there was no sound. "All these years," he continued, "I
> have kept this pearl... but now I am going, not to return, and to
> you, my best friend... I am giving my pearl."
> The old man worked the combination on the strongbox and drew from it
> a carefully wrapped package. Gently opening the cotton, he picked up
> a mammoth pearl and placed it in the hand of the missionary.
> It was one of the largest pearls ever found off the coast of India,
> and glowed with a luster and brilliance never seen in cultured
> pearls. It would have brought a fabulous sum in any market.
> For a moment the missionary was speechless and gazed with
> awe. "Rambhau! What a pearl!"
> "That pearl, Sahib, is perfect," replied the Indian quietly. The
> missionary looked up quickly with a new thought: Was not this the
> very opportunity and occasion he had prayed for... to make Rambhau
> understand the value of Christ's sacrifice? So he said,
> designedly, "Rambhau, this is a wonderful pearl, an amazing pearl.
> Let me buy it. I would give you ten thousand dollars for it."
> "Sahib! What do you mean?"
> "Well, I will give you fifteen thousand dollars for it, or if it
> takes more... I will work for it."
> "Sahib," said Rambhau, stiffening his whole body, "this pearl is
> beyond price. No man in all the world has money enough to pay what
> this pearl is worth to me. On the market a million dollars could not
> buy it. I will not sell it to you. You may only have it as a gift."
> "No, Rambhau, I cannot accept that. As much as I want the pearl, I
> cannot accept it that way. Perhaps I am proud, but that is too easy.
> I must pay for it, or work for it..."
> The old pearl-diver was stunned. "You don't understand at all,
> Sahib. Don't you see. My only son gave his life to get this pearl,
> and I wouldn't sell it for any money. Its worth is in the life-blood
> of my son. I cannot sell this... but I can give it to you. Just
> accept it in token of the love I bear you."
> The missionary was choked, and for a moment could not speak. Then he
> gripped the hand of the old man. "Rambhau," he said in a low
> voice, "don't you see? My words are just what you have been saying
> to God all the time."
> The diver looked long and searchingly at the missionary, and slowly,
> slowly he began to understand. "God is offering you salvation as a
> free gift," said the missionary. "It is so great and priceless that
> no man on earth can buy it. Millions of dollars are too little. No
> man on earth could earn it. His life would be millions of years too
> short. No man is good enough to deserve it. It cost God the life-
> blood of His only Son to make the entrance for you into heaven. In a
> million years, in a hundred pilgrimages, you could not earn that
> entrance. All you can do is to accept it as a token of God's love
> for you... a sinner.
> "Rambhau, of course I will accept the pearl in deep humility,
> praying God that I may be worthy of your love. Rambhau, won't you
> accept God's great gift of heaven, too, in deep humility, knowing it
> cost Him the death of His Son to offer it to you?"
> Great tears were now rolling down the cheeks of the old man. The
> veil was beginning to lift. "Sahib, I see it now. I have believed in
> the doctrine of Jesus for the last two years, but I could not
> believe that His salvation was free. Now I understand. Some things
> are too priceless to be bought or earned. Sahib, I will accept His
> salvation!"