Inspiring...

An Anonymous Story called "Daniel's Gloves"

> (Author Unknown or is it?  Please.  Read on..)


> 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

> 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.'

> 'Woul d 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 wa s 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, dec lared 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. Th e 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.'