Not Yet Given Gift

I have never been one to be obsessed with heaven.  It is not that I have not given it some thought.  It has been inside my world view for a long time.  When I was midway through my seventh year, my father left home one morning and did not return home to us, but was instead taken to a country cemetery near where he grew up, I started thinking about heaven.  My thoughts were not theological.  They were what seemed to me to be the only way to deal with this great upheaval in my life.    Back in those days of growing up, I came to a boyhood understanding that my father was no longer with us, he was not really in that country cemetery, but was instead in heaven.     

Over the years I have read some of the things written about heaven.  Some seemed to know more about it than I would ever dare to guess.  Others wrote at great lengths descriptions of the city with streets of gold.  It never really seemed important to know the particulars about heaven.  All I needed to know was it was there at the end of the road and that whatever that meant, it would be more than enough.   

In a recent reading of Hebrews, the Scripture spoke a Word which has lingered in my spirit for more than just a moment, "...they were strangers and foreigners on this earth...seeking a homeland...they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.  Therefore, God...has prepared a city for them."  (Hebrews 13:13-16)  Several things about heaven are obvious from those words.  One, it is more than I could ever deserve.  Secondly, the words of divine preparation speak not of a shack in the backwoods, but life inside a glorious community.  And, finally, the Words increase my hope and fill me with gratitude for this not yet given gift of divine grace.