Revelation 21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be His people, and God Himselfwill be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
Yesterday was an awesome day. It was the Bowen family reunion at my mom's place.
Ken went with the kids to church while I cooked for the reunion. Jaimie, Nick, Haley and Will at church together and that is awesome enough. There is something wonderful in having your children worship together the God who gave all for us, especially when those "children" are grown and married.
After Church we drove to Alabama to my mothers' house which is her parents homeplace which is beside their parents homeplace. Of course they are all long gone from this earth. They are at their Fathers' homeplace.
Our family has been meeting here in this place for as long as I can remember. Yesterday one of my cousins brought us a picture of my parents when they were young, taken in this very yard at a reunion long ago. My sweet, funny Daddy, gone for so many years now. We had such a great time. My family knows how to have fun and they love to laugh and joke and tell funny stories of each other through the years. They also know how to cook. The food was awesome.
I looked around this group of people, some very young, some great in years, some known and loved for all of my life an some I had not met before and I was filled with such a sweet feeling of contentment, of connection. By blood we are connected for life. By the Spirit we are connected for eternity.
Anytime we are together as a family I feel the loss of those who are not here any longer. Daddy, Casey, Uncle Floyd, Granny & Papaw, Mimmie & Papa and so many more. I miss them so much. It is also a bittersweet longing for I know where they are. I know where I'm going. And I know that our best years together are still to come. I will see them again. No doubt. We will spend eternity together in our Fathers' house in heaven.
My parents, and their parents and their parents owned this land and year after year they invited all the their family to come to a reunion. It is tradition. A way to reconnect to those people who share your heritage.
I believe that my heavenly Father has done and is doing the same. He has prepared a place for His people, a city, where He will live with them there. This life will be no more, all things will be made new. Even us. No more sickness, no more death and maybe the best of all....no more separation from your family.
Down through the generations of my family has been passed a love for God and for the Scriptures and a belief that not only does He exist but that He has a longing, deep and constant for His family, for His children, for us. And that when this life is over we will pass seamlessly into the next. We will go home to a huge family reunion. The bread, the wine, the celebration, the laughter and the knowing that we have been loved and sought after and watched over and cared for from before the foundations of the world were laid. Forever.
Father, thank You so much for my family. For my heritage and their legacy. The You for revealing Yourself in our lives and in our day to day search to find our way home to You. Bless them Lord with happiness and health, make the prosper in all that they do. I pray that their hearts, every one, are steadfastly search for and finding the depth of Your awesome love for them and that their hearts are completely and forever Yours. Father I pray that we will not come to you empty handed but that our house will be full of the others who have heard from us of Your awesome love for them, Your kindness toward them, Your goodness and everlasting mercy.
Yesterday was an awesome day. It was the Bowen family reunion at my mom's place.
Ken went with the kids to church while I cooked for the reunion. Jaimie, Nick, Haley and Will at church together and that is awesome enough. There is something wonderful in having your children worship together the God who gave all for us, especially when those "children" are grown and married.
After Church we drove to Alabama to my mothers' house which is her parents homeplace which is beside their parents homeplace. Of course they are all long gone from this earth. They are at their Fathers' homeplace.
Our family has been meeting here in this place for as long as I can remember. Yesterday one of my cousins brought us a picture of my parents when they were young, taken in this very yard at a reunion long ago. My sweet, funny Daddy, gone for so many years now. We had such a great time. My family knows how to have fun and they love to laugh and joke and tell funny stories of each other through the years. They also know how to cook. The food was awesome.
I looked around this group of people, some very young, some great in years, some known and loved for all of my life an some I had not met before and I was filled with such a sweet feeling of contentment, of connection. By blood we are connected for life. By the Spirit we are connected for eternity.
Anytime we are together as a family I feel the loss of those who are not here any longer. Daddy, Casey, Uncle Floyd, Granny & Papaw, Mimmie & Papa and so many more. I miss them so much. It is also a bittersweet longing for I know where they are. I know where I'm going. And I know that our best years together are still to come. I will see them again. No doubt. We will spend eternity together in our Fathers' house in heaven.
My parents, and their parents and their parents owned this land and year after year they invited all the their family to come to a reunion. It is tradition. A way to reconnect to those people who share your heritage.
I believe that my heavenly Father has done and is doing the same. He has prepared a place for His people, a city, where He will live with them there. This life will be no more, all things will be made new. Even us. No more sickness, no more death and maybe the best of all....no more separation from your family.
Down through the generations of my family has been passed a love for God and for the Scriptures and a belief that not only does He exist but that He has a longing, deep and constant for His family, for His children, for us. And that when this life is over we will pass seamlessly into the next. We will go home to a huge family reunion. The bread, the wine, the celebration, the laughter and the knowing that we have been loved and sought after and watched over and cared for from before the foundations of the world were laid. Forever.
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