again I ask you...have YOU seen heaven?

 this is how I see heaven...in the example of Himself that Jesus brought to earth...


How do you see Jesus? Is He the stern face you may remember from when we baby boomers were growing up, staring off to the right, a portrait painted in all sepia tones...or is He the smiling Jesus I have seen since the late 1980's, a figure that I would love to spend a day with asking questions...or is he something in between....?

I once again viewed the movie "Heaven is for Real," except this time on DVD, in the privacy of my home, where I knew I could experience my emotions and not wonder who just saw me cry. I picked out a few things that I missed the last time I viewed this...and it was the end that completely blew me away. It was where the pastor, Todd Burpo, finally tells his congregation that yes, there IS a heaven...and haven't we all seen it? I sat at my computer, tears and all, and tried to capture it as I heard it...so some of the words that you will see here are a mix of what was said in the film and what I felt within my heart:

is heaven for real...? 'cause if so, we'd all be living different lives...wouldn't we?

have you seen heaven? well, of course you have! You've seen it when you have witnessed the birth of a child...when a prodigal child returns home, when someone you love dearly is healed from cancer....when you've helped a stranger that others deem unacceptable! Yes my friend, you have seen but a tiny glimpse of what heaven is!!! Then why do we choose hell....when we hold onto the bonds of hatred? Why do we judge, why are we greedy...why do we insist that others BE perfect ...knowing full well that we AREN'T? 

Jesus --how about that Name...Jesus....? He has created so much hope in so many...distrust in so many others....let us ask God to crush our pride, to open up our heart to Love! One thing that Love requires is to let others know that they are NOT alone! Thy Will be done...on earth as it is in heaven...!

 

The film ends with the image of a young girl in Lithuania who has drawn the face of Jesus as she has witnessed it. Young Colton views the portrait and says with assurance, "yup, that's him!"
Again I ask you, how do you picture Jesus? Because He is all around you. The portraits done by many who have tried to visualize Him just don't do Him justice, not when you consider that Jesus is in the face of every person that you meet....in the homeless, the hungry, the alcoholic, the sick, the addict, the dying, those in prison, those who are disabled, the ones you think are too fat, too thin, too ugly, too 'beautiful'......those who are just like us in every way. Jesus is in the skin of every color, in the minds of every human....we are all created in the image of God...so how can there be ANYONE who is any better or any worse than anyone else?

Tell me truly...is heaven for real? Without a doubt it is.....heaven is right here on earth....we just need to push aside all the dreck and crap and toil and drudgery to find it. I have seen it....I see it every single day. How about you?