I got back from Philadelphia Saturday evening. I promise a future review of the Philly CheeseSteak! Anyway I got back to the airport and picked up the car from Thrifty. Called home to report my status and mentioned that I needed to get gas. So I headed up I75 instead of going around I275.
I stopped at a gas station somewhere in Northern Kentucky. There were 3 stations right next to each other, for some reason I stopped at the one in the middle. As I got out and started pumping gas I noticed a guy sitting on the bench by the station door with a sign that simply stated “North”.
As the gas was pumping, I walked over and noticed the fine print “Dog is friend” and say a small dog on the guys lap. I asked, “Where you headed” and he said, “New York”.
Yikes! I ain’t going that far, I thought to myself. “Well, I am going about 30 miles north, would that help you out?”
“Any bit helps”
“OK, let me finish filling up and I will pull over so you can put you stuff in.”
I went back to the car and finished filling up the tank, got my receipt and opened the trunk to put all my stuff from the trip in the trunk. As I finished he came over and put his bag in the back seat, the dog on the floor and he got in the front.
We left the gas station and headed up I75 towards Cincinnati.
As we drove towards West Chester we shared light conversation. He was headed to New York, but was taking his time as he didn’t want to get there until the snow was gone, so he was staying away from truck stops because that would get him there quicker. He spoke about how he has just wondered across the country for the past couple of years. He had a bigger dog about 6 months ago that he had a good friendship with, but on day it disappeared. He had some of his stuff stolen earlier in the day.
I asked about parts of the country, he said he likes to stick to the country and small towns. Doesn’t like to be around crowds.
We talked about the best area for me to take him to, we agreed that the Tylersville exit was the best one due to the large number of stores and heavy traffic in the area.
As we got closer to our destination I asked what kind of people typically pick him up, he said the biggest groups are truckers and stoners. I asked if he gets picked up by people who want to “fix” him. He said he gets a little of that, people that try to preach to him, people that think he is a source of free labor. He said that have been a few times where he has just said, “Stop the vehicle and let me out, I don’t mind walking.” He even said he once walked 2000 miles never accepting a ride.
As we got off I75 at Tylersville, I told him, “Well I ain’t here to try and change you or ‘fix’ you. But I would like to help you on your way if I can. Is there anything you need?” He said that only thing he really needed was a can of dog food for his dog.
As we pulled into the Meijer parking lot, I made him an offer. I will watch your dog and your bag, you take a cart and go into the store and get the things you need, bring the cart up by the door, come out with the dog and I will go in and buy the stuff.
We got out of the car and as we stood in front of the IN door, I saw the utter fear in his eyes. “Na, I don’t need anything,” he said.
Realizing that he has some social anxiety I turned it around, “OK, you stay out here and I will go get you some things… what do you need?”
“I just need a can of dog food for the dog.”
“Do you need anything else? Another backpack, water, food, anything man, you name it”
“No not really… well I could use a blanket.”
OK, anything else, what about couple candy bars or something.”
“I don’t eat sweets”
“Veggies? Fruit?”
“I like fruit”
“Ok, what kind?”
“Anything”
“Ok, dog food, a blanket, and some fruit. Are you sure you don’t need anything else?”
“No that’s it, you don’t have to…”
“OK I will be right back, give me like 5-10 minutes.”
I darted into the store, grabbed a hand basket and literally ran from one end of the store to another.
To Sporting Goods, 1st aid kit.
To Housewares, small flannel blanket – do you know how hard it is to find a pattern that isn’t girly looking!?
To Produce, apples, peaches, nectarines, bananas.
To Books, no atlas – found a small paperback copy of The Message New Testament.
To Pets, no dog food…
Back to grocery, found the dog food.
Back to Sporting Goods, ponchos and a mesh bag.
To the checkout, bottled water.
Put all the stuff in two bags, putting the bible under the blanket. And took the items out to the front of the store where he was sitting against the bike rack with his dog.
“Here you go man, I got you some dog food, a blanket, some fruit and water. And a few other things. Feel free to keep what you want.”
“Wow, I really didn’t expect all this. Thanks.”
“Hey I just want to give you a little bight spot in your day. You take care of that dog and stay safe. I hope you find what you are looking for. God Bless you on your journey.”
“Thank you.”
I stood there for a minute, wanting to do more, but I didn’t have a clue of what to do. Said, “God Bless you” again and went back to the car to get home.
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That evening I had a dream. I was back in the West Chester area, no surprise there since we are over there at least 2 days a week. And the guy came up to me, he had his dog and the bag with the blanket in it. He was holding the bible in his hand with it opened to a page, he thanked me for all that I did, especially for the bible. He pointed to the page and said this was his favorite part, it really spoke to him.
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I wish I would of seen what he was pointing to, I have spent the last couple of days thinking about it and asking The Lord to bring the verse/chapter to memory if it was important. I guess it wasn’t. But I thank The Lord for this angel that he allowed me to entertain for 30 miles on I75.
I am interpeting the dream as saying, you did what you were spose to – thank you.
A follow up note. I stopped at a drug store on the way home after all this happened just before I got home on Saturday. I needed some water to drink. And I over heard two ladies that were getting photos copied at the photo lab. A number of pictures were “scene” or “posed” pictures and the photo lab couldn’t copy them. I mentioned that if they knew someone with a scanner they could have them scan them for them. They told me that their mother had just passed away and they were in town for the funeral and handling the estate and they were both to go back home on Tuesday, and didn’t have anyone in the area. So I gave them my contact info and offered to help. Sure enough they called and brought over the pictures for me to scan. I finished it up Monday night and the one lady came over to pick them up. She wrote me a check for my work and kept calling me her angel. (That was a little weird)
The check was for $10 more than I spent on the ‘angel’ I gave the ride to on Saturday.
God surly does work in mysterious ways.
