Fresh Mannaby Pastor Tim BurtA Taste of Heaven: A True Inspirational StoryBy Pastor Tim BurtIt was Friday, October 3, 1997. I was boarding an aircraft from Minneapolis, MN., to Washington, D.C. I had made the decision a couple of months earlier that I would attend the Promise Keeper's national event, Stand in the Gap: A Sacred Assembly of Men, an open-air gathering of men at the National Mall in Washington DC held on Saturday, October 4, 1997.Promise Keepers had been gathering men together in stadiums for years, and this was an event to bring men from across the United States together to assemble before God to repent and pray for our nation! I knew God wanted me to attend and acted upon the decision to go booking flight tickets and a hotel room immediately! I asked every man I knew if they wanted to go and eventually ended up with friends of a friend, sharing a hotel room with four strangers for a night, and then off to the event Saturday morning.This was the second time I had attended a national rally of Christians to pray for our nation, and I could not have been more excited despite rooming with 4 strangers!We all managed to arrive within an hour of each other at the National airport, and I carried signs with their names to find and gather them as they arrived. These were pre-cellphone, texting, and emailing days. By the grace of God, I found all four guys, and we headed in a cab to the hotel. We truly enjoyed meeting each other and all had Jesus and the excitement of the event fueling our fire. We stayed at a hotel that was downtown and close to the National Mall so we could walk to the event.It was Friday evening. We were all hungry, so we ventured out to look for a restaurant. What we were about to experience felt like a 24-hour slice of what it might be like to walk the streets of Heaven. First of all, there were mobs of men everywhere—Christian men. Men dressed nice, smiled, laughing, telling stories, and getting to know each other. Thousands of men. Actually, hundreds of thousands of men.As we walked into a restaurant together, we quickly figured out every restaurant was packed to the gills. We weren't sure what we were going to do until this group of men hollered out to us from across a restaurant, "Over here.. Join us!" There were five guys seated at a table of 10, and they invited us to sit with them and fill up their table. They were kind, gracious, and anxious to get to know each other, and it felt like a family reunion, the way we quickly got to know each other and laughed over stories! To us, it felt like God orchestrated the entire experience! We left there feeling like great friends! Wow! What a start to this event!It was an incredibly beautiful evening as we headed out of the restaurant and walked back to the hotel. There were men smiling, talking, laughing, and enjoying each other as strangers, yet as brothers in the Lord, everywhere. Few, if any, were drinking alcohol. No one was using drugs. There was no littering going on. Men were walking up to police officers and city workers, talking, appreciating, and praying for them. It appeared that the city had every police officer and city worker possible on duty because of the enormous number of men and the potential problems that could represent. But it was the opposite. The police were enjoying the crowds. There was no trouble going on. Men were polite and courteous to everyone. The police and city officials that we talked to said they had never experienced anything like this in their careers. The only complaint we heard was from restaurant bars. They were astonished that no one was drinking, and their alcohol sales were almost nothing. All in all, we decided it was glorious... like walking the streets of Heaven. No one had ever experienced anything even close to this.Early the next morning, we were up, grabbing a bite to eat, and heading over to join over 800,000 men on a national day of repentance and prayer. If I remember correctly, it began at 9:00 a.m. and ended at 4:00 p.m. They had a number of national speakers speaking to the enormous crowd of men about different sins of the nation, such as racism, sexual failures, prayerlessness, abandonment of families, etc. After each speaker spoke, all the men would gather in groups of ten in a circle, fall on their knees, and pray together, asking for God's forgiveness, asking Him to heal and strengthen us to live wholeheartedly for Him, and we prayed God would heal our nation. I believe there were six speakers throughout the day, and after each one spoke, we would pray in groups. It felt like the very presence of God was there amongst us, and it was the holiest and most deeply and profoundly intimate time with the Lord I've ever experienced. All the men in my group felt the same way.
When it was over, most left on flights that night, and a couple of us stayed and left on Sunday. We experience friendships forged in the fire and presence of God's spirit, who created a moment none of us would ever forget. I think back on the time often. It is the closest I've ever felt to being in Heaven in the course of my life.Of course, the media barely covered or spoke about the event to the rest of the country. I had seen aerial views of this event compared with other events, and I have never seen an aerial view (which is how the national park estimates the crowd size) that was as large as this one. But that's how the world works. From the aerial view I saw, I believe there were well over 1 million men at this event. It was life-changing for us and for our country in ways we will never know until Heaven and our country is in much need of another gathering of Christians praying again! In the meantime. let us pray for our nation. And let us look forward to Heaven which will be the most beautiful place to live in our future!
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NLT) "Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land."
In His love,Pastor Tim Burt
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