Now, for a Good Friday story. It was in the year, 1974 and I was in my second year at a small town, small liberal arts college in Western IL. I was the poor kid on a scholarship and decided to stay at school over the Easter holiday for economic reasons. My friend Mark invited me to go home to Iowa with him over the weekend. Mark did not like buses and always hitchhiked around. I had a very nasty flu bug and really just wanted to stay in bed but Mark said, his Mom would see to me and I could rest at his families home. So, I agreed and we set out with thumbs out and the first car to stop was a Satan worshiper practicing Witch from Chicago who was going home to visit his family in Iowa. He had a devil medallion hanging from his rear view mirror and talked of his devilish beliefs. He pretty much, hated his job, hated his life but wanted money and power. We stopped at a gas station. He wanted shacks and asked if we wanted anything. We both declined and after he left looked at each other and I said to Mark, we have to get away from this man. We just walked away and went down an on ramp to catch another ride. A VW mini bus pulled over with a long haired hippie looking young man and he told us he had driven from California and basically told us he travelled by faith and he talked about Jesus the entire time we were with him. It was a cold windy day with dark black clouds but during the time with him, the sky opened up and the sun came out. He said it was cold in the Midwest and he did not have enough warm clothes. I had a old army surplus green parka that I was wearing and I loved it but decided to literally give him the shirt off my back. I still had a heavy cotton hooded sweatshirt on and was burning with fever anyhow so I suppose it was good to cool down anyhow. When he dropped us off I looked at Mark and said, what do you think the chances are of us meeting two such opposite people. I thought after it was showing me two different future paths in life and the choice was my own. Our last ride was a family man. Just a nice man passing thru Marks small town and offered to take us there. He was not so talkative as the first two. After this weekend, Marks parents were concerned for us and gave us two bus tickets home. We left on Monday morning on a bus but when we were almost home, Mark decided he had enough of busses and we got off at one of the bus stops. There we meet a religious family in the parking lot. Man, wife a a few small children. They thought we should not be hitchhiking and were genuinely concerned for our well being. The way he talked, he might have been a preacher. He offered to give us money for food and we declined. We said that we were not so far from home. These folks were dressed in their Sunday best and in my eyes just calm, kind, salt of the Earth people. So, we started the trip with a Real Witch, Satan worshipper and ended with a very nice and kind Christian family. Again, I will repeat, what are the chances of that?
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