A minister, passing through his church in the middle of the day,
decided to pause by the altar and see who had come to pray.
Just then the back door opened. A man came down the aisle,
The minister frowned as he saw the man hadn't shaved in a while.
His shirt was kinda' shabby and his coat was worn and frayed.
The man knelt, he bowed his head, then rose and walked away.

In the days that followed, each noontime came this man.
Each time he knelt just for a moment, a lunch pail in his hand.
Well, the minister's suspicions grew, with robbery a main fear.
He decided to stop the man and ask him, "Watcha' doin' here?"

The old man said that he worked down the road. Lunch was half an hour.
Lunchtime was his prayer time, for finding strength and power.
"I stay only moments, see, 'cause the factory's so far away;
As I kneel here talking to the Lord, this is kinda' what I say:

'I just came again to tell you, Lord, how happy I have been
since we found each other's friendship and you took away my sin.
I don't know much of how to pray.
But I think about you every day.
So, Jesus, this is Jim, checkin' in.'"

The minister, feeling foolish, told Jim that that was fine.
He told him he was welcome to come and pray just anytime.
Jim smiled, said, "Thanks," and hurried to the door.
The minister knelt at the altar, which he'd never done before.
His cold heart melted, warmed with love, met with Jesus there.
As the tears flowed, in his heart, he repeated old Jim's prayer:

"I just came again to tell you, Lord, how happy I have been
since we found each other's friendship and you took away my sin.
I don't know much of how to pray.
But I think about you every day.
So, Jesus, this is me, checkin' in."

Past noon one day, the minister noticed that old Jim hadn't come.
As more days passed without Jim, he began to worry some.
At the factory, he asked about him, learning he was ill.
The hospital staff was worried, but he'd given them a thrill.

The week that Jim was with them, brought changes in the ward.
His smiles, a joy contagious, changed people.... his reward.
The head nurse couldn't understand how Jim could be so glad
when no flowers, calls or cards came, not a visitor he had.

The minister sat by his bed. He voiced the nurse's concern: 'No friends came to show they cared. He had nowhere to turn.'
Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up and with a winsome smile;
"The nurse is wrong, she couldn't know, that all the while
Every day at noon, He's here, a dear friend of mine, you see.
He sits right down, takes my hand, leans over and says to me:

'I just came again to tell you, Jim, how happy I have been
since we found each other's friendship and I took away your sin.
I always love to hear you pray.
I think about you every day.
So, Jim, this is Jesus, checkin' in.'"

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