Heaven Can Wait

“You have turned my mourning into dancing.” Psalm 30:11 (KJV) We all want to go to Heaven. But not yet ... not now. Last year I had a minor heart attack. I went to a doctor and I asked him, “Am I going to die?” He laughed and said, “We’re all going to die!” That wasn’t the answer I wanted or expected, and I resented his laughter. Okay, it’s true that everyone dies, and everything dies, but we all want it to be in the distant future ... not now. Even “good Christians” who are looking forward to Heaven, are not in a hurry to die. There are things they want to do, places they want to go, people they want to see. The Bible mentions heaven hundreds of times. We want to go there ... but not now. We have today, and maybe tomorrow, and maybe a few years or more. What are we going to do with the time we have left? I cleaned house, threw away bags of clothes, papers, “stuff” and clutter I didn’t want to leave behind for my children to dispose of. I planned my funeral. I received a large box from my best friend. When I opened the box, there was a big stuffed toy cow that played music and danced and flipped into the air and did somersaults and mooed. As it flipped across my kitchen floor, I started to laugh for the first time in months. I was laughing so hard, tears of joy were running down my face. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed so much. I wasn’t dead yet. I was alive. I might live for years, yet I was preparing for my death and funeral and not wasting whatever time I had left. I was alive and apparently, I needed a musical cow bouncing around my kitchen to remind me I was alive and could still laugh. Lord, I’m looking forward to Heaven ... but not yet. – Crying Wind   Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website. Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org