IHI Home

About IHI

IHI Original works

Photo Archives

Links

Daniel’s Ministry Adapted By Sherry Brandon Cast: Sam, Daniel, woman (Sam, a professionally dressed man whistles happily across stage carrying a briefcase and a paper lunch sack and sits on a bench at a bus stop. A man approaches carrying a very large backpack stuffed full. He’s wearing a sign that reads “will work for food”. The man struggles to get the pack off his back and sits on the bench next to Sam. He appears exhausted.) SAM: Sir, are you sick? DANIEL: No, just resting. SAM: Have you eaten today? DANIEL: Oh, I ate something early this morning. SAM: Would you like some lunch? (offers him paper sack) DANIEL: Do you have some work I could do for you? SAM: No work. I take the bus to work from the city…beats the traffic (chuckles). I’d just like you to have this. I’ll just grab something when I get back to the office. DANIEL: Thanks. I appreciate that. SAM: I’m Sam. (offers his hand) DANIEL: (shakes his hand) Daniel. Good to meet ya. SAM: Where you headed? DANIEL: St. Louis. SAM: Where you from? DANIEL: Oh, all over…mostly Florida. (he removes his jacket to reveal a T-shirt that said ‘Jesus is the Never Ending Story’.) SAM: Hey, I like your shirt. ‘Jesus is the Never Ending Story’. DANIEL: Amen. SAM: How long you been walking? DANIEL: Fourteen years. SAM: That’s a long time. DANIEL: It all started when I was backpacking across the country, and stopped on the beach in Daytona. I hired on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. I thought it was going to be a concert, but it turned out to be revival services. That’s when I gave my life over to God. Nothing's been the same since. I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did…some 14 years now. SAM: Ever think of stopping? DANIEL: Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me. But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. (he opens his pack and pulls out a few Bibles to show Sam, who’s astonished) I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads. SAM: What's it like? DANIEL: What? SAM: To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign? DANIEL: Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me. ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.’ Here…take an extra Bible. Give it to someone you think could really use it. I myself, always welcome another Bible…I like to view it as another soul saved. (hands him Bible) SAM: (takes Bible) Thanks. Where you headed from here? DANIEL: (pulls out a brochure and opens it) Well, I found this little map of Houston, Texas on the back of this amusement brochure. SAM: Are you hoping to hire on there for a while? DANIEL: No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there (points to brochure) needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next. (puts it away remembering) Hey, would you sign my autograph book? I like to keep messages from folks I meet. SAM: I’d be glad to. (quickly scribbles something in the book) DANIEL: (reading) Jeremiah 29:11. (then looks out and closes eyes to recite from memory) 'I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.' Thanks, man. (looks in opposite direction) Well, that’s my bus to Houston. See you in the New Jerusalem. SAM: I'll look for you! DANIEL: Hey, when you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me? SAM: You bet! God bless. DANIEL: God bless! (A woman joins Sam at the bus stop. She looks tired and frustrated as she begins to dig through her purse for her bus fare. She sighs, as she pulls out her dollar. ) SAM: (watching her, he looks down at the Bible, then back at her) Pardon me miss? (she looks at him oddly) But do you know what the ‘New Jerusalem’ is? (hands her the Bible and she takes it looking at the book, then back at him curiously) (back to the scripts page)