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To hope for this growth, to believe even in its possibility, is to say no to every form of fatalism. It is to voice a no to every way we tell ourselves “I know myself—I cannot expect any changes.” This no to discouragement and self-despair comes in the context of a yes to life, a yes we say amid even fragile times lived in a world of impatience and violence. For even while we mourn, we do not forget how our life can ultimately join God’s larger dance of life and hope.

—HENRI NOUWEN

Turn My Mourning into Dancing

A HOME THAT IS SAFE

On September 11, 2001, like millions of other Americans, I sat glued to my television set. The horrifying scenes of the jetliners crashing into the towers and the Pentagon, the erupting fireballs, and the imploding buildings that were played over and over again are indelibly frozen in my mind’s eye.

I wonder how many parents were faced with teary, terrified children who returned home from school that Tuesday afternoon asking, “Mommy, Daddy, are we at war? Are we going to die? Will we be safe?” How did the parents answer? Did they speak the truth? Or did they just give hollow words of comfort because they had no answers?

While we cannot guarantee the safety of our children, or ourselves, or anyone else in this life, Jesus Christ does guarantee our safety in eternity. When you and I place our faith in Him as our Savior and yield our lives to Him as Lord, God promises that we “shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV). And the “eternal life” will be lived with God and His family in My Father’s House! . . .

Heaven is a very real place that will give you very real freedom. You need never fear. . . .

hijackers or bombers, terrorists or threats,

lawsuits or gunshots, bullets or bandits,

boundaries that stifle, roadblocks that stop,

limits that squelch, walls that strangle,

planes that crash, buildings that implode . . .

The Creator Who created all the earthly beauty we have grown to love . . .

The majestic snowcapped peaks of the Alps,

The rushing mountain streams,

The brilliantly colored fall leaves,

The carpets of wildflowers,

The glistening fin of a fish as it leaps out of a sparkling sea,

The graceful gliding of a swan across the lake,

The lilting notes of a canary’s song,

The whir of a hummingbird’s wings,

The shimmer of the dew on the grass in early morning . . .

If God could make the heavens and earth as beautiful as we think they are today—which includes thousands of years of wear and tear, corruption and pollution, sin and selfishness—can you imagine what the new Heaven and the new earth will look like? It will be much more glorious than any eyes have seen, any ears have heard, or any minds have ever conceived!1

—ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ

Heaven: My Father’s House

1. See Hebrews 9:27.

1. See 1 Corinthians 2:9.

An Invitation

Never Forget . . . God Longs for You to Know Him

HE DID THIS JUST FOR YOU

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

JOHN 3:16 (NIV)

Note what God did: “. . . He gave his only Son.” This is how he dealt with your sin. Imagine it this way. Suppose you are found guilty of a crime. You are in a courtroom in front of the judge, and he sentences you to death for your crime. His sentence is just. You are guilty, and the punishment for your crime is death. But suppose that the judge is your father. He knows the law; he knows that your crime demands a death. But he knows love; he knows that he loves you too much to let you die. So in a wonderful act of love, he stands and removes his robe and stands by your side and says, “I’m going to die in your place.”

That is what God did for you. The wages of sin is death. Heaven’s justice demands a death for your sin. Heaven’s love, however, can’t bear to see you die. So here is what God did. He stood and removed his heavenly robes. He came to earth to tell us he would die for us. He would be our Savior. And that is what he did.

“God put the world square with himself through the