I had a rough start this morning. I was feeling under the weather, but I successfully made it out the door. I have one more day and then I get on a plane to go see friends and family and one little girl who has been very excited that I am coming. Every day for a month she has been asking....."Lori come today?" It is somewhat bittersweet......it is hard to leave when I know how difficult it will be without me here. But I have a very gracious friend, and she knows how important it is for me to be there too.
I gave out a relieved sigh as I got in the car and buckled in. I slid the CD into the player, the one I picked somewhat blindly since I didn't have my glasses on. As the notes filled the car I felt the beauty played by Phil Keaggy flow through my soul. Healing.....incredible, the power that music has to heal.
As I watched the light fill the sky and turn it every different shade of violet, I remembered what I heard last night from Ellen Johnson, president of the American Atheists, as interviewed by Barbara Walters.
"Heaven doesn't exist, hell doesn't exist. We weren't alive before we were born and we're not going to exist after we die. I'm not happy about the fact that that's the end of life, but I can accept that and make my life more fulfilling now, because this is the only chance I have," she tells Walters.
No, I thought, I don't accept it, absolutely not. And everything I see and hear and feel around me tells me otherwise. This is the tip of the iceberg, my friends. And to me, this morning, Heaven felt more real than anything else. And besides, as Elaine said, if we are wrong, then we have simply lived a good life, but if she is wrong......I said, "Yeah, it's gonna be a very long eternity."
I have seen people die with Christ, and I have seen people die without Him, and I can tell you this for sure. The ones with Christ have the lights of Heaven reflected in their eyes when they go, I have seen it myself.
I believe the proof I see all around me, and I take Jesus at His word that Heaven is very real indeed. When people ask me what I believe about Heaven, all I need to do is point to Jesus and say..."What He said."
This is only the beginning.
"But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,”What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:7-9
I pray you've had a relaxing, spirit-filling time away and that you know in big and small ways, that you're right about Jesus!
ReplyDeleteWe're right, not a shred of doubt in my heart.
peace~elaine
I had the same reaction when I watched the segment Barbara Walters did for ABC. I too have seen those who knew Christ die and those who did not. There is a difference!
ReplyDeleteBlessings and love,
Debbie