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

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 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 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 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.'