He met once a week with these boys for refreshments and to study the Bible. Mr. Anderson had a wonderful gift, as he could make the written Word come to life. He instilled in them the importance of not just reading and studying these Biblical principles, but to put them into practice, which would make them and the world a better place to live. That could be challenging for the boys . For example, after reading about loving their enemies”, Mr. Anderson had them put that into practice with some other boys who were bullying them. That may have been the hardest lesson they had to learn.
There was another elderly gentleman, Mr. Jones, that lived across the street and a few doors down. He had been in a car accident in the past and was slightly crippled. He wasn’t able to take care of his yard and it showed. Mr. Anderson got the boys to mow his lawn and Mr. Anderson paid them, with one stipulation, they could not tell Mr. Jones who was paying them.
The boys viewed Mr. Jones as a cranky, old curmudgeon. Whenever the boys would go over to mow his lawn he would come out on the front porch and try to run them off, to no avail. He then would try to discover who was paying them, but the boys were tight-lipped.
Two and a half years later Mr. Anderson passed away. The boys were very grateful for the time they had spent with him and the influence he had upon them. They took it hard at his passing and they were stunned when one of their mothers told them the story about Mr. Anderson and Mr. Jones. You see, that night several years ago when Mrs. Anderson had died, it was in a car accident. She was hit by another car and killed. That driver who killed her was in a drunken stupor at the time.His name was Mr. Jones.