Will You Tell Her Or Shall I?

By Bernie Koerselman

[From a True Story]

Dan was not nice.  He was loud, drank too much, a womanizer, angry and abusive.  But at age 32 he came to know Jesus Christ and was powerfully transformed.  He truly became a new creature.  Perhaps because of the profound difference in her daddy, six-year-old Jessica also committed her life to Jesus.

Soon Dan and Jessica became a familiar site at shopping malls.  Jessica would often sit atop her daddy’s shoulders as they would walk along.  As they walked along they would say to each other, "Will you tell them, or shall I?"  Naturally the passersby became curious.  Some would follow them and ultimately Dan and Jessica would stop and share their faith with the small group that gathered around.  Several came to faith through their testimonies.

But tragedy struck.  Jessica was diagnosed with leukemia.  Her health worsened rapidly and she was soon hospitalized.  Within days she died.  Dan went to the hospital and asked to see her once more before her body was taken away.  A nurse sympathetically showed him the way to the morgue where he stood looking at his little girl.

Dan felt the nurse touch his sleeve as she asked, "Would you mind if I asked you a personal question?"

"No, I wouldn’t mind," he responded.

She hesitantly asked, "How is it that you seem so at peace in the face of this terrible tragedy?"

Without hesitation Dan turned to the lifeless figure of his daughter and asked, "Will you tell her, or shall I?"

In that unlikely place, in the presence of his daughter’s lifeless body, Dan led that nurse to eternal life in Jesus Christ!