Have you ever been doing something when time freezes and you sense a spiritual dimension?  I had that experience the day before yesterday.  Husband and I had driven to a large city in another state to meet with several dear friends we hadn’t seen in a year and a half.  We had met them eight years ago when they were young adults new to America and just starting their doctoral programs at the university in our city.  What a responsibility and privilege it had been to introduce them to American culture, help them settle in, and give them glimpses of Christianity.  Initially, we took on this effort out of altruistic motives.  Young students need parental-type relationships so they feel at home and cared for in a strange country.  But soon they had completely stolen our hearts and we received more from them than we gave.  Now they are all graduated, most are married and pursuing their careers. We were able to pick up one friend at the airport on our way to rendezvous with the others.  The heartfelt hugs at the Arrivals curb made time stand still.  Holding our dear young friend after being separated felt like a slice of eternity.  As we squeezed each other, a mental picture flashed into my brain of us doing this very thing with the same feelings in Heaven some day.

Later, we three arrived at the restaurant where we were to meet the others.  Since we were the first to arrive, we had a few minutes of peaceful catching up before the rest arrived.  How sweet to see each other face to face instead of phone calls and emails!  What a blessing to sit in quiet conversation away from the hubbub of the big city in the back corner of a gorgeous restaurant with our dear friend!  Shortly, some of the others arrived.  Here was the baby we had anxiously prayed for in the hospital delivery waiting room one and a half years ago but hadn’t yet seen because we had had to leave to catch our cross country flight before his actual arrival.  Now here he was, a healthy, beautiful toddler in his loving mother’s arms.  Another heartfelt hug of welcome.  Lastly came the toddler’s dad directly from a pressured day at his demanding job.  But he wasn’t too tired to hug us and flash his signature understated grin.  After much chatter, we went to help ourselves to the most impressive spread of Asian food I’ve ever seen.  The variety and abundance were dazzling.  There were delicious things for each one according to their preferences. Returning to our table in the glow of chandeliers with a plate of my favorite foods and seeing our dear friends gathered together, time froze again.  I felt that there was a deeper story happening.  What if this is what the first feast together in Heaven will be like?  Perhaps this small drama is a dress rehearsal for the great marriage feast of the Lamb where people from the East and the West will come and sit down together in Heaven to celebrate the forever union of God’s people with Christ. Loved ones never to be separated from Christ or each other again. My heart swelled with gratitude for now and anticipation for later.

“And I tell you this, that many will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 8:11

“Happy are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.”  Revelation 19:9

But today I had a back-down-to-earth experience.  A dear friend for over 40 years gave us a rototiller yesterday.  This afternoon, I asked Husband to make me a tiny garden plot near the well house/storage outbuilding.  So, among the weeds poor husband guided the big tiller in a rectangular shape. The ground is so uneven and submerged willy-nilly are big pieces of wood.  The tiller fell over on its side, it jumped around, it jerked, it bucked, it bounced.  I followed behind, raking up the wood and weeds thinking, “Ever since Adam, mankind has been fighting the elements for every advance.”  Sweating in the hot sun, getting bitten by ants, back aching from raking, glancing at the 2 acres of weeds surrounding the pathetically little cleared plot, I felt again the bite of a broken world.  Poor Adam, he had known no resistance to his work in the Garden.  Every effort was rewarded well.  Then he had the heartbreaking experience of losing his idyllic homeland to fend for himself in an unwilling environment.  I felt his pain.

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