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September 19, 2004
Picking up Jesus by the side of the road
Today as I was driving home from work I saw a man sitting by the side of the road with a backpack and a duffle bag, holding a sign that said, “Need a ride.” His beard was long and white. After he got into the car I asked him where he was going and what he was up to. We had a nice conversation.
I ended up driving him from the southern side of the Twin-Cities to the eastern side of the Twin-Cities, on his way to Milwaukee. It was out of my way, but I did it because I wanted to give him the best chance of catching another ride that could take him to his destination. Also, partly because I wanted to chat longer with him and was interested in what he had to say.
One of the things we talked about was the opening up of the words in the bible to reveal the truth inside. The words and phrases in the bible could be misinterpreted and misused. And they frequently are. One possible reason is self-justification. We try to justify our thoughts, actions and beliefs and utilize what we can as evidence that we are right.
But, the truth is really found in the Application of the teachings, not in the knowledge of them. This is what it means to ‘open up’ the words to reveal the truth. Without taking them to heart, they are just random words and trivia that we learn to recite when needed.
When I got home tonight I was talking to my wife about my experience, and she asked me, “Don’t you think that’s a little dangerous?” I said, “Maybe, I suppose it could be. I didn’t feel like it was at the time though.” I know my wife was just concerned about my safety and doesn’t want to see anything happen to me. I guess I don’t want any thing bad to happen either, but at the same time, I’m happy that I picked him up and got him further along his way to Milwaukee. I am also happy to have been able to talk with him. It was an interesting conversation and very meaningful.
To some he might have appeared to be a homeless man begging for a ride. His appearance along might have turned many motorists away. I don’t know how long he was sitting there waiting for a ride, but I felt compelled to stop and give him a ride. Jesus tells us, “Whatever you have done for the least of one of these, you have also done it to me.” Then just to make sure we were understanding what he was saying, Jesus added, “Whoever isn’t doing something for the least of one of these, is also not doing it to me.”
(Matthew 25)
Even though I did not get my passenger’s name, I’ll call him Jesus, because Jesus was definitely in my car and I gave him a ride. We had a wonderful conversation and he got further along his journey. As he got out of my car he said thank you, but I can’t help but to feel that I am the lucky one and the one who should be thankful.
Posted by carl1236 at September 19, 2004 10:36 PM | Love your Neighbor