[Singles] FW: Daniel

[Kathy Jones]

________________________________
From: Terri Arellano
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2014 8:50 AM
Subject: Daniel

I sat with two friends, in the picture window of a quaintrestaurant 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  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 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.'
 My instructions were to send this to  four people that I wanted
God to bless and I picked you.  Please pass this to four people you want
to be blessed.
 This prayer is powerful and there is nothing attached.  Please do
not break this  pattern. 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 and have a nice  day!
 'Father, I ask you to bless my friends, all their families and 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.'
 GOD BLESS YOU MY FRIENDS AND  FAMILY!!!







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