A Glimpse of Heaven

I have not read the books "90 Minutes in Heaven" or "Heaven Is Real" and have not had any trips to heaven and back myself so I don't know what will be like. There are some descriptions in the Bible but I don't think it really matters what it looks like. What will matter is I will be in the presence of Jesus and will worship Him forever.

My glimpse of heaven occurred a few years ago when I had the opportunity to go to Kenya on the first of many mission trips undertaken by NewSpring Church in partnership with 410 Bridge. We had been told that each of us should be prepared, during Sunday church services, to share our favorite Bible verse and tell a little bit about why it is our favorite.

I was prepared with one of my favorite verses from Romans, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you might overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." But as I sat there watching the Kenyans from different tribes - who used to be enemies - dressed in their colorful native dress singing and dancing and worshiping Jesus along side 12 or 15 very white people; when I heard the translators speaking in 3 or 4 different languages; when I saw the joy and heard the testimonies in spite of the very deep poverty; I was overwhelmed with God's grace and mercy. I thought of how God loves THE WORLD; Jesus died for the entire world!

And I had my glimpse of heaven. My Bible verse changed to Revelation 7:9-10. Every nation, all tribes and people and languages. I am too often isolated and insulated from the world and I forget how great the love of God is. To be halfway around the world with people who don't look like me, don't talk like me, don't eat what I eat, don't dress like I dress but LOVE Jesus just as much as I do caused me to weep tears of gratitude  for the greatness of God.

All this came flooding back as I was reading in Acts 2 about the coming of the Holy Spirit. God gave them that day, I think, a glimpse of heaven. "And at this sound the multitude came together and they were bewildered because each one was hearing them speak in his own language...we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."

Help me, Lord God, to remember Your love, Your salvation is for ALL people including the drug addict and the prostitute; the bank CEO and the PTA chairman; the welfare mom and the soccer mom; the native born and the illegal immigrant. Take away my prejudices, my hardness of heart so that I might reach out to increase Your kingdom and help make heaven a little more crowded.