Scripture
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
~I Corinthians 2:9, NLT
Quote
My home is in heaven: I’m just traveling through this world.
~William Franklin Graham
I was visiting the hospital a couple of months ago and somehow we got into a conversation about heaven. I think I brought the subject up: imagine that! She said, “I glad you mentioned heaven, I have some questions.” She didn’t have a question, she had a list of questions. Will we know each other in heaven? Will babies who were killed in abortion clinics still be babies? Will we have bodies? Will we have relationships? Will we get bored with all that time on our hands? Will we have something to do to keep us busy? I knew immediately that I had stepped into water over my head but I did the best I could to answer her questions and she did thank me. She said, “You cleared some things up for me and I feel much better.” The one thing I know about heaven is that it will be about JESUS. People who do not love Jesus would be very unhappy in heaven. You see it is God’s heaven and Jesus is His beloved Son. If He wants to make heaven about Jesus, there is nothing anyone can do about it but I am OK with heaven being about Jesus.
We do know a few things about heaven: we will have bodies and they will not be exactly like the ones we have now but you will not be disappointed. We will recognize one another and so I am sure we will relate to each other but Jesus said there will be no marriage in heaven which is good news to a lot of us {Just kidding}. Jesus said we would be like the angels. The big problem for finite man is conceiving of a life or existence beyond time. The finite mind can not grasp eternity. I get tickled when people talk about waiting in heaven–there is no waiting. You have time confused with infinity. Waiting and dying are things restricted to time: in eternity there is neither.
I also know that hurting people tend to long for heaven more than the happy and blessed. I told my nephew Paul, after the tragic passing of his beautiful 16 year old daughter, “Suffering grief is hard to bear but one thing is sure, it will whet your appetite for heaven.” He said, “You got that right!” I heard another story about a couple who lost a child. They attended a large urban church. The church called a new pastor and he had a leaning toward the left. They began to question a lot of things he said but when he stated that heaven was not a real place they approached him after the service to make sure he said what they thought he said. He told them that they didn’t misunderstand: he said heaven was not a place but rather a state of mind. They said, “Pastor, you will not see us again, we must find a pastor who believes in heaven. Right now, the thought of heaven is all that keeps us going.” You might think: “I’ve never felt that way.” You have never lost a child either, have you? Grief will change the way you think.
I wrote the above Blog two months ago but yesterday was one of those days that I did backwards. I did my devotions last night and I ran out of time so I had to dig this one out of the archives.
We finish VBS tonight with a commencement and picnic. We have had a great school. I am proud of our workers and our kids. Our high attendance was 28 and we enrolled over 30. We had no POF’s but I did get to present the gospel to two groups. Most of our children are middle and older. We had two preschoolers and Chloe was our only kindergartner. Next year, I am shooting for 60 kids.
Got a call about 6:30 yesterday: Margaret Neil Brown passed away around 6:00 I am guessing. Her COLS is Sunday at 2:00. This is tentative but it is the plan at the moment.