I love this!
I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant
Just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were
Both especially good that day. As we talked, my attention was drawn
outside, across the street. There, walking into town was a man who
appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was
carrying a well-worn sign that read, "I will work for food." My heart
sank.
I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others
around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture
of sadness and disbelief. We continued with our meal, but his image
lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I
had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced
toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange
visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call for
some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some
purchases at a store and got back in my car. Deep within me, the Spirit
of God kept speaking to me: "Don't go back to the office until you've at
least driven once more around the square." Then, with some hesitancy, I
headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him.
He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through
his sack. I stopped and looked, feeling both compelled to speak to him,
yet
Wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be
A sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and
approached
The town's newest visitor.
"Looking for the pastor?" I asked.
"Not really," he replied, "just resting.
""Have you eaten today?"
"Oh, I ate something early this morning."
"Would you like to have lunch with me?"
"Do you have some work I could do for you?
"No work," I replied. "I commute here to work from the city, but I
would like to take you to lunch."
"Sure," he replied with a smile. As he began to gather his things, I
asked some surface questions. Where you headed?"
"St. Louis."
"Where you from?"
"Oh, all over; mostly Florida."
"How long have you been walking?"
"Fourteen years," came the reply. I knew I had met someone unusual.
We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier.
His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark,
yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was
startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that
said, "Jesus is The Never Ending Story." Then Daniel's story began to
unfold. He had seen rough times early in life.
He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences.
Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had
stopped on the beach n Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who
were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.
He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival
Services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his
life
Over to God "Nothing's been the same since," he said,
"I felt the Lord
Telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now."
"Ever think of stopping?" I asked.
"Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me. But God has
given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I
work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads."
I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission
and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment
and then I asked:
"What's it like?"
"What?"
"To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show
Your sign?" "Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and
make
Comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a
Gesture that certainly didn't make me feels welcome. But then it became
Humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change
people's concepts of other folks like me." My concept was changing, too.
We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door,
he paused. He turned to me and said, "Come Ye blessed of my Father and
inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you
gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you
took me in." I felt as if we were on holy ground.
"Could you use another Bible?" I asked.
He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was
not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite.
"I've read through it 14 times," he said.
"I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and
see." I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and
he seemed very grateful?
Where are you headed from here?" I asked?
Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park
coupon." "Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?"
"No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that
Star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next." He
smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his
mission.
I drove him back to the town square where we'd met two hours earlier,
and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.
"Would you sign my autograph book?" he asked. "I like to keep
Messages from folks I meet." I wrote in his little book that his
commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay
strong. And I left him with a verse
Of scripture from Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you, declared
the Lord, "plan to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you
A future and a hope."
"Thanks, man," he said. "I know we just met and we're really just
strangers, but I love you." "I know," I said, "I love you, too." "The
Lord is good!" "Yes, He is." "How long has it been since someone hugged
you?" I asked. "A long time," he replied And so on the busy street
corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt
deep inside that I had been changed He put his things on his back,
smiled his winning smile, and said, "See you in the New Jerusalem."
"I'll be there!" was my reply. He began his journey again. He headed
away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He
stopped, turned, and said, "When you see something that makes you think
of me, will you pray for me?"
"You bet," I shouted back, "God bless."
"God bless." And that was the last I saw of him.
Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold
front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my
car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them... a
pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly lay over the length of the
handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his
hands would stay warm that night without them. Then I remembered his
words: "If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray
for me?" Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to
see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember
those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. "See
you in the New Jerusalem," he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will...
If this story touched you, forward it to a friend! "I shall pass this
way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I
can show let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again." My
instructions were to send this to four people that I wanted God to bless
and I picked you. Please pass this to four people you want to be
blessed. This prayer is powerful and there is nothing attached. Please
do not break this pattern. Prayer is one of the best gifts we receive.
There is no cost, but a lot of rewards. Let's continue to pray for one
another. God Bless and have a nice day!
"Father, I ask you to bless my friends, relatives and e-mail buddies
Reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of your love and
Power. Holy Spirit, I ask you to minister to their spirit at this very
Moment. Where there is pain, give them your peace and mercy. Where
there is self-doubt, release a renewed confidence through your grace, in
Jesus' precious Name.
Amen."
I sent this to more than four, but this story is so touching I felt
each
Of you would enjoy it greatly.
GOD BLESSES YOU, MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!
