I stood in a factory in Portugal last week and stared at something I had waited 22 and a half years to see. It was a piece of concrete. To anybody else, it might not have looked particularly emotional. To me, it was overwhelming. I cried. It was the first of 188 enormous segments that will eventually form Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer, a 169ft Christian landmark we are building near Birmingham in England.
More importantly, it was the first time something I had carried in my heart for more than two decades was finally emerging physically. In 2004, while carrying a cross around Britain at Easter, I prayed a simple prayer: “God, what do you want me to do next?” An image flashed through my mind of a national landmark declaring what Jesus had done.
Eventually that vision became a structure containing one million bricks, each representing a story of answered prayer. My first reaction was hardly heroic faith. I thought it was ridiculous. I wasn't an architect. I wasn't an engineer. I didn't have the land or the money. I had absolutely no idea how to build a national landmark. So, I prayed.
In fact, I prayed about it for around ten years before I felt God telling me it was time to begin. What followed taught me something about persistence: receiving a vision is often the easy part. Continuing to believe in it when you cannot see it is much harder. I've concluded it is much easier to believe in Jesus than it is to take Jesus at His word.
Over the years, people have laughed at the idea. Some thought I was crazy. I’ve had horrible letters and calls — some from Christians — containing verbal abuse and making it clear they hoped I would fail.