Thoughts from a color blind man

Lately, I've been thinking about the things we miss out on in this life. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Hebrews 13:2: "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so, some have entertained angels and not known it." To think that I could pick a man up on the side of the road and he be an angel, interesting. To think that on the day you step foot on the streets of gold and see an angel fly by that has the same face as sweaty and smelly "John" that you picked up on the side of the road in SC. Strangers are very interesting, in a handshake, they become an aquaintence or maybe a new friend.

You can tell a lot about a person in how they treat people, mainly strangers. On a date, watch how your date treats the waitress. In the drive-thru at Zaxby's (of course Zaxby's is the only drive-thru you should be in), watch how people treat the person taking their order. You can listen to a person talk all day long, but the real character comes out when you watch how they interact with the world. One of my buddies tipped the guy at Auto-Zone the other day. I dig that. I love strangers and I love people that love strangers.

A few months ago, I was driving in my Jeep down a dark road in SC. I happen to look to my left and see a glimpse of what I thought was a man standing in the road. I slow down, pull over, and look back. I see nothing. I backed up a few more yards and as car goes by, I can see this person again. The road is pitch black. As I roll down my window, I can definitely now see that there is a person standing in the median of this major highway. I am a little nervous. The only time I can see this person is when a car goes by and the lights illuminate the side of the road. I ask, "Is everything okay?" As soon as the words roll of my lips, I see the shadow of this person as a car goes by and the reflection of a gun behind the shadow. This is where fight or flight kicks in. I'm 20 feet away and in the dark. I must confess that I do carry a 9mm in my Jeep, I tucked into my jeans and jumped out the Jeep. As soon as my feet hit the ground, the person starts walking towards me, I'm scared, I definitely see this stranger with a 12-Gauge shotgun. This situation is not one I would recommend. Everything in me thought something was about to go down, and it did. The scary figure strapping a 12-gauge pump turns out to be a 10 year old boy crying in the middle of the road. As he walked up and this all dawned on me, I asked him, "Is this gun loaded?" He said, "Yes." I took it from him and noticed that it was the same model of shotgun that I grew up with. Sure enough, it was also loaded, 2 in the chamber, 1 in the hole. I calmed him down, put the gun in my jeep and asked him what happened. Apparently his mom's boyfriend left him out in the woods or either he was lost. He didn't know what to do, so he walked to the middle of the biggest highway he could find in the pitch dark. He was hiding the gun because he knew nobody would help him if he were carrying a 12 gauge, so he hid it behind his leg. Wow. Imagine that. We called his mom and he happen to live in my town, so I took him home. Also got a chance to talk with his mom once I got there. She told me that she was going to try and start getting back to church.

This is so much like life and evangelism. Looking from the outside in, you have a man carrying a 12 gauge shotgun, loaded shotgun and standing in the middle of the road. In reality, you have a crying 10 year-old boy who just wants his mommy and a ride home. How many times in this life do we ignore sharing the gospel with someone because they look smarter than us, they raised you, they have more money than you, don't dress like you, don't speak like you, or enter your excuse here. The Bible says that the righteous are as bold as a lion. Be a lion.