Reunited

In the past week, two people from my past, who at one time were very close to me, found me. One of them found my blog, while the other found me via Facebook. Both of them were people I met during my days in the army. One of them in particular, one of the nicest people I have ever known, single-handedly helped me make it through a difficult 8 months overseas during Desert Storm. Without necessarily trying, this person taught me more about respecting others than they will ever know. The other friend is someone I spent about every day with during the most difficult year of my life, about a year later. I thought it was an interesting coincidence that these two friends found me at such a close interval. They are still very important to me and always will be. I have honestly thought about them often over the years and wished good things for them but was resolved to the fact that I may never see or hear from them again. Then they found me. I am thankful for that. And maybe I will never "see" them again, but I am happy to be back in contact with them, nevertheless. It is good to be only a phone call away or an e-mail away from being able to communicate and "catch up." It certainly has brought back a lot of memories from my army days; some wonderful, some good, some not so good. Regardless they are all memories I wouldn't change for anything. My wife has had the privilege of hearing me reminisce a lot this past week, ha! Bless her heart. I am so glad that she likes to listen to me (well….sometimes).

So as these exciting events have been racing through my mind these past 8 days or so, this led to me thinking about something else, lately. Won't it be nice to one day be reunited with loved ones in Heaven? I suppose neither I, nor anyone, can make a judgment with 100% certainty as to who all will be there and who all won't, but I like to think that it will be a time that not only will I meet God, but will likewise be a time when I will get to see many loved ones whom I have been so privileged to know while here on this earth. I don't know all of what Heaven will be. I only know what the Bible reveals about it. It is enough to make me certain that I want to be there. I don’t believe that I will share the same relationships with fellow citizens that I enjoyed while here on earth, but I will enjoy being reunited with brethren and loved ones, nonetheless.

Is Heaven something you think about often? Do you ever wonder what it will be like? Does being reunited with loved ones serve as an impetus in striving toward our promised land? What will relationships be like with those who were our spouses, parents, children, and friends, if these relationships won’t be the same? I even wonder if God has only revealed a small portion of what Heaven is really like, in order to keep us excited about it. I suppose if everything about that place of rest were revealed to us, there wouldn’t be much mystery to it.

I thank God for the hope I have as a Christian. I thank so many of my friends and brethren who have taught me what is important in life and have helped instill in me a desire to be with God and live my life serving Christ and others.

And may my actions, attitude, and service to others demonstrate this pining! Please continue praying for me, as I so desperately need them. I will continue to pray for you.