A group of people were standing at a rickety old dock along a river’s edge waiting for a big boat to pass. Suddenly a little boy came marching up and walked out on the dock with a red flag. As the steamboat came around the bend in the river the little boy started to wave the flag furiously. A skeptical man said to the boy, “Surely you don’t expect a big boat to stop at this place for a little fellow like you?” The boy replied with confidence, “I most certainly do.”

Suddenly the big boat slowed down and turned for the shore. As the little fellow walked up the gangplank to board the boat, he stopped, turned to the unbelieving man, and said, “I knew that boat would stop for me; the captain is my daddy.” – By Reuben K. Youngdahl, Signs of the Times, April 1962.

Source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) April 1962, Pacific Press. With permission from Dale Galusha dalgal@pacificpress.com