Hi Julie,
You are welcome.  I am delighted that you enjoyed it.  What a dynamite 
message.
Virgie and Hoshi
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JULIE MELTON" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 5:02 PM
Subject: Re: The Pearl


> Hello,
>
> I haven't heard that story in years.  However, Children's Bible Hour
> dramatized that story for their story time.  It was called "Rambhau's
> Treasure."  Thanks for bringing back that memory.
>
> JulieMelton
> visit me at
> www.heart-and-music.com
> Keep smiling!
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "VIRGIE UNDERWOOD" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 11:10 AM
> 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!"
>>