About 20 years ago, a really good friend of mine died unexpectedly. He was a man of God who studied his Bible continually. He had a servant’s heart; drove a truck for a living and used his extra time to be a blessing to all the members of our church family. He was in great physical health, but one day his heart just stopped beating.

I was thinking of him yesterday and a cool question popped into my mind, “I wonder what Roger has been doing the past 20 years? I am more than confident that he went immediately into the arms of Jesus and has been in heaven ever since. But what specifically has he been doing?

Most of us don’t spend much time thinking about heaven that way. We just want to make sure our sins have been forgiven and we are able to escape the pain and suffering of hell. But heaven is so much more than just an exemption ticket.

So many Christian leaders have encouraged us to regularly peruse on heaven. The great church Father, Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” CS Lewis penned, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

In the Voyage of the Dawn Trader (The Chronicles of Narnia) Lewis added, “I do not know what it means, but the spell of it has been on me all my life.”

Another writer said that the best things of life are just “souvenirs from Eden.” And yet we fail to recognize those delights as “appetizers” of heaven. And we rarely give our eternal home serious thought. Why?

I am convinced that primarily we are just too selfish. We are consumed with “here, now, and mine, “We fail to follow His command to “Set our affection on things above…” (Col. 3:1-2).

And we are too rooted in the demands of the day to keep our eyes fixed on our real HOME. Again, Lewis has a thought, he reminds us that “our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns but will not encourage us to mistake them for HOME.”

Roger went HOME. And I am wondering what he has been occupied with. Is he spending personal time with the Lord? Sure! Building relationships with other believers? Absolutely! (I can see Roger in a classroom scribbling a notebook full of Paul’s wisdom!) Working a job that He loves? You bet! Especially if it involves working with his hands! And laughing…lots of laughing.

Today’s a great day to think about heaven and those who are there with the Lord!