It's Only a Doughnut

My wife, Dena and I were driving and we had just gotten off the highway at an exit where among the businesses there are few restaurants, gas stations and a Krispy Kreme. Near the bottom of the ramp there was a healthy looking young man with a cardboard sign saying , "Need cash, please help." I wondered why such a young man who appeared to be healthy needed help. "Get a job," I thought. Even mentioned it to Dena. As I watched for the light to change I kept my eye on this guy holding his sign. I studied his face, his clothes, even his demeanor. He seemed quite agitated but not disheveled and certainly not someone who was in such dire straits to be begging on the roadside. Strange as it was, for some reason I felt I needed to give him a dollar. Traffic had built up and then the light turned green before I could get to my wallet so on I went. I hadn't driven 500 yards when out of nowhere there came an overwhelming feeling of going back to give this guy a buck. Dena laughed and told me to hurry and as I turned around in Thornton's I saw a special price for a bag of Dunkin's. I thought, "I'll get him some doughnuts." Dena laughed again wondering when and how doughnuts came into it. Then she grabbed several pieces of Muth's Easter candy that were in the reservoir between the seats and said, Here, give him these too," and dropped them in the bag and closed the top. Due to traffic and the fact I could not drive back up the ramp to where this guy was standing I parked nearby and walked through a row of bushes to get up there. He was facing the road and I tapped him on his shoulder before he knew I was there. He practically jumped out onto the ramp he was so startled. I reached out with the bag and I said, "Here are some doughnuts." The guy started crying, literally. Tears streaming down his face. I said, "Calm down man, it's just some doughnuts." He reached his hand down to grab my arm as if to see if I was really there and asked these words I'll never forget, "Are you an angel?" I laughed out loud and told him again to calm down, it was only some doughnuts. He then told me he had been hitchhiking for almost a week. He had lost his Highway job in Virginia and sent all the money he had made back to his wife and daughter living on the west coast in Oregon. He was trying to hitchhike back and managed to collect a few dollars but thought he should save it in case he could get a ride and contribute for gas money. However the smell from the area restaurants and of course the prevalent doughnut shop sign was making him very hungry. He said he had not eaten anything that day. He wanted to go to the Krispy Kreme and buy some doughnuts but he thought better of it and saved his money. He said he was told by his wife when he started his trek to pray to God for help to get him home and he would make it. At that point he said a prayer for the first time on the trip and asked if there was any possible way that he could get some doughnuts. It was at that point when he felt me tapping his shoulder. I will never forget his face and I will also always wonder what it looked like when he finally did open the bag, looked inside and saw the doughnuts covered by the Easter candy that Dena had thrown inside, several chocolate crosses.

Never underestimate the power of a prayer to change someone's day or life for the better, even with something as simple as a doughnut.