Category Archives: Heaven

Crowned

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As our family enters its third year without Nate, we hit two important dates immediately: Thanksgiving last Thursday and our anniversary today. Anniversaries are for couples not individuals, but I know November 29th will always be important to me, even without my husband.

Nate was A+ at remembering dates, but when it came to our anniversary, he wanted to be extra sure. He had our initials and the date put on his car’s license plate: MN1129. Every time he approached his vehicle, he wanted to be reminded of me and of our marriage. My guess is this gesture would please any wife, and I know it pleased me.

This year would have been our 42nd anniversary. Of course I didn’t expect a gift, but my always-thoughtful sister gave me something special to mark the day, a handsome picture of a smiling Nate in a unique frame. Only 3” high and glittering with crystal “jewels,” it’s in the shape of a stunning crown.

Although Nate was a wonderful man, he had no royal reason to wear a crown, yet Scripture tells us he’s wearing one now. Actually we’re all destined for crowns because of our membership in King Jesus’ royal family.

Paul writes about this unique privilege toward the end of his earthly life: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

In studying the Bible’s use of the word “crown,” I found detailed descriptions of 9 jewels sparkling in God’s Designer version:

  • crowned with glory and honor
  • crowned with God’s bounty
  • crowned with beauty
  • crowned with victory.
  • crowned with blessings
  • crowned with knowledge.
  • crowned with love and compassion
  • crowned with everlasting joy
  • crowned with life eternal

That sounds like a crown that will be a delight to wear!

And another royal fact: according to the Bible, God sees us as jewels. This makes no sense until we realize he’s looking at us through the dazzling perfection of his Son, who wore a crown of thorns the day he brought royal standing to us. Unlike us, though, he actually deserves his crown. Make that a set of crowns: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True… On his head are many crowns.” (Revelation 19:12)

And just so there’s no confusion about who that was, Scripture makes it clear: “On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:16)

So today, on what would have been Nate’s and my anniversary, I had a sparkling good time thinking about my dear one’s crown, the crowns in God’s storehouse waiting for the rest of us, and the many crowns of Jesus Christ.

Stunning!

“The crown of righteousness… not only to me, but also to all who have longed for [Christ’s] appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8)

 

Home Again

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Mom had broken her hip badly, a break that needed an operation and a long pin to hold her leg together. It wasn’t easy for this 80-something to come back from surgery, but she focused on the day she’d eventually get to leave the hospital and return home. The medical staff and social workers, however, rerouted her to rehab first and said, “Depending on how you do there, then we’ll talk about going home.”

Mom worked hard in “the torture chamber,” as she called it, and finally found herself riding in Mary’s car back to the place she’d missed for so many weeks. As her wheelchair moved along the sidewalk toward her back door, suddenly she buried her face in her hands and burst into tears.

“What’s wrong?” Mary said, alarmed at her distress.

Looking up at her home she sobbed, “I… I just… I just… didn’t think I’d ever get back here!”

I believe that’s exactly the way we’ll feel when we move from earthly life into eternity. Our current sense of longing to escape our troubles and live in the safe surroundings of a loving home will instantly be satisfied with a tsunami of joy like we’ve never known. We’ll immediately feel settled and secure, because we’ll be home.

I don’t think it’ll feel new or like someone else’s house. The presence of Divinity and the release of our 5 senses to see, feel, smell, hear and touch in new ways will find us wrapped in all things familiar, just better. It’ll seem like someone has put our house in order while we’ve been away on a journey, then added the physical, visible presence of Jesus!

In his book “Heaven”, Randy Alcorn writes, “A common misunderstanding about the eternal Heaven is that it will be unfamiliar. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. When we hear that in Heaven we will have new bodies and live on a New Earth, this is how we should understand the word new – a restored and perfected version of our familiar bodies and our familiar Earth and our familiar relationships. Because we once lived on Earth, the New Earth will strike us as very familiar.”

Scripture contains a mysterious verse in reference to this phenomenon: “The spirit will return to God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) If that’s literally true, then of course arriving in heaven truly will be coming home.

Mom used to croon to new babies, “You are precious because you’ve so recently been with God.” I used to call that nonsense, but maybe she did have something there.

In any case, I’ll never forget Mom’s overwhelming joy that day as she re-entered her own home. But when she got to heaven in 2005, I’ll bet there was no comparison.

“We would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:8)

Acting Squirrely

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Our Farmer’s Almanac says the Midwest is in for a lollapalooza of a winter. If that’s true, there’s cause for concern about Little Red’s welfare and all his squirrel buddies. Last year our neighborhood was blanketed with acorns, so much so that walking the length of the driveway was like lurching about on a carpet of marbles.

This fall, however, there’s nary an acorn to be seen. God may have told the trees, “After outdoing yourselves last year, take a year off.” But good news for the oaks has been bad news for the critters. I didn’t realize the extent of the problem until I bought a few pumpkins for the front porch.

I’d barely gone inside when the first little thief came and dragged the tiny baseball-sized pumpkin away. I counted again and again before realizing what had happened. Now, a week later, they’re all but gone, the chewed-up evidence scattered throughout the yard.

All of this off-the-ground eating puts me in mind of the biblical manna. Although its timely arrival every night was miraculous, God told the Israelites his main reason for sending it wasn’t to satisfy their hunger, as much as to teach them about the nourishing, faithful Source behind it: him.

I sometimes think of the incredible boredom of eating manna every day for 40 years. The slaves of the Egyptian pharaoh who left in a hurry never realized how scrumptious that last Passover meal had been with its roast lamb and all the trimmings. Once they were in the desert, it was same old, same old, despite God’s eventual addition of quail to the menu.

We get frustrated eating leftovers more than once or twice in a row. How about being raised on manna as your staple? Forty years worth of newly-born wilderness-Israelites had no idea what it was like to eat anything else.

I always thought of manna as God’s provision of love, but the Bible says he sent it “to humble them and test them” for their own good. (Deuteronomy 8:16) In other words, he knew how difficult it would be to exist on the miraculous but boring manna day after day but considered it useful training. And then came that glorious day when they walked into Canaan and had their first taste of something new: baked bread and roasted grain, mmmm-good!

At the end of God’s humbling and the tests he allows into our lives even today, we can always count on him to provide the mmmm-good when it’s over!

BTW, maybe the local squirrels have viewed their annual acorn diet like so much manna, nourishing but boring. If so, this year’s pumpkin feast must seem like the Promised Land!

“No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of [Canaan], and it was never seen again.” (Joshua 5:12)

(FYI, Scripture hints we might all get to see and taste a little manna in heaven. Remember, he saved a jar of starter in the Ark of the Covenant. Revelation 2:17)