Tell Me About Heaven E-Book

Randy Alcorn

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2007

Seitenzahl: 79

Beschreibung

Ten-year-old Jake struggles to understand his grandma's death. But as he spends two weeks at his grandfather's home, he is able to receive answers to his questions about Heaven. As Jake and Grandpa fish, watch the stars, and take long walks, Grandpa shares what the Bible says about the reality and beauty of Heaven. As Jake learns the truth about Heaven, he begins to better understand and accept his grandmother's death. As readers uncover the truths in the dialogue between Grandpa and Jake, they will better appreciate the home that awaits all who place their faith in Christ.

Leseprobe

Tell Me About Heaven

Text copyright © 2007 by Randy Alcorn

Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Ron DiCianni

Published by Crossway                       1300 Crescent Street                       Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Illustrations: Ron DiCianni

Cover design: Josh Dennis

Interior design: Josh Dennis

First printing 2007

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise designated, Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Scripture verses not from NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Ron DiCianni is represented by and this work was produced with assistance from: Tapestry Productions, Inc, 43980 Mahlon Vail Circle, Suite 803, Temecula, CA 92592. To see more of Ron DiCianni’s paintings please visit: www.TapestryProductions.com.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Alcorn, Randy C.

Tell me about heaven / Randy Alcorn ; [illustrations by] Ron DiCianni.

       p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-1-58134-853-8 (hc : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-58134-853-3 (hc : alk. paper)

1. Heaven--Christianity--Juvenile literature. I. DiCianni, Ron. II. Title.

BT846.3.A435 2007

236’.24--dc22             2007005145

LB      15     14      13      12     11     10      09       08       07 15   14   13   12   11   10    9    8    7    6    5    4    3    2    1

To my beloved grandchildren:

Jake Stump, Matthew Franklin, Tyler Stump and Jack Franklin.

May you live for Jesus, with the New Earth in view.

For Nicky, my first grandson. The doctors gave me little hope of ever seeing you, but God granted my wish! We’re going to have a blast in Heaven...

Contents

1Into His Arms72Eden 133Heaven's Loss194Out of the Tomb255Safely Home316Heaven's Table377Heaven's Balcony 438Heaven on Earth499The Voyage Home55Note from Randy61Note from Ron62God's Offer of Salvation63

Into His Arms

Every June s ince he was three, Jake had spent two weeks with Papa and Grammy. They lived in Oregon, out in the country. Trees and streams were everywhere. Jake loved fishing in the lake and looking at the dark night sky through Papa's telescope. He loved smelling Grammy's roses blooming and eating the best strawberries he'd ever tasted.

But that cloudy Monday afternoon, as his dad turned up the road to Papa and Grammy's, Jake didn't feel his usual excitement.

Papa and Grammy had stayed at Jake's house for a week at Christmas, and Grammy didn't feel well. Then one cold night in February, she had a heart attack. The doctors did their best, but Grammy died.

Jake's parents thought maybe he shouldn't stay with Papa this year, but Papa insisted. "Jake and I will be buddies for two weeks."

Jake liked the sound of being buddies with Papa. But he didn't like the thought of Grammy not being there. His parents encouraged him to talk about Grammy, but he didn't know what to say.

As they drove up the long dirt driveway, Papa came out of his old white farmhouse, smiling. He hugged Jake first, then Jake's mom and dad. Then Papa stepped in the house and came out with a puppy—a brown and white English springer spaniel. "Meet Moses," Papa said. The puppy's whole body wagged. He batted at Jake's socks with his oversized paws and tugged on Jake's shoestrings. Jake rolled him his soccer ball. They became friends instantly.

"Jake, stay away from the creek bank," Mom warned.

"Have fun wading in the creek," Dad told him. "But stay close to Papa."

As his parents got into the car, they both said, "Have a great time!"

Jake waved goodbye. Moses wriggled in his arms and nibbled Jake's nose with tiny needle teeth. Papa put one hand on Jake and one on Moses. "I'm so glad you came!"

Papa took Jake's suitcase to the room full of soccer, football, basketball, and baseball stuff. It had been Jake's mom's room when she was little, but Grammy had made it into a boy's room for him and his brother Ty and cousin Matt, who took their turns visiting each summer.

"Come on," Papa said, walking toward the kitchen. "Dinner's nearly ready."

The smell of spaghetti filled the room. It looked pretty good. But the bread wasn't warm and fresh-baked, and the spaghetti was lumpy. The sauce tasted different, but it had lots of meat. Later Papa took a store-bought apple pie out of the oven. It tasted good, but it wasn't Grammy's pie, the world's best.

Papa asked Jake questions at dinner. But Jake was quiet. After cleaning up, they went into the living room. Papa sat in his big brown recliner, and Jake plopped on the end of the old blue couch.

"You don't seem very happy, Jake," Papa said. "What's wrong?"

Jake hung his head. Finally he asked, "Why did Grammy have to die?"

Papa sighed and propped his hands on his knees. "She's been gone four months. I wake up and reach over, then realize she's not there. Once I had a tooth pulled, and my tongue kept going back to that space. That's how every part of me feels about your grandmother. She's missing, and nothing seems right. After Jesus, she was the best friend I've ever had."

"I know she's in Heaven ... but I wish I could bring Grammy back."

Papa walked over and sat by Jake, putting his arm around him. "We both miss her and want to be with her. But if I had the power to bring her back, I wouldn't."

"You wouldn't?"

"Your grandmother's with the most wonderful Person in the universe—Jesus. She doesn't have heart problems or arthritis anymore. Wouldn't it be cruel to bring her back to this world where there's pain and disease and death?"

"I guess so, but ... what's it like where Grammy is?" Jake looked up into Papa's eyes. "Tell me about Heaven."

"Well, Heaven is God's home. And there's only one reliable place to learn about it: God's Book. He wants to leave some surprises for us; so the Bible doesn't tell us everything, but it does say a lot."

"Heaven seems sort of spooky to me," Jake admitted. "I saw a movie about people becoming ghosts when they die. I don't like ghosts, and I don't want to be one. You know my friend Daniel? His sister Lacey died a few months before Grammy. Lacey was only six."

"Your mom mentioned Lacey," Papa said. "She loved Jesus, didn't she?"

Jake nodded.

"Whenever somebody who loves Jesus dies, they leave their bodies here, but I think they walk right into the arms of Jesus in Heaven. Can't you just see Jesus hugging Lacey?"

"I guess so."

"I'm sure He hugged your grandmother too. She probably felt like a little girl again. Jesus was a carpenter, a builder, and He promised He was going to prepare a place for us, a home just right for us. Maybe there's a big sign over Heaven's entrance that says, Welcome Home."

"Samantha Perry says dead people are asleep. Is Grammy sleeping?"

"No, she's wide awake. Samantha may be confused because sometimes the Bible calls dying ‘falling asleep,' since dead bodies appear to be sleeping. But the Bible says our spirits go right to Heaven. Do you remember what Jesus told the dying thief on the cross?"

Papa opened his big red Bible, and Jake looked at all the underlines.

Papa pointed to Luke 23. "Jesus said to the thief who repented, ‘Today you will be with me in paradise.' The apostle Paul said that to die is to be with Christ. And to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. To be with someone wouldn't mean much if you were sleeping, would it?"

"Then what's Grammy doing?"

Papa turned to Revelation 6:9-11. He read about some people who died, went to Heaven, and talked to God about things on earth. Papa said, "These people are alive and awake, and they're not like ghosts at all. They remember what happened on earth. And they're asking God to do something about it. That means they know about things here, and they're praying to God."

"So when you die ... you don't really die?"

"You die, but that doesn't mean you stop existing or that you fall asleep. It means you go to another place. In Luke 16 Jesus told about a rich man who died and went to Hell, but the man remembered his life on earth and his five brothers. He was sorry about how he'd lived. I expect people in Heaven will remember their lives and families too and be interested in their loved ones."

Papa looked outside. "We've still got an hour's daylight. Let's take a walk."