I was cleaning Herb and Barbara's house last Monday. I was all by myself in the home, and emotions started flooding my mind. I usually let them come when I am alone, it seems to be a time that God can deal with me. We had just heard a sermon the day before on how we receive grace and peace thru Jesus at salvation. It washed over me that it was enough for Kiley to be redeemed. She experienced trials, tribulations, and downright attacks from Satan on this earth that are plain cruel. The way her life ended was simply tragic and unfair. But, her redemption story is enough. Despite the bruises from warfare in a world that was not her home, the fact that she IS at her home now is enough. I started bawling at the grace of God. He could have allowed bad things to happen to her and then not redeemed her...that is something that I don't even want to consider. I started smiling thru my tears, knowing that she is my earthly AND heavenly sister. We share the same bloodline, thanks to our parents and our Redeemer.
I remember the day that Kiley accepted the Savior's calling. I was 12 or 13 or 14 ish. My family was not the "big church" type, but we occasionally found ourselves at Springdale First Baptist, a ginormous church for us. The pastor was gifted at dishing out spiritual food, and sometimes, we were just plain hungry. We always sat in the balcony...probably because we didn't want to be noticed and because we needed a whole pew to fit our family. At the altar call, all of a sudden, Mom and Dad were ushering us out of the pew and down the huge staircase to go all the way to the bottom. I just remember praying to Jesus that I wouldn't trip on those stairs. Dad didn't call me Lulu or Gracie for nothing. We smiled in front of thousands of people and were finally ushered into a smaller (but still huge) room. I remember someone talking to Kiley and someone praying with her and then with our family. In hindsight, according to Mom, while in the pew, Kiley tugged on her sleeve and said, "I need to go down there." This "non-quiet" and "non-discreet" way that Kiley begged for her heart to be washed in Christ's blood was simply the way she was. Her character was always stretching us and calling us to a life filled with fun and freedom and abundance. Even at that tender age, she wasn't afraid like the rest of us were. When she saw an opportunity, she grabbed it, even if it would stretch the faith and nerves of those around her. I think my parents may have preferred that her "call" come in our smaller church or at home, but God knew that Kiley would appreciate something a bit more dramatic.
I have had countless discussions with Eric and friends lately about our "American" church and how it really doesn't look like the church in Acts. There are probably tons of reasons for this, but I am convinced that one of the reasons is that the "body" today, for the most part, doesn't live with an eternal view of things. We become despairing when we don't receive healing, riches, and everything else our little hearts desire. What if we only project our faith and hope for this world and not our heavenly one?? Paul would say that if hope is only used for the earth, then "we are to be pitied more than all men." (1 Corinthians 15:19) 15:19 according to Wesley: "If in this life only we have hope - If we look for nothing beyond the grave. But if we have a divine evidence of things not seen, if we have a hope full of immortality, if we now taste of the powers of the world to come, and see the crown that fadeth not away, then, notwithstanding all our present trials, we are more happy than all men."
I am reading a book called, "Eternity: Reclaiming a Passion for What Endures" by Joseph M. Stowell. There is a paragraph about the early church that really left its mark.
"When they (early church members) were keenly aware that heaven was their home, Christians were willing to suffer, share, and love without thought of return. They were faithful to God without earthly reward, unconcerned with possessions, willing to die--to be brutally martyred--and able to express without intimidation a confidence and courage that the threats of a fleeting, already condemned world could not quell. This was the legacy of the early church."
Maybe that is why it doesn't look like the common church today. Very humbling to me. In our going about in day to day living...whether we lost our child or received word of a terminal illness, or drained our bank account in a single transaction, there somehow has to be satisfaction in the answer that our true home is elsewhere.
