We have talked about making a weekend trip to visit his church many times, but have never found the time or chance to do it. This was it....Alex's birthday weekend and the beginning of spring break! It would be perfect--a nice little getaway with Alex, Tubby, the girls, and Grandma ?. I found a hotel online that offered poolside rooms in a solar dome. It was going to be great!
Before we left early Saturday morning (8am!), it became clear that things were not going to be so great. Tubby and Laura were feverish, and looked rather pathetic. Most likely due to the sick children (the MckKiddos) we were watching at our house yesterday. Not having the luxury of time to "wait and see", we packed them into the truck anyhow. We had to get to the church on time!
Soon into the 7 hour drive, Tubby began puking. Lovely. Poor Alex had to help him out from his spot next to him in the middle seat. Laura complained of a stomach ache, but managed to make it to the hotel OK. Alex felt ill after lunch at Kwik Trip, leading us to a 30 minute layover at some sleezy McDonald's in Illinois...just 20 minutes from our hotel. We were so close! But church started in 45 minutes. How would we make it the rest of the way, check into the hotel, and find church in a city we have never been in by 5pm?
We were determined. We checked in, left Grandma with all the sick kiddos(into our room that was NOT poolside, but instead with a basketball court 3 feet from our door...the balls slamming into our door about every 10 minutes), changed QUICKLY into non-sweats, leaving the parking lot at 4:53pm, and miraculously arriving in the church parking lot at precisely 5pm! We made it!
(this was taken AFTER the service...the parking lot was FULL prior!)
Walking into the building we had heard so much about over the years was incredible. It was amazing to actually be there. It was not fancy or glamorous. Just filled with love and welcome. You could honestly feel it walking in. We were ushered down an aisle that had just been opened up, and found ourselves in the second row from the front, able to see everything without obstruction. As we worshipped in song with the visiting band of Steven Fee (nationally known Christian band), we realized that Pastor James was in the first row across the aisle from us...only 4 people away! Wow...we never imagined we would get that close. 
Worship was wonderful, the message was great, as usual. "Go Get the Wanderer!" An inspiring message with lots of weight and urgency for now and all of our days. James is a strong, faith-filled man, who has a wonderful gift given to him by God to preach the truth in understandable and compelling ways. Yet humble. Never is the attention focused upon himself, or what he thinks is right. Attention ALWAYS focused on Him, and Him alone. Amazing. 
At the end of the service, James was walking back to his seat....probably to retrieve something he had left there while preaching. Oh my....could we really take this chance and try to talk to him? He was so close! But, he is so famous! He certainly does not have time to talk to everyone who would like to simply meet him. Heavens! Our own senior pastor has not even personally met us yet! And we only belong to a church of 6,000 or so.....not the tens of thousands that belong to Harvest Bible Chapel!
We decided to be brave....whenever would we get such a chance as this again? As we walked toward him, three women got to him first. They chit-chatted for about five minutes, on a very personal level, obviously personal friends with the pastor. What in the world were we doing here??? The women finally dismissed themselves, and James looked at us, with a great big smile on his face. Oh my goodness, we were up! It went something like this:
Shaking his hand~
Me: "Hi, James (no 'Pastor', 'Mr', or 'Sir'....just "James"...yeesh!). My name is Julie Zajac, and this is my son, Alex. It is his 16th birthday on Monday.
James:"It is? Well, that's great!"(Shaking Alex's hand)
Me: "Yes. We drove all the way from Minneapolis just to come to your church as his sixteenth birthday wish.
James:"You did? Well, I have to give you a hug!"(giving Alex a gigantic James-Bear hug)
Me: "We have been listening to you online for over four years, and have talked about coming to visit Harvest for so long. We are so glad to finally be here."
James: "Oh! (looking at Alex) When do you listen online?"
Alex:"Whenever I walk home from school, which is a 27 minute walk."
James:"That's great! Hey, very cool glasses!"
Alex:"Thank you!"
They really had a few more words to say to each other in chit chat, but it is so hard to remember what!
James:"Do you have a good church?"
Us: "Yes"
James:"What's the name of it?"
Me:"Uhhhh...(completely star-struck dead-brain)...Westwood! In Chanhassen...it is a good, Bible believing Community Church."
James: He nods..."You know, we just planted a church in the Minneapolis area."
Me: "We just heard that! (from my friend Mary, just last weekend)We can't wait to check it out. Too bad it is about an hour away from us."
Again, more words spoken, good golly, I wish I had a better memory!
James:"I am really glad to have had the chance to meet you. You know, I usually do not come down to talk to people after services, but I am so glad I did today!"
Us:"Thank you so much. It was really wonderful, and so good to be here!"
James: To Alex~"Happy Birthday, man!"
Alex:"Thank You!"
We walked out of the sanctuary, I telling Alex how proud I was of him. Who else is so blessed to have a sixteen year old boy who would like to go church hopping for his birthday more than anything else?!? We entered the bookstore, and it was there that I realized how much my legs were shaking. We had just had a conversation with Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel and Walk in the Word Ministeries!!! NEVER in our dreams had we imagined to have such an encounter!!! I can't think of anyone else in the whole wide world I would have wanted to meet more than James. We had just planned on visiting his church, and were simply stoked about walking into the building and hearing his sermon in person. The fact that my son got to actually converse with this godly man was absolutely incredible.....such a treat from God(as Mary put it). So MUCH BETTER than we could have planned it ourselves. Amazing! We were stunned.
We poked around the rest of the building in a giddy fog, buying books, bags, shirts, CD's, and pens. We explored the little chapel located on one side, and took pictures with our little cell phones. (We had misplaced the camera in the rush to get to church) We were invited back into the santuary by an usher who noticed us through the glass, as we tried not successfully to look like tourists. "Come on in and take pictures! We love tourists!" he said as he opened the door.
http://www.harvestbiblechapel.org/
Icing on the already HUGE birthday cake:
The next morning, Alex and Grandma ? went to the Sunday morning service. They arrived early enough to find a seat in one of the middle aisles that James walked up and down during his preaching. During minute 19 of his message that morning, not only did he see Alex, recognize him, but threw in "Happy Birthday!"....right in the middle of his message! Is that not a wonderful man, or what?!?!
(It is this service that is posted online currently for internet listening ears, listen closely during minute 19....I would imagine that this will also be the copy used once this CD series is composed for sale! The DVD of the service appears to be from the Saturday evening one we were at...Alex and I can often be seen in the background in our second row seats!))
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