I just came across a list I started years ago of the friends I’ve made at the nursing home over the last 16 years. What great memories! I can still see many of them in my mind’s eye, still recall conversations we enjoyed, events we shared, gifts we gave each other.
A handful of these lovely people have left for other places – their own houses, or assisted living facilities, or even their childhood homes. But most have escaped this earthly veil entirely, many of them to the eternal life that Jesus promised all who repent and trust in Him.
I went through my list slowly, thinking about how much I’ve missed each one, realizing anew that I will surely be seeing this one and that one again when I die. Maybe there are even ever-changing welcoming committees in heaven, so that every believer is greeted by the brothers and sisters in Christ whom he knew and loved on earth.
What a happy thought that is – one that makes the prospect of death’s process even less frightening, since they’ve all been through it and emerged whole, healthy and joyful forevermore.
Of course, the most overwhelming sight will be of Jesus Himself – “the One who died for me,” as Jimmie Davis wrote in the beautiful gospel hymn “I Bowed on My Knee and Cried Holy.” After all, as the apostle Paul assured believers in 2 Corinthians 5:8, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
But how wonderful it will be to see all these old friends once again, rejoicing in “the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
If you’d like to expand your own heavenly welcoming committee, why not begin visiting folks at a nearby nursing home soon? Here's how to get started.
A handful of these lovely people have left for other places – their own houses, or assisted living facilities, or even their childhood homes. But most have escaped this earthly veil entirely, many of them to the eternal life that Jesus promised all who repent and trust in Him.
I went through my list slowly, thinking about how much I’ve missed each one, realizing anew that I will surely be seeing this one and that one again when I die. Maybe there are even ever-changing welcoming committees in heaven, so that every believer is greeted by the brothers and sisters in Christ whom he knew and loved on earth.
What a happy thought that is – one that makes the prospect of death’s process even less frightening, since they’ve all been through it and emerged whole, healthy and joyful forevermore.
Of course, the most overwhelming sight will be of Jesus Himself – “the One who died for me,” as Jimmie Davis wrote in the beautiful gospel hymn “I Bowed on My Knee and Cried Holy.” After all, as the apostle Paul assured believers in 2 Corinthians 5:8, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
But how wonderful it will be to see all these old friends once again, rejoicing in “the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
If you’d like to expand your own heavenly welcoming committee, why not begin visiting folks at a nearby nursing home soon? Here's how to get started.
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