Good Morning. What a thought! Jesus is Risen.
It is a little chilly here in Wisconsin. So our fireplace is crackling and my coffee is hot. I am drinking today some Door County Blueberry Cobbler coffee.
While I was praying about what to write, tears rolled down my cheeks. I lost a good friend to death a couple weeks ago. He used to read these devotionals every day. He did not like to go on the web for them so he received a copy via email every morning. Once in awhile if I missed a day or it did not arrive early he would call to say "hey where is your story for the day"? I just found myself emailing it to him out of habit yesterday. I wish I could call him and say "how did you like the story'?
As I think of him and others who have passed from this world I recall a night quite a few years ago when this same man was sitting on a hospital bed. I went to visit pretty late as visits would go. He was facing a heart procedure the next day. I asked him if he was afraid. He replied "a little". I then asked "if this doesn't go right tomorrow and you don't make it is there anything I can do for your family?" He gave me some instructions and I wrote them down. I then asked what about you? "oh they will have to bury me I guess" he answered. I said "where will you go after life ends"? He looked dazed and bewildered. "I don't know" was his reply. I gently explained sin and how it separates us from God and that we all are sinners. I explained that Jesus died on the cross, was buried in death and resurrected in power over death in atonement for our sins and that salvation was a choice. He needed to ask the Savior in. He prayed and invited Jesus into his heart. He was a different man from that time on. I still remember the verse the Holy Spirit used that night to convict him that this was the time for him.
Revelation 3:20 Ne (NIV)
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
I still miss him and will for as long as I am around this world. But the tears are not of sorrow they are of joy. My friend is spending his first Easter in heaven with the resurrected Jesus. The One who paid the price for all of us. I can only imagine what he is witnessing right now. My tears are that I wish I could see it too.
Friends, we all will wait on the Lord to call us home. But you can have a glimpse of heaven here. If you have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior by calling upon His name for salvation and asked to be forgiven of your sins You ARE saved. But live like you are resurrected. Shed the sorrow, and put on the joy of salvation. The great football coach Vince Lombardi did not like touch down show boating. He challenged the Greenbay Packer team to "act like you have been there before" upon arriving in the end zone for a score. What I challenge you all to do is "act like you know where you are going". I have watched many a football players faces as they start to know for sure that they will reach the end zone. A smile breaks out on their face! They are going home. So today as you celebrate Easter let's smile and let people know where you are headed. Enjoy the resurrected life that Christ gave you. It only gets better from here!
God bless you with love, peace and joy. I can only imagine!
Love you all.
Marty
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