THE GLOVES
It was a few years back, I sat with two friends, on the 'food deck' at the Burpee's Food Counter, inside the BP Station (hence the Burpee's) here in Outing. The food and the company were both especially good that day. As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, to the frontage road. There, walking north, 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 over to the marina. looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through our little T-intersection of a town and saw nothing of him. Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: 'Don't go back home until you've at least driven once more around our little Crooked Lake township.
Then with some hesitancy, I headed up toward the town hall and library. As I turned the corner, I saw him. He was sitting on the steps of our little old Narrows Community Church building. I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking lot seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached our township's newest visitor.
'Looking for the pastor?' I asked. 'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.' 'Have you eaten today?' I then asked. 'Oh, I ate something early this morning.' was his response. 'Would you like to have lunch with me?' I asked, not sure where this would head. 'Do you have some work I could do for you?' he said with a slight smile coming from his weathered face. 'No work,' I replied. '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?' His response was short but polite 'Duluth.' My questions and his responses were simple ones. 'Where you from?' 'Oh, all over; mostly Florida.' 'How long you been walking?' 'Fourteen years.'
I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other back at the Burpee's food counter I had left earlier. He was enjoying the steak sandwich and fries that I had bought him. As we talked, I saw 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.' I soon found out his name was Daniel and his story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Eighteen 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. A concert, he had thought.
He was hired. The tent would not house a concert, but revival services. 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 18 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?' His response was 'What?' 'To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?' I clarified. He wiped his mouth and then replied '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 - it was cheesecake that day and he gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused, 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.' His words made me feel 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 18 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 think Grand Rapids will do well for my next few days stay.' 'Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?' I asked. 'No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone 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 asked if I could drive him north a ways and he said "Up to Remer would be great". We got to the gas station there at the T-intersection and he said that would be good. 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, all the time! How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked. 'A long time,' he replied. And so there outside the gas station, my new friend and I had a warm embrace, 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 into Remer, 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.' was my response and that was the last I saw of him.
I headed south on highway 6 and soon I was pulling into my driveway. For some reason I looked over my right shoulder and I saw them - a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid on the back seat. I picked them up and thought of my new 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?' I said a prayer and knew I had to drive back to Remer. Once there, I drove around to find him but I could not find him anywhere.
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.'