Image: TheTimes-Tribune.com

She passed him on the highway about 2:00 in the afternoon. He was pushing a bicycle loaded down like a pack horse with seemingly all of his meager belongings. Her thought was, ‘How could he push that bike with all that stuff?’ She thought about him for a few more minutes and then turned up the radio and sped on. She had to get to work. There, she played the songs and shared the verses and offered inspiration and even gave some tips on ways to do random acts of kindness. He didn’t cross her mind again that afternoon.

 On her way home, she cranked the radio again and thought about her family, her life, what she’d make for dinner that night and what her schedule looked like for the coming week. Then her heart leaped out of her chest when she saw the man again! Five hours later, he was still on his journey down that two-lane highway, cars passing him by at 60 miles per hour. It was an unusually cool day in July, but he had a jacket to keep the chill away. He was nearing the intersection of two highways, now riding the bike with determined purpose. She heard God’s voice in the words she had shared, the verses that He had pointed out to her that day. He said, “Share my love with him.”

 At the next road, she made a U-turn to find a place to buy him some food for the night. Loading her arms with a couple of sandwiches, snacks, and nutritious drinks, she laid it all on the counter, planning to stop and give it to him out on the road. But, then she spied him inside the store looking at the soda case. He had stepped in line holding just a can of Dr. Pepper as the clerk was bagging up the bounty.

So,  she turned around and handed him the sack of food and drinks, telling him, “These are for you. God loves you,” thinking she should have said so much! To her surprise, he responded, “I know!” with a huge grin spreading across his tanned, leathery face. The tousled hair and missing-teeth smile reminded her of a song she’d listened to in her car earlier about God’s love washing over people, making them like radiant diamonds.

God had given her an opportunity to bless him and he had blessed her even more, showing her something beautiful in this highway traveler.