Have you ever heard someone say something along the lines of “Jesus return quickly”? Yeah, well I have and I don’t happen to agree with the sentiment. I mean, I love Jesus, but His return will mark some pretty awful events, as well.
I am not longing for heaven either. I know perhaps I should be. My mind does not often drift to heavenly things so much as temporal things. I don’t have much of an “eternal perspective” (another nice Christian-ism to add to my list).
What I am excited for, however, is getting to meet people in heaven. I cannot wait to see who’s there (although it saddens me to think of who won’t be there, as well) Here are the 3 people I am most excited to meet in heaven (besides Jesus). Then, it’s your turn…
1. Martin Luther King Jr.– Okay, I admit that this answer may be a bit cliche, but I can’t help it. I love me some Martin Luther King Jr. I think A Letter from Birmingham Jail is perhaps one of the most genius pieces of American literature (if you can call it that) ever written. I’d like to ask him if her really knew that he was going to be killed beforehand, like so many people believe. I’d like to ask him how he found the courage to continue on despite such great and overwhelming obstacles. I’d like to thank him for doing so…
2. St. Catherine of Alexandria– There are some facts in question regarding the story of St. Catherine. One thing is certain though–she was martyred for her faith. She was a young beautiful woman (so goes the story) who was also a well-read albeit new convert to Christianity. When summoned by King Maxentius for her beauty (i.e. he was looking for *ahem* a mistress), she deftly questioned his belief in pagan gods.
He was so stupefied by her arguments he summoned 50 philosophers to refute her. When all of the philosophers admitted that they too were won over by her reasoning, the king became enraged and had the 50 burned alive. Catherine was later sentenced to death by a spiked wheel. However, as she was set to be tortured the bonds were miraculously loosened and the wheel broke. She was instead beheaded.
Talk about a story of courage and proclaiming God’s truth despite the inevitable outcome. She ran theological circles around kings and philosophers. She was, I suspect, anointed with the Holy Spirit to do just that. She is my kind of girl.
3. The thief who hung on a cross next to Christ. I would just like to see this man’s face, to look into his eyes, and thank him. Thank him for giving so many people hope in knowing it is never too late to turn to Jesus. It is never too late, nor your sin too large, or the punishment too great for Jesus to forgive and allow you to spend eternity with Him.
Okay, now it’s your turn. What 3 people are you most looking forward to meeting in heaven? Family members, historical figures including someone from the Bible? If you can’t think of 3, that’s okay too. I can’t wait to read your answers.
I think I agree with your number 1 and number 3. I would also have to put in there John Wesley. He has been someone I looked up to since I was a little kid. I have a whole boat load of questions for him.
Great answer Darrell. Just out of curiosity, what would be a couple of your questions for Wesley?
Well first of all, I would want to know what was going through his head when he was never asked back to the churches he preached at, and then I would want to know what was going through his head when he was standing in the fields waiting for people to show up for his sermons after he was kicked out those churches.
Yes, great questions. What was going through his mind? Doubt, fear, hope, peace that God would move?
So good…
Ok, Nicole, you are so awesome, I just have to let you know. I wrote a post a while back about how I’m not longing for heaven or asking Jesus to come quickly. I’m so grateful for salvation but I have a lot of Christ’s work left to do on this earth, I want the time to do it! So Amen! to the your lack of eternal perspective.
Secondly, I am so pumped that you mentioned St. Catherine of Alexandria! I first heard about her when I was in third grade at Catholic school and I thought she was the coolest saint ever! The fact that you summarized her story so well rocks my socks off. Catherine was actually my confirmation name but since I now question the Roman Catholic Church’s devotion to saints I no longer claim a confirmation name, but I still think Catherine of Alexandria is super cool!
Ok, now for my list.
Mother Theresa: When she died my freshman year of high school I was so upset that I never got a chance to meet her. I’ve read the letters she wrote during her mission years and she was truly an extraordinary woman in love with Christ. She wanted no praise for her work, she wanted it all to go to Him and she had the ability to love so completely and indiscriminately it had to be a welling up of Christ’s love in her. I would love to hear her gentle voice speak of the ways Christ touched her.
Mark’s Grandma Helen: I have heard so many things about this godly woman and have wished I could have met her on numerous occasions. This woman was loving and forgiving and was always willing to give all she had even though she had so little. She always trusted fully that God would provide for her so she never feared that helping strangers at her door would bankrupt her. Mark and his family speak of her with such love and affection I will surely enjoy meeting her. And it would be fun to ask her what Mark was like when he was little! :)
St. Paul. Paul’s writings never cease to blow my mind! And he is such an awesome illustration of Christ’s redemption and transformative power. I would love to hear him speak about his journey to Christ and pick his brain about passages in Scripture that astound me or boggle me!
Cool post, Nicole!
Carla,
You are like reading my mind today I think. I almost listed my husband’s grandmother.
She is described as a walking party, always fun, always laughing, loving Jesus. My husband’s family always tells me they wish I could have met her. I am looking forward to it in heaven.
And St. Catherine rocks right? My family is Catholic and while, like you, I reject the worship of saints, I still find their stories so inspiring and powerful.
Mother Theresa is, of course a great answer!
Funny you post this today. I took a nap this afternoon, and dreamed about my grandmother who died in ’93 or something. Anyway, I haven’t thought about her in ages, and I was just thinking after the nap how I hoped she was in heaven, and I was thinking about whether we will actually “know” people or not. I tend to think that if we do, we won’t care. We’ll have other things going on. :)
Anyway, my list (other than my grandma):
1. Soren Kierkegaard. I said in my blog how he’s my “boyfriend,” and it’s true. I think it would be nice to share some heavenly coffee with him and talk about the scriptures.
2. King Solomon. If indeed he wrote Eclassiastes, I want to meet him and talk about that. And *cough* Song of Solomon. *blush*
3. (cheating a bit here) Sts. Flelicity and Perpetua. I love their story, and their story was an early exposure to the lives of the saints, and a reminder of the contribution of women to our Faith.
Of course, meeting the Theotokos would be amazing as well. But perhaps that goes without saying.
blessings,
Josh
Josh,
I agree with you that while we might recognize or remember people in heaven, we won’t care. I doubt we are going to be swapping stories, but who knows…
You list is great! So creative. I laughed out loud about Solomon. I wonder if it was exhausting being that wise.
I considered listing Sts.Felicity and Perpetua too, but decided not to cheat. he he. I love their story too.
Thanks for playing. I enjoyed your list.
Nicole,
“I wonder if it was exhausting being that wise.”
HA! It wasn’t wisdom that tuckered him out…it was those 1000 wives! Yikes! I hope he had a strong diet of Vitamin E. That’s all I gotta say about that.
Point well taken. Eek!
Love your choices Nicole – MLK Jr. for sure! I’d love to sit at the feet of these men and just sponge it up.
1. Gandhi
2. Abraham Lincoln
3. Fredrick Douglass
Oooh, this is so good. I wish I had thought of Lincoln. He was so incredible…a man chosen for a time to do God’s work then taken home.
Thanks for sharing Justin.
Nicole,
I read this earlier and walked away to collect my thoughts. I have an answer now.
It’s not three people I would want to meet. It’s the two children that my bride and I lost through miscarriages.
In today’s modern world, I can Google anything I want and read hundreds of thousands of words regarding almost anything. MLK, Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Wesley, etc, are all accessible to me.
But there is no Google search capability for my children that my bride and I never met.
We will have to wait, for as long as He decides, until we can finally hug them, kiss them, hold their hands, stroke their hair, and look into their faces.
I long for that moment.
Donald,
I am crying.
{sigh}…
As I was writing this post, I thought of all the babies who have been aborted…their small bodies made glorious, filling heaven.
I am praising God for the promise of you and your wife getting to see them, meet them, kiss them, and tell them you never stopped loving them.
Donald – this broke my heart brother. Praying for you and your bride and standing with you until that day when you see their beautiful faces.
I was talking with a friend the other day, and we were discussing the possibility that some of the most faithful and God-honoring Christians lived lives that were unnoticed by the masses. They “cleaned toilets” so to speak all their life, but served with abandon and lived in a way that unquestionable pointed back to Christ. They might have even up using talents or gifts God had given to them in order to make the choice of living a life that was MORE honoring to God. I want to meet them.
Josh,
What a great answer and great perspective. I wrote a post a while back about the unsung heroes of the faith–the folks cleaning toilets, just as you said.
God sees them. They do not go unnoticed by Him.
Hmm. I’m definitely looking forward to meeting my mom. From what my family says, I’m not 100% sure she’ll be there, but only God knows the heart, right? So—fingers crossed!
P.S. – I *heart* your blog. We appear to be two peas in a bloggy pod and should become best bloggy friends. And I mean that in a non-creepy-stalker way.
Rachel,
I really hope you get to meet your mom, as well.
P.S. Let’s totally be blogging BFF’s..in the non-stalker way. Although having a stalker is kinda cool too.
P.P.S. I adore your blog too and am thinking we really might be kindred blogging spirits.
It’s funny that you should choose this topic today. Just last evening I was writing a blog entry where I observed that heaven is less relevant for us today than it was for folks from Bible times. Simply put, if one truly believes that Jesus is coming back for a rapture of the church, followed by a millennial reign, followed by the New Jerusalem coming down onto the New Earth, and that we’ll be alive when all of this happens, then it stands to reason that we’ll spend only seven years in heaven at the most. By contrast, folks from Bible times have already spent a couple thousand years in heaven.
When I was a teenager, I recall spending one Sunday fantasizing about the Apostle Paul showing up in modern times, and me being assigned the task of getting him up to speed on today’s world and our technological advances. I know, not very spiritual. It’s funny the things we think about sometimes.
I think I’d like to meet the wife of Solomon who helped write the Song of Solomon. She had some interesting views on love and sexuality. I’d like to know what she really meant by some of those passages.
And, although I’m not from a Lutheran background, I’d like to meet Martin Luther. He managed to set the church world on its ear, merely by posting a blog to the door of his church.
Nicole,
I have read your blog for a very long time and never responded until now.
The 3 people I want to meet in heaven are:
1. Mothers: My mother and the mother of Jesus
2. Moses from the old testament
3. King David from the old testament
Val,
Meeting Mary would be amazing. i have so many questions for her. I almost said Moses myself, as well.
Thanks so much for commenting and sharing.
Nicole,
The reason that I want to Meet Jesus’s mother is that she felt inwardly God’s son, she saw his miracles, she also sacrificed her son for our sins…she knew from the beginning of conception that Her son would be the Savior of the World…so amazing….she saw him dying on the cross…how the heart of a mother was breaking to see her baby boy….now a man dying in front of her and the rest of the world to see..and to bring salvation to all those who desire and believe to have an eternal personal relationship with God.
I want to see Moses because he saw the face of God and to see God’s forgiveness and deliverance of his people.
Ed,
You are so right. I was thinking something very similar as I typed this post. Today’s Christian is far less concerned with heaven. We are not as aware or affected. It certainly does change the way we view and act out our faith I think.
I love the idea of Paul in modern times and you catching him up. That would make a great short story or book.
Great answers too on Solomon’s wife and Martin Luther. Very creative.
1. My grandfather Dale King. He died before I could get there to say goodbye. I’d want to apologize for not being there when he needed me most (even though there was no physical way I could make it there in time.)
2. Any of the seven children my wife and I lost via miscarriage. (I know…that’s more than three people but I’m only including them in one spot on the list.)
3. My friend from junior high school who hung himself in 8th grade. I’d want to ask him if it was worth it.
Oh I love this post. ..but I’m pretty speachless! I must say that seeing the babies that I lost early in pregnancy would be a HEAVENLY gift for sure!
Destiny,
Yes! You will get to meet them! I have no doubt…
1. Paul
2. Barnabas
3. Micaiah, son of Imlah (1 Kings 22)
Of course, we Americans all imagine that everyone in heaven speaks modern English. Ha! But I do expect that God will give us all a common tongue so that my biblical heroes and I may converse.
My mother will be in front of the welcoming team as I arrive. Then we will find out which has changed more–mom or heaven–since her arrival there 12 years ago. Yes, Nicole, you would have loved her immeasurably. This world has only seen a few who have ever been like her.
I read the part of your post about the common tongue, and I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be cool if we had to learn the languages of the other people in heaven?” It’d give us a fun project to work on so that we could work towards having a deeper understanding of our surroundings. Just a thought.
Lord knows we will have the time to learn a new language, that’s for sure.
I like your list and am not surprised by it, in a good way.
I didn’t assume we would all be speaking English, but more like you said–some new language. If heaven is perfect than I just assumed we would all be able to communicate in one way or another.
I am looking forward to meeting your mom and thankful I get to do so in heaven.
rejectdad,
Come on, now. You and I both know that we will have British accents in Heaven because all the best Jesues portrayed in film have had killer British accents. Or is that Robin Hood? Dang. I always get them mixed up.
It’s a fact. Um, it’s in The Book of Frickassiah, chapter 34, verse 3. Yeah. Trust me on this.
LOL!
1. My mother. She has missed so much in the 11 years she’s been gone. Including her 8 year old grandson.
2. Malcolm X. After his Mecca and towards the end of his life his philosophy was evolving into more of a message of unity. There are many who believe that he and Dr. King were starting to find common ground. A coalition between those two would have been a huge threat to the status quo of the country at the time and that is why he was killed (conspiracy theory I know, but very plausible.)
3. Noah. I am always impressed how he obeyed God without question. Not to mention, to be there at the new beginning must have been awesome.
Great question. Hard to keep it at just 3.
Great answers.
I have always been intrigued by Malcolm X. I read his autobiography in college and was struck at how different a man he became after his Mecca. He truly did evolve, as you say. It seemed that Hollywood and the history books decided to leave that part out.
Thanks so much for sharing.
I just realized the question was “in heaven.” I know there are some who would probably argue whether or not Malcolm X is in Heaven given, as far as we can tell, he was Muslim. But since none of us know for sure the spiritual situation of other people, I’m going to leave him there!
But I just wanted you to know I loved your question so much, I stole it for my blog (with a link to you of course :-) ). It will post on Wednesday 5/18.
Thanks for the inspiration!