In high school, I was in Forensics and was introduced to a piece of prose called "The Ragman" by Walter Wangerin, Jr.
Ragman was nerdly famous in our area because it was a powerful piece in the right hands and really appealed to the judges in the MidWest.
The piece is about this dirty old guy who walks the city, handing out his dirty rags to people. The rags heal people and the narrator is amazed and follows the Ragman around.
The narrator follows the man to the dump where the Ragman dies. The narrator is overcome with grief and falls unconcious.
When he awakens, the Ragman is alive and clean and healthy. The Ragman, it turns out, is Jesus.
I'm starting to wonder if Jesus is pulling the same trick with me. Like, maybe he's testing me?
Friday night, on our way into the Sprint store (a whole other rambling story--just you wait!), a man rushed at us with a gas can in his hand.
"Ladies, I'm really sorry to ask you this, but," he begins in a much angrier tone that I would normally expect, "I'm out of gas just down the road and need some gas."
Being the check card junkie that I am, I never have cash on me, and Friday was no exception.
I apologized and he stormed off to somewhere.
Saturday, Cassie and I had stopped by Tonya's place. I had just gotten out of the car when an older lady on the balcony above me called out to me. "Do you girls know of any other old ladies living alone in this place? You know, like me? I'd really like to make a friend!"
Again, I apologized. I told her we didn't live at this complex; we were just visiting a friend.
"I get so lonely."
I really wasn't quite sure what to say, and my food was getting cold! "I'm really sorry!"
As we started to head up the stairs, the woman called out "I guess I'll have to go knocking on doors!"
Surely, if this is Jesus in disguise, testing me out, he wouldn't be so abrasive, right?
Or maybe it's Cassie he's trying to test!
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