A Glimpse of Heaven

This past week was an experience that I can only compare to heaven itself. For those of you who don’t know, I have been a part of a Bible Study in Xenos Christian Fellowship. I have been involved with one of their Home Churches for about five years now (which has been since I graduated high school). Nautilus is the name of it. Ever since that fateful day five years ago when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have been learning how to develop real friendships and learning how to not only allow people into the inner chambers of my heart and trust, but plunge myself into the relational rabbit hole that other people have in their lives. So...you can say that I have been on plenty of adventures. I have loved a lot and I have suffered a lot. As the Apostle Paul says in his second letter to Timothy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7). It’s what I am living for. It’s what I am fighting for. As a matter of fact, it is the only thing worth my time on this lonely rock in the universe. My whole life I searched for meaning, significance, fulfillment, and everything else a guy like me could want and I have found it all while living my life for God. Living for not only myself but for the Lord, and rely on him to live to tend to the needs of others. 

Never perfectly. Made plenty of mistakes along the way. Yes, I am a sinner.

This past week was a deep and emotional reminder of why I am here. God stitched me together in my mother’s womb with a purpose in mind for me and my time (Psalm 139:13). Every day of the past week, I got to experience a closeness and intimacy that is not of this world, with people who are no more perfect than I am. Though, it was a glimpse of heaven. Every day, we didn’t just get to lay out in the sun and swim in the Tennessee lake of Chuck Norris, but we got to roam the streets of Knoxville as if we were the Lords and Ladies of the Middle Ages. Our conversations had built cities with tall buildings that touched the sky and always had a view of the horizon. We had great and intentional time with one another, where we not only discussed the important spiritual matters, but we reminded one another of our humanity. We shared one another's pain. We told jokes and indulged in comedic plays. We ate, we drank, we laughed, and we cried together. It’s times like these that make life worth living. We got to share how thankful we all are to be living our lives for the creator and king of the universe; who sent his one and only son into our filth-ridden world to die on a cross for us. He did this so we could have a relationship with him. It is because we have accepted this, that we get to go to heaven when we die.  

Now, I can do nothing but live the life that I was born to live. To rely on God for the strength and the courage to be who I was created to be. To spend more time with the people that I love and give God the opportunity to build them up, and to give him the opportunity to sharpen me as well. To endure the necessary suffering in order to grow in that trust and in that reliance on God. To advance further towards the pearly gates, confident of what I will hear when I get there. And that is “Well done my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23). I can be confident in the work that God began in me, and that he will perfect it until the day of his son’s: Christ Jesus’ return. (Philippians 1:6) For the rest of my life, I pray that I look to God for my needs and my fulfillment, and not to any false promises or least of all people who cannot be the perfect father that God is. Only God is capable of providing an everlasting joy that far exceeds anything that the world offers. So I will continue to ask for heart, and to resist the temptation to lose it. I don’t want to lose heart. Never. I hope to continue on, and I ask that those who know me to continue to do this one thing.

Love. Do what is most loving.