Charles was a boy who grew up in the land of Ireland. His parents loved God and when he was quite small they taught him the song Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

But Charles was rebellious and when he was a teenager he ran away from home and became a sailor. For years he sailed the oceans and lived a very bad life – getting drunk, getting into fights, swearing and cursing. His parents had no idea where in the world he was. He often felt very lonely inside.

One day out at sea he thought to himself, “Life is not worth living. I’ll jump into the sea and drown myself. No one cares whether I live or die. No one loves me.” Just then, God brought to his mind the words of the song that he had sung as a child - “Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.“

He was very surprised and thought to himself, “Is it really true that Jesus loves a bad person like me? Is it possible? I’ll have to get a Bible and see if it is true.” He decided to go and ask the captain of the ship if there was a Bible on board. Yes, there was and he began to read it.

In the Bible he found out that God really did love him in spite of all the wicked things that he had done. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” (John 3:15).

God had loved him and everyone in the world so much that He gave His Son Jesus to die for our sins on the cross. Charles was so happy to also read that the Lord Jesus had not remained dead. God had done a great miracle and brought His Son back to life again. Charles got down on his knees there in his cabin and asked God to forgive his sins and to accept him into God’s family. Now he knew that the Lord Jesus would be by his side wherever he went and would help him to do what was right.