Tag Archives: Family

8 Things that Happen When you Die (Part 2 of 2)

My mom became less daring the more she aged. But in her younger years she rode a motorcycle, hiked mountains and moved across the country to a town filled with only strangers. Maybe she became more cautious because of her children and grandchildren. This picture shows my mom’s thirst for adventure. We all have this desire deep inside us. And in heaven we will explore with exhilarating enthusiasm for all of eternity.

Before we look at #6, #7 and #8, allow me to recap from part 1…

  1. Our body dies and DECAYS.
  2. ANGELS carry you to heaven.
  3. Glorious SIGHTS of heaven.
  4. Glorious SOUNDS of heaven.
  5. PRESENT with Jesus.

#6 – We will be given the KEYS to our new HOME.

Jesus was a carpenter in His earthly job, and in heaven He is also a builder. The night before Jesus died, He promised His disciples a future home in heaven:

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:2-3).

We will have our own place in heaven just as we have our own place here on this earth. I am not sure if we will all have the same size house or if some will be much larger than others or if some people will live alone while others will live together. Those details are not known. But we do know that Jesus is preparing a place for us to dwell.

The first day we are in heaven, I believe we will shown our new home. God has been waiting for this moment your entire life and is excited to give you a brand new house. Most likely, you’ve never been gifted a house, but for each of us, we will feel the tremendous love of our Father when He presents this incredible gift to us.

We will finally be home.

Have you ever been gone on a long road trip and finally settle back into your home? What is that feeling like? It is a great feeling. You can relax. You enjoyed the trip, but there is no place like home. It is hard for us to completely comprehend this feeling right now, but someday you will realize that you are home when you step through your eternal house. The sense of safety, security, fulfillment and belonging will someday overwhelm your heart. You were made for this place.

God is preparing a “place” for you, and the feeling of being home will be more than simply a physical building. The reunion of loved ones in heaven will be tremendously satisfying.

Tears of joy will fill your eyes as you run up to your grandmother who has been in heaven for thirty years.

Laughter will burst forth from your mouth as you embrace your brother who lost his life to cancer ten years before you.

Babies who entered heaven because of a miscarriage will run to their mothers in their heavenly bodies.

You will meet your ancestors who traveled across the Atlantic to give your family a new life in the Americas.

Some say the “key” to happiness is finding lifelong friends. When we get to heaven and Jesus gives us the key to our new home, this “key” will give us access to family members and friends we loved so dearly on this earth. Each of these individuals will now be available for us to interact with forever and ever. How I long for that access to my grandparents, my daughter Clare, and my mom.

They say “home is where the heart is” and so that moment we meet all of those precious people in heaven, we will feel complete and whole for the first time. The aching I have in my heart to hear my mom’s voice once more is deeper than I could have ever imagined. I miss her voice so much that about once a week I will open the voicemail on my phone where a past message is saved from my mom and I will listen to it just to hear her sweet voice. Sometimes I will replay her voicemail over and over. I don’t want to forget her voice.

Heaven will be home not because of the amazing houses. Heaven will be home because of Jesus. And our family. And our friends. And the new people we will meet!

#7 – We will be PERFECT.

As a child, I had a fear of heaven. I wanted to go there instead of hell, but I was worried that after thousands of years I would get bored. I even had dreams of trying to end my existence in heaven because of the excruciating boredom. But something I didn’t consider when I was younger was this: only perfect people are in heaven.

What does it mean when the Bible refers “to the spirits of the righteous made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23)?

Perfect means to be complete, without sin, mature, fulfilled. Paul describes this perfection in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. He compares and contrasts our temporary body with our resurrected body.

Earthly body is born to die, but our heaven body will live forever.

Earthly body is born in dishonor (sin), but our heaven body will be glorious (without sin).

Earthly body is born in weakness, but our heavenly body will be powerful.

Earthly body is born natural, but our heavenly body is spiritual.

Our brains will think at full capacity. Our bodies will never get tired. We will never want to engage in sin again. We will only speak life-giving words. Our hearts will never again feel pain, remorse or agony. Try to picture some of the most amazing moments in your life when you felt very much alive. That is a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Only heaven will be better.   

When we enter heaven, God “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21).

The ultimate act of love from our Creator is that He wants us to be just like Him. So, as you age and your body and mind begin to break down, just remember that God will change you into the most beautiful person you have ever known. You will be totally satisfied forever because of His completed work in you.

#8 – We will be REWARDED for our WORKS as a Christian.

Many times throughout the New Testament, we are taught that God will reward us in various ways. I have heard many Christians tell me that they don’t care about this part of heaven. “I just want to get there,” they say. But if it wasn’t important, the Bible wouldn’t focus upon it constantly. Jesus explains to us that there will be rewards:

I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done (Revelation 22:12).

In the last few verses of the Bible, we are given the promise of being rewarded. Let me make it clear that it is not to determine whether or not we will be allowed into the heaven. Our salvation will be secured because of our faith in Christ. But we will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be repaid for how much or how little we did for Jesus on earth (2 Corinthians 5:10).

Here is a short list of several rewards:

crown of life

treasure

crown of righteousness

crown of glory

(c.f. James 1:12; Luke 12:33-34; 2 Timothy 4:8; 1 Peter 5:4)

I am not sure what the rewards will look like, but just as we are rewarded here on this earth for good works, there will be a heavenly satisfaction that will far outlast any earthly pleasure we enjoyed. 

As we stand before Jesus, He will display for us how we impacted the earth for eternity. We will see the young, single woman with two kids we came alongside and mentored. We will cry tears of joy as we are approached by a man who was saved because of a testimony we gave at a church event. We will shout “hallelujah” when we notice an agnostic friend who became a believer because we were able to prove the reliability of Jesus’ resurrection. We will be overwhelmed with gratitude that we sent money to buy Bibles because an entire tribe from Africa became believers because they received God’s Word in their own language.

We will be pleasantly surprised that our relational proximity to our Savior in heaven was based upon how seriously we took Jesus’ commands on earth. But Christians who lived selfishly to build their own earthly success for their own personal gain will realize IT WAS NOT WORTH IT.

If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames (1 Cor 3:14-15).

Many Christians believe that these rewards will not be significant because “we will cast our crowns before the throne of God” (Revelation 4:10) when we are in heaven.

But this does not mean that we are throwing the rewards away. We are returning the thanks, the worthiness, the value of what a great God we served on earth. Otherwise, why hand out rewards if the treasures will be tossed aside.

The THINGS God has PREPARED. In closing, it is important to remind ourselves that we have a limited view of the realities of heaven. We know some things, and that helps us take comfort whenever a beloved believer dies, but we also need to take into account this truth:

What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived—the things God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor 2:9).

Here is what I know for sure: God is preparing an indescribable place for those who love Him. I love Him. Do you love Him? I pray that your answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

The “C” Word

Cancer. It is one of the most dreaded words in the English language. When someone hears the phrase: “You have cancer,” their mind immediately fears the worst. I heard the other day on a medical commercial that one in every two people will get cancer at some point in their life. That got my attention! Those kinds of statistics are scary, because it means that there is a good chance that you will get cancer eventually. And it guarantees that someone you love dearly will get cancer.

My first experience with the word “cancer” came when I was only six years old. Because I was so young, I did not remember many of the details of the challenges that cancer can bring into a family’s life. But I saw enough to know that cancer had the ability to take away someone I loved deeply.

His name was Gilbert. He was my grandpa. He battled lung cancer. He developed this kind of cancer because he was a smoker. He smoked for approximately five decades. For almost fifty years he inhaled harmful smoke into his lungs. He started when he was only thirteen years old.

One of my fondest memories of my grandpa was his willingness to let me help him make his coffee. He put me in charge of determining how much sugar and cream would be poured into his cup of Joe. After I had stirred in the cream and sugar, he allowed me to take the first sip. I would dip a spoon over the top of the coffee and slurp the tablespoon of coffee into my mouth. I can still taste the sweet liquid on my tongue. This was a yummy memory.

Many details are overlooked in the mind of a six year old witnessing his grandpa dying of cancer. My parents protected me from the ravaging effect that cancer has on a human’s internal organs. They did not share with me the details of the doctor visits that ended with bad news. They did sit me down and tell me that grandpa was very sick and that he might be going to heaven soon.

“But I don’t want him to go to heaven!” I wanted him to stay here on earth so that I could grow up on his farm and play with the chickens, pigs, and dogs. I wanted him to lay right beside me in the living room as we would watch The Price is Right on a lazy week day. I did not want him to die. But he died anyway.

Even though I do not remember every detail of the struggle cancer brought into my family, I do remember one profound picture of love that I would like to share with you. I believe that when people go through a tragedy, no matter what the age, they remember acts of love like nothing else. Often, we forget what people tell us to comfort our grieving hearts. We seldom remember the daily details of living with cancer or living with someone who has cancer. But we almost always remember an act of love shown to us in our most challenging moments.

In the latter stages of his battle with cancer, my grandpa was too weak to walk. He could not place his feet on the floor so that he could walk to the bathroom to take a bath. He could not engage in an act that is normally viewed as simple and routine. He just did not have the strength to walk. My grandpa served in World War II. He worked in the factory. He was a farmer. His strength was above average. He was once chased by a frenzied bull on his farm, and with those same legs was able to jump over a fence just in time to avoid the horned beast. But those same legs would no longer work. That is the destructive power of cancer.

I will never forget the first time I saw my dad carry my grandpa. He placed his hands gently under my grandpa’s back and lifted him to his own chest. He then walked my grandpa to the bathroom and laid him into the bathtub. This act of love touched my soul at the tender age of six.

Physically, my dad carried my grandpa. As a young child, I did not make the spiritual connection as I watched this act of love. But as an adult, I now see that my dad did something with both physical and spiritual implications. My grandpa had the burden of a weak body. My dad carried his weak body. And in this He fulfilled the law of Christ, which is love.

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

From a spiritual perspective, my dad showed compassion to his father-in-law. The kindness in my dad’s heart overflowed into a simple act of meeting someone’s basic needs. Society often paints the wrong picture of what a real man looks like. We falsely believe that a real man is rugged, independent, athletic, and overly confident. But that night I witnessed a real man, and this man was filled with a tremendous capacity to care for a sick human being.

My dad did not carry another man for notoriety. My dad did this act of love in the privacy of a home where only a few people were present. My dad did not carry another man because he felt pressured to do the right thing. Professional medical staff can meet those same needs. And there is nothing wrong with people asking for help from medical professionals when these needs arise. But my dad carried another man because of love. He genuinely loved my grandpa and wanted to honor the father of his bride.

Do you love other human beings with that kind of love? When the need arises, do you make yourself available to care for them in their weakness? Is there someone in your life right now who needs your loving touch? Don’t make excuses to avoid carrying this person’s burden.

At some point in our life, we all might find ourselves asking this question: “When I am old and dying, will someone be there to carry me to the bathtub?” And we hope that the answer to that question is a resounding, “Yes.”

(This article is dedicated to Leland…a great dad!)

 

 

leland truck

’57 Chevy my dad restored