Family Time In Heaven

This past weekend we celebrated the wedding of our youngest daughter to our new son-in-law. It was a wonderful few days of events, family being together and sending off the bride and groom to their new life together. Because each day had a predefined agenda, before we knew it, the time had flown by, and it was time to each go our separate ways. There were several people I wanted to sit down with and just talk, and spend time with some family members that we live quite a ways away from. Unfortunately, it didn't all happen because of the event we were attending and the short amount of days that each of us could be away from our jobs and homes.

All this got me thinking about Heaven and the gathering of families there. First, the description makes Heaven huge. 1,400 miles wide, deep and high. A metropolis of this size in the middle of the United States would stretch from Canada to Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the California border. If each level were a mile apart, can you imagine 1,400 stories of area 1,400 miles square? There would be plenty of room for large, multi-generational families to gather and live together. As for families being together, Genesis 25:11 says Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people. The Bible uses that phrase "gathered to his people" more than once. In Luke 22, Christ said, "Take this [cup] and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes" (emphasis mine) In other words, people who related together in this world, would be united again in Heaven.

I think we will have plenty of time to share with each other, and live together. The question is, how far back will each family go. For instance, I never knew any of my great grandparents. I only heard stories about them. How about great-great-grandparents? I think it would be wonderful to be able to interact with many generations, both from the past and into the future. If God grants us even a little bit of His omniscience, (infinite knowledge), we would be able to remember names, places, and events and build on each relationship throughout eternity. Perhaps when the Bible talks about mansions being built, it might mean huge gathering communities where generations of a family would live together. It also would have to be able to account for all the families that are related by marriage. The organizational matrix would be incredible. But God just happens to be that way, incredible. Just the glimpse He gives us in His creation of our world, and the wonders of its intricacies, tell me He would have no problem with family organization in Heaven. So, for all those conversations I wanted to have --- they'll have to wait, but I really think they'll take place one day.

Mrs. Loehr

In less than twenty four hours, my little E.T. will be married. It doesn't seem possible that this little girl that captured my heart when she joined our family as a foster baby, is old enough to get married. I look at her and see a wonderful young lady who is growing into the young woman that God intends her to be. And then I look again, and she is the tiny, fatherless, fragile, infant that I agonized over in the first few months she was with us. In an earlier blog I tell the story of how putting Nicole to bed every night changed my perspective on my heavenly Father and the care and love He has for me, and Nicole, and each of us. I also tell, in that blog, how she came to be called E.T.

As I write this, I wonder, "have we taught her everything she will need as a married woman?", "will we stay close, or will her new life change cause her to drift away?, "does she feel as bad as I do that we live so far away?" This is one of my biggest regrets, not living close enough to help Nicole and Nick as they finish remodeling their new home. I have given plenty of household repair advise to our other children over the phone, so for now, I guess that is how it will be for Nicole.

I am so happy for her, and Nick, and yet at the same time there is a growing hole in my heart that is full of tears. These tears have been spilling out at the most inopportune times. Letting go of children that you love dearly is one of the hardest things a parent must do. And yet, it is part of the cycle of life. One day she'll call us with the news that there is a little Nicole or Nick on the way, and the cycle will continue.

God is so good, and blesses us abundantly. He has blessed families from the beginning of time, and he has truly blessed ours. My heart is full of thanksgiving today. So don't be put off by this father's tears, they are tears of joy for my little lady's transition into marriage, and they are tears of joy for the years the Lord has granted Kathy and I with this treasure. And maybe a tear or two will be selfish ones that wishes time hadn't gone by so fast...