I was driving through "downtown" Charlottesville the other day, when I saw a white guy toting a HUGE cross, with little wheels on the bottom. I pulled up beside him and asked, Aren't the wheels cheating a little? He answered, well, I've been 5 times across America spreading the Word of Jesus, and I've walked several thousand miles in the last 2 1/2 years, so I need all the help I can get. So, one question is, has anybody else seen this guy? I wasn't sure if I could believe him or not.

The following conversation then ensued:
Mrr: Can you stop to talk?
Guy: Sure! (resting cross on ground). (So I pulled over out of traffic and got out of my car.)
Mrr: Hi, I'm an atheist (we shake hands).
Guy: Well, maybe I can change your mind.
Mrr: Well, maybe I can change yours!
Guy: He's shown me the Kingdom of Heaven!
Mrr: I'm not worried about Heaven, I'm more concerned with this life.
Guy: (starts to describe Heaven, then kind of does a doubletake) - But if you don't have God in this life...
Mrr: I don't see the need for that hypothesis.(quoting somebody, anybody remember whom?)
Guy: Well, he also showed me Hell! Do you know what that is like? All darkness, all screams, and every voice is saying Lord Jesus, get me out of here!
Mrr: What about the Hindus? (thinking: Do they all speak English, and are they all Christians, in your Hell?)
Guy: (blank look)
Mrr: I mean, what are the Hindus yelling? Surely they aren't praying to Jesus, since they don't believe in him.
Guy: Oh, Christianity just hasn't reached the Hindus yet. But they will be enlightened.
Mrr: Does that mean that what they believe is wrong?
Guy: They will hear the Word of Jesus.
Mrr: So, does that mean that what they believe is wrong?
Guy: You aren't listening, I said that the Word of Jesus just hadn't reached them yet.
Mrr: So, does that mean that what they believe now, before hearing about Jesus, is wrong?
Guy: All you are interested in is fighting.
Mrr: No, I really am trying to understand what you believe. Is what people who belong to other religions believe, wrong?
Guy: Christianity just hasn't reached them yet, we're only 2000 years old.
Mrr: But is what they believe wrong?
Guy: They will know the truth.
Mrr: So, is what they believe false?
Guy: Yes.
Mrr: Then, we really aren't so different after all.
Guy: (blank look)
Mrr: You think that anybody who follows any other religion is wrong, and I think that anybosy who follows any religion is wrong. In other words, you think 5 billion people are deluded, and I think 6 billion people are.
Guy: I want to pray.
Mrr: You can pray for me if you want to.
Guy: (reaching for my hand) Take my hand and we'll pray together.
Mrr (backing away slightly) No thanks, you can pray on your own time. I'd rather talk. (thinking but not saying, I don't want to talk to your imaginary friend, or listen to your voices)
Guy: Well, if you won't pray, I'm out of here.

And he picked up his cross and walked off down the road, with me thinking a) he's a lousy evangelist if he can't even TRY to convert an atheist, and b) boy, was that guy a loony tune. I tried to contact our local newspaper, but they didn't have a photographer to send out right then, and I haven't heard that anybody else talked to this guy. It was very interesting. But I'm really fishing for ken of whether he's for real in his claims of trekking across the USA, somebody somewhere must have seen him if that's the case.