Chapter 2 - Page 17 - Vision Of Africa

    “Thank you Raymond. But I should have done this years ago.”

    Raymond shut the door, walked around the front of the car and opened the driver’s door, then ducked his head and slipped into the driver’s seat. He started the car, checked the mirror to make sure Jim was ready, then pulled out of the driveway.

   Jim’s office was just a few blocks from the freeway. On the way to the airport, Jim studied the horizon, paying close attention to the line where the sky met the ground. The horizon went on and on forever, he realized, fascinated. It was like heaven, and life after death. After you die, Jim theorized, your body is dead, with no feelings or thoughts. Your dead body decays, but your soul instantly goes to heaven. It would be as fast as the twinkling of an eye. Jim knew he could be wrong, but it didn’t matter. If your body lay in the grave for ten thousand years, it would only seem like a split second before you were in heaven. And after you woke up in heaven, just like the horizon, life would go on and on, forever.

   The thought of living forever in paradise left goose pimples all over Jim’s body. He whispered to himself, “Why did it take me so long to understand how great God is?” He thought about people who didn’t know Jesus.

   “Raymond,” he said, “as a new Christian, I want to lead people to Christ. If I say the name Jesus, people do everything they can to get away from me. I don’t know what to do to be an effective witness.”