At Heaven's Door

My Purpose in Writing

Where do I begin? When I retired from my sales career in October of 2018, I sensed that now within my early sixties, my health was showing more signs of age. And I thought, well, I better get my house in order, per the chance that God would call me home sooner than later.

So I began documenting the finances, the passwords, and the locations of the essential papers so that my wife would have an easier time finding our ‘stuff,' should God call me home first.

And within my plan, I began writing, at first, to my family a book on how Jesus saved me from my sins. And to also declare how God has all things under His control. And I wanted to leave them a legacy of my faith in Christ to encourage, instruct, and love them. And in this, it is the most important thing I could leave to them when God calls me home.

After writing the first book, 'The Sovereignty of God in Our Daily Lives,' I started to sense a call to continue writing. So the second book came relatively quick, picking up from where the first book left off. This book is entitled 'En Route to the Mount of Olives – Matthew 24' and is about the disciples' two questions of Jesus right before the Passover - Palm Sunday: what is the sign of your return, and what is the sign of the end of the age?

As I sent that book to the publisher in early November 2021, God called my beloved wife home a few weeks later. Her sudden passing shocked our family, for my wife had no symptoms or warning signs of heart disease.

So before she died, I was thinking about authoring other books on biblical studies. One area I was studying was in regards to the Holy Spirit. Another subject I felt called to examine was our sinfulness. And then the last book on my radar is this book that you now hold in your hands - At Heaven's Door. At Heaven's Door was the last book I was planning to write for when I had some inkling that my time was nearing. That in this book, it would be my last love letter to my family.

BUT NOW, with my wife's passing from life to life, I am drawn to write about Heaven, seeing that she is now face-to-face with Jesus!
This book is, in part, my grieving therapy – in my missing her smile, missing her laughter, missing her voice in talking together, and missing her loving touch. But it is also my joy to search the scriptures to see what Jesus says about Heaven. And by seeking to understand more about life in Heaven and being with Jesus, Sandy is now living and enjoying.

So whether you also miss a loved one who is now home with the Lord or you sense God will call you to come home soon, I present this book in love and comfort to know life does not end in death for those in Christ. For our citizenship is not of this world but in Heaven. And the Glory of Jesus is the pearl of great price! And with that last breath, our faith becomes realized. So I pray that God will grant us both - His grace and wisdom through His Spirit as we study this subject together.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Chapter TWO: Pressing Forward
Now that my wife Sandy has passed from life to life, I ask, what does death mean to a Christian? Of course, in my heart, I know that Sandy left her body as His child, and she immediately went 'home' to be with Jesus. But what does that entail?

Having died in our house, my darling wife left this world quickly. In retrospect, I remember having so many emotions when she died. I knew she had departed when I found her a few seconds later on the bathroom floor when I came rushing back into the bedroom that morning. My heart was racing and was sorrowful when I saw her, yet, I felt a divine calm over me at that moment too. It is hard to put all the emotions that were now racing within me. For being sad right then and there, being helpless in trying to revive her when I found her on the floor a few seconds later, knowing that I wasn't in the room to the time when she left to be with Jesus – not having the opportunity to say 'I love you. Goodbye; see you soon.' My words to her were too late for her to hear me.

But I also felt a calming peace, for I can't explain what I felt this Monday morning that comforted me while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. For in my angst, I almost felt comforted too. For my family's sake, I'll skip the details of mom's passing that help explain the peace amongst the sadness, but say that my wife has finished the race – and finished well! She is now face-to-face with Jesus. Her faith is now complete. Having victory over sin in and through Jesus, now realized! Praise God!

Today, and as I write this with months now behind me, my grieving of the loss of my wife is gradually moving into fond memories of the time God gave us together. I feel drawn to now write about her new life in Heaven through the lens of the Bible. With the view from today - as I look to God's word to the future as what Sandy/Mom/Grammy is doing now - trusting that this study will offer comfort and hope to me, my family, and you, the reader—and now seeing the joy for a Christian moving into Heaven when our 'tents' fail.

Before I began, and as I finished writing the rough draft, I felt the Holy Spirit impress upon my heart to come back and bring Ephesians 1 to the lead position before I move any further.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:3-14

Here before us are the promises of God towards us! These eleven verses hold a month of sermons!. But, as they connect, they also have supportive verses in common. I've highlighted, underlined, and italicized points that stand in common for clarity and understanding of how deep and wide the promises of God are.

So here are "The Questions I Ask."