When We All Get To Heaven

Picture with me.

We are sitting down to our 1 millionth dinner feast....literally one millionth because we are in heaven.

We sit down, we begin to eat and we start visiting and sharing with all our brothers and sisters in Christ around us.

 We share stories of prayers that we didn't know were answered until we got to heaven and got to share in the glory and wonder and beauty of Jesus Christ our Lord forever and ever. 

 Every time we sit down to break bread together we learn of more that went on in the heavenly realm  and all over the world when we lived on planet earth. We get to learn of the impact our lives had even after we died.

 We can see how life played out from a perspective and an understanding that we never had when we were alive on earth.

  We begin to realize and see all the things that God used us for and how he carefully considered each of our prayers and how He responded. We will see the ripple effects of each prayer and each time we stepped out in faith and helped someone, or spoke about Jesus.

We get to see and share in the glory!  FOREVER!

And THEN you have that guy that always wears the same thing and looks the same, forever, and he begins to speak, and we ALL know what story is coming. 

 It's like listening to that same 'ole stupid "high school football touchdown pass" that we have all heard over and over and over at every single family gathering from the same guy.

  But, in heaven since it's all about Jesus, we only share our Jesus stories; so instead of the touchdown pass, in heaven it's the story of his one prayer or the one time he talked about Jesus with his friend.  

The point is, it's one time and we have to hear about it for eternity.  We all have heard the same story 1 million times and we can all tell it better than he can. We clap and give praise each time it's told, but we can't wait to move on to the next guy that has a new story to tell that we haven't heard yet.  

 The next guy has also shared a million times...but  his stories never end because he prayed every single day he lived on earth and he kept things hopping in heaven.  

He talked about Jesus everyday with friends and strangers and he never knew the impact and the beauty of that until he got to heaven.  Ohhhhhh once he got to heaven he had people come up to him and share with him how the Lord intervened in their life because he had prayed or spoke the name of Jesus. 

 Nobody even knew it at the time on earth, but it was all revealed and rejoiced over and shared and brought glory to our faithful and wonderful God.

So, I'm just thinking.....to spare ourselves the bore of only having one

 "glory day story"

let's run this race hard,

let's pray like crazy people that don't care how Jesus chooses to answer or reveal the answer this side of heaven.

But pray and act in faith trusting and knowing that God is in control and even if we don't see results here and now, we will someday. 

 Let's talk and share and work our heads and hearts out for Jesus. Then, when we all get to heaven and spend an eternity together, we have some great stories and we get to see and learn and understand how Jesus worked in each prayer and situation. 

 Let's see as He  replays the video of our lives and shows us how each seed planted grew and how each time we spoke the name of Jesus, what that did and how beautiful it really was and we just didn't have the eyes for it yet. 

 Let's give God some material so we don't just see one single touchdown pass, but a lifetime lived and devoted to Jesus.  I'm just thinking eternity is going to be more interesting for those that ran the race hard and prayed and loved well all the days of their life.

  I don't want to get to the first meal and tell my story and have that be the one and only story I ever get to share.  

Romans 11:36 (ESV)

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Hebrews 12:1 (ESV)

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

This is not a theological lesson...just a thought I keep pondering in my head.