HEAVEN

Heaven
A sister and I were talking about Jesus coming back. How awesome is that? I’m going to give my thoughts about heaven.

1. Heaven is For Real-We are fortunate to have Mr. Bill Smith as an Elder who brings the concept of heaven from the pages of scripture to the fertile ground of the imagination. Heaven is real in a way that this world is only a training ground. We have dual citizenship. I am a resident of USA, Earth but also a citizen of Kingdom of God, Heaven.

2. Harps-ok if you want to-I use to think about how boring Heaven would probably be—sitting around on clouds playing harps—for ETERNITY. If God made our temporary home this awesome and full of wonders how much more awesome will heaven be. This is what I see is picnics and concerts. I want to learn how to play the piano and have lots of time to learn. I use to think that we would get all this “knowledge” in heaven, but then I think about my kids. I think of the pleasure I get when I see them learning something new. I think God feels this way about us. Our eternity will be filled with new thing to learn and do. One day this strange new plant will sprout up and some chef will say I can make some new wonderful food this. New poetry. New music. New art. New food. New adventures. New friends. Swimming with sharks. Flying with birds. What about the “Netflix of Human History”? A theater where events of human history can be seen. See Sampson bring down the house on the Philistines. See Jesus and Peter walking on the water. See who killed JFK—Just saying I’m curious. I don’t know about you, but this makes me excited.

3. God is there. Jesus is there. Heaven is for God’s people. Everyone has a day coming. It’s a face to face with Jesus coming out of the sky or a resurrection day. You have to be ready. You have to be the bride waiting for the Bridegroom. You have to be the worker being fruitful anticipating the Master’s return. Then one day we’ll be around the throne of God. Every tear wiped away. No more death and dying. You have to wake up every day with the realization that Today may be The Day. Be ready. See if your friends and loved ones are ready.

I’m ready. Are you?

The end is only the beginning--My experience

I have had a tremendous fear of death since I was a child. During my childhood people just disappeared and I was told they died. There was no cancer or heart attacks or strokes and there were no funerals. We may not have attended funerals because we didn’t have a car when I was growing up. It may have been because my mother was trying to shield us from death. So I always imagined people falling into a peaceful sleep forever. As you might imagine this naïve perspective could not last long. I watched a movie on Nostradamus and became terrified of dying in a nuclear attack. End of innocence.

Next was my closely related fear of hell. Because of some of the poor choice I had made in my life and because of what I had been taught about salvation, I was in constant fear that I would go to hell when I died. Some of my blogs will explain why I found it incredibly unfair that I would have survived so much only to go to hell.

Last year my aunt died after a short battle with lung cancer. She was in her early 50′s. The year before that my daughter’s boyfriend struggling with kidney failure died of a massive heart attack at 25 before my granddaughter was born. My little brother died in his 20′s. My very good friend from high school had a massive heart attack in her early 30′s. If you are fortunate, you die in your sleep at a good old age. In reality it may be a car crash, a capsized boat, a brain eating amoeba, AIDS, Cancer, heart attack, stoke, a hit and run, a gunman’s bullet as you pump gas, or thousands other causes.

The bottom line is WE ARE ALL DYING.

How do I respond to that? That depends on your belief system. If I believed that there was no God and no heaven and no hell, death would be more frightening to me. It would be a matter of just ceasing to exist. I would mean my life was essentially a long walk on a short pier that will unexpectantly drop off and I will disappear. That would mean this life is it.

I believe that all the people I’ve lost are not lost. They are not even lost to me. I know that I’ll see them again. My growing faith is making so many things clearer for me. I do not fear death anymore and I’m trying to raise my children not to fear it either. My son at 9 or 10 said it best. He said I don’t fear death, I fear dying. I fear dying in pain and fear. I fear dying badly. But I don’t fear death. The transition is what causes the fear. The unknown is what causes the fear. There are things I do know. I know that death is not the end. I know that Jesus purchased my eternity and I will see Him face to face one day. I know that I have a Father that loves me whose presence I will be in forever. I know I will spend far more time in my eternal life than I will have in this earthly one. No sickness and no sadness. This live will seem like a memory in the light of eternity.
Please pray for my friend and my sister in Christ, Joan.

Be blessed.