“Mum!” Bobby called out, “Mum, come quick!”

Mum could tell that something was wrong by Bobby’s voice, and she hurried out to the yard where he was. He had been wanting to get his trike past the lawn mower, and was trying to lift it out of his way, when it fell on his foot. Now he was stuck, and couldn’t move. Mum managed to lift the mower off his foot and he stood up gingerly rubbing where it was sore. Nothing was bleeding so he hobbled around for a bit and then came right.

The next day, he was playing out in the yard with one of his toy tractors. He was trying to get it under a bridge that he had built with some loose bricks, but it kept falling down and the tractor couldn’t move. “Now if there was only someone else here to hold this up,” he thought to himself, “I could get it underneath alright. Mum!” he yelled out, “Can you come and help me?”

Mum looked out the kitchen window and saw what he was doing. She was busy with her baking and couldn’t leave it right then.

“Mum!” Bobby yelled again, “Come quickly!”

But Mum didn’t come at all. She knew that what Bobby was doing wasn’t really important and that it could wait a while.

Just then baby Joel came toddling out dragging his cuddly blanket behind him. He went over to the coffee table where Mum had her sewing gear, and stretched for the sharp scissors and pin-cushion . Mum saw what he was doing, and ran over to stop him reaching them, and said sternly, “No! not for Joel!”   She knew that he would hurt himself with them if he got them.

Bobby came in from outside looking quite aggrieved, and said grumpily, “You didn’t come when I called you!”

“No,” said Mum, “I was busy, and you didn’t really need me at all. What you were doing wasn’t important!”

Sally came in from her after school  Kid’s Club just then, and said, “Does praying always work, Mum? Our leader was talking about praying this afternoon.”

“Well, it’s like this,” said Mum as she got some cold drink out of the frig for them all. “We can’t expect God to jump every time we pray to Him and do what we ask. Yes, there are times when God does act quickly and give us what we have asked for and we think that’s good, God has answered my prayer. Just as I ran out into the yard yesterday to help Bobby lift the mower off himself. But then there are other times when we pray and nothing seems to happen and then we think that God hasn’t answered our prayer. He knows that what we have asked for isn’t really important and we can work it out for ourselves like Bobby with his tractor and broken bridge.”

“It sure would have been good if you could have come though,” Bobby said.

“Maybe,” said Mum, “But you managed yourself in the end didn’t you! Then there is the third sort of answer, the one that is a straight out ‘No!’ like I said to Joel when he wanted the scissors to play with. He didn’t know that they could hurt him, he thought he could handle it himself. That’s like when God DOES say NO to our prayers….He knows what we have asked for is not good for us to have and could land us in a lot of trouble and hurt.”

Sally was silent for a minute thinking this all over.

“I guess God DOES answer each of those sorts of prayers,” she said thoughtfully, “The first one was a ‘yes’, and the last one was a ‘no’…what was the middle one Mum?”

“I guess you could say it was a ‘wait a while’ answer, or a ‘you can do it yourself’ answer,” Mum said, “We can’t order God around, not even with begging or pleading. We have to be happy with whatever answer He gives us and remember that He always knows what is best for us!

Now off you go and do your chores Sally, and tidy up your mess outside Bobby ! ”

What is heaven really like? The trouble is that no-one has ever gone right there and then come back to tell us. Some people have gone right to the door and peeped in, and come back to tell us how bright and full of light it is. There is a wonderful feeling of love, and then they have woken up in their hospital bed and realised they are back in this world again. Some have heard beautiful music such as has never been heard on earth, and others have had a sensation of everything being so spotless and clean that this earth seems very grubby compared to it.

So what does the Bible tell us about heaven? Paul told us in one of his letters how he had seen heaven, and that he couldn’t begin to describe it, words wouldn’t do it justice! Besides he didn’t know how to begin telling the things that he saw. He wasn’t sure whether he had really gone  there or just had a vision of it all.

It left him with the feeling that he just wanted to go and be there NOW. But he knew that he hadn’t finished the work that God had for him to do on earth, so he would be content to wait for God’s time. He knew that life with the Lord Jesus was going to be far better than anything he had ever known before.

Jesus is the only person on earth who knew what heaven was like because He had come from Heaven and was going to go back there. But He too didn’t tell us very much about it, because He knew we couldn’t understand it while we live on earth. He told us that there is plenty of room for everyone who wants to come to Him, but that there is only one way to get there. He said the gate to heaven is very narrow and quite hard to find; in fact He is the only way to get there. Some people think they can get there by their own good works, but that road is a dead end and will never get them there.

People don’t want to humble themselves to walk with God, and they think that their way is good enough. What a dreadful shock to go through death’s door and find God isn’t there!

Sometimes when people are right at death’s door they seem to see heaven open up before them, just enough to give those beside them a faint idea of what they can see. In the book of The Acts, we read how Stephen saw heaven open up before him and the Lord Jesus standing beside His Father God just before he was killed  by the Pharisees.

One time, a lady’s daughter who was with her mother as she died, heard her say with wonder in her voice, ”Oh! I had no idea it was like this!”

King David could say,  You will show me the path of life: in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand there are pleasures for evermore  (Psalm 16,v 11). And As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Your likeness. (Psalm 17:15)

One thing we need to realise is that no person on earth can go through the door to heaven with us. The only person we can call on is the Lord Jesus, and He has promised to always be with those who have come to know Him on earth. In fact, He is calling everyone to come to Him right now. He says, ”Look, come to Me NOW! I am coming unexpectedly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according to what he has done”.

God has told us that heaven is a place where there are no more sins or horrid things; people won’t get sick or be sad, and we can’t even begin to imagine the things that He has ready and waiting to show us. If we think that life here is great, it is going to be far more exciting than we can imagine in heaven!