Eternity

The old hymn reads:

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.”

—John Newton

Think about that . . . 10,000 years . . . 100,000 years . . . 1 million years . . . they are all just the beginning of eternity. It is difficult to wrap our minds around that concept! What does God have planned for us for all eternity?

When I was a child, I lived around the block from my dad’s parents. I called them Big Daddy and Big Mama. Many summers I would spend my days at their house. I would jump our back fence, and, if I ran really fast, I could reach their house in about 60 seconds.

Big Daddy was usually out working, but Big Mama and I spent a great deal of time together. She was my therapy before therapy was popular. A trip to Big Mama’s house consisted of a lot of hugs and kisses, junk food, board games, and encouraging words. Big Mama always made sure that everyone who entered her home felt special.

She could talk me into doing anything she needed done. She would say, for example, “You are so tall and so handsome; would you please reach up and clean Big Mama’s ceiling fan blades?” I would labor with a huge smile on my face!

You were always a winner at Big Mama’s house. If we ran a race, and there were 10 kids participating, Big Mama would stand at the finish line and yell, “You are the first winner . . . you are the second winner . . .” until she reached the tenth winner, and then she would give us all a huge Big Mama hug. In our home today we still yell, “You are the first winner! You are the second winner! You are the third . . .”

A trip to Big Mama’s house always ended the same way: she would walk me out to the front porch where she would give me a huge Big Mama hug and kiss. Then as I walked away she would kiss her palm and blow me another kiss. I would catch her kiss, rub it on my heart, and then blow a kiss back. She would catch my kiss, rub it on her heart, and blow another kiss back. I would walk backwards, down the sidewalk, catching and blowing kisses until my precious grandmother was out of sight. Even when I was old enough to drive, as I would pull away from her house I would look in my rearview mirror, and there she was: blowing kisses, catching them, and rubbing them on her heart. She always made sure I knew how much I was loved.

She always made sure that I knew how much I was loved.

All of those kisses remain in my heart to this day—precious memories of a woman who had God’s love flowing out of her, and her goal, every day, was to share that love with others. My life was changed because of Big Mama’s love!

Promises for Eternity

Do you ever wonder how many lives you have touched on this earth? How many people will tell stories about you after you’re gone? How many will long for the day to see you again? I long to see Big Mama again—and God has made an amazing promise:

 “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

The beautiful moments we have experienced on this earth will pale in comparison to what our God has planned for us. And—on top of that—those unimaginable moments will happen again and again . . . for all eternity! There will be no end to the joy we experience as we dwell with Jesus and our loved ones forever.

We also have this promise: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4). 

What a beautiful promise.

On October 31, 2023, we received the heartbreaking news that my beautiful granddaughter Georgia had been diagnosed with leukemia. She was seven days away from her seventh birthday. During the next two years I watched her, and her mother (my daughter) and father, experience incredible pain and heartache.

Childhood cancer is something you imagine someone else going through. We watch the commercials on our televisions, and we cry for those families. But when it hits your child or grandchild, it produces unimaginable pain—the kind that drives you to ask God why. Why us? It’s just not fair for a child to hurt like this.

I don’t know about you, but as I grow older, my pain-free days seem to be decreasing.

Those of you who have gone through it know what the next couple of years after the initial diagnosis are like. There are tears; there is sorrow and crying . . . and sometimes even death. But God’s Word promises that childhood cancer will be destroyed forever. No child will experience sickness or pain again in the kingdom. No one will hurt again . . . ever.

My granddaughter is 9 years old now, and in September of this year she will complete her final treatments. We pray that this disease will never plague her body again. When I see her beautiful smile, and I know that she is having more good days than bad, it makes my grandpa heart overflow with happiness. I hold on to God’s promise that—forever—Georgia will be healthy and happy, and that someday in our heavenly home she and I will run and not be weary ever again (Isa. 40:31).

I don’t know about you, but as I grow older my pain-free days seem to be decreasing. I don’t like to complain, because there are so many others suffering more than I am. But just imagine your best day on this earth: the day that you are really feeling well—the day that your body feels no pain and your heart feels no worry or sorrow. Think about a day that you have felt unconditional love, and life appeared to be going your way. I know we have all experienced a few of those days in our lives.

Now imagine every day of your life being exponentially better than that very best day on this earth—forever. God is telling us, “It doesn’t matter how much joy you have experienced in your life; I have something way better in store for you!”

I can almost see my heavenly experience now: As Georgia and I leave Big Mama’s mansion after a long wonderful visit, and we receive our big hugs and kisses, we’ll walk backwards down the street of gold in front of her house, catching her kisses, rubbing them on our hearts, and blowing them back, knowing that they will never mean goodbye again. I don’t know how God is going to improve on that, but He says He will, and I believe Him!

I long for eternity.