New Requests: Jamie Weddington
Continuing Requests: Jerry Love, Jason Cox, Ellen Moore, Teresa Gibson,
Weddington baby, Jenny Gilbert
Cancer Patients: Lanny Cooper, Earl Cooper, William Jordan, Angie Bussell, Tara
McCann, Kathy Sower, Ruth Hurst, Edith Westfall, Billy Barbour, Lottie Cook,
Odist Riley, Karen Flannigan, Alexandra Mason
Elderly and Shut Ins and their Families: Maxine Soards, Helen Dixon, Ina Hurst,
Sammy Ginn, Gardena Ginn, Flora Wells, Charles Riley, Donald Lykins, Sr., Lance
O’Cull, Joe Hardy, Carol Wills, Marie Drexell, Louella Ruark
Our Web Prayer Requests, Our Troops, Unspoken Needs, Missionaries
Birthdays and Anniversaries
February 8 Bailey Duff
February 11 Jason/Tammy Cox
February 11 Willie Wills
February 12 Jerry Miller
REMINDERS
The Chuck McCann family will leave February 8 to get their new baby, Owen.
Ladies Meeting—Feb 9—6:00—Anna Refreshments/Wanda Bible Study
Calvary’s Higher Ground
Oh, Lord, my prayer to Thee has been:
“Lift up my soul to greater heights!
Let me live on that higher plane,
where, led by faith, I’ll walk in light.”
But now I know that higher plane
of deepest joy and victory
is Calvary’s mountain Jesus climbed,
and lofty hill bears lowly tree.
(chorus)
So lift me up, Lord, higher still
and teach me how to rest in Thee,
till I have died on Calvary’s hill
and reached the heights of Calvary’s tree.
To climb up Calvary’s hill with Him,
No man can reach a higher plane;
To die to self that Christ may live;
Not I, but Christ, to rule and reign.
(chorus)
So lift me up, Lord, higher still
and teach me how to rest in Thee,
till I have died on Calvary’s hill
and reached the heights of Calvary’s tree.
~ Connie Faust ~
“I am crucified with Christ nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me,
and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God,
Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Galatians chapter 2, verse 20
Can you see Heaven in tomorrow?
“Daddy, put me on your shoulders and let me touch Grandma’s hand!” the little girl said.
Daddy bent down, turned her around, and lifted her high above his head until she was safely positioned on his shoulders.
“I can see tomorrow up here, Daddy,” she said.
“You can?” he asked. “What does it look like?” he questioned her.
“Just like today, but more pretty!” she giggled.
“Now hold on, Jenny. I’m going up on top of this hill. When I tell you to, stretch your arms way up and you can touch her hand.”
He carefully walked up on top of the small hill just behind the bench I was sitting on. The softball fans sit there each evening during the spring and summer watching the local players compete. But today this hill served a higher purpose.
This is a spot where memories are made. This is a moment between parent and child that gets filed away in memories for tomorrows yet to come. Perhaps when this young girl will hold her babe high upon her shoulders and together they will reach for Grandpa’s hand, just like when she was a child.
He came down to where I was seated. His daughter played nearby. Her Daddy told me afterwards that Jenny was very close to his Mom. She died a few months ago. “Jenny said she wanted to hold hands with Grandma like she always did. I told her Grandma was in heaven, out of reach,” he said.
“Jenny told me that heaven is in tomorrow. If she climbed way up high she could see it and touch Grandma’s hand.”
“Why did she say that Heaven was in tomorrow?” I asked.
“Well, the last time she saw Grandma, she told Jenny that one day soon she would go to heaven. Of course Jenny wanted to know when. Mom said ‘Maybe tomorrow, Jenny. She died two days later.”
“So, then, heaven is in tomorrow,” I added. “So does she feel Grandma’s hand?”
“Yes, very much so. In fact…” he paused when his daughter came running up to him.
“I’ll be right there, Jenny.”
Jenny is such a beautiful child. You look at her and think “buttons and bows” like a little girl in a story book.
Her Daddy continued. “One day when we did this, she stretched out her arms and said, “Daddy, I can feel her hand!” Of course I played along and asked if it were soft like I remember.” He stopped for a moment. Shook his head and looked down. I guess the memory of Mom was still very much alive in him.
“She then said, ‘Yes, Daddy. She has a ring with four colors on it.” I couldn’t believe what she said. I asked her to tell me again. She described it as best she could for a young child.”
“Did she remember a ring that Grandma always wore?” I asked.
“No. That’s what amazed me. You see that ring was her Mother’s ring that we gave her. Each colored stone represented one of her children. She couldn’t wear it for years because of her arthritis.”
Once again he stopped to gain some composure.
“We placed it on her finger when she died. We had it cut to fit her.”
“Could Jenny have seen it then?” I asked.
“No. We decided not to permit Jenny at the funeral viewing. She was much too young to understand.”
“So, Jenny never saw the ring?” I asked.
“No, not until that day, when she saw Heaven in tomorrow.”
Jenny came rushing over and Dad and I said our goodbyes.
I thought a lot about this today. I asked myself a hundred times. So I’ll ask you.
Based on who you are, knowing more about you than anyone else, having whatever faith you may have in yourself, your God, can you see “Heaven in tomorrow?” If you believe just reach up right now and touch it.
Jenny did.
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