It’s an infrequent morning when I ride with Mike to a spot on West Lake Road where at a pre-ordained spot, he drops me off and I walk home, but success with a new muffin recipe was making a beautiful morning into the beginning of a good day. I was glad he was running late so I could hop in the van and get that extra little time walking along the lake. We headed north towards town, but Mike had driven not far down the road where a landscaping truck had paused in the opposite lane. So much of the road in the morning is in shadow, but I saw some movement and noticed a young man weed-whacking along the shoulder of the road. He was dressed in dark clothes and Mike, mindful of avoiding the truck facing us – parked very close to the center line, very nearly pulled on to the shoulder where the young man was working. “If you had not been with me,” Mike said, “I probably would have hit that guy.” I agreed. We both let out a long sigh of relief, after which Mike said, “If that guy is still there when you pass him, please tell him what almost happened.”.

Mike dropped me off and I began the two mile walk home. It’s never a race home – I always have my camera and I don’t feel any urgency to hurry along. After some picture-taking, I came to the long stretch of road and noticed the landscaping truck that Mike had avoided, parked along the road. As I got closer, I saw a young man, with a rake and wheelbarrow, cleaning up shrub trimmings and leaves.  I wasn’t sure if he was the ‘one’ we nearly hit and he looked busy and he had ear protection on…all those things that I reasoned were reasons for NOT STOPPING, so what did I do? I walked by…. 

But, I just didn’t ‘walk by’ – I walked by probably 30 yards rationalizing why I had no business talking to this young man and interfering in his day. But something – as a person of faith, I believe is a SOMEONE, stopped me…so, with a resigned and slightly exasperated sigh, I turned around and made my way back to the parked truck. 

The conversation was brief and if you know me, I could not hold my tears back. “You’re having a good day.” I told the young man, then I told him what had nearly happened 45 minutes earlier. Wearing dark clothes and working on a very shady shoulder of a road could have been tragic.  He was grateful, respectful, and apologetic. I was, too, for all the hemming and hawing I was doing walking those 30 yards back to that parked landscaping truck. I grabbed his twenty-something-year-old-arm and my last tearful words to him were, “God loves you.”.

…Not the most eloquent of messages – in fact, I’m not sure which words of those I spoke to the young man this morning will have the most impact on him, but I walked away knowing that God has His hand on that young man.  And I have to say, speaking eternal life into his life made keeping the faith – something that is often an intangible concept, VERY real today, and made what started out as a good day, one of the best.