A Great Story

As I alluded to in my post yesterday, we had a pretty cool experience at the lawyer's office last week as we were closing on our house sale.  It went something like this:

Upon arrival, we were directed to have a seat in the waiting area and that someone would be out to see us shortly.  We were soon greeted by Cindy who walked us through some preliminary steps in order to have our file prepared for Philip our lawyer.  As we finished up with those details, she indicated that it should not be much longer and that Philip would be out to see us in a moment.  After a short time of waiting, Cindy returned to let us know that Philip had just received an urgent call that he needed to take, but that we would be seen as soon as that call had finished up.  We could tell instantly that it was an important call by the change of tone that came across the whole office.  There was a nervous and yet almost reverential hush that fell as people slowed their pace, quited their voices and faces revealed a nervous expectation.  Cindy mouthed to us "federal judge."  The only sound that continued to sound was the robust voice of Philip with it's deep Nigerian accent.  As the door to his office closed, we could not hear the details, but knew that important negotiations were underway.  As we were waiting I remarked to Kim, "what are the chances that a guy from Nigeria with an accent that thick has a name like Philip.  It must come from the bible.  He or his family are Christian."
It was a number of minutes later that the hush was broken as Philip's voice cried out in a celebratory exclamation that was followed by cheering and clapping throughout the office.  We then heard a loud "Call in the McGibbons" as the celebratory tone continued.  We entered the office and could see the excitement and exuberation all over Philip's face.  He proceeded to tell us of what had just transpired.  He had just tried a case for an emergency stay by phone with a Supreme Court Judge who was on vacation in Hawaii, and the Attorney General.  Only two short days previous, a humble, hard working single mother came with all the money that she could scrape together and pleaded with Philip to take on the deportation case of a young man that she had taken in under her care.  This young 17 year old man had been in the country since he was six, and during that time had become estranged with his parents.  This lady had taken him in and been caring for him.  He is a good student, volunteers at the Salvation Army, has a part time job and is an overall great person.  Somehow, and for reasons that I am unaware of, his parents got deported and this included him.  They waited until a long weekend before the deportation was scheduled in order to inform him of the fact and to give him his ticket.  It was the Tuesday before his Thursday deportation that his caregiver arrived in the office of the lawyer, offering all that she could afford, a commitment to pay all that she could afford each month moving forward and pleading for help.  Philip said that when he heard the story, and saw the dedication of this caregiver, he knew he had to take the case.  So for two hectic days they had been fighting and negotiating against all the odds and all those who stated that it could not be done.  What we had heard just a few minutes before was the actual trial by phone for a stay of deportation...and they had been successful!  Philip has never won such a case, and had never heard of one being successful.
As we filled in the paper work for our house closing, he would often refer to the case obviously still in the adrenalin euphoria of the past few minutes.  We came to the place where he asked about my occupation, to which I answered that I worked for a church called the Sanctuary.  He asked "You are a pastor?" and quickly commented "God's people are everywhere today!"  This gave him opportunity to share more specifically about this case, about the hours of prayer over the preceding two days.  He also shared how he spent the entire trial-by-phone call on his knees, responding to the strange looks from his staff with "you don't understand, I have to fight this one in the power of the Spirit!"   
He shared that at the end of the phone call both he and the judge exchanged "God bless you," which is a rare thing these days, helping to indicate that God had orchestrated this whole thing, putting together whom He wanted, where He wanted and when He wanted.  We celebrated together in his office all that the Lord had done.
As we continued to fill in the paper work and make conversation we were able to share that our Milton Church was sending us out to start a new work here in Hamilton.  With a huge smile he greeted us and welcomed us to the city stating what a need he saw for evangelical witness in the city.  He himself was one of two core families that planted an African church in the city a number of years ago.  It was at a physical exam upon arriving in Hamilton from Nigeria, that the doctor shared with him the name of a Nigerian family doctor that he might consider using.  As it turns out this doctor was looking to start a church and so Philip and his family joined with this doctor and his family to begin the work.  It was a great story, a warm welcome and a reassuring and confirming conversation for Kim and I.  He made sure to state that if there is anything they he or his church could do to help in the future, not to hesitate to call.
All in all, it was a very cool meeting we had!