Mike

The story came to me the night that Abbi died…
I remember distinctly standing in the kitchen wondering how I could process this heart-breaking news with my two girls who were 6 and 8 years old at the time…
Did God not hear our prayers?
And what does the passing of a loved one mean for those in the Christian faith?
That’s when Lazarus popped into my mind…
Someone who was close to Jesus, who was dearly loved, who was fervently prayed for – and yet who passed on anyway…
The first that struck me was that Jesus understands – he understands loss and what it means to grieve. He weeps too…
The second thing is that we can deeply desire for something to happen, but sometimes it just isn’t part of the bigger picture – a picture that we may not understand or be able to see fully at the moment, but nonetheless it is there…
Thirdly, and most importantly, the passing of a loved one is not the end of the story…
As Christians we believe that the end of one chapter is simply the beginning of another one…
Whilst loved ones may be gone from our lives, they are never truly gone – and the Christian hope is that we will meet again…
And what is death?
I believe it is the Salvation Army who use the wonderful phrase ‘promoted to glory’. Death is going to be with Jesus forever.
And what does that look like?
Too often we see cliched images of bored-looking angels with harps sitting on clouds and wishing they were back on earth again…
I believe nothing could be further from the truth…
Heaven is God’s home – how can it be anything less than amazing? The God who created colour and laughter and music… the God of beauty who creates the most spectacular sunsets and naturally stunning sights on earth… the God of endless love… the God of endless joy… the God of endless imagination…
I believe Heaven is the most extraordinary place anyone could ever imagine…
So, whilst we feel loss at the moment…
One day we will feel joy, as we meet again in the most amazing place of all…
It’s not the end of the story.