The Hitchhiker
It was the middle of Winter and I was just getting out of a training for my job. The drive home was 25 miles and I needed to get on the road quick so I could get back in time to pick up my sons from school. I pulled my coat on and headed out to my car. The temperatures were below freezing, the snow was steadily falling, and the wind felt like a punch in the face. I hurried into my car and pulled out. I had only been driving a few minutes, though, when I saw him. He was dressed in an old, thin coat. His long hair and grey beard looked frosted from the air. In one hand he held 3 grocery bags. The other hand was up, hitchhiking in the swirling snowstorm.
I don’t usually pick up hitchhikers because with 3 grown kids and one small car there usually isn’t room. This time, however, I pulled over fast and opened the door for the shivering man. He wasn’t headed to the same town I was but I agreed to give him a ride halfway home. For the next 12 miles then we rode and talked. It was one of the most enjoyable and enlightening conversations I’d had in a long time. We talked of education, money, my children, the kindness of strangers, and even touched on spirituality. My passenger was a retired school teacher living on a fixed income, but he didn’t let having little money and no car keep him from experiencing life to the fullest. In fact, only one of his 3 bags had actual groceries. Another was full of books and the third carried a new plant for his home. He reminded me again that appearances can be deceiving and that the brightest souls often come in disguise.
I felt sorry for all the other drivers who passed by this fine man. They missed out on a great talk full of wisdom and joy. They missed out on meeting a shining soul still sharing his light. They chose fear and lost. May you always choose love instead. May you help your neighbor whenever you can. And may you treat everyone you meet as God in disguise.
~ Joseph J. Mazzella ~
[ by: Joseph J. Mazzella Copyright © 2009 (joecool@wirefire.com) -- submitted by: Joseph Mazzella ]
*******The intent of this message is to encourage. No way am I implying to go and pick up a hitchhiker. Be SAFE, WISE and enjoy the message ;D
His Humble Servant,
Monica
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88650Well, I've been picking up hitch hikers all my life, and probably won't stop now, hee hee hee. Once I even picked up an angel.
Now, he didn't look like an angel, for sure. But I was coming home from work, and all day had been thinking of California, and how I should have stayed there, and how maybe I should go back (I live in PA, USA, and was in LA in 1969, and just loved it!). Well this was 1989, and I was a few years older. When I got on the thruway, this guy was hitching, and old hippie with a beard, duffle bag and a German Shephard. And it was raining. I stopped for him, which was unusual, not because he was a hippie, but because wet dog is not exactly my cup of tea. That dog was really really big. So wet dog and duffle bag got bundled in the back seat, and the guy was in the front with me. We got to talking, and he said he was coming from LA. Wow. So I told him what I had been thinking, and he told me he had been in LA in the late 60's, and every year made a pilgrimage back. He said it had changed so much he probably wouldn't be doing it again, and looked me straight in the eye, and said, "Don't go. You'll be so disappointed." Wow, ok, well then. I asked him where he was from, and he told me Concord, New Hampshire. On a whim, I asked him if he knew of a guy named Jim V., a friend of mine who lived there. "Oh, yeah, I listen to him on the radio all the time, and I've even met him a couple of times!" (Flabbergasted silence)
I ended up taking this guy all the way he was going that evening, saw him to a motel, etc. I drove home, crying, understanding very clearly that he was sent to me personally, that there are no coincidences, and that angels sometimes smell like wet dogs.
Honest, true story. And no, I never thought he would attack me, or sic the dog on me, I'm missing some critical "fear" gene, it's a wonder I've survived this long!
Love you all,
Marji
1 comment
by mad14kt
09 Jun 2009
Yep, angels don't come with the BLING BLING but they come with compassion and most of all "THE GIFT". I too have had many experiences with angels unaware. ;D *2U
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