Category Archives: Heaven

Emergency on Board

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Although I haven’t flown in planes too much, I’ve done enough to be at ease during take-off and landing, and nothing unusual has ever occurred.

Until today, that is.

Flying to Florida to spend time with Linnea and her active family of 5, I settled into an aisle seat bound for Orlando. About an hour before our destination, as beverages were being served, flight attendants began scurrying up and down the aisle with uncharacteristic urgency. Then suddenly the drinks were aborted, and one of them made a plea on the P.A. “Is there a doctor on board? Or a nurse? Maybe an EMT?”

We were in the middle of a medical emergency.

Toward the back of the plane a young woman had been reading when without warning she’d slumped into unconsciousness. Her seatmate, a stranger, alerted flight attendants, and she received quick attention. Staff rushed to the front of the plane and opened the overhead compartment closest to the cockpit, exposing a veritable hospital: an oxygen tank, stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, defibrillator, first aid kit, and more.

Grabbing all she could hold, an attendant raced back to the patient as a nurse-passenger cleared out the adjoining seats to make a bed on which the woman could lie down. Passengers became quiet except for one observer who said, “She turned an awful shade of green.”

None of us knows what’s right around the corner. When this woman dressed for her travel day, she had no idea she’d end up sprawled across 3 airline seats strapped into an oxygen mask. When we leave home each day, none of us knows if we’ll return.

Scripture says God watches over our comings and goings. I think that means from home to work to shopping to school to anyplace else. I also think it means coming and going on an eternal scale: we go from earth and come to paradise. We come to death but go through to new life.

It might also mean coming and going in and out of relationships, emotions, circumstances. In all cases, God is watching over us, and not just watching but guiding and guarding, too.

And how about the airline patient? Did he watch her sink into unconsciousness and do nothing about it?

He did watch her, yes, and he sent a nurse, made sure the proper equipment was on board, and had paramedics waiting at the open end of the jet-way when we landed. I watched 5 of them kneel in front of her ministering medically and encouraging emotionally. As the rest of us paraded past, headed for baggage claim, she was hedged in by protective care: a team of paramedics, plus God.

And just before we exited the plane, the flight attendant made one more announcement: “Sorry about the beverages, but thanks for understanding. We hope you fly with us again soon.”

“The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.” (Psalm 121:5,8)

 

 

Telling the Truth

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All seven of our children attended a Christian elementary school, followed by several years in public schools. Although the government-regulated high school taught opinions we didn’t always like, Nate and I thought this was a good chance for our teens to decide what they believed.

One day Louisa came home with quite a story. In her freshman English class, the teacher had sparked a lively political debate by pitting one group of students against another. Then he’d told them to line up from most liberal to most conservative, based on the opinions that had been offered during discussion.

Louisa ended up at the very end of the line, identified as “most conservative.” The teacher quizzed her, as well as the boy deemed “most liberal,” garnering extremely diverse viewpoints on the same political hot topics. After a few minutes he said to Louisa, “I’ll bet you’re a Christian.” When she answered affirmatively, he said, “What brand? I mean, what kind?”

Louisa didn’t even pause. She said, “The born-again kind.”

I had to hand it to her. She came on strong and labeled herself, despite knowing she might be teased for her extreme point of view.

All of us have occasionally been handed a golden opportunity to testify for Christ, then forfeited it by watering down our answers. I’ve done it repeatedly, always regretting it later.

One of the many admirable traits of Jesus was his consistent refusal to back away from telling the truth… the whole truth. He paid no mind to how it would be received. It wasn’t that he relished rejection, and he experienced the ultimate rejection since he was murdered for his beliefs. It was that his relationship with God was #1, and he wouldn’t compromise it in any way.

The question then is, what’s wrong with me? Why am I so worried about how people will respond? Is their approval more important to me than God’s?

Something Jesus said has always bothered me:

“Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (10:33)

I certainly want Jesus to stand up for me when that time comes. The thought of him saying, “Her? No, not her,” is frightening. But which scene scares me more; that one then, or public ridicule now?

It’s good to put ourselves through an occasional behavioral analysis. Jesus tells us that if we label ourselves “Christian” or “born again,” we’re going to be sitting ducks for rejection by those who aren’t. He said we should expect it and should even prepare to be hated. After all, he was.

Louisa acted courageously that day in class, opening herself up to mockery by telling the truth about herself. But by doing so, she won Jesus’ endorsement in front of the heavenly Father and actually brought pleasure to the Godhead.

“Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32)

Door to Nowhere

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When my 74 year old cottage got new windows a year ago, we came around to the back of the house and decided to substitute a door for one of the windows. It seemed crazy, since there was nothing but thin air on the other side, no porch, stairway or other surface for feet to stand on, but we hoped one day to build a deck there.

If anyone were to sleepwalk through that door, they’d either wake up during their rapid descent or go unconscious when they hit the concrete 12 feet below. For now, though, we’re careful to keep the door closed and double-locked.

Nobody likes to have doors closed against them. Our kids, grandkids and even Jack have fervently wanted to open that door to nowhere and walk through it. I guess we all view an open door as a symbol of opportunity. To walk through it is to have an adventure.

Open doors are usually a good thing, like when a friend opens her home and invites us to “C’mon in!” Some churches even use the open door image as part of their name, The Church of the Open Door, hoping friends and strangers alike will all “C’mon in.”

Although we like doors to be open, sometimes walking through them leads us to places we don’t want to go – a dentist’s office, a hospital, a funeral home. But even then we walk through, knowing that what’s on the other side is important.

Some open doors have eternal significance. Jesus labeled himself “The Door” to eternal security. (John 10:9) He was trying to give his listeners a word picture of the most crucial door they could ever open, making sure they understood that he was the way through to heaven. He also told them a knock on that door would cause it to open up, and he invited everyone to knock. (Matthew 7:7)

My favorite scriptural door, though, is the one mentioned toward the end of the Bible. God describes a door with the Lord on one side and us on the other. This time he’s the one knocking, and we’re the ones deciding whether or not to open up. He’s also using his voice to get our attention, hoping we’ll hear and open up. Incredibly he says that if we do, he’ll enter our lives. Not only that, but he promises to share a close relationship with us much like sharing a meal with those we love, in intimate fellowship.

Why does he have an interest in coming to us at all? When I’ve asked him, his answer has always been the same:

“Because I love you.”

So, unlike my cottage door to nowhere that’s closed and double-locked, I’ve swung wide the door to my life, and Jesus has come in.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20)