A prince in the Kingdom of God

It may be that I have "The Kingdom of God" on my brain, but none-the-less...I saw something this morning which was so inspiring.

I was out for a run, going at a pretty decent clip to rid my body of some pent up stress when I saw a bike on the side of the bike path. I looked over to make sure nobody had crashed or something. There was man down by the creek with a bag - at first I thought he was feeding ducks, because he had his hand in the plastic bag. But - no ducks.

Then I realized that he was picking up trash out of the creek and from the brush. I thought to myself, "That's great. Wow." As I continued to run, something was telling me that I should've told the guy how great I thought it was. But, I didn't.

Then, I heard a "passing on the left" behind me..it was the trash guy. "Kingdom of God," I thought.

As I came to the intersection of two paths, there he was again, standing at a trash can. That's when I realized, he was doing more than collecting trash. Any wrappers he picked up he was putting in the trash and any aluminum or plastic he was putting in his plastic bag for recycling. And - he was actually taking recyclables out of the trash can!!

I took my earphones out of my ear and walked up to him. I think I frightened him a bit. I said, "I just want to thank you for doing that. For picking up the trash and all."

And he said (I love this part!), "It's not hard, plus I'm trying to teach my kid. I don't care what people think." Then he points to an extra bike helmet on his bike and says, "We ride bikes to his school everyday and do this...I'm just on my way back home."

"It's really great. I saw you back there and wanted to say thanks and didn't and here you are again, so I just had to say something," I responded.

And, then get this, he says, "Well, thank you for taking the time to say something to me - it really means a lot!"

What?! Man. Kingdom of God, I swear, it was!

He has a great point too...if we want our children to learn - whether it's manners, conservation, respect, faith, love, perseverance - we are called to teach them.

Be on the look-out...Kingdom of God - closer than we think - in a good way...no "Left Behind theology" here.