One day in heaven Paul discovered why others turned to Christ

So don't let anyone judge you in regard to food or drink, or in the category of festival observances, be it of new moons or Sabbaths. All these things are shadows of what was to come, but the reality has to do with Christ.
Colossians 2:16-17

For those who do not recall from earlier blogs Paul died in a fiery car crash and left a wife and several kids and was immediately ushered into the heaven where he felt the immediate presence of Jesus.  He was brought to the equipment room of heaven where his worn out, time weathered body was exchanged for a brand new heavenly one. Paul was, of course, ecstatic by the thought of being able to do the things he hadn't been able to do for such a long, long time. Paul felt this glow of peace envelop him, but he was concerned for what his family must be going through knowing their earthly husband and father was gone and God assured Paul that just as he came down to rescue him He was also sending angels to help his family through the grieving process.  

Paul was given a job in heaven.  He always wanted to be a carpenter but never had the earthly skill to be one. In heaven, Paul was given these skills where he became a master at creating grand pianos.  In heaven's reception line Paul finally got to see his child who had died years earlier and where he became familiar with the devastating and painful grief of losing a child. As his child was telling him all the things he had done since he came to heaven Paul knew that he finally had closure with some of the many 'why's and 'what if's' which he had on earth.

Paul fell in love with heaven with the sheer beauty he saw all around him. As he looked out the piano shop he could see the trees in full bloom and he could hear with his brand new crisp hearing the song birds singing their morning melody.  Paul looked across the way where he could see children playing in the trees.  He knew that these children had lost their young earthly lives prematurely, but he also knew that the moment they came to heaven there would be no more pain or sorrow.

One day while he was working on one of the baby grand pianos, 3 gentlemen came into his shop where they immediately admired the hand crafted pianos he had been working on. Each of them represented a different culture.  Paul set down his sanding gloves and walked over to greet them.

Paul: "Hi " as he came over to greet them with a handshake.

The first guy reached out to him. He looked the type who might have been from the middle east.

"My name is Sari"  

The second guy looked Asian as he reached out his hand.

"I'm  Arashi"

Paul:  "Nice to meet you: I am Paul"

The third guy reached over to greet Paul. " I'm Abraham"

Paul:  " Just like the biblical Abraham!

Abraham:  " My Jewish parents named me that because they admired him."

Paul was curious about their stories and asked each one how they came to know Christ.

Sari:  " I was born into a Muslim family. I was raised by Muslim parents to respect Allah by  reading the Koran and go to daily prayers."

Paul: " and how about you Abraham?"

Abraham: " I was raised by Jewish parents who told me that one day the Messiah would come and redeem the world."

Paul: " How bout you Arashi?"

Arashi: " I was raised by a father who taught me the importance of following Buddha. We had Buddhist statues throughout our home."

As each of them began to tell their story, Paul was becoming more and more fascinated by their stories.  He knew that on earth these three would not be friends.  He knew that Sari and Abraham were taught to hate each other because of what they had been taught, but in heaven, all three of them became close friends.

Paul:  " How did you guys get to know Christ Jesus?" There, he said it. Now that he said it Paul began to wait for their responses.  Paul was fascinated as each of his heavenly friends shared how they each became Christian's.

Sari: " I remember being in college. My parents sent me to the American University to study business and finance. They wanted me to be successful and they knew that  America had very good schools where  I would get a good education.  One day while studying, I met a fellow Christian student."  Sari paused to reflect. " Mark comes over and starts talking to me about the weather, what I was studying, what I was planning to be when I graduated.  He told me about his plans about wanting to start his own business so he could have time to do trips around the world to do mission work."  Sari pondered on that thought before continuing, " Mark had a bible that I could tell had been read cover to cover because he seemed to have so much knowledge and the pages looked as though they had been turned over and over again. We talked about the Koran and the bible over lunch over the rest of the school year. He invited me to meet his parents and experience an American holiday. I was given a gift which was the bible in the Arabic language. I read it and one night I had a dream where Jesus spoke to me. I knew at that point that this Jesus that the bible talked about was real.  I told Mark about the dream and he leads me in a prayer inviting Jesus to come into my life."

Paul: " Sari, what was the one thing you noticed after your received Christ?"

Sari reflected on this question before answering.

Sari: " It was how Christ took the burden of having to perform my daily rituals away. I remember reading in the bible about how Christ makes all things clean and we were no longer obligated by the customary law of sacrifices. For the first time in my earthly life, I felt freedom almost like breathing in a batch of fresh air for the first time."

Sari's two friends nodded in agreement.

Abraham:  " Total freedom. I remember when a friend gave me the new testament and being struck by the knowledge that Jesus's death and resurrection on the cross meant that I was no longer obligated to the rituals of my faith because his resurrection gave me total freedom because He finished it for me.

Arashi looked on and exclaimed.  " Living the life of a Buddhist was a life of rituals,  I remember an American friend giving me a bible and when I read the gospels of Mark, Luke and John how relieved I was knowing that Christ accomplished it all with his death and resurrection on the cross. One night, I saw Jesus Christ in my dream.  This American friend shared that I could know Christ on a personal level by simply praying the prayer of salvation."

Paul asked his friend what it was like after he said that prayer. Arashi smiled, "I felt peace. I felt like this burden had been lifted from my shoulder. I felt incredible joy and happiness just knowing that God had a plan for my life."

Paul looked on with a smile knowing that these three unlikely brothers would be discouraged from becoming friends on earth were now heavenly friends because of what Jesus did for each of them.

Sari looked at the 4 grand pianos in the shop. " Would you mind if we all sat down at a piano and played?"

Paul showed approval as each of them took a piano. Since there were 4 pianos Paul decided to sit down at one.

Each of them began, on cue, to play Handel's Messiah.  

As the music filtered out of the shop, the song birds flew to a tree limb outside and the children who were playing nearby ran over to watch them play.

' It has turned out to be another beautiful day in heaven', Paul thought, as he played on the hand crafted piano he made with these 3 heavenly friends he met.

Our most stable relationship and friend is going to be Jesus

2} Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; {3} Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; {4} Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
For some reason Neil Sedaka's song, 'breaking up is hard to do' came to my mind today. As I reflected on these lyrics I was reminded of the pain that people go through when they break up with somebody they cared about, or when that relationship is no longer available such as a  death of a loved one. For the person experiencing the break up the pain can be extreme and at times you may wonder if anybody cares for you in this cold, heartless world you live in. 

Break up's and losses are especially hard when they occur around the holidays when the days seem shorter and the nights seem longer. Breakup's are the price we pay for having friendships with people I remember thinking how it would be better to be a hermit and live alone in a little room away from all friendships just so I could avoid the pain  but when I thought further I realize how lonely this life would be and concluded that I would rather have many friendships even if it meant risking heartache and pain when one fails.

As human's we were meant to live in a world with friends. Each life is meant to touch another life in such a way that you make the other person feel valued. Looking forward to seeing 'It's a wonderful life'  I was reminded by one of  the more poetic lines from the movie where Goerge's brother toasted him with the word's, " here is to the richest man I know' referring to the many friends in his brother's life.

God has a master plan for each person in this world.  He desires the best for everyone and he did this by providing everyone the opportunity to have a personal relationship with His son, Jesus Christ. He modeled for the rest of us what it was like to have uplifting relationships when he chose 12 men to be his disciples. Through these band of brothers he taught us that when he was no longer with us that we would have other believer's in our lives to encourage us every day of our life.

 It is written throughout the historical books how much God loves everyone and how He will not leave you. Once Jesus comes into your heart he is there to stay and God's gift of the holy spirit has been given to you to fill your heart and mind with peace. So no matter what breakup's or deaths  you might  experienced Jesus promises to be there beside you. He promises to guide you to others who will choose to walk with you as you go through the painful grief process. This is the amazing story of the Christian life!

Let it Rain....

It is January 10th in Minnesota. In a normal year there should be a couple of feet of snow outside. In a normal year we should be bundling up in boots, heavy coats and warm gloves before heading out to the elements. Not today and not this week. You see in these parts right now it is raining. The snow men our kids built at Christmas time are melting. The  ice globes we  spent time creating with our power drills are slowing disappearing into oblivion.  The 1000 dollar snow blower we're still making payments on is sitting in our garages unused and the snow  mobiles we thought we would be using every day this winter are now under a tarp hopefully waiting for the next snow storm. There is no storm in the forecast.  

What we have instead is rain. Lots of rain. Rain that should be falling in the south like it normally would in any normal year.  I suppose I should be looking at the bright side of this rain. Milder temperatures means our winter clothing won't be wearing out and our cars will keep on running without those nasty car parts tending to go out when the coldest of the cold weather appears.   It seems that we are never satisfied with the weather. It is either too hot, too cold, too dry, and two wet.  We are never content it seems. 

I am reminded that when we enter into our final home of heaven we will experience the best of the best weather, either that or we won't have the capacity to be disgruntle and dissatisfied.  As I sit down looking out the window at the pitter patter of reain drops hitting the surface of the ground somehow the words to this song came to me.