THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

Before I left for Indonesia, I talked to Oom Djaja over the phone; he told me he was feeling better. We also talked about his birthday celebration sometime in November. It was originally set for Oct 27, after our Wednesday’s Bible Study, but cancelled due to his heart’s palpitation. So, we made plan to do it in November. But, God had another plan; we will not celebrate his birthday anymore—ever!

There are many things that we know of today that will not be in heaven, one of them is birthday celebration. Our Lord Jesus will not come to wish us a happy birthday and unlike I, who ask you to sing Happy Birthday at the end of the month, He will not ask you. You see, there is no need for birthday celebration to make someone happy and special because we already feel completely happy and special. Being in the presence of God is the ultimate celebration!

In his book, Nearing Home, Rev. Billy Graham writes that to him, it has been a great privilege to be an evangelist. What gives him the greatest joy is to see people respond to the life-changing message of Jesus. But, he admits that on a personal level this task of being an evangelist has had its downside—it required him to be away from home a lot, sometimes even for months at a time. But, he writes, no matter how long or short the trip was, when he landed in Charlotte or Ashville, he knew he was nearing home.

We are nearing home—God’s eternal dwelling. We might think that we are still far away but the truth is we do not know. We might be closer than we think. Using Billy Graham’s story, we might even be in Charlotte or Ashville. In just a few more hours-drive we will reach home. Oom Djaja—and our beloved--have reached home. No more birthdays there, but I assure you, there is plenty of laughter!

Pastor Paul