GOD BLESS YOU MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

WOW!!! This touched me to my very soul, I hope you get as much of a blessing from this as I did...God Bless you my friends and family, and hope you have a healthy and happy new year.
:
: 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.'
:
: '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 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.'
:
:
: 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, 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.'
:
:
:
: I sent this to more than four, but this story is so touching I felt each
: of you would enjoy it greatly.
:
: GOD BLESS YOU MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
: