Chuck Bridges Blog

Special holidays like Mother’s Day are great for those of us who have a Mom to love on and treat special. It is also a very sad time for those who don’t have their Mom here or for those whose relationships with their Mom is not good. I saw a lady the other day who I haven’t seen in a while. I asked how everything was going and she said it was going to be a rough day on Sunday since her Mother passed away in March.

This highlighted for me how difficult our lives can be on this old earth. Our emotions can change in an instant when our biggest fears sometimes come true. We don’t know from one day to the next what might happen to us or to someone we love. Even when our challenges are not life-altering, we still have to maintain our composure and keep on going when disappointments, frustrations, and setbacks come our way.

Recently I read a story about a woman named Florence Chadwick who entered the Pacific Ocean at Catalina Island to swim to the California coast. She swam for over 15 hours in the cold waters of the Pacific on a day that was very cloudy. Exhausted she asked her friends in a boat to get her out of the water because she couldn’t go any further. Her Mom was in one of the boats and encouraged her to keep going because she was very close to her goal. She tried to keep swimming but just felt like she couldn’t go any further.

Chadwick’s friends assisted her into one of the boats accompanying her. Sitting in the boat Chadwick was able to see the shore she was swimming so hard to reach. Able to see how close she was Chadwick said: “If I could have seen the shore I believe it would have motivated me to keep swimming!” There is a great motivational force in being able to SEE our “Finish Line.” No matter what we are striving for, getting a glimpse of our goal can give us the inertia we need to keep on going!

This story about Florence Chadwick made me think about how important it is for us as Christians to live our lives on this earth with a CLEAR VIEW of where we are going. Life on Earth has many challenges that threatens our desire to live by our Lord’s commands. Serving the causes of The Kingdom of God here on earth can be stressful, to say the least. The only way we are going to keep going in difficult seasons of life is to keep our eyes focused on our Final Destination.

It is amazing how little many Christians seem to know about Heaven. We have heard things that are not true. We have thousands of books about how to live on earth but very few about what is waiting for us in Heaven. Our calling is to do “Whatever It Takes” to help others go to Heaven. Is it really a mystery why unbelievers are not very excited about going to Heaven when most Believers are not very anxious about getting there either?

For the next 6 weeks we are going to be studying about Heaven in both our Worship Services on Sundays and in our Home Groups. I have to tell you that I am getting pumped about sharing these messages. God has so much more prepared for us than we can possibly imagine! Heaven is not a place where spirits of deceased Christians just float around doing much of nothing. On the contrary, Heaven is going to be a place where the NEW things we discover will never end! Trust me, Heaven is not just a nice assurance for us when our lives on earth are over. Instead, Heaven is a PRIZE that Christ-Followers Need to be looking forward to.

For the next several weeks I will be sharing things God is teaching me from His Word about Heaven. Join us on Sundays if you can or just tune in to this blog. Better yet, open God’s Word and research all that you can find about Heaven.