The Day I Met Jesus

A summer afternoon, I stepped onto my study porch's to go to lunch. A Hispanic-looking man was standing there waiting for me. I said hello to him, and thinking he needed some assistance, I said, “Are you here for the food pantry?” He said that he wasn’t. I thought, perhaps, his family was in a car somewhere, so I said, “Do you need to get into our clothing closet?” He said, “No, thank you, I don’t need any clothes” Trying again, I said, “If you’re traveling through, I can arrange for you and your family to have a room for the night in our local motel.” He said, “No, I won’t be needing that.” “Well, if you’d like,” you can join me for lunch. I’m going down to the restaurant. Want to come along?” He said, “No, I’m not really hungry.” By this time, I was rather puzzled, so, I decided to introduce myself as the church’s pastor, and he said to me, “You would spell my name J-E-S-U-S.” I said, “Oh, I speak Spanish. I’m glad to meet you, Jesus (I pronounced it hay-sus).” He said, “No, not Haysus; I am Jesus.” I was somewhat taken aback. He said, “I’m going around to churches to see if they are doing what they’re supposed to be doing. You have offered me food, clothing, and lodging. You are doing what my followers are supposed to be doing!” when we least expect Jesus may appear to us unsurprisingly Thinking I was, maybe, seeing things, I nonetheless bid him farewell and went on to the restaurant. No one in the restaurant had seem a man like the one I described. No one in town had seen him. The next day I dropped by the motel, but they had not seen any man like that either. From that day on, I told folks how, one day, I met Jesus at the back door of our church; but, no one believed me, of course! Be that as it may, that epiphany changed my way of thinking and my life. we often discount mystifying occasions when Jesus drops by FIRST PLACE TROPHY WINNER Written August 9, 2022 Submitted to "An Epiphany That Changed Your Life" Contest Sponsored by Chantelle Anne Cooke