The early morning rays pierce through the sky as a new day dawns. Ed, a homeless man, is back at the bus stop again. For the past couple years Ed has been sitting at the stop everyday chatting with the people as they expectantly wait for the bus to take them to their various destinations. Now if you knew anything about where Ed lives you would soon find out that the bus stop is one of the worst places for a person such as Ed to be. The people at the bus stop are regulars, not tourists and most of them don’t want to part with their hard earned money. But Ed knows this and more often than not, he could have had enough money to have a hot meal had he sat with his coin can in another part of the city. But to Ed this is all secondary, for you see Ed has a reason for sitting at this bus stop, and when asked why he insists on sitting there day in and day out”
he simply replies “because God told me to”.
To most this doesn’t make any sense at all but nonetheless, Ed is resolute. One day Ed was sitting at the stop as usual, when he saw a car pull up, smoke and steam leaking from under the hood. Out jumped a man looking like he himself was about to blow a gasket. His face turned to a nice shade of crimson as he angrily shouted to no one in particular; He slammed his fingers violently on his cell phone, trying to get a signal. Finally, after getting through to a tow truck, the stranger sat down on the bench next to Ed.
“rough day” Ed asked
“You can say that again” The man replied. “I’ve had two sermon series plus a men’s study group, and a couple that’s going through a nasty divorce; and the weeks not even over”.
Ed just smiled back disarmingly, “So you a preacher eh?”
“Yeah for now anyways” the man grunted back.
“Must be worth it though, doing the Lords work and all” Ed stated.
“Well to tell you the truth I’m about sick of it” the man replied. “In fact I would have moved on long ago if any other church in the city could give a guy a decent paycheck”
“Oh I see” Ed said. Looking the man up and down and noticing his designer suit and brand new shoes. Finally the tow truck came and the stranger was gone almost as fast as he had first appeared.
A couple of days later Ed was again sitting on his bench when a young man, barely sixteen and scared by the looks of him, came and sat down on the bench next to him. “Where you off to?” Ed said.
“I don’t really now” the boy replied. “I’m running away.”
“Oh now I’m sure you don’t want to do that.” Ed stated. And for the next couple of hours Ed talked with the boy reassuring him that there is always hope even when you doubt the most. Finally Ed ended with these final words
“After all young fellow God has things figured out”
The boy nodded and replied with a sheepish “thanks” before getting up and starting back home. An hour went by and as Ed sat there watching the sun go down he heard a car slowly pull up. Ed looked up and saw the preacher, tears running down his eyes.
“How can I ever repay what you did for my son?”
Ed simply replied “You know there are some things that are worth more than money can buy”
The preacher sat down next to him and replied “You know I think I’m starting to understand what you’re saying.”
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