As soon as I came over the rise, I noticed the man walking up the hill
on the left side of the road. In the few seconds it took me to close the
distance between us, I saw that he was not out for a pleasant hike. He paused,
stood erect to wipe his brow and then took a few more halting steps up the half
mile long grade. I was past him in an instant but in that flash the hook was
set. I knew I needed to go back and give him a ride. Highway 49 in Coosa County
is a hilly, winding road and it took me another half a mile to find a place to
turn around. He seemed a little surprised at my offer but accepted without
hesitation the ride and a bottle of cool water.

“Just when I was about to lose faith in my fellow man, you came
along.”

“Well”, I said, “A little voice told me to turn around and give
you a ride.”

I drove him a couple of miles to a small corner store near Reeltown. I waited
the five minutes or so that it took him to make his purchases and took him
three miles back north to a ramshackle old country house. In those few minutes
he told me how he his health had been ruined in a terrible automobile accident
a few years ago. As he climbed out of the truck, he thanked me and asked that I
pray for him. I know he was not expecting me to reach across the truck and
grasp his big, rough country hand and pray right then.

When I finished he said, “I don’t know how you knew what to pray for, but
thank you.”

The entire encounter took less than half an hour but I thought about it the
rest of the day.

In a way, we are all him. We are all crippled to one degree or another. Each of
us has crashed and limped from the wreckage. To most, the wounds are not
obvious and we carefully hide the scars.

Funny, Richard was sure that I was sent for him, but I’m quite sure that I
needed to encounter him. I needed to feel his pain and frustration and he
needed someone to come along and show just a tiny bit of compassion.

There may be someone along your road today who could use a simple hand. You
will be blessed if you listen to the voice. I know that I was.

God bless you,