Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” – John 20:27

“He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives! He lives, salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know He lives?…”

Those of you who grew up with this song are familiar with the final line: after a dramatic pause, (*drumroll*) here comes the earth-shaking answer that will convince every skeptic – “He lives within my heart!”

With all due respect to the songwriter, and acknowledging that having Christ living in one’s heart is an unbelievably awesome experience, nevertheless, I don’t know a single skeptic that would be the slightest bit impressed with that “proof,” no matter how much gusto the singer displayed.

But fear not! The Resurrection of Jesus, the centerpiece of our faith, has ample evidence. In fact, it is the most well documented event in ancient history.

Let’s look at some of this evidence. What millions celebrate at Easter, roughly 2000 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, was written down by historians who interviewed eyewitnesses, as well as a few eyewitnesses themselves.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda…

With all the enemies the Christian movement had from the beginning, no one was able to refute what these witnesses said. After all, Jesus was seen by over 500 men (and probably women and children, too, though in those days they weren’t counted.) If Jesus hadn’t been raised to life, all His enemies had to do was produce His body and they would have saved themselves the hassle of arresting, imprisoning, torturing, and killing those pesky people who insisted that He was alive.

Yeah, right ...

Here are some theories about what happened that day that turned the world upside down (or right side up, depending on your perspective):

* The disciples stole the body and made up the story that Jesus had risen from the dead. Why in the world would a band of scared-to-death men who fled the Romans want to stir up that much trouble? After Judas hanged himself, the rest of the disciples were willing to face persecution and death – for a hoax? You’d think at least one of them would have caved under torture. After all, who wants to be crucified upside down for a prank?

* Jesus didn’t really die, He just swooned enough to fool the Romans and the doctor that signed His death certificate. Let me get this straight … Jesus survived a Roman scourge (alone tantamount to a death sentence), hanging on the cross for hours, and being buried for three days without food, water, or medical attention, and then healed up enough to roll away a two-ton stone, overcome the armed Roman guards, and declare Himself risen. …ok…

*The women went to the wrong tomb. And so did Peter, John, and the others. In fact, the real tomb of Jesus has yet to be found, but when it is, they’ll find His body in there. …Mmhm…

* The 500-plus people who saw Him alive were all having the same hallucination.

… for 40 days. (Seriously?)

OR…

HE IS RISEN! HE LIVES! Believe it! Enjoy it! If you’re a Christ-follower, you can celebrate His resurrection every day.

And if you’re not a Christ-follower, what’s keeping you?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we are in awe that You loved us enough to sacrifice Your life to save us from hell. And we are overjoyed that You are alive! Live through us every day. Help us always be prepared to give and answer to everyone who asks us to give a reason for the hope that we have.* Open the eyes of the skeptics see that You are real, You are alive, and You love them. In Your name, amen.

*I Peter 3:15

“The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.” – Genesis 41:32

Last week I shared about going online to get my boarding pass to fly home from Phoenix the next day, only to discover I had been scheduled to fly home that day, and the plane had just taken off …

https://seekingdivineperspective.com/2024/04/27/divine-outcome-from-yet-another-blunder/

Long story short, a very kind agent had helped me get a reservation on the flight I had thought I was on in the first place.

Once the panic had subsided and I had “got a grip,” it occurred to me that although mistakes and blunders seem to be a daily occurrence for me, in God’s plan there are no mistakes … at least no mistakes bigger than He is able to use. I began to wonder what He had planned for my return trip…

After boarding the plane and maneuvering my precious guitar into the overhead bin, I squeezed into the last available seat.

Of course, I had a middle seat. – But zero complaints. I was just grateful to be on my way home – and a little excited, knowing God was at the helm of my life. I was wearing my favorite t-shirt, the one that says, “If being a Christian is boring, you’re doing it wrong,” and that was my attitude that day.

I sat between two men, one of them on his laptop doing business, and the other looking at his phone but open to small talk. We exchanged information about where we were from, where we were going, and recent experiences. When there was a lull in the conversation, he turned toward the window, closed his eyes, and tipped his hat down over half his face to take a nap. Reading the subtle body language (Hey, nothing gets by me.), I assumed that for now the Lord just wanted me to Himself for a while, at least until I saw some evidence to the contrary.

I closed my own eyes and “napped” (prayed silently) until the flight attendants brought us drinks. By this time the other man had put away his laptop and was having a drink and chatting and laughing with his friend across the aisle. When the attendant brought their second round, the man across the aisle nodded toward me and said to his friend, “She’s starting to look worried.” They laughed. I laughed. And we started to talk.

These two men were heading for Kentucky to go turkey hunting with friends for the weekend. They inquired about my guitar, which had apparently grabbed their attention when I got on board. Paul, the man next to me, had taken up guitar recently. But as he was 51 years old, he felt that his late start had been a disadvantage. He’d been encouraging his children to play instead. This led to a long discussion of instruments, children, and (in my case) grandchildren, various musical genres, and blended genres. I told him about the fascinating and extremely entertaining concert my sister and I had attended, an ensemble of seven ukelele players. The most creative piece, to me, had been when they sang the lyrics of a Black Sabbath song to the tune of a French classical piece … on ukeleles … wearing tuxedos. (Who thinks up this stuff?!)

Eventually, we got on the subject of my writing, and Paul seemed sincerely interested. He told me the highly unusual love story of his parents; his father had been a priest and his mother a cloistered nun. With special permission, they had married and had ten children! “You should write about them!” he suggested.

“Maybe you should,” I responded. Paul confessed to me that he had always wanted to be a writer. But with a wife and six kids to support, he’d had to settle for a more practical career. He opened his phone and showed me his one original poem, which he had written in college. I read it.

I read it again.

It was magnificent. I told him he should publish it. And he should write more. He gave an evasive non-answer…

“May I at least post it on my blog?” I persisted, and he said, “Sure.” I gave him my email address, and he sent it from his phone.

Paul then opened another screen containing one name, that of a woman he had met a couple of weeks before on another flight. He said she was a famous sci-fi writer, but since that’s a genre I’m not “into,” I hadn’t heard of her.

“She told me the same thing, that I should write,” he said.

I told him about a class I had taken in biblical interpretation of dreams and prophecies. We had learned that 2 is the number of revelation. I reminded him of the story of Joseph in Genesis, when Pharaoh had had two prophetic dreams. In interpreting them, Joseph had told him, “The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.”

“So, ” I announced smugly, “she said you should write, and I’m confirming it. I guess it’s settled. You’re a writer.”

Paul looked intrigued. “Maybe so …”

Sadly, when I got home, I looked in my emails for Paul’s poem and didn’t find it. I searched the “spam” folder, the “trash” folder … nothing.

So, Paul, if you’re reading this, you’ll have to publish that poem yourself. If not, at least put it in the comments below, so my followers can enjoy it.

(Please.)

And KEEP WRITING.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for directing my life in many ways, some of them crazy, some of them embarrassing and humbling. (Maybe that’s the point?) Inspire Paul to write the things You want him to write. Bless and use his writing. Reward him for the sacrifices he made to provide for his wife and children. Let his future be even more fulfilling than the past. May his home be filled with children, stories, music, laughter, and most of all, faith in You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

II Corinthians 12:9

A few days ago, fellow blogger Katie posted on her blog, “Encouragement for You,” (katiesencouragementforyou) a story that I believe epitomizes a perfect testimony. It has self-deprecating humor (the best kind, in my opinion), an entertaining story/parable, good theology, and a promising ending. But enough from me, I’ll let the story speak for itself:

A True Story

PUBLISHED ON April 2, 2024

Along time ago, and far, far away in the land of New York City, three young women decided to have an adventure. 🙂  They were on staff with a Christian organization, and their summer assignment was in Wildwood NJ.  They borrowed a car, and away they drove to New York City.  Actually, I was one of those women. 

New York City was only a couple of hours away–we left early in the morning and drove into the city.  One of the staff gals was from New York City, and she directed us around the city.  However, she was only used to taking the subway, not driving the car in the city.  I actually drove the car.  The other staff gal was from Hawaii.  

As we looked for a place to park the car, I noticed this sign that said, “No standing”.   I asked the girl from New York City, “What does that sign mean?”   She said, “I don’t know.”   I said, “Maybe that’s a sign for the ‘hookers’, letting them know they can’t stand on these streets?”  (Yes, as I write these words, I am laughing so hard at my naïve, younger self–who had spent my 13th summer in New Orleans, and so thought I knew all about prostitutes standing on the street.)

We ended up parking underneath one of these signs—as cars don’t stand–they park–at least that is what we reasoned.  We went off to experience New York City for the day.  We went to see if there were any Broadway plays we could get tickets for the day–there weren’t.  So we skipped our way through the city, singing, “New York, New York….”, having the time of our lives.

Hours, and hours later, we went back to our car, and ……it was gone!!   Fortunately the New Yorker staff woman understood the subway system, and knew where cars went, when they were towed.  It was near the time when the parking garage that kept towed cars would be closing, and we found ourselves on the subway traveling to get our car out of being towed. 

We joined the long line of people waiting to pay to get their cars out of the garage.  As we waited we started talking to the people in line with us.  We started talking to them about Jesus, about Him being our Savior, and making it possible for us to have a relationship with God the Father.   One of the people we were talking to, told us that he was a Pastor’s son, but he didn’t believe in sin, and consequences for sin, or a need for anyone to pay for our sins.

We told him the story of our car being towed.  I told him I did not believe I was doing something wrong, but I still had a consequence for what I did wrong–I had to pay the tow.  If I could not pay, I would be in serious trouble.

I told him, he might not “believe” in sin, but he still was going to have a consequence for it, and if he couldn’t pay, he was going to be in serious trouble.

I told him that we were all in serious trouble—that in a sense we were all appearing before the judge to pay the consequences for our sin, only to find out that the judge was our Dad, and while he was a just Judge, he was also a loving Dad.  Therefore, he came down and handed each of us the amount we needed to pay off our fine, as none of us had the amount to pay it off.

That got his attention.   He told us he had heard a lot of sermons, but I was making sense to him.  

I told him that God was just and loving—and had to satisfy both parts of His character.  Jesus’ death on the cross did both things.  “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Romans 6:23  Instead of what we deserve—God the Son took our death—and our unrighteousness–and He gave us His life–and His righteousness.   It wasn’t a fair exchange, but it was the only exchange that would reveal who God is.

God did pay the penalty for each of us.  He has given the gift of eternal life to each of us.  Yet, He will never force us into a relationship with Him.  We each have a choice of whether to accept His love or reject it.

The man told us that for the first time in his life, he understood the message of the gospel, and that he was going to be re-evaluating what he believed.

We ended up getting our car out of the parking garage, and traveling back to Wildwood.  On the way home, one of the girls said, “Never tell anyone about our car getting towed, ok?”    🙂  Sorry! 🙂 

May you be encouraged!!

I commented:

Oh, Katie, you should ABSOLUTELY tell what happened to you – to as many people as possible! What a great story, and what a reward for your humility, when a lot of people might have stood quietly and gotten their vehicle out as soon as possible and hoped nobody found out about it. (It’s embarrassing how many of my God stories start out with me, doing something dumb.  )

The gospel isn’t about us and our dignity, it’s about God’s grace – which comes out best when we’ve screwed up! No one can accuse you of ulterior motives for what you shared, because it was shared at the expense of your own dignity. You were identifying with that sinner, not talking down to him. What a perfect setup. I bet you were the answer to that young man’s parents’ prayers.

Prayer: Lord, I am amazed at the myriad ways Your plan unfolds in each of our lives, such as when a young girl in the big city messed up on the same day a man messed up who needed to hear the gospel in a way that related to his sin (messing up)! Thank You for this divine perspective, that even when we fall short, You redeem the situation and turn it into a case of amazing grace, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. – John 19:31, 33

Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. – Mark 15:43-45

I heard it stated recently that the central doctrine of Christianity, the Resurrection, consists of three things we must believe: 1. that Jesus was alive, 2, that He died, and 3. that He was alive again.

Nearly every historian, Christian and non-Christian, believes that Jesus of Nazareth was a real historical figure. That He lived on earth at one point is rarely contested.

There are some who contend that Jesus did not die, He merely fainted (“swooned”) and regained consciousness later after being buried in a tomb for days. But for the most part, His death on a Roman cross is accepted by nearly every historian. This is the part of His life that we commemorate today, the poignant and most painful chapter of the story. And yet there is a note of triumph, as we see an ancient prophecy fulfilled “between the lines,” so to speak …

Having studied the Bible for over half a century, you’d think I would have picked up every bit of interesting trivia related to its contents, but far from it. Scripture is a bottomless well of information, some of which may seem trivial on the surface, but which upon further examination becomes a profound revelation (or confirmation) of the God behind it.

Case in point: my latest vocabulary word: lividity.

My apologies to the radio preacher who was speaking on this yesterday, as I don’t remember who you were, only that I was having a “senior moment” and was on the road earlier than I should have been. Providentially, I heard your message. (It’s embarrassing how many of my testimonies start out with a physical or mental blunder on my part.)

So, since I can’t quote the preacher, I will quote merriam-webster.com:

li·​vid·​i·​ty li-ˈvi-də-tē  specifically : reddish- to bluish-purple discoloration of the skin due to the settling and pooling of blood following death

Since at death the heart stops pumping, it makes sense that the blood in the body will pool at the lowest point. (Even this theater major understands the laws of gravity.) With this knowledge, one examining a dead body can determine not only how long the person has been dead but also the position of the body at death. If the person was shot or stabbed and knocked over, the lividity would occur at the back, front, or side, depending on how the body was lying.

Jesus, having been crucified, died in an upright position. In the time between His death and His body being taken down from the cross, the blood would have settled in His feet. So, those who removed Jesus from the cross would have found His feet to be in a state of lividity – or, as we non-medical people would call it, severely bruised.

Does that ring a bell?

To see the pertinent prophecy that was fulfilled that first Good Friday, we must go back to the very beginning, the book of Genesis. Man (and Woman) had barely been in the Garden for two chapters before the trouble started that led to the Fall that has cursed the earth and its inhabitants ever since. Given any tree they wanted to eat from except one, Adam and Eve, enticed by the devil in the form of a serpent, chose to disobey God and eat from that one forbidden tree. In Genesis 3 the Lord predicted that from then on, the woman’s pain would be multiplied in childbirth, and that the man would be subjected to “painful toil.” But before doing this, He pronounced a curse on the serpent (Satan) and prophesied his ultimate demise:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,
    and between your seed and her seed;
he shall crush your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

Thousands of years later, the body of Jesus (the “seed of the woman” – that is, born of a woman without an earthly father) hung on a cross, having given His life for our forgiveness and salvation …

His feet badly bruised.

But while Jesus’ heels were bruised, Satan’s head was crushed. As sad as the story is on Good Friday, we can also proclaim victory over our enemy, who set out from the beginning in the Garden of Eden to destroy us. He has not succeeded. The penalty was paid for our sin, and as Jesus declared with His last breath:

“It is finished.”

Our enemy is defeated, his head crushed by our Savior’s bruised heel.

HALLELUIA!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we can never thank You enough for the price You paid for our salvation. We have nothing to give You but our flawed and sinful lives, and yet this is what You ask of us. We give ourselves to You gladly and ask only that You make us into the people You want us to be, who will glorify You with every breath, in Your name. Amen.

Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. – Psalm 34:3

As some of you know, for a number of years now I have wanted to get a group together from our church to go to the St, Patrick’s Parade to share the gospel with some of the 10,000 attendees in a fun but clear way. Always the teacher, I had created a four-question quiz to challenge people, complete with multiple choices for answers, some that sounded right, some creative, and some weird enough they just might be right. (https://seekingdivineperspective.com/2020/03/17/who-knew/ ) I had tried it out on individuals in the waiting rooms at the doctor’s office and car repair shop and was convinced the parade goers might like it. I had seen them turned off by the man on the corner screaming at them about their sins. But maybe a game would be more in tune with the festivities and connect with more people while still getting the message across in the end.

Over the years I had gone alone, been rained out, seen Covid postpone and cancel the parade, and had volunteers cancel on me.

Last year my sweet granddaughter Charlotte joined me, along with one friend who wasn’t feeling well that day, but to her credit, she came anyway, because she had told me she would. She stood with us, presumably praying, while Charlotte and I took turns asking the questions, reading the multiple-choice answers, and giving the correct answers after our contestants gave it their best shots.

I almost stopped trying this year, but in the end, I decided to give it one last shot. I sent out an email to my church and made an announcement at the evening prayer meeting. To my surprise, I had about ten people express interest in coming. By the time work schedules and unexpected out-of-town company subtracted a few and a couple of people decided to join us at the last-minute, parade day found seven of us meeting at the church for prayer before heading over. Charlotte, my trusty granddaughter, had come again ( ❤ ). I was thrilled that the deacon of local outreach was not only supportive but was coming with us. There was a young man I had seen at the adult Sunday school class but had never gotten to know, two young ladies I also didn’t yet know, and one of my friends from China, willing to give an American outreach at an Irish parade a shot. (I admire her sense of adventure.)

After prayer and distributing materials, we headed toward the parade route about an hour before starting time, because I remembered parking had been a problem last year. But there was a much better reason to go early, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.

Knowing many come early to “get a good seat,” and knowing they’re just hanging out waiting for the parade to start, this seemed the ideal time to approach them with something fun to do while they were waiting.

Sure enough, our little “contest” was met with enthusiastic participants and good-natured competition. While the two male members of our group headed off to cover more ground, the “girls” stayed together for a while, holding up the signs with the questions, making “buzzer” sounds with the incorrect answers, “high-fiving” the correct answers, congratulating the most knowledgeable (or best guessers), and offering our little booklets as “souvenirs” so they could go out and quiz their friends, co-workers, family members, etc.

At one point we passed a group of Hispanic people, and I was delightfully surprised to hear one of our young ladies speak to them in Spanish. Their faces lit up as she explained the quiz to them, and the rest of us backed off to let her take over. But then they let us know it was OK, they understood English, too. They took the quiz in English, so we could all enjoy that encounter.

After that I was on the lookout for people my Chinese friend might talk to, as well.

Once the parade started, the girls went inside to talk to people who were having refreshments, since it seemed rude to interrupt people as they were watching the parade. We spread out a bit and had some enjoyable exchanges with people sitting informally around tables. When we got to the question about the shamrock, what Patrick used to explain the Trinity, different members of the group used their own words and styles to convey the message of the gospel. To my delight, two of the girls spontaneously gave their testimonies. When we offered the booklets to the participants, I began pointing out that we had printed them out and were offering them, and all they had to do was accept them. As for salvation, Jesus did the work, He made the sacrifice to pay for our sins, and He’s offering us eternal life. We only have to respond.

We don’t have to earn it. It’s a gift.

Meanwhile, the men were far down the street, having encounters of their own. These included a long talk with a couple who had had a bad experience with church in the past, but who were considering accepting their invitation to join us some Sunday. I’m praying they’ll come and find the love and joy and truth the rest of us have found.

Only eternity will tell us what resulted from our time “planting seeds,” and that’s fine with me. As I wrote in another post recently, I don’t need to keep score. God knows it all, and He’s the One doing it all, anyway.

But I am looking forward to doing the outreach again. Maybe next year we’ll come two hours before parade time.

And maybe I’ll try to get the booklets printed professionally before the parade, instead of copying, printing, cutting, and stapling all week…

Prayer: Lord, thank You for the miracle you did in the life of Your servant Patrick, and for giving us the privilege of serving You, too, by telling his story – and our own. Help us always to be Your witnesses, whatever the occasion. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:2-4

I have a young acquaintance who tells me she has seen the Lord show Himself to her in the past with all kinds of signs and proofs. Whether these were physical, emotional, or both, I don’t know. She recently expressed discouragement that lately she hadn’t seen God “come through” for her the way He has in the past, and she occasionally succumbs to the feeling that He no longer keeps His promises, that He has abandoned her … etc.

I understand the feeling. But it’s just that – a feeling.

God can and does manifest Himself in those wonderful emotional “highs,” especially when we’re young and those feelings mean so much to our perception of reality. As “baby Christians” we need the encouragement, and those moments help reinforce our budding faith.

But the enemy of our souls can use those feelings, too. He’ll use the highs to tempt us to rely on a “feel-good gospel,” which is really a false gospel. Or, when the low points come, he’ll try to use them to get us to believe God no longer cares, has forgotten about us, or is powerless to help.

When that happens, it’s time to grow up. Are we going to live according to our emotions, or according to the truth? I would suggest that the Truth is much more reliable than our feelings. (I speak from experience.)

My response to this young lady (and a reminder to myself) went something like this:

” ‘Seems’ is the key word here. Things are NOT what they seem – God has not abandoned you! He is very much involved, but you are growing, and He wants to make you stronger.

There’s a reason we are told not to ‘help’ a chick hatch or a butterfly to come out of its cocoon. We see the creature struggling, and we’re tempted to give it a little aid. But if we do, once the chick is hatched or the butterfly is out, it will be too weak to survive. They need the struggle, and so do we. You are entering a new chapter in your spiritual growth, and you will need stronger faith that (by definition) trusts God even when we can’t ‘see’ Him.”

We trust, not because we see His hand, but because we know Who He is, how He has come through for us in the past, and that He can be trusted now. Meanwhile, we should not shrink from the task at hand. God’s purposes are worth waiting and working for.

Such is true with individuals. My fellow blogger, Lisa V., recently applied the same principle to nations in a sobering post:

The camels are on the horizons……………………….

Certainly something for the younger generation to think about.

There is truth here, that is really a prediction about our future.

The founder of Dubai, Sheik Rashid, was asked about the future of his country, and he replied, “My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I ride a Mercedes, my son rides a Land Rover, and my grandson is going to ride a Land Rover…but my great-grandson is going to have to ride a camel again.

Why is that, he was asked?

And his reply was, “Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men, weak men create difficult times. Many will not understand it, but you have to raise warriors, not parasites and pansies.”

And add to that the historical reality that all great empires…the Persians, the Trojans, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and in later years, the British…all rose and perished within 240 years.

They were not conquered by external enemies; they rotted from within. America has now passed that 240 year mark, and the rot is starting to be visible and is accelerating. We are past the Mercedes and Land Rover Years … the camels are on the horizon.

The greatest generation consisted of 18 year old kids storming the beaches at Normandy. And now, two generations later, some 18-year-old kids want to hide in safe rooms when they hear words that hurt their feelings. They also want free stuff from the government because they think they are entitled to it.

The “camels are on the horizon” for sure. Something to ponder.

History has a way of repeating itself.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, forgive us for the times we have valued pleasure, comfort, and ease more than You. Save us from cowardice, selfishness, and laziness. Help us focus our minds and hearts on Your faithfulness to us. Make us sensitive to Your voice, and as we resolve to obey You, give us the courage and strength to follow through. As a nation, raise us up to be righteous warriors, leaving a legacy of faith to future generations. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. But our citizenship is in heaven. – Philippians 3:19-20a

Two weeks ago, my husband and I decided, rather spontaneously, to join our daughter and her family on a four-day cruise to the Bahamas. We had been invited to join them some time ago, but my very practical husband was wrestling with what was involved in actually getting to the boat. (That perspective would prove painfully insightful by the end of the journey.)

I’ll skip the long, frustrating, boring part about all the hoops we had to jump through to get to the port in Fort Lauderdale, where we finally boarded the ship, and the fun part of the adventure began.

To say it was a large ship would be a serious understatement. There were over four thousand guests on board and more employees than guests – about ten thousand people on board all together – a floating city.

And what a city! As we set sail, the main pool deck was teeming with people, packed like spectators at a sports arena, drinking their beverages, hollering their jubilation, and dancing to the loud music. As a group of them started line-dancing like pros, reminiscent of a flash mob, I wondered what four straight days of this was going to be like, and Marty muttered something about “too many people.” But I doubted any of them were going to jump overboard, and it was too late to change our minds now.

Though things did settle down somewhat, there were always people everywhere. The ship had virtually every kind of entertainment and recreation one could imagine, including but not limited to: restaurants, bars, stores, pools, water slides, mini golf, basketball, boogieboarding, surfing, silent disco, karaoke, art exhibit, kids’ party, casino, and even an ice rink.

With all those people, it astounded me that the staff knew our names from day one. Our room attendant, a friendly, creative man from India, greeted us by name in the hallway, even if we weren’t close to our room. He left towels in our room cleverly fashioned into the shape of a different animal every day. Our waiter and bus boy knew the names of every family member around the table – eight in all – and little things about us. He would point out the sugar-free desserts to me and ask our nine-year-old grandson if he wanted the usual cheeseburger and fries. He would bring him fresh raw veggies to balance out his meal but then unbalance it by giving him extra cookies with his ice cream.

The gourmet food was exquisite – even the sugar-free and/or gluten-free desserts, made by master chefs from all over the world. I’ve heard that one can go on a cruise and eat virtually non-stop, and we did see many people carrying plates of the “free” food, presumably back to their rooms for a midnight “snack” later. To counteract the risk of overindulgence and not fitting into any of our clothes by the end of the trip, Marty and I took the stairs instead of the elevators whenever possible. Since the kids’ rooms were on Deck 2 in the middle of the ship, and ours was on Deck 9 in the bow, getting from their room to ours took a bit of a walk and a climb of 112 steps. (Yes, I’ve recovered from my hip replacement – Yay God!)

For four days we experienced being treated like royalty, being able to indulge in pretty much anything we wanted to do or have or watch or eat or drink. I’m guessing many of the passengers had saved up for months, maybe years, to go on this cruise. And there were moments when I wondered how they would feel at the end of the trip.

Would they feel satisfied? Would they continue to believe four days on this floating carnival was the pinnacle of life and start saving up for the next cruise? Did any of them stay too long in the casino and lose everything? Did anyone’s perspective on life change as a result of this experience? Mine did … sort of.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, I have always known that heaven holds more for us than this world could ever offer. But, not ever having seen heaven, I need to keep reminding myself, because what the world offers is a lot more tangible. More than once I thought of Solomon, how he indulged in the wealth of the world without restraint, “because he could,” and how depressed he became in the end. (He wrote about it in the book of Ecclesiastes.)

To be clear, I did enjoy the cruise. I loved being with family, and I’ll admit I enjoyed the great food (and not cooking!), diverse entertainment, and playing with my grandchildren in venues not always available to us. But I never got the feeling, “This is IT!” That experience was yet to come …

A few days later, I was back in my home church, standing with several hundred other believers. We were worshiping our God, singing our hearts out in four-part harmony and feeling His presence with every note. When I closed my eyes, it was easy to imagine we were in His Throne room. That fifteen-minute glimpse of eternity beat all the pampering, entertainment, and amusements of the past week. It was more real, more personal, more lasting, more deeply satisfying. It wasn’t heaven, it was just a taste. But if a brief taste of heaven could outshine the world’s treasures, how much more incredibly wonderful will it be when we all finally come home?

I hope and pray that each and every person reading this will be there on that day.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for turning Your back on the treasures of this world that are rightfully Yours, to make eternal life available to us. Thank You for dying and paying for our sins so we can be forgiven and join You in heaven forever. Help us to be mindful of that glorious future, as the world clamors for our attention today. In Your name, amen.