The Lesson

 

When i pulled over to take this picture there was an older gentleman in front of the mission. Minding my own business I took my shot and walked back to my car. The older man, curious, called to me. I pretended not to hear him. He called again and I turned around to see a man using a walker to get over to me. I stopped. He was in a hurry to see me. He would have gotten to me faster if he had been using both hands on the walker. Of course to yell "Sir, Sir" he had to cover the hole in the tube in his neck. This made it a lot harder to walk and talk at the same time. Eventually he made it to me. "Why were you taking a picture of my sign?" I replied "I thought it was funny". This is where the story gets strange. I let him know that I was taking a picture of the sign because I thought it was funny. He said "I am a knife distributor..and I have inventory to sell". At this point he seemed a little miffed. I told the man that there was no judgment coming from me, I simply thought that it was funny that a mercy mission was advertising it's great selection of knives. "You know son..I never thought of it that way..maybe it is funny". He went on to tell me that he was the pastor of this church and that he was questioning me because one of his preachers had been relieved of his duties recently for "doing harm to his parishioners". He wasn't sure if this was some sort of "legal" picture taking. I assured him it was not. This man had one more surprise for me. This man,a stranger really, put his hand on my shoulder and said "Son let me pray with you"."I don't want you to leave here thinking I had anger for you in my heart" We prayed and he sent me on my way. I love Alabama.