As a young minister, I was asked
by a funeral director to hold a
grave-side service for a
homeless man, with no family or friends.
The funeral was to be held at a
cemetery way back in the country, and this
man would be the first to be
laid to rest there.
As I was not familiar with the
backwoods area, I became lost; and being
a typical man did not stop for
directions. I finally arrived an hour
late. I saw the backhoe and the
crew, who were eating lunch, but the
hearse was nowhere in sight.
I apologized to the workers for
my tardiness, and stepped to the side of
the open grave, where I saw the
vault lid already in place. I assured
the workers I would not hold
them up for long, but this was the proper
thing to do. The workers
gathered around, still eating their lunch. I
poured out my heart and soul.
As I preached the workers began
to sa y "Amen," "Praise the Lord," and
"Glory"! I preached, and I
preached, like I'd never preached before:
from Genesis all the way to
Revelation.
I closed the lengthy service
with a prayer and walked to my car. As I
was opening the door and taking
off my coat, I overheard one of the
workers saying to another, "I
ain't never seen anything like that before
and I've been putting in septic
tanks for twenty years."
by a funeral director to hold a
grave-side service for a
homeless man, with no family or friends.
The funeral was to be held at a
cemetery way back in the country, and this
man would be the first to be
laid to rest there.
As I was not familiar with the
backwoods area, I became lost; and being
a typical man did not stop for
directions. I finally arrived an hour
late. I saw the backhoe and the
crew, who were eating lunch, but the
hearse was nowhere in sight.
I apologized to the workers for
my tardiness, and stepped to the side of
the open grave, where I saw the
vault lid already in place. I assured
the workers I would not hold
them up for long, but this was the proper
thing to do. The workers
gathered around, still eating their lunch. I
poured out my heart and soul.
As I preached the workers began
to sa y "Amen," "Praise the Lord," and
"Glory"! I preached, and I
preached, like I'd never preached before:
from Genesis all the way to
Revelation.
I closed the lengthy service
with a prayer and walked to my car. As I
was opening the door and taking
off my coat, I overheard one of the
workers saying to another, "I
ain't never seen anything like that before
and I've been putting in septic
tanks for twenty years."