A few weeks ago we received in the mail a DVD that was created for our son’s wedding last year. The DVD not only covered the wedding and reception very well, but there was a lengthy portion beforehand chronicling the lives of our son, Marcus and his wife, Sarah since birth. Those kinds of trips down memory lane can be emotional, can’t they? The one that got to me was the picture of us holding our new baby boy in the hospital. Dawn was 23. I was this infant pastor of 28, 3 years out of seminary. And now Marcus is 31and their first child is due in February. So that’s a generation that has passed, at least by the time frame in our family. And that’s when you say to yourself, where did the time go?

Reviewing the years our lives can often leave us feeling a bit strange. We take inventory and we ask ourselves, “What was this all about?” You know, the aging process is God’s idea. It’s one of the ways He keeps us heading homeward. And, when you were 23, or even 43, it seemed to make a lot of sense. But in our later years, when the old body starts to break down, we start thinking “Maybe God just has a really warped sense of humor.” We wanna yell, “Stop this aging merry-go-round. I wanna get off! I’m not sure I like where this is going!”

Back in the middle ages, the country of Portugal developed a national slogan, which they posted on placards and public buildings throughout the land. The slogan was NOTHING MORE BEYOND.  This slogan reflected that the western shore of Portugal represented the end of the world for all practical purposes. Beyond those shores was only the expansive Atlantic Ocean and eventually the linear conclusion of the flat earth. In other words, nothing more beyond. But then explorers began sailing off into the western sunset and returning home with stories of a new world an ocean away. Now the powers that be had a problem. What to do about their famous slogan? A wise elder statesman came up with a solution. They would simply erase the first word of the slogan on each and every sign and building. Henceforth it would read MORE BEYOND. Now their slogan would celebrate the fact that the country of Portugal stood as the gate or portal to a brave new undiscovered world beyond their shores. MORE BEYOND!

This might also be the slogan of our annual All Saints Day worship – More Beyond. For all of us who need to know all of these years of living experience we have piled up are heading somewhere, there is good news! There is MORE BEYOND! I hope this doesn’t come as a great shock to you. But this is not home. And I don’t mean Plantation or Sunrise or Davie. I’m also referring to the place from which you came, or to your hometown. That’s not your home either. These years of living ARE leading somewhere. You are being prepared for another address.

There’s an amazing true story that took place up in Wisconsin a few years ago. A parakeet named Pootsie escaped from her owner and ended up being found and delivered to the Humane Society.  Eventually Pootsie was adopted by a woman named Sue Gleason. And they became great friends – really hit it off. They even took baths together. But one day, the little bird did something incredible. It flew over to Sue’s shoulder, put its beak in her ear, and whispered 1500 South Oneida Street, Green Bay, Wisconsin. Sue was taken aback. But she looked it up and, sure enough, there was such an address. She went to the house, leaving the bird in his cage in the car. She went to the door and found a 79 year old man named John Scheube. “DO YOU HAVE A PARAKEET?” “I used to. I sure miss him.” When he saw Pootsie, he was overcome with tears. All he could think of to say was, “HE KNOWS HIS PHONE NUMBER, TOO!”

We know that, somewhere in the back of OUR MINDS, there is an eternal address floating around. Way back in the OT book of Ecclesiastes we read “GOD HAS SET ETERNITY IN THE HEARTS OF PEOPLE.” Deep down, you know you’re not home yet. So we need to be careful not to act like we are. It’s not time yet for us to lower the duffel bag to the ground and stop. Think of it…if you were riding on a Greyhound bus, would you bother to hang pictures on the wall next to you? Do you bring along your king-sized bed when you go on vacation? We expect to be a little uncomfortable and discombobulated when we travel. Most of us are of the mind that there is no greater luxury for us regular folk than going on a cruise. And yet, we stay in rooms so small you have to go out in the hall to change your mind. The first cruise I went on I slipped coming out of the tiny shower. But I didn’t even get hurt because I landed on my bed.

Fellow traveler, we can’t expect all the comforts of home in this journey of life.  As we said before, aging is God’s idea. The writer Max Lucado asks in one his books, “Have you ever seen anyone crying over the passing of a tulip bulb? Do gardeners weep as the bulb begins to weaken? We don’t buy tulip girdles or wrinkle cream for the leaves and petals. We don’t mourn the passing of the bulb. We celebrate it! Tulip lovers rejoice the minute the bulb weakens. WATCH THAT ONE they say IT’S ABOUT TO BLOSSOM.”

Maybe heaven does the same. The angels watch over our bodies. The more frail we become, the more excited they become. “WATCH THAT LADY IN THE HOSPITAL” they say. “SHE’S ABOUT TO BLOSSOM!” That guy’s heart is weakening by the day. He’ll be coming home soon!

The Bible says in Paul’s letter to the Romans, “WE ARE WAITING FOR GOD TO FINISH MAKING US HIS OWN CHILDREN, WHICH MEANS OUR BODIES WILL BE MADE FREE.” (8:23) Our bodies aren’t free now. Not by a long shot. St. Paul calls them our LOWLY bodies. That’s the NIV translation. The KJV sounds worse. Refers to them as our VILE bodies. Maybe you could add your own description. Our arthritic body. Our misshapen body. Crippled body. Ever-expanding body.

Do you ever think how good it is that these are also our TEMPORARY bodies?

And according to God, that’s part of the plan. Every wrinkle and every needle takes us one step closer to the last step when Jesus will change our simple bodies into forever bodies. That’s why we call Him our Redeemer! His own suffering and death; His own blood poured out; His own lifeless body unfastened from the cross announces “WE ARE REDEEMED.” We will be given forever bodies. No pain. No sickness. No depression. No end. MORE BEYOND! How can we be sure of this promise of a forever address? Precisely because it IS – a gift. If MORE BEYOND was in any way dependent on us and our accomplishments, why, we could never know the certainty of God’s promise thru Jesus Christ.

I’ve said this before, but I don’t think I can repeat it enough. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out God’s plan and purpose for our lives. We comfort ourselves with catchy phrases like, WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER ONE OPENS.   But I can sum up all of God’s plans and purposes for you in 7 words. God wants to take you to heaven. That’s it. That says it all. Everything else you believe about God or you think you’ve figured out about what it means to be a Christian needs to be filtered through that truth. God wants to take you to heaven.

He’s not near as concerned with how you get there as He is with seeing you there. And God’s pretty sure that, once you’re there, you’ll feel the same way. Paul put it this way. “Nothing you experience this side of heaven is worth comparing to the glory to be revealed.” And God grants that for Jesus’ sake. AMEN