Another Touching Story.... These just came to me... Must read?

We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I

sat Erik in a highchair and noticed everyone was quietly

sitting and talking.

Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, "Hi." He pounded

his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were

crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless

grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.

I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was

a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and

his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty

and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were

too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose

it looked like a road map. We were too far from him to

smell, but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and

flapped on loose wrists.

"Hi there, baby. Hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster," the

man said to Erik.

My husband and I exchanged looks, "What do we do?"

Erik continued to laugh and answer, "Hi."

Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then

at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my

beautiful baby.

Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the

room, "Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look

, he knows peek-a-boo."

Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk.

My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all

except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for

the admiring skid row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with

his cute comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My

husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in

the parking lot.

The old man sat poised between me and the door.

"Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or

Erik," I prayed.

As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to

sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I

did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a

baby's "pick-me-up" position.

Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my

arms to the man's. Suddenly a very old smelly man and a

very young baby consummated their love and kinship. Erik in

an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny

head upon the man's ragged shoulder. The man's eyes closed,

and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands

full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby's

bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved

so deeply for so short a time. I stood awestruck.

The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes

opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm

commanding voice, "You take care of this baby." Somehow I

managed, "I will," from a throat that contained a stone.

He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as

though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man

said, "God bless you, ma'am, you've given me my Christmas

gift." I said nothing more than a muttered thanks.

With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was

wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and

why I was saying, "My God, my God, forgive me."

I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the

innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no

judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a

suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a

child who was not.

I felt it was God asking, "Are you willing to share your son

for a moment when He shared His for all eternity.

The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, "To enter

the Kingdomof God, we must become as little children."