A TASTE OF HEAVEN

Comfort food. It comes with a side of memories. A few years back, I wrote about Mama's cinnamon rolls. Every Saturday, she baked cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning. So I confessed that I hoped heaven served cinnamon rolls. Then, Mark Taylor informed me that, as a kid, he thought they were called,"Pyonders." Why? Because, it says in the song, "When the role is called a 'p yonder, I'll be there." Drum roll or eye roll? Your choice. But, as for me, when the time comes, please pass one of whatever they're called to me.

But my friend, Jeff and I, talked about other things when we shared breakfast and a cinnamon roll at Mom's Kitchen last Monday. I love catching up with Gordon alums and friends at Mom's. I learned Jeff and Karen are now grandparents. I'm so old that some of my Gordon kids are grandparents! Like the song says from Fiddler, "Sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years. One season following another, laden with happiness and tears."

And, while some days seem long, the years fly by. In last week's blog, I asked, "Now what?" I'm grateful for your responses. Your words continue to encourage me. But something else happened last week. God showed up through two Guatemalan immigrants. I think God sent them to remind me that heaven's going to have better surprises than cinnamon rolls. Trust me. Rather, trust God's words: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." (I Corinthians 2:9, NLT) I don't expect to be disappointed. Do you?

Meanwhile, life goes on. But after too much listening to the news and reading the paper, I felt fear creeping in. So I chose to fight fear with music. But I needed foot-tapping music. So I put on the Gaithers. And soon enough, I was back in the South and Midwest with family and friends who I love. We may not vote the same but we love each other. And we want the best for our families, our hurting country and the world.

Well, soon enough I was singing and tapping my feet to, "God put a rainbow in the sky," and "Just a little talk with Jesus makes it right." So, while Jesus and I talked, the music faded into the background. But then I heard; "When the role is called up yonder, I'll be there!" And I smiled and thought of heavenly cinnamon rolls, while I sang, "I'll be there!".Well, apparently, the two men, working on my condo, also experienced a taste of heaven. How so? Well, one of them came into the room, where I was working and said, " I like this music!"

Me, too. After a while he stopped by, smiled, pointed to heaven and said, "I'll be there!" These two brothers from Guatemala are part of a large construction crew working on this condo complex. Their English is coming along. I learned they go to Calvary Chapel. So I cranked up the music to feed something better than cinnamon rolls into each of us. Later when they left for the day, we turned to each other, smiled wide and said, "See you there!"

So on a blustery day in November, three strangers learned we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Our fingers pointed to heaven, not at each other. And music from an old hymn, bridged the gap. Life's short. Music isn't the answer to everything. But love is. So lets love one another. And every now and then, a cinnamon roll, can't hurt.

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