round

 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 are 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 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 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....

 '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.'

 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..