How Long Does It Take To Get To Heaven

Hey! I am planning to start blogging my devotional on the book of Daniel tomorrow,but before I do I want to post this first. Some of you know this, my Grandmother in North Carolina died in September on the same day that my latest child was born. Being that it was the same day and I live in northern Indiana, I was unable to attend the funeral. Because of this I e-mailed my Dad a letter to read at her funeral if he wanted. He did and the response from family has been special. I wanted to share it, so here are my ramblings about how far heaven is from us and what may have happened the day my Grandma left the world and Victoria came into it:

How long does it take to get to Heaven?

You know, I have often wondered, "How long does it take to get to Heaven?" This should come as no surprise to Momma & Daddy, kids always want to know how long it is going to take, but they ask with the annoying phrase, " Are we there yet?"
When I was a kid I probably would have said it takes about ten to fifteen minutes to get there because that was how long it took to get to Grandma's house. Or about 24 hours depending on which Grandma we were going to see. Let's face it, for a kid, Grandma's house is always heaven because you can do anything you want to do and there is always plenty to eat! I remember so well as a kid going to Grandma's and every time we pulled into the driveway we could see her looking out the kitchen window, waiting for us to get there so she could spring her favorite question on us as soon as we walked in the door, "Do you want something to eat?" Grandma was always trying to feed us and when we did eat we would be so stuffed we could hardly walk and then she asked her second favorite question, "Are sure you don't want just a little more?" We never could eat enough for Grandma, but this was how she showed her love. There was always room at Grandma's table for us, but never with a hat on, that was Grandpa's rule!

As of this Wednesday I would say that it only takes about 5 or 10 minutes. I say that because Grandma left the earth between 8 & 8:30 Wed. morning and my daughter, Victoria, came into the world at 8:36 wed. morning. I believe that grandma went to heaven, picked-up Victoria, and brought her back to earth; and it only took a few minutes. I'll also bet that along the way, Grandma was asking her, "Are you hungry?" I know that Victoria must have been with Grandma for a while because for the first hour or so of her life she wasn't hungry and wouldn't eat anything. All Sheffield's are born hungry! Unless Grandma got a hold of them first!

Grandma or any other Senior Saint might say that it takes a life time to reach Heaven. After all, Grandma spent 89 years getting there. And as a pastor I would agree that getting to heaven is, for us, a life-long process and journey. In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul says, (my paraphrase) 'I keep working toward the day when I will be all that Christ wants me to be; I am forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead; I strain to reach the end of the race to receive the prize for which God, through Jesus, has called me up to heaven.' Paul saw it as a life-long race and to finish the race he had to keep reminding himself of the prize at the end, or you could say, keep his eyes on the prize of going to heaven.

As a theologian I would have to say that it takes no time at all to get to heaven, zero! Why? Because to God, time means nothing and He is not restricted by time or location. In Heaven there will be no clocks because eternity never ends. Clocks only measure when something begins or ends. God has neither beginning nor ending, He always was, is, and will be!

Another fond memory I have of Grandma is setting next to her Sunday morning listening to her sing, "He walks with me, He talks with me," or "Just as I am without one plea." This gives me great comfort because I know that Grandma always kept her eyes on the prize and she ran her race to the very end, and she stands today whole and pure before her creator, and holding hands again with Grandpa. I remember once when Grandma complained to Grandpa about a discarded cigarette of his still smoking he replied, "Aw, you'll live through it." He was right, she lived through it all, she even lived through death and lives in heaven now with Grandpa and her Jesus! And if we, if you and I, fix our eyes on the prize and keep them there, then it won't matter how long the journey takes or doesn't take, He will walk with us and talk with us the whole way through. And if you have never set your eyes on that prize, all you have to do is look at it and cry out to Him and he will come to walk with you too, just as you are, no matter where you are, and it will only take Him until yesterday to get there. And when you ask the ultimate Daddy, "Are we there yet?" He will say, "Yes my love, we are there!"
Grandma, thank you for the spoiling, thank you, for the food, thank you for the love, thank you for Daddy, thank you for escorting Victoria to us and for feeding her along the way, but most of all thank you for the legacy you left for us by always keeping your eyes on Jesus and on the prize!
I love you, Grandma!
Cya later.
David Jr., Nicole, & the girls.

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