The Barefoot Grandpa

“I was crossing a street once. I stood at the pedestrian crossing and waited for the green light, when I noticed an old grandpa standing next to me. He was dressed in a nice suite. But he was barefoot. And he had a beard. It was very cold, by the way. So I look at him. He looks at me. Then I ask: “Aren’t you cold?” “No, I don’t feel all this anymore,” he answers.

So I say nothing and keep it silent, but with my look I try to let him know that I’m open for a conversation. And as we cross the street, he begins to talk. And he says that he doesn’t feel cold, nor anything else, because this way he is getting closer to God. He talked about all those hermits who never thought of food, or shoes, or anything like this.

And then he began to talk about Jesus. He said that if I want to feel connection with Jesus, I must suffer, I must walk barefoot and not think about clothes. He says this to me, and he wears that striped suite. He also says that there’s no need to have children, and that this is what Jesus wanted – us to become saints. And I argue with him, trying to prove that we need children, and that not all of us will reach that state anyways.

And he asks: “Do you believe in Jesus?”
So I say, “You know, I still haven’t felt any connection with him.”
And he goes: “I can tell you how is it done. You’ll have to fast for three days and not eat anything, so that your mind is cleared. Only then you’ll be able to feel connection with God.”
So I decided not to eat, but I was able to fast only until the evening of that day.
And I never met that grandpa again.”