When He Walked In…

When he walked in, something changed in the hearts of everyone.

No, they didn’t tell me but I saw it in the way Ola abruptly dropped her phone which she had been pressing and rose to her feet. The questions in her eyes were confirmation that we had the same thoughts in that moment.

People first looked at his face, paused, then closed their eyes. Hands were lifted higher and voices stretched deeper.
As if to make matters worse, the worship leader announced in that moment eyes closed, with a seriousness and surety that held assurance “Jesus is here, I tell you…he’s here, you cannot be looking around in this moment, concentrate”

Jesus,
Chai
Father, have mercy upon my soul. I confess that I wasn’t even seriously worshipping before, but now I repent.

I closed my eyes tighter and whispered, “father I know it is you, do not pass me by”.

A few seconds passed and I opened my eye slightly mid-prayer to peep at this man who had just walked into the church.

He was putting on a white native attire, and had white beards that seemed to hug his neck line.
My heart melted. What better description would fit as Jesus, the only difference was that this man was dark skinned.

Err, but you never know, Jesus decided to come in this form na.

Lord, I know it is you, bless me.

I closed my eyes and continued singing.

He sat down as if assessing each person’s heart of worship and had a grin on his face like when a person tries to suppress laughter.

Lord I know I’m not perfect, I’m sorry for not giving you reverence…
Blessed is he who believed and hasn’t even seen.
chai. lord have mercy .

Before long, a child ran to him enthusiastically and sat on his lap.
My heart melted further…

“Suffer not the little children…”or something like that was in the scripture now, no wonder their hearts just bonded on first sight.

I closed my eyes, determined to worship better, to pray better, to believe better, to be a Christian, better.

“In Jesus name we’ve worshipped”, the sonorous voice said.
‘Amen’, I thundered and sat cautiously, repentant and sanctified of course.

And that was when it happened.

The Pastor climbed the pulpit and said,

“Before I get into my message for today, I would just want to welcome brother Magnus, who hasn’t been in church for a while…brethren reach out to him”.

People walked towards this man in white to shake his hand, some even hugged him with the casual movement of a familiar friend.

Chai!!!

He was no angel nor Christ but a long gone member of the church.

Ps: I was just wondering how different our worship would be if we saw Jesus face to face in the room with us. This brings to mind lines from one of my favourite worship songs:

“I don’t want to talk about you like you’re not in the room, want to look right at you, wanna sing right to you…”

Think about it. How different would your worship be?

Happy new year from me to you.

Cheers to a year of seeking and walking in God’s will for our lives.