This Old Man

Sitting on the hood of his car with his arm bent at a 90 degree angle holding a Holy Bible into the view of anyone driving along the highway, this old man induced both curiosity and admiration as I passed him. I've seen him there on the side of the road three or four times on my way to or from Arkansas. Every time, I want to stop the car, jump out, take a picture, and then ask him what he's doing and why.

I finally did just that and am so grateful I did. This old man is a preacher. Jesus saved him 35 years ago. Jesus called him to be a preacher 30 years ago. He told Jesus he would do whatever Jesus asked him to do. And so, he sits by the highway...beckoning people to turn to the only truth.

His mission comes from Matthew 22:1-14. "Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you can find." His desire is to tell as many, bad and good, to turn to Jesus. His fear is to have anyone's blood on his hands. He believes that if he tells the truth and calls people to respond, his hands will be clean. So, he perseveres in obedience by sharing the gospel so that both bad and good might come to know their only hope.

Everything he said to me was from the scripture. We looked at several scriptures together and I smiled and nodded in agreement. He seemed to discern that I was "missionary minded" and encouraged me with stories from an old missionary biography he had read. He gave me an old torn hymnal opened to a hymn entitled "Never Alone". He prayed the sweetest prayer of biblical blessing over me and sent me on my way with the exhortation to "stay with Jesus and His Church!"

This old man's heart was full of truth found in God's Word. His eyes were full of the life and joy of Christ. His words were full of adoration and devotion for His God and Savior. His hands were full of grace and wisdom which he poured out to me.

I left him there, sitting on his car with his Bible. I never got his name. I drove away thanking God for such a divine appointment. I look forward to seeing him again.

I realized that my view can become quite narrow when thinking about heaven. I tend to imagine it will be full of black people from the ghetto and little Chinese orphans. But, today I see an old, toothless, inarticulate redneck singing beautiful praises to His beloved Savior for all eternity.



*Note: He sent me away with two scripture references to look up. One of them was Deuteronomy 22:5. Look it up. (I was wearing baggy jeans and a Steelers shirt)