Glimpses of the Kingdom in Unlikely Places

The first thing that came to my mind this morning when I woke up has been the only thing on my mind all day. It's quite random and silly, but for some reason it has altered the way I've looked at others today and how I've interacted with them. I think I've caught a glimpse of what the Kingdom looks like in the strangest of places.

Yesterday, Stephanie (my fiance) and I were watching various videos on Youtube that popped up as results for "funny video". We stumbled upon one that was entitled "The Real Cabbage Patch Kid". Out of curiosity, we followed the link and watched the video that followed. The first thing we saw was an extremely overweight little boy with enormous cheeks that puffed out farther than his nose. He looked something like the character Russel from the movie "Up". I began to chuckle a little until a caption popped up on screen that the video poster put on there, and it read, "Don't be hatin. This little guy has kidney problems." My moderate laughter was immediately suppressed, and the boy began to sing a song. The song was all these sweet and funny names that he had for a close friend or a dearly loved person in his life. I think the song is from a children's cartoon or something like that. At the end of the song, he sang these words: "And I want you to know that I'll always be right here... because you are so dear." When the movie ended, I had tears welling up in my eyes and my fiance's heart had melted. This is what was on my mind this morning and has been at the forefront of my thoughts since then.

I keep thinking back to that line, "... I'll always be right here," and I think about all the struggles this little boy is going to have in life. His life may be short. He will undoubtedly be the recipient of a lot of verbal harassment from other kids and folks on Youtube. But then I thought about this idea: The most reliable friend a person could ever have is the one who has few real friends. They will value your friendship infinitely more than the social butterfly might. There is an innocence in this little boy's song, and there is a truth embedded in there too. I would take this boy at his word more quickly than I might take a professor in the religion department at his/her word or even a pastor. I believe this boy when he says, "I'll always be right here." While the world persecuted him, and his closest friends abandoned him to be hung on the cross, I take Christ at his word when he promises me, "I'll always be right here." And Paul tells us that nothing can come between us and his love for us. There isn't a force on earth that could hinder it. I think the kingdom will be full of people like this boy.

I have a friend here on campus whose name is Jeff Coll. Jeff uses an electric wheelchair as his means of common transportation. It takes Jeff roughly 15 seconds to get to his feet without help. And once he is up, he cannot maintain his balance without having a walker or a cane. On some sunny days when he's in no hurry, he'll walk to the Student Center using his cane. His dorm is maybe fifty yards from the Student Center, but on his cane it will take him about ten minutes to get there. Jeff suffered a series of strokes while he was young. This is the result.

One day while I was working in the religion department, Jeff literally crawled on his belly through the door into the office. Our office is on the second floor of the Christian Ministries Center, and the elevator was out of order that day. Jeff had literally made himself fall out of his chair, and he then crawled up the stairs and to the front door of the religion offices. I happened to be right there talking to one of our secretaries when he arrived. I was somewhat shocked and helped him to his feet and asked him what he was doing. He said, "I need to talk to Dr. Smith, but the elevator was broken." I had to tell him the bad news that Dr. Smith was out of the office for lunch at the time. He gave a quick, "Oh ok." He then asked me to help him through the door, which I gladly did. Once we got to the top of the stairs, he said that he would take it from there. I let go and he fell like just dead weight down onto his knees which I noticed were covered with dead and calloused skin. When they hit the floor, there was a loud "thud." It shocked and scared me, but he just began crawling down the stairs.

That same semester, I was tutoring him for one of his classes he was having difficulty in. One evening, I walked into his room to find him on his knees praying, and I instantly thought back to him at the top of those stairs. And it then occurred to me, that's how he gets down on his knees every time he prays. He falls like dead weight before the Lord on calloused knees weathered by years of prayer. I went back to my room afterward and tried it. I tried to just let myself fall down onto my knees, but as I did I tried to cushion the fall a bit out of fear, and it still hurt. Then tears welled up in my eyes.

I feel after these experiences that I have a better understanding of the love of God and His Kingdom. The least and that last here on earth are the ones that most accurately represent the Kingdom. It's just like Jesus, too. It's so like him to reveal himself through these people. It's the lame and crippled, the paralytic, the blind, these are they that he pointed to. It was the children. As Pastor Steve DeNeff would say, Christ's world is our world turned upside-down. Amen to that. This is truly what the Kingdom must look like.