At 92, my Dad's thoughts are often on heaven. He has worked hard all his life, he loves Jesus and longs for the day when he'll strongly walk those streets of gold and won't grow old anymore.
Every morning he likes to sing a song and it's usually a hymn. We've been doing this for almost 9 months and recently he remarked that many of the hymns speak of heaven or of the end of life. Death usually shows up somewhere in the songs.
A couple of days ago he picked an old one called "That Beautiful Land". Mom and I had never heard it before, so we muddled our way through it and then I looked it up online. I found a YouTube video and we enjoyed listening to the harmony of the men's quartet as they sang this oldie beautifully.
The words give us a glimpse of heaven. I particularly like the first verse because it says we'll have no more cares or darkness or gloom. Ah, that sounds...well?....heavenly!
"I have heard of a land
On a far away strand,
In the Bible the story is told,
Where no cares ever come,
Neither darkness nor gloom,
And nothing shall ever grow old."
Revelation 21:4 (ESV)
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.
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