Key Bible Verse: And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:11). Bonus Reading: 1 Peter 1:3-6

Sarah's question took me by surprise. My 11-year-old asked if her grandparents would be married in heaven. As I stumbled through a sophomoric answer, I began anticipating a place where sadness is consumed by joy. It's hard to picture the new heaven and new earth, but I suspect there'll be green and yellow tents and baseball mitts and countless opportunities for healing conversations. I imagine the homecoming feast described in the Bible will include families and stepfamilies spanning dozens of generations, celebrating a new home where all is set right.

If you're like me, you are skilled at ignoring this—going about daily business as if the matters of this mortal life deserve our full attention. Many of us work, raise children, get promoted, coach Little League, save for retirement, buy a house, travel, retire on a lake in the Ozarks, and life goes on. Or does it? Eventually it ends.

My musings in response to Sarah's question were founded on my Christian faith, which has come to shape the way I see everything. I believe we're people with a future that will last much longer than our present bodies.

—Mark McMinn in Finding Our Way Home

My Response: To periodically get beyond the details of daily life and focus on my true spiritual home, I'll …

Thought to Apply: All men think all men mortal but themselves.—EDWARD YOUNG (author)

Adapted from Finding Our Way Home (Jossey-Bass, 2005) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Thank you, Lord, for the hope of heaven. Use it in my earthly life to inspire and sustain my passion and purpose.

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