Page 1 - Good News July 2012 paper

t was a cold winter’s day that Sunday. the wall outside the church. He was almost
The parking lot to the church was filling
Iup quickly. I noticed as I got out of my
car that fellow church members were
whispering among themselves as they
walked to the church.
As I got closer I saw a man leaning against
ted singing the
lying down as if he were asleep. He had on a words of this
long trench coat that was almost in shreds song: “If I can
and a hat topped his head, pulled down so help somebody
you could not see his face. He wore shoes as I pass along;
that looked 30 years old, too small for his If I can cheer
feet with holes all over them. His toes stuck somebody with
out. I assumed this man was homeless, and a word or song;
asleep, so I walked on by through the doors If I can show
of the church. We all fellowshipped for a somebody that
few minutes. People snickered and gos- he’s travelling
siped but no one had bothered to ask the wrong;
man to come in, including myself. A few Then my living
moments later the service began. shall not be in
We all waited for the preacher to take his vain.”
place and give us the Word, when the doors
to the church opened. In came the home-
less man walking down the aisle with his
head down. People gasped and whispered
and made faces. He made his way down the
aisle and up onto the pulpit. He took off his
hat and coat. My heart sank. There stood
our preacher! He was the “homeless man.”
No one said a word. The preacher took his
Bible and laid it on the stand.
“Folks, I don’t think I have to tell you what I
am preaching about today.” Then he star-