There is but one Heaven

What do we say in response to a sneeze? God bless you.



How does a politician end a speech? God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.



And what about the man's expletive that aired on one of the major televisions stations -- live -- as an airplane flew into the second World Trade Center on September 11? Jesus _____ Christ!!!



And what do we say in surprise? Oh my God!!!!



How many times during the course of a day do you hear those kinds of utterances: Jesus Christ – Oh My God – Jesus – God bless you.



Perhaps we have come to take God for granted. We throw His name around as if He has no substance. He has become part of everyday vernacular in a very ugly way. We even sprinkle expletives into our use of God and Jesus Christ in excited utterances.



I want to speak to you from the heart about God. I hope to introduce you to God if you don’t know Him for yourself. And if you do know Him I want to encourage you to continue your relationship with Him and to continue to grow in that relationship. I don’t intend to beat you over the head with the Bible, quoting book, chapter and verse, but I do believe the Bible contains what we need to know in order to live better life to its fullest.



And no, my life is not perfect; there is none whose is. But I can see that I’m not the person I used to be. And I work at, and hope, to become more of want God created me to be.



One of the ways that I honor God, is not only but loving Him, but by loving others. Okay, sometimes that's not so easy, especially when they don't love me -- or, should I say, people like me. We're really not so different; they just can't get past my dark skin. That's really sad, considering that many of them will be found in houses of worship in a couple of days, and many of those will be singing from the same hymnbook and reading from the same Bible as I.



I cannot help but wonder where they long to go when this life is over. There is an old hymn that says Some glad morning when this life is over, I'll fly away to a home on God's celestial shore. Another hymn contains these words: Sing the wondrous love of Jesus; sing His mercy and His grace; in the mansions bright and blessed He'll prepare for us a place. When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing there will be. When we all see Jesus we'll sing and shout the victory. As far as I know there is but one heaven and one Jesus, and I hope to get there and see Him. Will they be there?