I have been to heaven! A safe place where gates and guards with metal detectors keep bad people away. A place where you are invited to the banquetting table of Novotel and where you can dip into the swimming pool of living water and the spa of eternal health (well you could if the pool wasn't empty because of the cracks it has developed in the few months it has been open!!!) The walls inside are covered with windows. You don't need to pinch yourself.... you can see yourself, `here i am in heaven'! Evangelists sit in the lobby with its vaulted ceiling inviting you to sign up. Join us and experience heaven on earth!
Until you walk outside into the sweltering heat, until you drive through the gates into the chaos of Indian traffic, until you return to the real world. No more pretending that life can exist without pain or grief. In the shadows of opulence a cardboard box houses a family.
India pulls at my heart. Part of me recoils... part of me tries to shut down in self-protection
... "imagine actually living like that!!!!"... then I find myself looking out over a small crew of my brothers and sisters and my heart melts again. This feels like home. Here too I am surrounded by the indebted, the distressed and the discontent (1 Samuel 22:2). David's crew, Jesus' crew, my crew, Anil's crew. Blessed are the poor, the upset and the unhappy he said. Not those lost in their tiny worlds but those who grieve that they are busted people living in a busted world.
I've been to heaven but i didn't like it much. Nice place to visit but i wouldn't want to live there. Right now i'm enjoying trying to follow Jesus into the real world. And hope that he will save me from false gospels and false heavens till it's time for the real deal.
3 comments:
Some things don't seem to change in India, do they! It's just as well we live in the 'now and the not yet'. Appreciate you insightful comments. Great to see how the David material is being carried on into another situation.
Hi Pete,
Wow, I just loved your momment on Heaven on Earth and you know from someone who stays in lots of beautiful hotels, often with water in the pool, you are so right, heaven on earth is with God's people, loving them, helping them, encouraging them, bringing Jesus' heart to them and sensing their needs by the Holy Spirit within us, yes that is Heaven and what a glow it gives you, a beautiful glow and a beautiful warmth, you don't find that in our ever increasing godless world. Good on you Pete, love them, teach them, encourage them, that is what walking the walk is all about.
Blessings and prayers
Vicky
Your thoughts got me thinking about the Kingdom of Heaven. We so often try to create heaven on earth only to find out that it is such an empty unfulfilling place. Vicky is so right when she says that heaven is in our hearts. The true Kingdom of Heaven is in the hearts of believers and when we are with other believers (or even by ourselves in God) we have heaven on earth. So be encouraged Peter - you are now experiencing heaven on earth in the most marvelous way, amongst God's people. I pray that you are able to open up more of an understanding of this in the hearts and minds of the students.
William
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