The Guy at the Picnic Table Somewhere in GA

August 1973

The Setting:
- Sunday afternoon after church in Jacksonville, after saying goodbye to my girlfriend Dru.
- Somewhere along HWY 95 in Georgia driving to Charleston.
- Stopping at 7-11 to get a Coke to wake me up on a tiring drive.
- Man sitting alone at a picnic table on the side of the parking lot.
- I am walking to the store from my car and see him at the table.
- I am struggling inside.

"Should I talk to him? I don't really think I should; I should ask him if he would like to hear about Jesus. That would be stupid. O.K. I'll talk to him, but I am not going to ask him if he would like to hear about Jesus. Not that, anything else. That is so..."

"Excuse me sir, would you like to hear about Jesus?" I couldn't think of anything else to say and I felt so embarrassed by what was coming out of my mouth.

The man looked up, "Right now there's nothing else I'd rather hear about!" I couldn't believe what I heard; I told him, "Just a minute, I'll be right back," then went to my car, got my Bible, went to the picnic table and sat down with my Bible across from the man who wanted to hear about Jesus.

His brother was a Pentecostal Christian who died 2 weeks ago. He had been drinking non-stop since then. We prayed, he gave his life to Christ and I told him something I never told anybody or dared to tell anybody since. He worked at the liquor store across the street from the 7/11, so I told him he should trust the Lord and get another job. I was simply thinking that with a possible drinking problem, it may not be good for him as a new Christian to work at a liquor store. He agreed and talked to me about a place he could move to.

2 weeks later I stopped at the liquor store to visit him and was told, "He left two weeks ago, we don't know where he went."