I am forwarding this off to you. I thought you might like it. > > It was an unusually cold day for the month of May. Spring had arrived > > >and everything was alive with color. But a cold front from the north > had > >brought winter's chill back to Indiana. 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 half-heartedly 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 kept speaking > > >to me: "Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once > >more around the square." And so, 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 stone-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 only > minutes > >earlier. His hair was long and straight, and he had a neatly trimmed > >dark beard. His skin was deeply tanned, and 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 the 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 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 a while?" > > "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, > >Jeremiah 29:11. "I know the plans I have for you," declares 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 bed roll 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. 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 anew 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. > >-- > >Isaiah 6:8 (NIV) > >Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who > >will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" --------- End forwarded message ---------- ________________________________________________________________ Get free e-mail you don't need Web access to use -- Or get full, reliable Internet access from Juno Web! 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