The Best Friend

Johnny Wagner fled from a drunken father and an abusive stepmother when only eight. He was drinking by age eleven and, apart from a stint overseas with the 132nd Infantry, Johnny spent most of his life begging money for liquor on Chicago’s Skid Row. He was well known to the police and a frequent occupant of the drunk tank. Finally, sick and tired of being sick and tired, he staggered into a Madison Street mission. Through the fog of his abused mind, the light of the gospel shone in. That night Johnny prayed, “Jesus? You here? I’m on the level. Come on in and clean me up, please. I’m dirty all through and awful tired.” Two years later, a squad car edged alongside the all-new John as he strode down a Chicago street. “Is that you, Johnny?” one of the officers asked. “What’s happened?” “I’ve got a Friend now,” he replied. “First time in my life. He’s Jesus Christ. Maybe hard to believe, knowin’ me as you did before, but John Wagner and the Son of God are in this together.”

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