A young minister was asked by a funeral director to hold a grave-side service for a homeless man, with no family or friends, who had died while traveling through the area.  The funeral was to be held at a cemetery way back in the country, and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there.

As he was not familiar with the backwoods area, the young minister became lost, and being a typical man he did not stop for directions and finally arrived an hour late.

The young minister saw the crew, eating lunch, but the hearse was nowhere in sight.  After apologizing to the workers for his tardiness, he stepped to the side of the open grave, where he saw the vault lid already in place.  He assured the workers he would not hold them long but this was the proper thing to do.  The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch.

He poured out his heart and soul.  As he preached, the workers began to say “Amen,” “Praise the Lord,” and “Glory.”  He preached, and he preached, like he’d never preached before - from Genesis all the way to Revelations.

He closed the lengthy service with a prayer and walked to his car.  He felt he had accomplished his purpose with true dedication, in spite of his tardiness.

As he was opening the door to his car and taking off his coat, he overheard one of the workers saying to another, “I ain’t never seen anything like this before.  .  .  and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”