Taste of Heaven

I went to heaven the other day.  It was amazing.  No, I didn’t go to heaven via a dream or near death experience.  I went to heaven in North Carolina.  Heaven is not the name of a city or place in North Carolina, but I did go to heaven for a few brief moments.

During dinner at Lifeway’s Ridgecrest conference center, I experienced heaven.  My family sat and ate dinner surrounded by many brothers and sisters in Christ.  One table was filled with a group of Spanish-speaking Hispanics.  One table was filled with a group of African American ladies. One table contained a group of Christian bikers all wearing jean and leather. One table included another Caucasian family, and Korean-speaking Koreans surrounded the last table.  I was completely encircled by the beauty of God’s diverse creation.

Four completely different conferences all converged upon the Ridgecrest conference center to produce the beauty of unity in Christ.  As I sat there, I realized the only difference in heaven will be that we will all understand each other when we get there.  It would be very difficult to get all of these different groups speaking different languages in one room to celebrate Christ together, but somehow they all came together to produce an awe-inspiring scene.

I am thankful for this vision of what heaven will be like one day.  I look forward to the day when God brings his plan to fulfillment.  I pray that God continues to bless my brothers and sisters in Christ from the Hmong United Methodist Church, Riders of the Rally to Ridgecrest, writers of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers conference, Camp Crestridge for Girls, Church of God International Youth, and Providence Missionary Women of Worship.