Heaven on Earth
1“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4And you know the way to where I am going.” (John 14:1-4)
We are winding down from a very busy, very heavy, and very uplifting weekend. Yesterday, my family celebrated the life of my mother, who passed away on November 8, 2025. While I was initially hesitant to push the Celebration of Life so far out, the ceremony was well worth the wait. My dad had not wanted to rush the process, and it gave family and friends ample time to clear their schedules and make the trip to Florida. The care team at my parent’s church, Bayside Community, did an incredible job hosting us. God showed up in incredible ways throughout the ceremony. My dad and sister had scanned in hundreds of photos of my mom spanning the length of her life. There was divine timing throughout everyone’s speeches. While my dad was recalling when he brought home their first puppy (after my parents had suffered through the losses of two miscarriages), the pictures displaying on the projection screen behind him showed my mom holding one of her favorite dogs, Kiwi, a little terrier. My wife reported that while I was speaking about my mom’s blue, convertible Volkswagen beetle she used to cart us to the beach in, a photo of my mom with that very car flashed on the screen.
My dad had asked one of the retired pastors from Bayside to deliver a message. This pastor had to cancel at the last minute due to a family emergency. This opened the door for my dad to ask the former pastor of the Methodist church my family attended for many years to speak. This pastor and his wife had already been planning on attending the service, and he was delighted to speak. He delivered a passionate, intimate sermon about my mom and the blessed assurance that she was home in Heaven.
In attendance were uncles, aunts, cousins, great aunts, former coworkers, friends that only knew my mother from the local country bar at Bradenton where my mom used to line dance at several nights a week, as well as a large amount of my close friends who grew up with me and knew my mother well. All of the aforementioned were there with their significant others. Some brought their kids. Some came alone. My amazing cousin flew in from Nicaragua. He runs a sea turtle rescue/environmental activist charity called Vital Actions. He has been a true inspiration to our family, and my mother loved supporting his cause. Also in attendance was his sister, whose son is a rising star in theater and the big screen, as he landed a supporting role in the Amazon streaming movie “F Plus“. One of my mother’s dear friends in the faith, who led the worship team back in our Methodist church days, sung her heart out to “Amazing Grace”. But the showstopper of the day was when my niece performed Wicked 2’s “For Good” in tribute of her grandmother, who retired from working to help nanny/raise her while both her parents worked. That perfect song choice, and her heartfelt vocals, brought tears to everyone in the room, and a standing ovation at the end.
While we were allowed in this special place in this beautiful church for three hours, (it was the same room my wife and I had dedicated our oldest and middle child to raise rooted in Christ) those 180 minutes were just not enough for everyone to catch up, to share stories of a lifetime of love. My family and my friends’ families were the last ones to leave, hanging around much longer than anyone else. As I drove my wife and kids back to my parent’s house, a beautiful truth rested on my heart. I had just experienced Heaven on Earth.
This ceremony, this beautiful reunion of believers, this is exactly what Heaven is going to be like. My dad and I had stood at the front door and tried to greet everyone as they came in. I know my mother, and my wife’s grandmother, along with so many other loved ones who lived in the faith, when my time is up here on earth, they will all be waiting on the other side, ready to offer warm embraces, ready to welcome me into that mansion on the hill. And then it will be the greatest celebration of remembering the love and acts of faith we all carried out during our time in our earthly bodies. I hope there is a slideshow playing in the background, where you can watch those glorious moments of living.
Our mission on this side of eternity should be to ensure our place in the Book of Life, and to chase after those we care about the most, so all the people we love will be there for eternity. But beyond that, think of all the souls you could save. How wonderful it will be for someone you do not even remember to come and sit down at your table and say you were the one that changed the trajectory of their life. You were the one who showed them the love and grace of Jesus Christ and convinced them to believe and change their life for good. And the most rewarding part of the promise of eternal life, is it is just that: eternal. While I had voiced my frustration to my wife upon leaving that I had wished we had more time, when that lightbulb clicked making me realize that this is what Heaven looked like, my heart smiled, because I know that when I get to that party in Heaven, there will be no worries about what time we have to leave the building. We will be able to sit and reminisce, laugh and be filled with nothing but joy, all in the presence of the King of Kings and His Heavenly Host. And we will be able to do so for forever.
And those singing tribute songs in Heaven, well, I am pretty sure they’ll sound like these two fellas below.
Common Sense Reborn 