Homesick for Heaven

My heart has been very heavy the past couple of weeks. Not nearly as heavy as others on my campus, but heavy nonetheless. Over the summer, a rising junior that attended my college died as a result of a hiking accident. When I heard the news back in June, of course I was saddened, but since I knew nothing about him, there wasn’t much else to feel.

Until now.

A couple of weeks ago, my college held a memorial service in his honor. Finding words to describe the service is really challenging...it was beautiful. Thanks be to God that I have only been to a couple of memorial services, but this is one I don’t think I could ever forget. There was deep, deep sorrow, but that sorrow was founded on the solid rock of Jesus. Therefore, there was joy in the sorrow. It was incredible to witness.

The life we celebrated and mourned over seemed like a remarkable one – this guy wasn’t your average Joe. He seemed like one-of-a-kind, passionately pursuing Jesus with every fiber of his being, living every day as if it would be his last. He had a compassionate heart for the poor and hurting. He was a man of prayer. He was a man of action. He was a man of accountability, encouragement, and laughter. Lots of stories were shared. Lots of tears were shed. It was a beautiful night celebrating the life of an amazing guy.

The one quality of this man that everyone kept saying that wouldn’t (and still hasn’t) escape my mind is this: he was heaven-minded. He not only knew that Earth was not his home, but he lived like he truly believed it. He didn’t care what anyone else thought; he simply walked in obedience. Christ was preeminent in all aspects of his life, and he lived life to the fullest, knowing his rewards were not in the temporary but in the eternal.

His testimony was incredibly powerful and convicting for me. I came to the painful realization that I am not heaven-minded. I don’t think about heaven nearly as much as I should…if I did, I think my life would look different.

Now, as silly as this is sometimes, I am a person that really loves sticking with plans. When plans are changed, I’m uncomfortable. So my plan for this year was to focus on boldness, right? The sub-goals of that were to focus on doing the word (not just hearing it) and discipline. So then this whole being-focused-on-heaven thing comes up, and I feel a very strong sense of the Holy Spirit, urging me to focus on being heaven-minded. I think, “What? God! You’ve been teaching me all summer about boldness…why would you suddenly change what I want to work on? It’s only the third week! I haven’t exactly perfected boldness, yet!”

Well, my young grasshoppers, God can do whatever He wants with you, even if that means He doesn’t stick to your little plan. Also, focusing on boldness and being heaven-minded actually work perfectly together! If I am more focused on heaven and eternal things, then I would be much bolder and open about my walk with Christ, right? So really, it goes hand-in-hand. And since when does God only have to teach us one thing at a time? Why can’t He teach us multiple things all at once? Isn’t that part of this whole being-a-Christian thing anyway, letting God teach us to be more like Christ?

This post is gonna be kind of all over the place, so…sorry not sorry. This is a song by Jenny & Tyler (if you don’t know who they are, LOOK THEM UP RIGHT NOW. I could do a whole post on those two alone) called “The Kingdom of Heaven”. Tyler wrote the song to help him think of heaven more…it definitely has worked for me.

Where death shall be no more

No mourning, crying, or pain

Every tear He'll wipe away

In the Kingdom of Heaven

Where nothing is accursed,

A city with a crystal river      

The throne of God and of the Lamb

In the Kingdom of Heaven

Set your mind, your mind, your mind, on things above

Set your eyes, your eyes, your eyes on the risen Son

Where there shall be no night
Nor need for sun to shine

The Lord Himself will be the light

In the Kingdom of Heaven

Set your mind, your mind, your mind, on things above

Set your eyes, your eyes, your eyes on the risen Son

Behold, the home of God is with man (4x)

Behold, the home of God is with man (Set your mind, your mind, your mind, on things above)

Behold, the home of God is with man (Set your eyes,  your eyes, your eyes on risen Son)

Set your mind, your mind, your mind, on things above

Let your heart, your heart, your heart, give Him all your love

O let the thirsty come

O let the one who wants

Drink freely from the water

Of the Kingdom of Heaven

Our hall got together to do some worshiping and sharing. One of the girls was crying and said that she was really homesick, more so than she was expecting. And then she said the most profound words…and none more true in my life than right now, “I’m also just… homesick for heaven. Just seeing the pain here…it makes me homesick for heaven.” I almost teared up right there, just because it was just…so true. I don’t think I’ve ever yearned for heaven as much as I have these past few weeks.

This is not our home! This is not where we belong! I want to go home! I want to go home where there is no amnesia, no poverty, no betrayal, no cramping, no death, no colds, no sobbing so hard that you start to gag, no more cancer, no more lies, no more shootings at schools full of innocent children, no more disgusting music videos about sex and drugs and partying, no more divorce, no more children suffering from epilepsy, no more cancer, no more sex trafficking, no more no more NO MORE.

I’ve never written a song before…I don’t even know if you would call this a song. A poem? Just random groupings of words? I don’t care what you call it. It’s no masterpiece, but it’s merely what’s on my heart. This is my offering ultimately to the Lord, but also to the man who died, and to anyone who knew him. This is for you.

I wish I could’ve known you

I wish I could’ve seen those eyes

That were so often seeking things above

I wish I could’ve seen your smile

That greeted everyone with faithful love

The poor, the lost, the broken-hearted

You gave them all your smile

Chorus:

Where you are, I want to be

Who you’re with, I want to see

You knew Earth was not your home

You always sought out the royal throne

And I can’t imagine the look on your face

When Jesus Christ said “Well done, my son”

And how the God of all creation

Greeted you with open arms

Bridge:

We are homesick for heaven

We are homesick for heaven

We are homesick for heaven

Oh Lord, be with us now (3x)

2^nd Bridge:

To live is Christ, to die is gain

To live is Christ, to die is gain (2x)

Let’s encourage each other to live for heaven, for that is our true home…that is where we belong. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).

To end this post, sometime last week I went out to see the sunrise and read my Bible. This is what I saw. 

Not only was it beautiful, but it was full of hope. “[God] will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and their will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away…Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5). I saw just a glimpse of what this verse is talking about in the sky. Though the darkness is closing in on the sun, the sun continues to radiate through. Jesus’ light cannot be put out. The battle has already been won. Jesus already has the victory

Since heaven has been on my mind, I started reading some of Revelation. I almost cried when reading chapter 22:20, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” Jesus said so Himself – He’s coming! Gosh, I hope it’s soon.