Billy and his friends told the story to a high school English class taught by Ms Ruby Lee Chance.  He said that they had been studying about the Good Samaritan in their Bible study class at First Baptist Church of Natchez.  Their teacher had challenged them to be good Samaritans.  They discussed it later among themselves and tried to think of someone they could reach out to.  One of the boys said that there was an old man who lived in a shack about fifty yards below the top of the bluff above the Mississippi River.  Billy suggested that they pay him a visit and find out what his needs were.  They walked to the bluff, climbed over the railing, and made their way through the thick brush down to where the old man lived.  They sat and talked with him and asked if he needed anything.  He said he would be pleased if they could get him some  food.  They walked back to downtown Natchez where Billy's family owned a furniture store  They related the need to his father who gave them enough money to purchase the needed food items.  Back they went to the shack to deliver the groceries.  

The students in the English class  were touched and moved by the good deed of these Good Samaritans.

From the description of the old man, I  remembered seeing him from time to time shuffling along the streets of the city.

The men of First Baptist Church found out about what the boys had done and made it possible for the old man to move to a facility where he could live and have enough to eat and to wear.  I would see the old man from time to time on Sunday afternoons when the youth of our church went to the home to have a worship service for the residents and carry them some fruit.

Time passed and I had forgotten about the old man.

On a Saturday afternoon I went to a local department store on Franklin Street to purchase a shirt and tie.  Mr. Crawford was waiting on me when two men, one young and one old,  walked through the front door. The clerk asked me to keep looking while he waited on the men.  I glanced at the old gentleman.  He looked familiar.  It was the old man that the Good Samaritans had helped. I continued to listen.  The young man said, "This is my father.  I have not seen him in many years.  I have been looking for him and today  I found him.  I want to buy him a complete outfit to wear home."  So, Mr. Crawford helped them pick out a suit, shirt, tie, belt, socks, shoes and a nice hat.  The old man went into the dressing room and changed his old clothes for the new.  The son said, "Don't alter anything.  Just roll up the cuffs.  I want to get him home as soon as possible for my family to meet him.  We have many miles to go."

I looked at Mr. Crawford.  He looked at me. We looked at them as they walked away.

The Good Samaritan of the Bible told the innkeeper that if the man he had found by the side of the road had any other need that he would take care of the expense when he passed that way again. 

The story about this old man began with the ministry of three Good Samaritans and ended with the rescue by the Good Samaritan son.  The beginning...the end...and the end was the beginning.

(This story was told for the first ime by pastor James W. Buie to the Children's Church of the Lone Pine Baptist Church, East of Canton, Mississippi on a Sunday morning on September 19, 2004.)  

                                                                                                                          JWB