The Day I Met Daniel.

[Kristin Bowers]

The Day I Met Daniel by Pastor Richard Ryan---an original essay reprinted in "A Third Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul"

****This is a true story first recorded in 2001 the day after Pastor Ryan met Daniel. It has been passed around the Internet as "author unknown" for several years. I wanted to give credit to the author as well as validate that it was indeed a true story and not one of the e-rumor/chainmails that commonly get passed along. Thanks for sharing this with me, Victor! If you believe in God....great! If you don't.....fine. Nobody is trying to convince you to. The meaning is not to judge a book by the cover. You might miss out on one of the greatest blessings of your life if you are too focused on the wrapping of the gift instead of what's inside. LOVE TO ALL!****


It was an unusually cold day for the month of May. Spring had arrived and everything was alive with color but a cold front from the North had brought winter's chill back to Indiana. 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 you, Daniel, wherever your feet take you.'

'God bless,' he said. 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.

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"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."

[Kristin Bowers]

Oh, no, bucko. You're the one who doesn't get off that easily. *LAUGHING* I can't write much right now.....but I'll be baaaaaaaaaaaaaack. *silly smile*

I'm getting my boxing gloves. LMAO *giving you a big squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezy HUG*

[Kristin Bowers]

Let's see....how can I sum up the way I feel about Socialism fairly quickly?

Hhhmmmmmm........ok. You cannot FORCE people to be kind. You cannot FORCE people to be loving. You cannot FORCE people to be generous or humble or charitable.

Secondly....the Government HAS all the money they need in order to be able to help people who are victims of natural disasters. They have it. They simply spend it on ridiculous stuff such as the gazillion "pork" projects that are out there for public viewing (I don't have the time to look them up and list them but they are there!)....one example is the ridiculous amount of Czar "jobs" that were created within the recent administration (but "pork" projects have been around for years and years and are a problem within both dominant political parties)....and helping the LAZY. The government has every bit of money it needs to do an ample job of what it NEEDS to do. They simply mismanage it. So, yes....I have a problem when they want to keep taking MORE of the money that my husband busts his butt for to give to who THEY think needs it.

There was plenty of money to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It just wasn't all designated for that purpose. The blame lies with the American public, in my opinion, for failing to hold their government accountable for what they do with taxpayer money. If people do not take the time to voice their opinion and write to their congressmen and senators then you can be sure that the congressmen and senators will use their power how they see fit....instead of how the voters see fit. Who has the time? Who, I ask?

Just sayin'. :o) *GIGGLE*

[Kristin Bowers]

aarrrrrrr....and I typo'd "unfortunately".....LMAO

[Kristin Bowers]

I meant that the money goes places where it has no "business" going.....*laughing at self* I can't stand it when I make a boo-boo!! *grrrrrrrr* ;o)

[Kristin Bowers]

Well...I can't speak for anybody else....but I DO give handouts (to people deserving of them....not the lazy)....and I DO ask people to help others....and I DO pay for people's lunch (even though they may not know I did)....and I DO sacrifice and sell what I have for the sole purpose of helping somebody else.

As a matter of fact, lots of people just like me exist out there. But when you focus your attention on all that is wrong....instead of seeking what is right.....that's where you open the door for cynicism.

Yes, it can often LOOK hopeless....and it's not difficult to lose your faith in humanity....when you are constantly bombarded by the types of people/situations that you describe above....but when you focus your attention on people like Scary....and many other people that I have had the privilege of "meeting"....that is what strengthens H-O-P-E....and without hope....there is nothing.

As for me and my opinion on Democrats, in general....(not that there aren't a lot of well-meaning ones out there)....I do not believe in the government taking my money and deciding who it should be distributed to. I believe that decision is mine. I do not trust the US government to handle my money properly, in any aspect, because they have repeatedly proven that they are not capable of doing so. That thing that you and I have discussed before (greed) enters the picture and money ends up going places that it has no place going (many times into the politicians own pocket...Democrat AND Republican) I believe in helping the poor....probably more than most people do....but I do NOT believe in helping the LAZY....and unfortunatley, too many people in the good ol' USA are simply LAZY and want to rely on the "government" (taxpayer money) to earn their living. I am capable of seeing when someone is honestly struggling.....and helping them out if I am able to. But if Uncle Sam takes more of my money....he deprives me of the extra that I had to help the poor in the first place....and the real people that need help do not end up getting it.

Remember, that Christians are not perfect. Many of them are indeed too judgmental and it only drives people away. The only thing that makes somebody a Christian is that they believe that Christ died on the cross so that they might have eternal life. That's it. It doesn't mean they are perfect.....it doesn't mean they are free from making mistakes or doing something "bad".....it means none of that. If people were willing to lay down their judgment (Christian or non-Christian)....that, per se, would make this world a much better place to live in.

I totally agree with you on the way to reach the destination....by loving more people....helping more people. In general, it means people must not focus on themselves as much....but focus on others. It means.....becoming self-LESS. *warm smile*