Most of you know John Wayne as an actor. You may not
know what happened to him before he died. This is
that story!
Robert Schuller’s teenage daughter,
Cindy, was in a motorcycle accident and had to have
her leg amputated.
John Wayne was a big fan of Robert
Schuller. He heard Dr. Schuller say on one of his
programs that his daughter had been in an accident and
had to have her leg amputated.
John Wayne wrote a note to her saying: “Dear Cindy, Sorry to hear about
your accident. Hope you will be all right.” Signed,
John Wayne
The note was delivered to her and she
decided she wanted to write John Wayne a note in
reply.
She wrote: “Dear Mr. Wayne, I got your note.
Thanks for writing to me. I like you very much. I am
going to be all right because Jesus is going to help
me. Mr. Wayne, do you know Jesus? I sure hope you
know Jesus, Mr. Wayne, because I cannot imagine Heaven
being complete without John Wayne being there. I hope,
if you don’t know Jesus, that you will give your heart
to Jesus right now. See you in Heaven.”
And she signed her name. She had just put that letter in an
envelope, sealed it, and written across the front of
it “John Wayne” when a visitor came into her room to
see her.
He said to her: “What are you doing?
She said: “I just wrote a letter to John Wayne, but I don’t
know how to get it to him.”
He said: “That’s funny, I am
going to have dinner with John Wayne tonight at the
Newport Club down at Newport Beach. Give it to me and
I will give it to him.”
She gave him the letter and he
put it in his coat pocket. There were twelve of them
that night sitting around the table for dinner. They
were laughing and cutting up and the guy happened to
reach in his pocket and felt that letter and
remembered.
John Wayne was seated at the end of the
table and the guy took the letter out and said: “Hey,
Duke, I was in Schuller’s daughter’s room today and
she wrote you a letter and wanted me to give it to
you. Here it is.”
They passed it down to John Wayne
and he opened it. They kept on laughing and cutting
up and someone happened to look down at John Wayne.
He was crying.
One of them said: “Hey, Duke, what is
the matter?”
He said (and can’t you hear him saying
it), ” I want to read you this letter.” He read the
letter.
Then he began to weep. He folded it, put it
in his pocket, and he pointed to the man who delivered
it to him and said: “You go tell that little girl that
right now, in this restaurant, right here, John Wayne
gives his heart to Jesus Christ and I will see her in
heaven.”
Three weeks later John Wayne died.
You never know how your witness to another will effect their eternity!