Double Quarter-Pounder for the Invisible Man
Invisible Man
My SUV began to accelerate as I pointed her nose toward I-10 and the long way back home to Texas from Mobile, Alabama. I had spent the last three days at a pastor's conference where I had been encouraged and revived in the Holy Spirit. I turned my blinker on and turned onto the access ramp to the Interstate. That's when I saw him…a hitchhiker standing beside the ramp.
It was as if a glass of ice water had been thrown in my face. I ignored the homeless man and kept 'pouring the coal' to the SUV, soon leaving Alabama in my rear view mirror as I crossed into Mississippi.
After driving for an hour or so, I realized that it was lunch time, so I veered off in Gulfport for a sandwich. The drive-through was clear and I ordered my combo meal then raced back toward the Interstate. Just as I turned my blinker on to get back on I-10, there was another hitchhiker standing right where the other one had been beside the on-ramp! Again, I sped by him and onto the west bound lane of the Interstate, soon leaving Mississippi behind as well.
By mid-afternoon, I was approaching Hammond, Louisiana and I needed a little pick-me-up. A milk shake sounded like just the thing to revive me, so I turned off and headed for the nearby golden arches. I pulled into the parking lot, marched through the door and to the restroom.
When I darted from the restroom, that's when I saw him sitting beside the plate glass window. He was a disheveled, young African American man with dreadlocks and tattered clothes. He was hunched down low in the seat as if he were trying to be invisible. I knew immediately that he was a homeless person, as the plastic bag and nearly empty two-liter bottle of soda in front of him added the exclamation point.
What was I to do? It seemed as though God had been trying to get my attention ever since I left the pastor's conference in Mobile by placing homeless people all along my pathway. Here was one that I couldn't just blow past. I knew that God wanted me to do something, but I didn't know what.
I ordered my milkshake and waited while the attendant worked on it. I prayed a little prayer, "Lord, what is it that you want me to do?" I felt that I knew the answer already in my bones. The attendant handed me my shake and I walked back toward the far side of the restaurant to where the Invisible Man was hunched against the wall looking out the window.
"Hey, Man. Are you hungry?" I asked.
"Huh?" he looked around, seemingly confused.
"Do you want something to eat?" I asked again.
Still confused, he quickly realized what I was offering. "Yeah!"
"What do you want?" I beckoned.
He looked past me and said, "A double quarter pounder."
"Okay," I said, then went to the counter and ordered him a combo meal. When the attendant filled up the tray with the food, I took it to him and slid it onto the table in front of him.
"Thank you," the Invisible Man said as he looked me in the eye for the first time.
"Jesus loves you," I said as I smiled at him. He looked down at his meal and began to un-wrap his burger. "Are you alright?" I asked.
His face burst into a huge smile as he said, "Yeah, Man. I'm good."
I turned to head out the door. As I looked back over my shoulder, I saw the Invisible Man with the huge smile still on his face.
Psalme 107:9 says, "For he (God) satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things."
Be alert to what God may be trying to say to you and always be ready to reach out in His love to touch someone. It may put a smile on their face and bring them closer to the realization of God's great love for them.
