W.T.L.

"Are you a minister?" he asked. I was sitting in the Arcade downtown at lunch, taking refuge from a sudden cloud burst, eating a container of fried rice from one the local Chinese places. I was dressed like ten thousand other office ants, so I don't know why he picked me out of a crowd- I left my Bible at the house and my halo...well if I ever had one, I left it somewhere a long time ago. "Yes, I am," I answered, "Pull up a chair and have a seat."

He was a newspaper vendor, selling one of those papers designed to allow folks to ask for help without running afoul of the Nashville panhandling law. He was African American, maybe sixty, and he looked tired, but happy. "Well, Praise God!" he said. "My name is William Thomas Liddell. W.T.L. - You know what that stands for?" I said I did not. "The Way, the Truth and the Life," he said with a smile.

I asked him how he was doing and he began to tell me about his wife, that was suffering from headaches that could be neurological, could be vascular related- hard to tell. She was supposed to get some tests run this next week. He told me about his rent- $47.50 a day. Obviously, they were living in a hotel somewhere in the area.

I told him I couldn't solve all his problems, but I would buy a paper and handed him a rolled up five spot. Then I asked him if I could pray with him and took his hand and prayed for him, his success, his wife's healing, and rest for his tired feet. He looked me in the eye and said, "I love you, Rev," to which I replied sincerely, "I love you too."

I thought a lot about William last night and this morning. Maybe I'll see him again on the street; maybe not- you never know. But I hope to see him in Heaven one day, where there are no headaches, no money troubles, no worries.

I wrote this today because I want to ask you to take a moment and pray for William and his wife. Pray for their safety, provision and healing. Pray for a man that knows a brother when he sees one...pray for someone that takes his own name and finds Jesus there. W.T.L.- The Way, The Truth, The Life.