It was the day before their Annual Commencement. A girl came into his office. He recognized her as one of those ready to graduate. She was an honor student--a bright, attractive girl named Nancy Hollingsworth. Nancy told Dr. McFarland a fascinating story. It seems her father was killed when she was small child. Her mother worked in factory to support her and her two brothers. Her only other living relative, Uncle Ben, had a drinking problem.

One night while Nancy, Jim, and Tommy were still children their mother died very unexpectedly. Uncle Ben came to the house. "Uncle Ben," the children asked, "What are we going to do now?" Uncle Ben answered, "I love you kids. I'll go down to court and get you assigned to me. I'll get down on my knees every night and ask God to raise you right."

"And he did!" said Nancy. He hasn't had a drink since. He hasn't missed a day of work since. Jim graduated from Medical School. Tommy's graduating from MIT this Spring. I'm going to teacher's college. Tomorrow night will be 6 commencements Uncle Ben has attended.

"There's only one problem. He won't sit in the parents' section. He feels it would show disrespect for Mom. Could you mention something about Uncle Ben at the Commencement?" Nancy asked. Ken McFarland said of course he would. He did. An enormous ovation erupted when Uncle Ben came forward. Many in the graduating class obviously knew Uncle Ben's story. It was a beautiful and memorable moment.

Later McFarland asked Uncle Ben this question, "When you went down to court that day, what did you say? You didn't have a very good case as I understand it."

Uncle Ben said, "You're right. I was scared to death. And when the judge asked me why I thought the children should come and live with me, I said `The Master said, A man can be born again. He can change. He can change completely. And he can stay changed. I believe the Master meant any man. Even a drunken ne'er-do-well. I believe that when the Master said, 'whosoever will,' I believe he included me."

The judge looked at him a long time and said, "I believe that deal includes you, too. I'm going to let you take the children for 30 days. We'll come check. If everything's going all right, you can keep them permanently." "The 3 kids and I got home," said Uncle Ben, "and we got down on our knees, and I promised God that if he'd hold onto me, I would hold on to the kids, and the 5 of us have been going along together all these years."

That's how it works. There is a battle going on within each of us. Nobody can fight the battle for us. We can only do it with the help of Jesus Christ.

Ron Newhouse