Usually you have to work to bring heaven to earth, but sometimes it just come to you.
It came to me yesterday, just after lunch, when I parked my car on Monument Avenue and headed into the church through the courtyard. I saw someone sitting on one of the benches in the sunshine and went over to introduce myself. He said his name was Isaac, and that he was from Kenya. “Isaac?” I said. “Like the son of Abraham?” “Yes! he said, smiling.
He told me that he had arrived in New York a few weeks ago, but found it too expensive. He got on a bus headed south and got off in Richmond. When he told his story to a cab driver, the driver brought him to First Baptist Church.
Isaac said, “I tried to go into the church but they wouldn’t let me in, so I sat here in the courtyard praying that the pastor would come out.” “I’m the pastor,” I said, and he said, “Oh, thank you, Jesus!”
Turns out Isaac is a world-class marathoner. When I asked him if he could run a marathon in four hours he smiled and said, “More like two hours” (FYI: the world record for the marathon is 2:03:38). But what he really seems to be is a world-class Christian. He knows more Scripture than I do and when he talks about Jesus tears come to his eyes.
What’s next for Isaac? I don’t know, but I do know that yesterday, in a sunny courtyard outside First Baptist Church, the Kingdom of Heaven came to Richmond, Virginia.
For we walk by faith we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting mans relationship to God and divine things with trust and holy fervour thus we walk by not by sight or appearance 2 corinthians 5:7