One cold evening about a year ago, I was making an impromptu drive to see my oldest son who was, at the time, attending Mississippi College in Clinton.
It had been a long day and adding an unexpected seven-hour round tripper from Mobile to Clinton and back that night did not go towards filling the deficit of joy I was currently experiencing, not even a little bit.
On the drive up, I stopped at the Love’s Travel Stop in Magee to fill up and grab a coffee. Back at my vehicle and pumping gas, I was miraculously the only person in the parking lot, except for a lone fella I had noticed when I pulled in, who was now slowly ambling my way.
I watched the stranger approach me via the reflection in my vehicle’s window and when he was maybe 20 feet away, I turned my 6’2,” 220-pound self squarely towards him and asked very directly what I could do for him. He stopped walking, paused, then smiled a little and said, “I just wanted to ask you if you know Jesus”.
I paused for a moment myself, a bit stunned by the statement, then smiled back at him and said, “Brother, if that is all you want, then I am happy to tell you that we are on the same team.”
I walked towards him and introduced myself, shook his hand, then we stood in that parking lot and talked for a few minutes before parting ways.
Unfortunately, I can’t recall the gentleman’s name, but he said that he would often stop here on his way home from work and witness to people for a while before going on home. I asked him how business had been that evening and if he had made any sales. He smiled and said no, not yet.
I wish I could somehow let that fella know what a blessing it was to meet him that night. How uplifted I was as I pulled out of that parking lot and went on my way.
I wish I could let him know how inspired I was by his ministry, his willingness boldly stand in a parking lot waiting for total strangers to stop in so he could tell them about the same Jesus that I chose to follow not so many years prior to our meeting.
I also sometimes wonder if he was no man at all, but perhaps an angel, sent by God to briefly encourage His former prodigal child that was having a pity party, in spite of the countless blessings in his life. I’ll never know the answer to that question this side of Heaven.
What I do know is this…
The work of our ministry, and our efforts to share the good news, never return void. Our witness for Christ is not only to call to the lost. Sometimes, our witness is meant to strengthen and encourage the found. I learned that one cold night from a stranger wearing boots, jeans, and a ball cap, wandering around a gas station parking lot in Magee, Mississippi.
