"Heaven's Gate"

I had to explain to this sweet little boy,

Where did his granddaddy go,

Old man was a cowboy who made his last ride,

I loved like a brother and so,

He asked the question that so many ask,

As the tears slowly ran down his face,

We sat on the porch in two rocking chairs,

Right there on his grandaddy’s place.

I said that his granddad loved a long ride,

Big circles he made on old Dan,

Sometimes when huntin’ wild cattle so far,

Through the far, distant pastures and land,

He’d think he was closer to heaven by far,

Than to all that he knew on this earth,

And prayed everyday to the Savior above,

And knew he’d received the new birth.

So your granddad was ready when Jesus said come,

And so far on that long, distant range,

He just rode on across ‘cause it was so near,

And nothing about it is strange.

He simply went home like all of us will,

Who know Jesus as Savior and Friend,

And when you think of your granddad above,

Remember you’ll see him again.

The boy dried his tears and stuck out his hand,

We shook and then said a brief prayer,

I knew that sooner than later I’d go,

With my old friend to ride way up there.

More real than ever is heaven to me,

I thought as I drove away,

Explain to the young how sweet it will be,

Until Jesus takes us one day.

“Set your minds on thing above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:2-3, NIV)

The scriptures encourage us to focus on eternity. This does not mean that we are irresponsible about earthly business. It simply means our priorities are spiritual rather than natural. We love the Lord and are eager to spend eternity with Him. We believe what we can’t see is more important that what we can see. The temporal things of life have lost their hold on us, and we are living under heaven’s rule until God calls us home or Jesus returns. You may have heard that we shouldn’t be so heavenly minded we are no earthly good. But being heavenly minded is exactly how God wants us to be, and how we may best conduct ourselves on earth.

Lord, teach us to live with heaven in view, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Robert “Shoofly” Shufelt, used by permission. Thanks, Robert, and God bless you.