A Lifetime of Wisdom: Filled With God's Priceless Rubies by Joni Eareckson Tada

Author:Joni Eareckson Tada
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religion, Christian Life, Spiritual Growth
ISBN: 9780310313083
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2009-02-23T22:00:00+00:00

8

Better by Far

EARECKSON HOME MARYLAND FEBRUARY 1967

I looked forward to Steve coming all day. Now the evening is over and everything is still. Winter still. Moonlight still. Midnight still.

My friend and I spent another evening sitting by a snapping, popping, cherry-wood fire in the fireplace. It smelled wonderful.

As at other times, Steve brought his Bible. He read some and we talked. When the subject turned to heaven, it really got my attention. Since I was a little girl I’ve wondered about it. We used to sing,

This world is not my home,

I’m just a-passin through; my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue.

I’ve never really had any trouble believing in a heaven, but it all seemed so vague to me. Somewhere beyond the blue. Everyone wants to go there, but where is it? What does it look like? Who is there, what do they wear, and what do they do?

Steve began to read to me from 1 Corinthians 15 — the part about the new bodies we will have after we leave this world. Again, he had my full attention. He called that future body a “glorified body,” and he began to think out loud about all the amazing things an immortal body could do. Run without ever getting tired. Enjoy endless daylight without needing sleep. Move through walls and from place to place, as Jesus did after He rose from the dead. And who knows? Maybe even fly.

To me, the best thought was that I would no longer be paralyzed. If I had just that much and no more, it would be enough. To walk away from my wheelchair forever. To never again have to depend on others for everything I need and everything I do. I couldn’t help imagining along with him — thinking about all the things I would be able to do with new hands, new arms, and new legs. Flying? Who cares. Walking through walls. Who needs to? Running for a thousand years and never stopping to catch your breath? Fine. But what’s the point?

I would be happy just to walk a few steps to the window, pull back the curtain, and look out at the falling snow. Or brush my hair. Or peel an orange. And then . . . later . . . maybe I could sprint across an open field, scale a few rocks, or skip through a meadow.

For a few minutes, as Steve kept reading to me in that gentle, earnest voice of his, I got caught up in something like a vision. My heart filled with longing. Just for a moment — even though I was stuck in my wheelchair and unable to move — I remembered what it felt like to be really free.

Steve could see what was happening to me, bless his heart, and kept reading more passages. As he turned to one more description in the book of Revelation, I couldn’t wait to read all about this future God was reserving for us.

But that’s when it all began to unravel for me.

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