Thursday, October 2, 2014

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.. 

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