Heaven

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
Jesus John 14:1-3

I believe in Heaven... Jesus promised us that The Father has a Home big enough for everyone who follows Him... that He's preparing a place for us... you and me... in Heaven.

Last Saturday I got the call that a friend I'd been with just the night before had died... he'd been fighting cancer, not much older than me, loved fishing on the ocean... we'd once crossed paths, fishing on the same boat, hundreds of miles at sea...God gave us the opportunity to get to know each other better over the last year or two. God invited Danny into His church at Central Community and I'm certain that when he took his last breath here, Someone took his hand as he was ushered into God's Eternal Kingdom.

Our kids have always felt like I'm a little too comfortable around death. From as early as they can remember they've shared the heartbreak as families have called our home, looking for their pastor, when "the end" is near. I've been in more circumstances of death than I ever care to recount... just thinking about it brings so many good people to mind... and I thank God for The Promise of Heaven... of Home.

I've wept with so many good people but I've never felt that it was the end. Heaven is our Home. Our loved ones who go before us are a precious deposit in The Hands of our Loving Father until The Day we're all Home. "What a Day... Glorious Day... that will be."

Danny's home. I'll miss him. Not long ago he gave me a couple of boxes of expensive lures and jigs for saltwater fishing... can't wait to use them... to catch a fish- always thought I'd bring a story back to tell him -now I'll just quietly say: "Thanks for the hook up buddy." Hope there's fishing in Heaven.

I learned this poem as a child. Someday it'll be read at my funeral:

God grant that I may live to fish
until my dying day.
And when it comes to my last cast
I then most humbly pray,
When in The Master's landing net
I'm peacefully asleep
That God may judge and grant me
good enough to keep.

"I'll Meet You In The Morning" It's an old gospel song- don't hear it much anymore. I downloaded it tonight and listened to it for the first time in years. My uncle John and aunt Lurann Denton use to sing it together... became almost famous for it... had a 45 record of it and everything... they'd get to the chorus and turn to each other- like so many other gospel groups would do and begin to shake hands as they sang: "I'll meet you in the morning, I'll meet you in the morning, with a "How do you do!" and a "How do you do!" Each time they did it I could just imagine Heaven being like the lobby of the church on Sunday morning- the whole church family waiting to welcome us -shaking hands, smiling, maybe even singing... I like that image of Heaven... a happy home. I'm glad my friend Dan's out of his pain and into God's Paradise... one of the many I hope will "meet me in the morning."

Heaven... what a great hope to hold onto... is it your hope today?

many blessings,

Eric