Heaven—we’re Not There Yet

For my family, the July Fourth weekend of 2003 was a big deal. . . . My wife, Sonja, and I had planned to take the kids to visit Sonja’s brother, Steve, and his family in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. . . . It would be our first chance to meet our nephew, Bennett, born two months earlier. . . . This trip would be the first time we’d left our hometown of Imperial, Nebraska, since a family trip to Greeley, Colorado, in March had turned into the worst nightmare of our lives.

To put it bluntly, the last time we had taken a family trip, one of our children almost died. Call us crazy, but we were a little apprehensive this time, almost to the point of not wanting to go. Now, as a pastor, I’m not a believer in superstition. Still, some weird, unsettled part of me felt that if we just hunkered down close to home, we’d be safe.

—HEAVEN IS FOR REAL, XV–XVI

Todd

Maybe you’re like me and wonder sometimes, as your feet hit the floor, Is this going to be a good day or a bad day? Wouldn’t we all like to know the answer to that question? Then we could just stay in bed some mornings and avoid the calamity awaiting us.

Maybe, like me, you’ve gone through some kind of gut-wrenching experience or some heartbreaking loss that makes you apprehensive as you begin each day now. Enduring a life-altering trauma can make you want to play the turtle and go inside your shell.

After seventeen days of watching my toddler suffer, I’d managed only about five nights of sleep. My life had been so painful during that time and I had been wounded so deeply that it took almost four months after Colton’s hospitalization before I could really function again. There was no doubt that my faith in God—and even more, my faith in myself—had been stretched to the limits. The last thing on my to-do list was to repeat anything like I’d just endured.

But you have to go on living. You have to get out of bed in the morning. The question is, how?

Jesus said in this world we’re going to have trouble. (Do I hear a big “Amen!” out there?) He spent time here on earth and endured the worst trouble anyone could imagine. So he knows better than anyone that this isn’t heaven. But he also knows there’s a place where there’s no suffering and no trouble, and he’s inviting us to join him there.

Today, people are looking for peace in the midst of trouble. But peace is an elusive thing. Looking for peace in worldly sources, many people become addicted to drugs or sex or other harmful substances or behaviors. Then Jesus comes along and makes this incredible claim: If you trust me, I will give you peace. One way we gain that peace is by believing his promise that, no matter how bad things get here on earth, we’re headed for a better place: heaven.

Where do you find peace? How about looking for it in the Creator of the universe? In the One who said, “Yeah, in this world, you’re gonna have trouble. But you can relax. I’ve overcome all that stuff. I’ll help you get through it. And then someday I’ll take you back to my place, where life’s hurts don’t exist. I know things are bad now, but heaven’s ahead. And you’re gonna love it.”

How would you live your life differently today if you knew, without a doubt, that no matter what happens, everything is going to be okay, even wonderful, in the end?

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

—John 16:33 NIV