“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.” Psalm 116:15

Though it has been said many times, I do not know how easy it is to steal candy from a baby. It’s a dumb saying because little tiny babies shouldn’t have candy in the first place! But stealing cookies from a dying old man….?? Yup! VERY easy! In fact, I did it just yesterday!

My friend Bob is 85 years old. Bob is in the hospital because of a bad heart. I happened to be there when the Doctor came in and broke the news that there was nothing they could do for him. As he listened, the glaze over his eyes told me he wasn’t readily processing the information. A REALLY big question came into my mind…‘how does anyone?’

Yesterday I went again to visit my friend. Setting on his table was a package of unopened ‘Nutter Butter’ cookies… one of my favorites. As we talked, the nurse came in to check his blood sugar. When finished, she rolled her eyes and said, “not good… 260!” When I asked she said, “it’s supposed to be under 200!” I immediately picked up the cookies and put them into my pocket saying, “well you certainly don’t need THESE!” HIS immediate response was, “you can have ‘em.” BOTH of us were guilty of being ridiculous!

Bob is spry and witty. To look at and talk to him, you’d never know he is terminal. But he was in no condition to fight me over the cookies. I didn’t NEED his permission because I already HAD them. But since his condition is terminal, what would it matter if he DID eat them? WHY did I feel the impulse to take them from him? Strange things happen at the bedside of the dying. Having already committed theft, I went for broke and asked Bob, “So what’s the first thing you’re going to say to Him?” His answer was….“Huh? It was about to get real!

I had just read this Psalm to Bob and pointed out that God is watching and joyfully anticipating his earthly death and arrival in Glory. THAT is what this Psalm says to me. And if that is a correct interpretation, I wanted to know what Bob’s first words would be to the ‘Master of the Universe.’ He hadn’t thought about it before, so I suggested he might want to start! Then I asked him what he was anticipating the most? Bob hadn’t given much thought to that either. So I started telling him Bible facts about Heaven. The more we talked, the bigger he smiled!

Why do we humans say dumb things like, “well at least I woke up on the right side of the grass today?” In light of being in heaven, could there be any more ridiculous statement? Why do we fret and worry about earth things so much when the reality of Heaven makes earth look like a cesspool? And why don’t we believers spend more time thinking about ‘there’ than ‘here?’ After all, God has already stolen us from the grip of eternal death and He HAS us, no matter WHAT news comes our way?

What WILL I say to the Master when I see Him?