When I was a little girl growing up in Clarkston, Michigan, my pastor, Paul Vanaman had a very special tradition with the children in our church.  Each year at Christmas, he would gather us together and tell us the story of “The John 3:16 House.”  We all loved it as much as we loved him.  I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time at Dixie Baptist Church and accepted Him as my personal Saviour.  Now, as a pastor’s wife, I tell this story to the children of our church every year at Christmas time.  May this story touch your heart just as it still does mine and become a holiday tradition in your family.

The John 3:16 House

It was the coldest night of 1930 in the city of Chicago. A fierce wind was blowing and the temperatures were dropping below the freezing mark. A twelve-year-old newspaper boy shivered intensely in the falling snow. His coat, what was left of it, was far too small and threadbare, providing very little warmth. He had stopped selling newspapers to the very few people on the street more than an hour earlier. Hardly anyone was passing by the corner where he stood. It was Christmas Eve and all of the shoppers had hurried home to their families. The little boy was all alone.

He was so hungry – he stood in front of a restaurant looking in and watching the cook through the window. His mouth watered, but he had no money to even buy a slice of bread to eat, let alone sit down and eat with the celebrating people inside. A policeman walked by and saw the boy standing and looking in the window.

The officer stopped and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder and said, “Son, you shouldn’t be out in this cold weather – you’d better run home now.”  The boy looked up and said, “Sir, I don’t have a home, could you help me? I’ve been sleeping in a large box under a bridge, but I’m freezing. Do you know any place warmer where I could sleep tonight?”

The policeman smiled kindly at him and said, “Yes, son, I do. Do you see that big white house at the end of this street?”  When the boy looked and nodded, the man said, “Go to the door of that house and knock on it. When someone comes to the door just say ‘John 3:16’ and they will let you in.”

The boy thanked the nice policeman and still feeling the biting, stinging cold, he did just what he was told.  An older lady who looked like someone’s grandma came to the door after he knocked. He said to her “John 3:16”.  Quickly she threw the door open and welcomed him inside.

The house was warm, better than any warmth he had ever felt. It was a cheery house, and the old lady was even cheerier.  He went into the living room with her and she sat him down in the most comfortable cushioned rocker he’d ever felt. The fire was crackling in the fireplace and cast a warmth all over his frozen body. He thought to himself “John 3:16 – I don’t understand what that means, but it sure has thawed a cold boy like me out.”

The kind lady asked the boy, “Why aren’t you home and in bed this time of night? Aren’t your parents worried about you?”  The boy looked down at his worn-out shoes, and tried to hide them under the chair he was sitting in. He swallowed hard and answered, “My mom and dad were killed in a car wreck. They didn’t have much money and when they died there was no one to take care of me. Since they’ve been gone I’ve been on the streets selling newspapers ever since to take care of myself.”

“Are you hungry, dear?” she asked him tenderly.  “Oh, yes ma’am. It’s been three days since I ate something. But I don’t want to be any trouble to you,” he answered.  The lady smiled genuinely and said, “Why, you’re no trouble at all. I can already see we are going to become good friends. Let me get you some dinner.” A few minutes later the woman called the boy into the dining room. Laid out upon the table were all kinds of delicious looking food. To the boy it looked like a feast. There was roast beef, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, buttered corn, green beans and fresh biscuits with honey. Next to his plate was a tall frosty glass full of milk. He ate until he thought he couldn’t eat another bite. The sweet lady ran to the kitchen and came back with a big piece of chocolate cake and a slice of apple pie. He ate them both and leaned back in his chair. As he held his tummy, he thought again “John 3:16 – Whatever it means, it fills me up like nothing else I’ve ever tasted.”

The lady and the boy talked together for a while, greatly enjoying getting to know each other. Soon she noticed he was falling asleep in the chair. The woman led him upstairs to the bathroom where a huge bathtub was filled with warm water and soap bubbles.

He told her “I don’t think I’ve ever had a real bath in a tub like this before. It’s been such a long time since I’ve even had a bath. But now I can’t believe that I’m going to get into a real bathtub again.”  She left him there with a washcloth, soap, and big fluffy white towel. Lying on the chair next to the tub were clean pajamas she had left for him. He took off his raggedy clothes and old shoes and put them in a small pile on the floor. As he lay back his head, soaking in the warmth of the bubbly water, he thought,   “John 3:16 – I sure don’t understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy like me clean.”

The soft pajamas  felt wonderful from the moment he put them on. The lady was waiting outside the door when he was finished and led him to a bedroom with a beautiful featherbed. She pulled the covers up around his neck, prayed over him and kissed him goodnight. Just before she went out the door of the bedroom, the boy called out, “I don’t remember anybody ever kissing me before except my mother. Thank you.”

As he fell asleep, a tear slid down his cheek and he thought, “John 3:16 – I don’t know why, but it sure makes you feel loved.” The boy fell fast asleep and slept long hours of relaxed peace and comfort that he had never known before in his whole life.

The next morning he awoke in the warm, comfortable bed and thought for a moment that maybe he was dreaming, but he opened his eyes and realized he was still at the John 3:16 House. He went to get his old ragged clothing and shoes, but instead found a few completely new set waiting for him – in just his exact size! He couldn’t believe it! Everything fit just right and felt so nice and warm. He thought – “Wow! John 3:16 – It doesn’t make sense, but it takes a raggedy old poor kid and dresses him up like a king!”

He walked down the stairs and upon hearing his steps, the kind woman called for him to come into the kitchen. There the table was spread with a delicious breakfast feast. He ate waffles with maple syrup, bacon, sausage, eggs, fried potatoes with milk gravy and buttered biscuits with honey. He swallowed it all down with a glass of cold milk and a cup of hot cocoa. When he couldn’t take one more bite, the lady asked him to come into the front room again. He stood up and thought, “Well, this is probably when I’ll have to leave the John 3:16 House. I’m not good enough to live in a place like this, I’m just a poor orphan.”

Was he surprised when she opened the door and there stood a beautifully decorated Christmas tree! She smiled and said, “All of these gifts are all for you, son!” Under the tree were wrapped presents of all sizes. The boy was shy and a bit embarrassed. He didn’t have any gift for this kind lady. She came over to him and hugged him and said, “Go ahead, open them all!”

As he unwrapped the packages of toys and clothes, he couldn’t believe it was really happening. After all of the food and the bath, the bed, the clothes – now all of these Christmas presents. He sat there thinking and asking himself, “John 3:16 – I don’t understand what it must mean, but it must be wonderful, because it’s taken a hungry, poor orphan like me and made me full and given me all of these great things!”

That was even truer when the lady interrupted his thoughts and asked him, “Would you like to move in here and live with me? I’d love to have a boy like you.” Tears fell from his eyes when she asked him that.

He jumped up from where he was sitting and ran over and hugged her. Then he said “Are you sure I wouldn’t be too much trouble for you?” She laughed and said, “The Lord answered my prayers. You are His answer to me. I live here alone and would enjoy having you here.  I already love you, so if you can put up with a little old lady fussing over you, please stay.”

Quickly, the boy thought once again, “John 3:16 – It’s the answer to my prayers, but I still don’t understand what it means.”

 Just then the lady picked up her worn Bible off the side table while asking him, “Do you remember what you said that opened the door to this house for you?”

He answered, “Yes, I do ma’am. It was John 3:16”.

“That’s right,” she smiled, “but do you know what John 3:16 means?”

He answered, “No, I don’t. The first time I heard it was from the policeman last night, but I’d sure like to know what it means because it must be special.”

Carefully she read John 3:16 to him. It was the first time he had ever heard it.  She read,

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

 The boy looked puzzled. He told her, “That sure is pretty. But I haven’t got a clue about what it means.”

“Let’s talk about it,” the lady said. “But know this now – John 3:16 wasn’t just the key that gave you entrance into my house last night, but it is the key will get you into Heaven.”

As the two of them talked, she answered questions by going to other verses of the Bible to make it even clearer what John 3:16 means.  Moment by moment, verse by verse, it was as if this sweet little lady was turning lights on for him and John 3:16 kept becoming clearer and clearer to the boy.  When almost an hour had passed the lady asked him “Now do you understand the meaning of John 3:16?”

He answered, “I do now – it means Christ died for me to take away my sins if I only believe in Him as my own Saviour.”  The lady said, “That’s exactly what it means.”

The boy said, “I’ve got to be truthful. I know what John 3:16 means now, but how can I believe Christ chose to die for me when all my life I’ve felt worthless. And why, oh why, would any loving Father send His only Son to die in agony on the cross that I should have been on instead?”

The lady took the boy’s hand and said, “At times, I’ve wondered that very same thing. Father God must have been in total agony as He watched His only begotten Son die on that cross to pay for every sin you and I have ever committed or will commit. The only reason God allowed it was because He loves us so much that He gave Jesus to die in our place.”

“And my boy, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for you and me, and for the whole world, invites you to believe in Him as your personal Saviour. Only then will you ever realize your real worth and how precious you truly are to God. It was Jesus Christ Who said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to Father God except through Me.”
Would you like to ask Him to be your Saviour right now?”

There, kneeling next to the rocking chair while the snow was falling hard outside, the boy prayed and asked Christ to be his own Savior. He asked God to save him and forgive him of all his sin. When he accepted Jesus as the only way to get to Heaven, his whole life changed.

That man grew up to be a very successful businessman in Chicago. He shared his story wherever he went, telling others the wonderful truth of John 3:16 and how it made his life worth living. Yes, John 3:16 made all the difference in the life of that boy and it can make all the difference in your life, too!