"Timothy would be busy learning lessons in those days, and, among other things, he was taught by his grandmother and his mother the stories in the Old Testament, a great part of which Jewish boys had to learn by heart. One day a great excitement happened in the village, a missionary travelling through the country stopped at Lystra to preach the Gospel, which means good news, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Who had lately been put to death at Jerusalem), was their God and Saviour, Who had died and risen from the dead, and gone back to Heaven, and would forgive all their sins, and help them to live for Him, and afterwards receive them into His glory.
"That was good news, and if Lois and Eunice went to hear that Gospel preaching, as I think they did, I know they must have enjoyed it, for we also know that later they both became Christians. The missionary, who came to preach at Lystra, was really the Great Apostle, St. Paul.
"We can picture the boy Timothy standing among the crowd, probably listening to this new teacher, when presently St. Paul caught the earnest eyes of a poor lame man gazing at him, with an expression which seemed to convey to him that he believed all he was saying, and could trust the power of this Great God Whom he preached—the Lord Jesus. And Paul, 'perceiving he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on thy feet." And he leaped and walked.' (Acts. xiv. 9-10.)
"Then the poor, ignorant people, when they saw what was done, cried out, 'The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.' And Barnabas, who was with St. Paul, and was the elder of the two men, they called Jupiter, and the Great Apostle by the name of Jupiter's son, Mercurius—you know, of course, there are no real gods of those names, only the One true God we worship.
"But these poor heathen did not know that, so their priest brought garlands to crown the Apostles, and oxen to sacrifice to them, and St. Paul and Barnabas were dreadfully distressed, and rent their clothes (a thing Eastern people used to do to show their distress), and ran among them, exclaiming, 'Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, Which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.'
"'And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.' (Acts xiv. 15-18.)
"What a commotion there must have been in the village, the people crying out that the gods had come down from the sky to speak to them, and rushing to help the priest to drive the animal to sacrifice, and bring the garlands to crown the missionaries. Perhaps the boy Timothy saw all this. I think he must have, as it happened near his home, and if so, how interested he would be when St. Paul explained to them about the One true God Timothy had read about in the old Jewish law books—the Old Testament, which had taught him, that 'God made the heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is.' And if Timothy listened on those other days when St. Paul preached, he must have learned too that the Great God he knew, was Jesus Christ, Who had died on Calvary, and would save him from his sins and help him to lead a Christian life.
"There was something else which happened at Lystra a few days after the Gospel preaching: some men came to the village from Antioch and stirred up the people of Lystra against St. Paul, and persuaded them so strongly against him, that they took up stones and tried to stone him to death. When St. Paul was writing to the Corinthian people long after, and telling them about his life and its sorrows, he said, 'Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned.' (2 Cor. xi. 25.) And that was the time we have just been talking about.
"We can imagine Timothy rushing into the house and crying out, 'Oh, mother, mother, they are stoning the great preacher to death!' and possibly his grandmother and Eunice running back with him to learn all that was happening.
"We know that St. Paul became unconscious, and was dragged out of the city and left by his enemies for dead. But presently the disciples—the Christians who loved him—saw him recover consciousness, and he was able to stand up, and went into the city, and the next day left the town with Barnabas, and went to Derbe. But only for a little while, for he soon returned again to Lystra, and visited the Christians there, talking to them and persuading them to try and be very brave. I think it was no doubt that then Timothy gave up his heart to Jesus Christ, and decided to become his faithful soldier and servant to his life's end.