I remember spring on our Iowa farm.  One particular memory stands out: the day we opened the door to the calf pen.  The young calves had been born during the winter months and had never been outside.  All they had known was the confining darkness of their pen.  Now they faced an open door to green pastures, sun, and blue skies.  But it was the unknown they faced beyond that doorway, and they resisted our efforts to herd them out into this unknown.  Eventually they hesitantly stepped over the threshold and soon were kicking up their heels in delight.      
        I see the same hesitancy among us humans facing that greatest portal to the unknown, the doorway we call death.  God’s desire is that we make the choice to accept His forgiveness and to live this life totally given over to Him so that we can enjoy His heaven forever
    — a place of unparalleled beauty
    — a place where there is no alienation between people; all are accepted and loved      — a place where there is an eternity of work to do for God, work that is meaningful, significant, and without frustration
    — a place where we will experience God face to face and not through the foggy lens of faith as we do now.
      Each day moves us closer to that experience.  The best is yet to come!    
     “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”  1 John 3:2