Privileged Visit

“Let not your heart be troubled:  ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In My Father’s house are many mansions:  if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there may be also.”  -John 14:1-3 (KJV).

Several books have been written recently on near-death-experiences in which a person dies for a little while, is transported to heaven, and returns to earth to tell the story.  A friend has suggested that instead of “n. d. e..—near-death-experience,” this journey could be called “privileged visit.”  Here are some of the books that tell of the “privileged visit,” and the return of persons to earth to tell about their journey to the extra-dimensional spiritual realm we call heaven—the place Jesus spoke of so positively and with such anticipation of having all believers gathered into that place of heavenly bliss.

Heaven Is For Real is about little Colton Burpo, not quite four, who went to heaven and returned to earth to tell in his extraordinary way about whom he saw there, persons he had never known in his life, like his grandfather who died before Colton was born, and his little sister who did not even make it to birth because of his mother’s miscarriage.  Colton’s parents began to take notice of his astounding story and his father wrote a book about what Colton told them of heaven.

To Heaven and Back by Dr. Mary C. Neal is an orthopedic surgeon’s story about dying in a kayak accident while cascading down a waterfall in Chile.   She encountered the peace, beauty and angels in heaven but was sent back because her work on earth was not finished. She became much more aware not only of God’s providence but of her purpose in life.

Proof of Heaven by Dr. Eben Alexander, neurosurgeon, is by a doctor who did not believe in God or life after death.  He said that those with near-death experiences only had fantasies produced by the brain under severe stress.  Then he himself had a terrible brain illness and was in a deep coma for seven days.  About the time the doctors decided to declare him dead, he awoke.  His life was never the same after the experience.  While he was in the after life, he was accompanied by an angelic being who guided him to super-physical realms of existence.  He met the Divine.  In addition to his book, he now speaks widely and declares that “true health can be achieved only when we believe that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of life but a transition.”

Don Piper’s story is 90 Minutes in Heaven:  A True Story of Death & Life.  His life, too, has been one of positive impact as he tells the story of going to heaven and returning with a message and mission.

Two books from the Grahams are not of near-death experiences but of looking forward in faith to Heaven.  Billy Graham’s Nearing Home and Ann Graham Lotz’s Heaven, My Father’s House  are permeated with joy in anticipating heaven and finishing well the earthly journey so the Lord can say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy reward” (Matthew 25:21).

Honoring Mothers

Much has been written in the course of time regarding mothers.  Here, at Mother’s Day, 2013, I add my few thoughts to wish all mothers—and all those who honor their own mother and other significant ones who have been in a “motherly” role in their lives a “Happy Mother’s Day.

We see mother mentioned early in Genesis when God created Eve to be a helpmeet for Adam.  He instructed Adam, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife…” (Genesis 2:24, ESV).  Later we read of Adam naming Eve, and of her role as  a mother:  “”The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20).  In the course of time, God gave a commandment concerning the role of children in relationship to parents:  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Genesis 20:12).  This commandment had a promise for those who obeyed--long life.  I remember my dear grandmother who so honored her parents and other elders that her days on this earth numbered nearly 102 years. The Psalmist joined in praise of mothers, saying, “He (God) gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children.  Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 113:9).  The writer of Proverbs added his praise to mothers, saying:  “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old…Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice!” (Psalm 23:22, 25).  In Mary’s “Magnificat”, her Song of Praise soon after the angel’s announcement to her that she would be the mother of the Lord, in the Spirit she said”  “For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name” (Luke 1:49, ESV).

Having a day set aside to honor mothers has a long history.  We can trace its roots back into Greek and Roman times when Greece honored Rhea, wife of Cronus and in Rome Cybela, a “mother” goddess.  “Mothering Sunday” was begun in England in the 1600’s.  In America, Julia Ward Howe, author of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” wrote a Mother’s Day Proclamation as early as 1870 in Boston.  Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia is credited with starting Mother’s Day as we know it, with the first official Mother’s Day event in 1908 to honor her sainted mother, Anna Marie Reeves Jarvis who had started work with mothers to teach them sanitation and better health practices after the Civil War.  Julia Jarvis’s petitions for a special day finally reached the ears of President Woodrow Wilson who signed a resolution May 8, 1914 making the second Sunday in May officially “Mother’s Day.”  Later, Anna Jarvis rued the commercialization of the day, for that had not been her intention.  She wanted to call attention to the important role of mothers and to set aside a day to say thank you to them.

I had an honored and loving mother to whom I am grateful for my early rearing, up through age fourteen.  At that tender teen-aged time in my life, I lost her to a serious illness.  My life was never the same afterward, because I at that age became a sort of surrogate mother to my then eleven-year-old younger brother.  But my having to grow up in a hurry taught me responsibility, appreciation and a sense of developing in maturity and insight that I may not have had otherwise.  I am very grateful that I am privileged to be a mother, a grandmother and a great grandmother.  On Mother’s Day let us honor those faithful women who have made a difference in who we are today.

Needs vs. Wants

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  To our God and Father be glory forever and ever.  Amen.”  -Philippians 4:19-20 (ESV).  “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” –Hebrews 4:16, ESV. 

Oftentimes a great gulf exists between what we need and what we want.  Webster defines “need” as “a lack of something requisite; a condition requiring supply or relief.”  On the other hand, “want” is defined as “to have a strong desire or inclination for.”  In the cited verses, the Lord does not promise to supply our wants but our needs, not to fulfill our desires but to provide what will be best for us while at the same time bringing glory to the Father.  It is through His mercy and grace that our needs are met.  In Jesus Calling by Sarah Young (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004, p. 132), the author has Jesus saying, “Come into My Presence with thanksgiving, for thankfulness opens the door to My treasures.”  This is reminiscent of what we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV):  Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  Even in our direst needs, if we can find the grace to give thanks, then we are fulfilling God’s will.  And the thankful heart, even while awaiting God’s blessing and anticipating that the need will be met, can, as Young so aptly states, “relax in the knowledge that the One who controls your life is totally trustworthy” (Young, p. 132).