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; 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 Godwas 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?"
"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."


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!
"Father, I ask you to bless my friends, relatives
and e-mail buddies reading this right now.
Show them a new revelation of your love and
power. Holy spirit, I ask you to minister to
their spirit at this very moment.
Where there is pain, give them your peace
and mercy. Where there is self-doubt,
release a renewed confidence through your
grace, In Jesus' precious Name. Amen."

{Author Unknown}