TO MEET SUCH A MAN
TO MEET SUCH A MAN
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 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 storefront 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, but mostly, Florida."
"How long 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 in 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 feel 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 it 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?"
"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
trong, and I left him with a verse of scripture from
Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you, "declared
the Lord, "plans 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 Heaven."
"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 laid 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...
That is a beautiful story and it teaches us to always keep GOD in our hearts and let the spirit of GOD shine throught us in the ways we treat people. We should not have to tell people we are christians but rather they should be able to tell it from our deeds and ways. GOD bless every one on this board, and thank you Randall for your continued inspirations.