House Hunters International: An Island In The Sun

            House Hunters International features home buyers searching for the right property in another country.  It lets me get a peak at gorgeous tropical locations with their private beaches and Brazilian wood balconies overlooking lush mountains and frolicking monkeys.  The tropics make me sigh with the relaxation that you most feel when you are there.  Paradise. 

             I love to watch shows that highlight beautiful locations.  LOST and Hawaii Five-0 give amazing Hawaiian scenery every chance they get.  Ahhh, Hawaii.  I love to look at it and I love the idea of it.  It's gorgeous!  Sunny and green, covered with lush plants and flowers, surrounded by lovely white sand beaches and the sparkling aqua of the ocean.

             I love the idea of the vacation spot.  I read Islands Magazine and decorate my walls with pictures of beautiful places.  I daydream about retiring to a life of leisure and freedom.  But the truth is, while tropical locations are gorgeous and wonderful and filled with things to enjoy; problems still exist there.  Time still exists there.  Money and crime and noise still exist there.  The weather isn't always calendar worthy and the people are not always friendly.  I still want to go, of course, but a vacation spot is not actually Paradise.   

             Heaven is, though.  Heaven is a real place.  More beautiful than all the wonders of this earth.  More relaxing than I can understand.  More...right than I've ever experienced.  And I'm retiring there someday.  Are you?

             The Bible describes Heaven as a golden city filled with God's presence and everything good (Revelation 21).  An existence of only happiness, safety and belonging- FOREVER! 

             “Look, God’s home is now among His people!  He will live with them, and they will be His people.  God Himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”  Revelation 21:3b-4

             But Heaven is only for those God has forgiven for the wrongs they have done.  And to be forgiven you have to ask.  Jesus died in our place, taking our punishment from God as our substitute and then rose from the dead to prove we can be forgiven and go to Heaven someday.

"God showed how much He loved us by sending His one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through Him.  This is real love—not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins."

                                                       1 John 4:9-10

          The Bible says we don't deserve this.  We don't deserve Heaven.  But God loves us and wants us to be with Him.  All we have to do is ask.

         

           "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."  Romans 10:9

             Tell Jesus you need Him!  He can hear you wherever you are.  Ask Him to forgive your sins.

             When Jesus was on the cross, the criminal dying next to Him put his faith in Jesus.  Jesus assured him, "today you will be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43)  When God decides it's time, I'll be with Him in Paradise too.  I'm "retiring" there.  Until then, I'll daydream about it. 

Song Recommendation:  An Island In The Sun by Weezer

(This song is on the first Smallville soundtrack and gave me the idea for this article)

 "Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.' " John 14:6