Life This Side of Heaven Can Be Brutal
I heard a loud shout from the throne (in heaven), saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them (in heaven), he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death nor sorrow nor crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
Revelation 20:3-4, NLT
Photo by Timo Volz
The phone rang like a piercing siren late in the night. I flew out of bed and tripped, trying to find my cell phone. It rang again, and there it was, sitting in one of my shoes. I was so disoriented. I couldn’t tell what time it was.
When I finally answered my phone, the person on the other end wasn’t making any sense. All I remember saying was “call 911.” And I fell back into bed. Asleep.
I slept late the next morning. Somehow I ended up on the floor. I crawled around till I found my robe. I just couldn’t wake up. Why am I not asleep? I wanted to go back to bed but knew I couldn’t. I was changing rotations at work to the day shift, so I needed to stay up.
The doorbell rang and rang, and then I heard loud pounding on the door. What the heck? My head was splitting. When I opened the door, there stood my friend Lou. “Why haven’t you answered your phone? I’ve been calling all morning. It’s Meg. She’s in the ICU. That’s all I know.”
Meg. ICU. What?! I just spent my last shift there. I threw on my scrubs, grabbed my keys, and followed Lou out the door. We rode together in silence. My stomach was in knots.
When I stepped off the elevator, the waiting room was empty except for an elderly man with blood on his pants and shoes.
Matt, an RN I worked with in ICU, saw me first. “Ally, it’s so bad. We don’t know if she’s going to live.”
Wait. What? I still hadn’t gotten the download. My heart was pounding so hard, my chest hurt. I felt light headed.
Matt said something about wild dogs. I responded, “In the city?”
Lou and I walked into her room together, with Lou holding a death grip on my arm. And then Lou started to cry.
I stood there looking at my best friend. Her arms were almost gone. Her feet and lower legs, too. She had lost a lot of blood. And her face was no longer Meg.
I started to feel really hot. I needed air. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I backed my way out of the room and stood in the hall. Numb. I hadn’t been trained for this. I couldn’t think. Somebody told me to go to the waiting room.
Mr. Martin was sitting in a chair in the waiting room, alone. Meg owned a small house, and for a short time I rented a room from her. Mr. Martin was her across-the-alley neighbor. They kept an eye out for one another.
He told me that Meg was taking out her trash when the ominous sight caught her off guard: digging in his trash was a pack of dogs. He was trying to shoo them away, but the dogs were getting angry, jumping all over him. Meg grabbed a stick, trying to get them to stop, when the dogs turned on her. All three of them. They must have been starving as they attacked her so viciously. Mr. Martin said he then frantically called 911 and stayed in his house.
(Left side Photo by Alberto Barbarisi)
Then who had called me? I hadn’t bothered to check. I was scared to look at my phone …
It was Meg.
Mr. Martin was a sweet, fragile man in his late eighties who was always talking about Jesus. It was obvious why Meg tried to help him.
His eyes were sad. “Miss Meg. She’ll be all right?” I didn’t know what to tell him. “I don’t think so, Mr. Martin. Do you have someone to take you home?”
I knew Meg wasn’t going to be alright. Not this side of heaven.
Not this side of heaven … What does living life on this side of heaven look like for you?
For me, each day is met with asthma and unrelenting chronic pain. I have to ask myself, do I long to be in heaven with Jesus, or do I want to escape my circumstances?
I had the privilege of being with my mother when she passed from this life into the presence of God. First, I saw her breathing stop; then as I watched her heart beat slower … and slower … and then stop … I was filled with such peace and confidence. I knew Mom was in the presence of God in heaven, completely healthy and whole again. What an overwhelming experience. What Joy — Indescribable!
So I have to ask … have you given heaven much thought? If I asked you on a scale of 1 – 10, with 10 being 100% certainty, how sure are you that when you die you’ll go to heaven? What gives you that assurance?
Here’s another way to ask the same question: You’re standing before God and He asks you why He should let you into heaven. How would you answer?
Based on what the Bible says, you’ll know you’re going to heaven, and you’ll respond to God with 100% confidence, when you take to heart these words of Jesus:
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.” —John 14:6, NASB
When people die and are separated forever from God, spending eternity in hell, it’s not solely because they rejected God or didn’t live out His Word. Christians are not superheroes; they still do things that hurt God and others. But here’s the difference: people go to hell because they reject the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. —Ephesians 2:8–9, NASB
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. —Romans 5:8–9, NLT
The choice and decision is yours. Put your faith and trust in Jesus or not. If you have any questions or comments, please send them my way.
So thankful for you all,
Ally
This short story is based on actual events. Names and details have been altered for privacy.