An interesting thing happens when you allow God to open your eyes; you begin to see things you missed before. It’s kinda like Men In Black part II when Will Smith is trying to explain to Tommy Lee Jones that he was a special agent working with aliens and then Jones begins to notice everything around him that he had over looked before. Over the years I have interacted with many people either through my music store, the recording studio, car shows, church or playing in various bands across the country. I feel privileged to know as many
people as I do and blessed by the number of people who know me. It was  a conversation that the following story came to my attention. I won’t go into who told me this story, but I know it is true and thought you might enjoy it as well.

The “Round the Clock Diner” is a popular place for Sunday diner and it was a bright sunny day when this story unfolded. A man and wife had come from church and were seated in the diner causally talking about the morning message, who was at church and the fact that they had nothing planned for the afternoon but to just relax and enjoy the day. The wife noticed that a car had dropped off a man who was obviously having trouble walking and getting out of the car. He had some kind of bag with him and he just leaned up against a post outside the restaurant. The couple finished their dinner and as they left the diner, they passed the man who, upon getting closer, appeared to be homeless. Something caused the man and wife to stop and ask, “Do you need any help”? The man  leaning against the post answered “I need to get my things from the shelter and try and get to a place with no steps”. By now the couple could see that the man was injured and his 400 plus pounds didn’t make his movement any easier. “There are some shelters in the phone book”. “I’ll get the numbers for you”. The couple thought that would be the end of the issue. “I’ve been to all of them and they won’t take me because I am hurt and can’t go up steps”. The man and wife said they would have to go home and look into what could be done, but he would come back and let the man know what they had found. As they got in the car the wife asked, “what are you going to do”? “Try to help him” was the reply.

About 20 mins later, he pulled back into the parking lot and saw that the man was still in the same place as when he left. He was a little surprised that no one else had offered to help. This was Sunday and the diner was full of people. He
approached the man and asked his name. “My name it Steve”, he said. “Well Steve, have you eaten anything today”? Steve said they he had not. He had bought some things at the convenience store but was saving it until later when he really got hungry. With the man’s offer, they both went into the diner and had lunch, well Steve ate while the man watched and wondered how someone could get into this situation. After a few moments he asked, “How did you become homeless”? Steve began to explain that he had been a very successful truck driver and had a nice home, wife, cars all the stuff this world tells us we need to be successful. On a normal trip, a car cut him off and he made the split second decision to either, hit the car with the two small kids in it or head for the guardrail and hope for the best. He chose the guardrail. His truck was destroyed and he was very seriously hurt. He was in rehab for years trying to walk again. During that time he gained a lot of weight, his wife divorced him and his medical bills took everything he had.

The man spent most of that afternoon taking Steve to get his things from a shelter in Lancaster and then to the bus station in York. He bought a ticket to Knoxville TN, where Steve said he had family and he wanted togo there. As Steve gathered his stuff and got ready to leave he told the man how much he appreciated what he had done for him. He said that he knew Jesus loved him and  that somehow he would take care of him. The man was quiet for a moment and then asked, “How did you know that”? Steve quickly replied, “I prayed that God  would send someone to help me and then he sent you”. They both smiled and the man got into his car and pulled out of the bus station.

At that point, I realized that we had been talking for a long time as he shared this story. We smiled and as we went on our way he said, “It’s amazing what you can see when you look”.