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Suzanne Beck joyfully recalls the life change that resulted for a dear friend when he finally came to Jesus.


Roy was a curmudgeon. There’s no other way to describe him. When I met him, I was a college student; he was spending his remaining days in the last room on the left of a long hall in the local nursing home where I worked during the summers.  

He’d had a hard life, that was certain. His early life was a mystery, but as an adult, he’d had a colorful career as an English jockey. A very tiny man, he was even smaller as he’d lost both legs years before in a racing accident. As his aide, I frequently would move him to bathe, clean or dress him. He would put his arms around my neck, and I’d easily lift him to a chair, but he preferred to stay in his bed and read. He actually looked like Popeye, with his teeth long gone as well. With such a history, his attitude towards life and everyone around was grim; he rarely spoke, but rather growled with a Cockney accent, and his word choices were often very colorful! 

 

 Friendship Makes a Difference

“Good afternoon, Roy! How are you doing today?”

“What’s good about it?!” Roy would launch into a snarling litany of complaints about the staff, the care, the food, or the plot of his current read, a Harlequin romance novel.

Yes, that was the quirk about Roy that no one would ever have guessed: He loved romance novels. Somehow, over the course of my first summer working on his unit, he stopped growling and started talking whenever I came into the room. I didn’t do anything special, but he must have sensed that I cared about him. We became very good friends; his growls turned into words, and we talked, laughed, and joked.  

 

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I often prayed for Roy and wondered how God could use me to reach him, as I knew he needed a relationship with Jesus. One day, it occurred to me that I read romance novels too, but I read ones written from a Christian perspective. My favorite at the time was a prolific early 20th-century novelist, Grace Livingston Hill; her characters were most often young women who were Christians or who become Christians within the book. Her stories made it clear that a life with Christ was the best decision one could make. This seemed like the perfect way to introduce Roy to the Gospel and to Jesus, so right before I was to be off for several days, I took him The Gold Shoe.   

On my next shift, I couldn’t wait to see what Roy thought of the read, but I was totally unprepared for his reaction. Walking into his room, I was met with a verbally abusive tirade! There was no doubt that he was onto my scheme, and he wasn’t happy about it. He was so mad he was almost in tears. For several days, maybe even weeks, he literally didn’t speak to me. I continued to pray as I served him and told him I had more books if he was interested. This was usually met with a growled, accented explicative.  

 

"I did what the book said to do!"

Then one day, out of the blue, I walked into his room astounded to see the curtains opened, the sun shining in, Roy propped up in his bed, his face radiating joy. I was flabbergasted. “What happened to you? Are you OK?” I asked.

He replied, “I did what the book said to do! I’m a Christian!” He was so changed, it was almost unbelievable; in fact, Roy’s change was the talk of the whole facility. He had gone from darkness to light, from sorrow to joy, from despair to hope — and the change was radical and immediate. He continued to read, but he traded his Harlequins for the rest of Mrs. Hill’s books! I think he did read every single one, all 100+ titles.  

 

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I went on to college and didn’t get to see Roy much, but my family went to see him frequently. My dad would lift Roy’s tiny body into the family van, throw his wheelchair into the back, and they would head off to church or other outings. He spent a couple of Christmases with us, and he even came to my wedding. He was a light and a DELIGHT to everyone who knew him the remainder of his days.   

Roy went to be with Jesus just a year or so later (well, he probably did have to spend a few years in purgatory if even half of what he told me about his former life was true!), but he had a profound effect on my life. He taught me to not be afraid to share my faith, to love unconditionally, and to trust that God will work out the details. I know with certainty that he will be walking, leaping, running—on two legs—ready to greet me when it’s my turn to go home.  

(Roy has been gone for 45 years, but I couldn’t write this without weeping! God is good!) 

 

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Copyright 2024 Suzanne Beck
Images: (top, bottom) Canva; (center) copyright 2024 Suzanne Beck, all rights reserved.