Turtles in Heaven [heaven]

***********************************
“But here on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies will throw a feast for all the people of the world, a feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines, a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts. And here on this mountain, God will banish the pall of doom hanging over all peoples, the shadow of doom darkening all nations. Yes, he’ll banish death forever. And God will wipe the tears from every face. He’ll remove every sign of disgrace from His people, wherever they are. Yes! God says so!” Isaiah 25:6-8.

“Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! …The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less,” 2 Cor. 5:3-5.
*************************************

Vision casting towards heaven is one of our favorite table time talks. We’ve all placed our orders for the banquet feast, selected dream jobs (in areas of our passion), chosen our favorite worship songs, and imagined our mansion with many rooms. We’ve filled in the blanks on what God’s told us about our forever home. The conversation is always animated and anticipatory, today it centered on our favorite zoo animals we’d like to have on our mansion grounds.

I lay this foundation for heaven sight when the table is full of laughter so that when our table is full of tears His Scripture will evoke hope. Even children figure out very quickly they are living in a fallen world where things just aren’t right. Embarrassing devastation at school, the loss of a precious one, divorce, a painful diagnosis…the list our fallen world produces generates all too quickly. We live daily feeling, to varying degrees, the constraint of a tethered eagle longing to soar as we were originally created.

I was so thankful to have had these conversations under our belt when Tad got a pet box turtle. We ordered Tommy from Texas because although they are native to our area, their numbers have declined rapidly. The breeder offered an additional gulf box turtle gratis because of a missing a foot. My investigation revealed that one of the other turtles had bitten off his foot. ‘Well, ok,’ I told the breeder, ‘we’ll take him as long as the eastern box turtle we are buying wasn’t the culprit.’

Long story short, the turtles arrived to the immense excitement of the boys. Timmy was actually missing two feet when he arrived (we’re still awaiting the investigative report to determine if that happened in flight or prior). Timmy Two Toes we called him, was definitely more responsive and animated in his interactions so we all fell in love. He would crane his little neck towards us when being held, eat from our hand and even crawl toward us. Meanwhile Tommy was reserved and hiding. Cut to two weeks into our turtle ownership and Timmy doesn’t appear to be doing well. Two days later he was dead.

The sorrow I saw fill Tad was something I had never witnessed in any of my children. This was his first real loss and as insignificant as a baby turtle may sound to an adult; it was terrible for him. I longed to remove the pain I watched him go through. I wanted it gone. I hated to see him sobbing in this loss. I hated that sin meant there would be death; a state we were never intended to experience.

I have a feeling these are also a few of the reasons why Jesus wept at the tomb of his dear friend Lazarus. I’m taken aback by this instance in Jesus’ life because He fully intended to raise Lazarus, yet He still weeps and experiences the sorrow that touches each of us. He is acquainted with our sorrows; He hates death. He seems in angst and the loss He has just experienced is as real as our own. When Jesus watched a widow weep beside the coffin of her only son “his heart broke” and he raised the dead son to life and presented him to his mother, Luke 7:12-15. He knows we were created for so much more and that His life opens our intended forever home for all who will accept.

Tad moved through the grieving process pretty typically. We used Timmy’s cage sign to entomb him, then buried him under Tad’s cherry tree in the back yard. While we sat at little Timmy’s grave we prayed and told God we were eager to see Timmy again some day, catching giant worms in heaven and craning his next towards us again.

***************************
“The Day is coming when you’ll have it all—life healed and whole,”

I Peter 1:4.

“Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making His home with
men and women! They’re His people, He’s their God. He’ll wipe every
tear from their eyes. Death is gone for good---tears gone, crying gone,
pain gone----all the first order of things gone,” Rev. 21:3-4.

**********************************