I remember several instances in the kids’ classes where I was asked by my teacher, “what would you like to do when you get to heaven?” I replied, “I would love to play baseball.” You have to understand that all little kids born in Cuba, with very few exceptions, love to play baseball. So baseball was my answer. My teacher went on to tell me that in heaven we won’t have baseball because we’ll spend eternity studying the mysteries of eternity and playing the harp. “Oh no” I said to myself, “study all day and play the harp?” I know my teacher meant well but you don’t tell a five year old kid that he will have to give up baseball and study all day in heaven; on a different note, I would not mind learning to play the guitar. “Well, if we don’t have baseball I would like to go swimming in the Ocean.” My teacher was quick to inform me that in heaven there will be no ocean; to which I replied, “well, the Bible mentions a Sea of Glass, with water as clear as crystal, I’ll swim there.” There is always a funny kid in each class and this time my funny friend said, “You cannot swim in that sea because it is a Sea of Glass and you will cut yourself.” Once again I thought, “then… what do I do in heaven, it’s got to be better than just studying all day?” “Alright, I would like to drive in heaven.” As a kid my dad used to sit me on his lap and let me drive our family car when we drove in areas, that were deserted, it was something I really looked forward to. Once again my teacher “straightened” things out for me and all of my friends in class, “in heaven we won’t have cars or drive, we will all have wings and fly.” That’s not a good thing to say to a masculine kid growing up in Cuba and other Latin-American countries; having wings and flying are synonyms of lack of manhood. “But I don’t want to fly in heaven… how about if I just walk or run fast and never get tired.”
Many of our kids in my generation, previous generations, and present generations have grown up thinking of heaven as the most boring place there is. As I became a teen, I heard someone say that there would be no families in heaven; that we would all be angels, and that bugged me. Now, I know that when it says that we will be like angels does not mean we will be angels; it is talking about the fact that we will not die and will be eternal. After all if God wanted us to be angels, He could have made us angels from the beginning. There were angels before we existed. At that time, I could not have imagined my life without my dad, mom, and brother anywhere. Would the very same God that created the family, take it away in heaven? That does not make sense.
As I got older I really began to like girls, girls are beautiful. In my mind I remember thinking “one day I will marry one of these girls and we’ll have a beautiful family, and kids, and all, just like my parents.” Then came a hard blow, someone told me” people won’t get married and there will not be sex in heaven.” After studying these subjects deeply, I understand that this comes from one passage found through the Gospels, in which it says that in the time of the resurrection people will be resurrecting, not getting married; I also understand this passage is not talking about heaven or the new earth; it is talking about the resurrection. I also understand that this passage has been taken out of context and mixed with false traditions, without Biblical support, that teach that sex was the original sin. I know that there are people who teach that getting married is sinful and that sex in the marriage is also sinful; I now know where all of these traditions came from, now I understand that they are not true, that they are just that, false traditions. But as a teenager, I did not know these things and I was horrified by the possibility that Jesus would come in His Second Coming and that I would have to go to heaven and live in a mansion with a whole bunch of guys and never be able to get married, have a family, kids or sex.
Together with a whole generation of young people I began to wish and pray, “Jesus, please don’t come yet…wait a bit longer, till I am able to get married, have kids and a family, and then when I get old and cannot enjoy my life and family anymore, then have your Second Coming.”
There is a beautiful verse in the Bible that takes care of all of these worries, concerns, and traditions, it takes care of all of the people who have tried to make heaven look like a horrible place and boring place, when in fact it will be the best, most enjoyable, and fun place ever for Kids, Teens, Young Adults, Adults. I Corinthians 2:9,
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love Him."
Heaven will be filled with goodies, the things that God has prepared for us. Think of all the good things you have ever experienced, dream of, seen on TV and wished you had the opportunity of enjoying, anything and everything that is good; once you have all of those multiply them by one million; that’s not even the beginning of the things that God has prepared for you. I will keep my family, my kids will never get sick, I will never argue with my wife, I will swim butterfly style in the crystal clear waters without suffocating, drive fast in really beautiful cars on the Cosmos Inter-Universe Highway, I will teach Moses baseball in exchange for him telling me what it really felt like when he crossed the Red Sea walking, I plan to enjoy extreme sports without fear, eat heavenly Pizza with sugarcane juice, enjoy chocolates without the threat of diabetes, I know broccoli will be delicious in heaven, I’ll spend lots of time with my parents and grandparents, and hang out with God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. By the way I won’t mind learning a few mysteries from them.
Pastor Jose
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