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 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 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 our
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 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, "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 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 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...
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."
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!
