when I close my eyes...

I stole this narrative from my uncle, who is a preacher in Americus, GA. I'm sure he won't mind - after all, preachers steal material all the time, right? Anyway, this is a perfect description of how we can imagine Heaven as best as possible. As long as we are on this earth, we can never truly grasp how wonderful it will be, but it sure is fun to imagine!


(For more pics from our vacation, see my previous post.)


When I close my eyes, I can see it. My family has enjoyed going to Vogel State Park every summer for over 15 years. It’s a place so familiar and so much a part of life that it’s like going home. Maybe that’s what heaven should feel like for Christians.

When I close my eyes, I see a place of stunning beauty. Sunlight dances like a million diamonds on Lake Trahlyta as a cool breeze sways the firs. A gauzy cloud covers the top of Blood Mountain. Laughter of children bounces off the water from the beach on the other shore. A fisherman casts his line as the dark, silent shadow of a Rainbow Trout glides gracefully by. The faint smell of hamburgers sizzling over an open grill floats from the picnic area.

When I close my eyes to imagine heaven, I tend to see the mountains of Vogel or the beaches of the Florida panhandle. I have no picture of heaven apart from such places. Yet, these are just a sampler. Nothing in this temporary world compares to the beauty of God’s eternal home.

When I close my eyes, I see my family - three generations from two states gathering for one fantastic week. We read, play horseshoes and board games, go hiking, swim, and eat – and eat some more. We talk for hours about everything and about nothing. We doze whenever we want. We enjoy just being together.

When I close my eyes, I also see heaven as a place of family - a place where those who have become children of God are gathered to enjoy the company of their heavenly Father and their spiritual brothers and sisters. Surely, we will play together there, too. We’ll talk and laugh and take long walks to enjoy each other and the beauty around us.

When I close my eyes, I see a place where worries are forgotten. A week at Vogel is a chance to get away from it all for a few days.

When I close my eyes, I see heaven as a chance to escape the worries of life forever. God has promised to insure that, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

When you and I have both closed our eyes for the last time, I hope we see each other in heaven.


-Keith Wishum