Mr N comes to see Jesus by night

Maybe you know what I'm talking about: You're preaching, or sharing your testimony. Time is standing still. Or rather - somewhere between the ticks of the clock, you've shifted sideways into eternity. The air is different. If this were a movie, the music has transitioned into something stirringly intense.

I don't have the words to explain it clearly. I've felt this before (I've felt this many times before, but this is the first time I've remembered it).

All of a sudden, you KNOW. You know that what's about to happen - is eternal.

Oh, I've talked to people, and witnessed to people, and had people repeat a prayer with me. But sometimes, just sometimes, something happens, and it's like, they're not even hearing YOU. Like when, in The Cross and the Switchblade, everybody becomes deathly quiet, and the Mau Maus start taking off their hats.

Your voice sounds like it's coming from another room, and the presence of God is SO strong in that place, that only then do you realize that you're really and truly not running the show (and how, in fact, you never were).

God has shaped and formed all of history, has poured out molten destiny from since before the dawn of time, has set into motion a cascade of millions of dominoes, all set to converge on a single moment in 2015.

Lifelines intersect, purposes converge, prayers are heard... and answered. And the universe grinds to a halt.

The air is thick with purpose, and calling, and destiny. A lifeline is proffered, an invitation is extended. The gates of heaven turn slowly on their hinges...

“Do you believe?” the voice asks, with an accent strangely like my own. “Jesus said whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life. Right now, you can choose to believe”.

(YOU can choose. Yes you can. Right now. After a lifetime of not knowing ANYTHING about God, YOU can choose to believe! “Who-so-ever will”. “Anyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life”).

The years and years that Nicodemus had spent studying and training were not enough to get Nicodemus into the Kingdom of God. “Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again'.”

“You can be born again,” the voice says.

We pray. We pray a long, wondrously thorough prayer, that oddly enough, lasts but a few minutes. Days, hours, minutes mean nothing here. Eternity has leaked into linear time, and we can barely sense it. I say (and yes, it sounds like me now) “...in Jesus' name, Amen”.

Mr Nakamura... starts clapping! He has this big smile on his face, and claps 5 or 6 times!!!

He looks over and says, “I felt something!”

(Mr Nakamura has never never ever felt anything “spiritual” before in his life). He tells Lisa “I feel good!”

Takayoshi looks like he is a million miles away. In spite of everything he's been through in his brief 20 or so years, Takayoshi now has a completely fresh, new start.

*

Maybe it's because so few people have gotten saved in Japan. Maybe in a land of such utter darkness and hopelessness, the salvation of two souls just attracts a lot of attention.

All I know, is that there's a huge crack in the space time continuum. The principalities and the powers of this dark age have just experienced an 8.5 quake. Curses are being broken. Shackles have been shattered. Strongholds are being pulled down.

Prayers are being heard... and answered. Thank you.

Seriously - thank you!