"This Ain't Heaven But We'd Like it to Be" is the title of a book we've been thinking about writing for years (decades actually) but we've never gotten around to it. The idea got started as we would travel for vacations and stay in cool, beautiful places - or even just drive through them - and we'd always say "Oh man, wouldn't it be great if we could live here." (The funny thing about that is, at that time we were living in a beautiful area in the Southern California coastal hills about 12 miles from Malibu beach! What were we thinking?!)
As we began to think more about that concept - of always thinking that there's something better out there - we realized that we all have a lot of "If only..."s in our lives. As human beings, we often find ourselves thinking that life would be great if only we had...
- A spouse (or a better spouse)
- A home that we owned
- Kids
- A better job
- More money
- A home at the beach or in the mountains or...
- The perfect church
- A skinnier body
- A healthy body
- Nicer clothes
For years we've thought about this problem that we all seem to have. We can be very stable, happy people, who enjoy the life that we have; thankful for the life that we have. But there's still something inside us that thinks, "But what if we had..." A seed of discontent. A longing for something more. Something different. Something better.
Years ago we decided that what we were really talking about, and what was at the bottom of that longing for something more or different or better, was actually a longing for heaven. A perfect world, with God, like He intended from the beginning. That's the world human beings were created for. But we messed it up along the way, and we messed ourselves up along the way. And now there's something within each one of us, whether we believe in God or not, that longs for that perfect world, often without even realizing that's what we're really longing for.
I'm thinking about this topic now (and that book we haven't written yet) because as I'm writing this it's the beginning of 2023 and I spent some time on January 1 just listening to God and talking to Him about some things I have been longing for over the past couple years. And this morning I realized that though in the past I've thought of this longing in terms of worldly things that we long for that are actually a longing for heaven, this time for me the longing had to do with relationships. And as I was talking to a friend on the phone about what I had gleaned from God as I spent that time with Him, I realized that this longing for relationships - for significant community - is also actually a longing for heaven.
Throughout our entire adult life, Dave and I have been involved with three consecutive churches where he was the Lead Pastor: twenty-five years in Agoura Hills, seven years in Phoenix, and then eleven years in the Bay Area. At each of those churches we had a ready-made group of people to build community with. And I don't just mean going to church for an hour on Sunday morning or joining a Sunday School group. We enjoyed a special bond with everyone in those churches, but in each church we also had smaller groups of people that we lived life with. We ate together, and played together, and raised kids together, and worshipped together, and went on vacations together, and prayed together, and cried together...
Two years ago, after 40+ years of being a Lead Pastor, Dave transitioned into the next phase of his ministry life. He passed his Lead Pastor position at Bridges on to a young pastor and his wife who we had grown to love and respect while he was on staff with us and who was also one of the teaching pastors with Dave. Dan & Beth & the boys became the next generation, in the Bay Area, of what Dave & Bernice & the kids had been in Agoura. We were (and still are!) so excited to see what God has ahead for them. And for us as we began following God's leading into His ministry plan for us as we moved to a new town where we could be near our three kids and their families.
Dave is now on part-time staff with Venture Church Network as their Director of Church Health. God is using Him to help churches and pastors and elder boards all over Northern California who are in times of transition or trouble. God is using all Dave's years of experience in some very cool ways, And it's right where God wants him to be for now.
But... now that Dave is no longer on staff at a church, that "instant community" is no longer there. We moved out of the Bay Area to a small town in Central California where all three of our kids and their families live, so we have instant community with all of them, which is awesome! We love it! But when it comes to community with other believers, I'm having a tough time with that. I really miss the intimate friendships that we've always had before. The small groups of people that we lived life with. I continue to pray a lot that God would bring those people - whoever they are - into my life here in Merced. But in the meantime, I've been longing for what I don't have right now. And I realize now that the longing for deep relationships is another longing for heaven.
When we get to heaven, or when Jesus comes to reign on this planet (whichever comes first!), and when God creates the new earth for us to live in with Him forever, and we have glorified bodies and sanctified souls, we will have perfect relationships with each other and with God. All of our relationships will be deep and meaningful and full of love. We will have the most incredible times of worship together. We will come before God together in awe and wonder and praise. We will accomplish whatever tasks God puts before us together. It's going to be awesome. It's what we were created for!
But in the meantime, we long for even just a portion of what we will experience then.
If you are a follower of Jesus and you have a group of other believers that you are living life with at a deep level (not just an hour on Sunday morning or Tuesday night or...), cherish those relationships. Invest time and energy and even money into them. Together, you are the church! That's what the body of Christ is all about. Eat together. Pray together. Share what God is teaching you from His Word. Worship together. Take communion together. Hold each other accountable for walking worthy. Laugh together. Cry together. Minister together to those around you who are in need. Be the body of Christ - the Church - together.
If you don't have that type of community with other believers but are longing for it, like I am, pray that God will lead you to those people. That He will bring them into your life. (And don't be surprised if it's not the people you would have expected. Look at the random group of people that God brought together to be His disciples!) Don't let sitting in a building for an hour on Sunday morning be enough.
I'm still in process with this new phase of our lives and with this search for community, so I can't give you a list of things to do to make it happen. I wish I could because I'm definitely a list person. But I'm trusting that, as we wait for that perfect world that is ahead, God will lead us into deep relationships with other believers that we can live life together with as the body of Christ.
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