Isaiah says that in the latter days the Lord, on a

day of His choosing, shall manifest His glory and

call all people to Himself. The passage tells us that
this will be a migration of people that is greater
than any one race, color, creed, ethnicity,
tradition, or nation. This is what the presence of
God does. It destroys division and reconciles all
people to His vision of them.
This past Sunday our family left the church at the
usual time, around 1:00pm, and decided to head
out to lunch rather than do our usual leftovers at
home. As we were getting off the ramp onto
Prospect Avenue to go to Chipotle (one of our
favorite places), I said to Tasha at the last minute:
Wait, what about chicken from Popeyes?
But, you dont even like chicken, Tasha said.
But, it sounds good, I replied.
So we drove over to Popeyes.
As I entered and ordered, I noticed a nicely
dressed older African-American couple waiting in
line. The husband and I looked at each other,
smiled, and shared a fun exchange about needing
a side order of chicken after filling up on Jesus at
church.
They asked where I went to church, and I told
them that I pastored at CEFCM, and he shared that
he is an associate lay pastor at at a predominately
African-American Church in Champaign. We
shared some small talk about a kids program they
were attending that afternoon before I looked at
him and said very plainly, Isnt it silly, that you
are worshipping Jesus over here, and we are
worshipping Jesus over there, and we look nothing
like the gospel, and everything like the picture the
media paints of us?
Then I shared the passage we talked about at
CEFCM that morning out of Isaiah 2:
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the
mountain of the house of the Lord shall be
established as the highest of the mountains, and
shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the
nations shall flow to it, 3and many peoples shall
come, and say: Come, let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of
Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we
may walk in his paths. Isaiah 2:2-3

a great multitude that no one could number, from

every nation, from all tribes and peoples and
languages, standing before the throne and before
the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm
branches in their hands. (Revelation 7:9)
I believe that as the big C church we need to be
a strong voice over anything that creates division
both in the church and out into culture.
Thomas Brook, in his book Precious Remedies
Against Satans Devices, says: Be the first to seek
peace and reconciliation. You are a Christian today
only because God was the first to seek peace with
you. You are now called and equipped to be the
first to seek after peace and to attempt to pursue
and maintain unity. As you do this you have the
high honor of acting as an imitator ofGod.
As they called my order number my new friend
and I shared contact information, and as he shook
my hand he looked me in the eye and said,
I dont think we met here on accident.
I smiled and said to him, I agree, I dont even like
chicken that much, and should be eating a burrito
right now.
God is good and is calling us towards truth and
unity for His glory ~ Lets go.

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