"Oh Wow!"

"Has this world been so kind to you

that you should leave with regret?

There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.”

- C.S. Lewis

       Joe was one of my favorite patients. I speak about Joe in the past tense because he has gone home to be with Jesus. During the six years that I had known him, he was always a perfect example of warmth, kindness, honesty, and hope despite the fact that he was painfully and slowly dying from cancer. Whenever Joe made an appointment to see me, he rarely talked about his pain or cancer. He was more interested about me and how my family was doing. I can honestly say that Joe gave me more than I ever gave him during those appointments. Even when he was at the hospital getting his chemotherapy, his eyes revealed his compassion for others who seemed to “have it worse” than him. And towards his final days when his health was rapidly deteriorating, he was more concerned about Dorothy, his wife, than about his own suffering. That’s the way Joe was—he cared more about others than himself. The only time he put himself first was when a Cincinnati Bengals football game was playing. Nobody dared to interrupt him then!

       After Joe’s funeral, Dorothy shared with me this story. Whenever something especially amazing or spectacular happened in Joe’s life, he often said, “Oh wow!” That was one of his trademark phrases. When somebody received particularly good new, whenever he witnessed a spectacular fireworks show, or when the Cincinnati Bengals made an eighty yard touchdown run, everybody around Joe expected him to say his hallmark “Oh, wow!” He didn’t say it everyday, but when he did, everyone agreed that the sight or news was impressive.

       During the last few hours of Joe’s life, his family surrounded him in love. His wife lay in the bed with him stroking his forehead and letting him know that it was “ok” to go home to Jesus. His breathing became more labored and difficult. But before he died, a peaceful expression came over his face, and he said one last, “Oh wow!” Then, he was in paradise.

       Even in his death, Joe was still giving something to others. This time his gift to us was a window into what paradise will be like. Personally, if someone asked me to describe what I think heaven will be like, I can’t think of a better description than “Oh wow!”

Getting "Into" Heaven

As a doctor, I get to speak with a lot of people about the afterlife (since my job deals frequently with death and dying). And the general consensus is that heaven is a place. Now, this obviously is true. But I think that this “geographical” view of heaven somehow misses something crucial. That is, if we primarily think of heaven as simply a “destination” or an “eternal vacation spot”, we will ironically make something bad out of heaven—it will become like an idol to us. And we will forget that the most beautiful and glorious part of heaven will not be the “palm trees and beaches” but rather something eternally more wonderful—God himself! He will be our bright morning star (Rev. 22:16). He will be our eternal light (John 1:4). He will be our consummate joy and satisfaction (Psalm 16:11). He will be the one who wipes away every tear from our eyes (Rev 21:4). And he will be the very object of our every affections, thoughts, creativity, and passion. Heaven, I believe, really centers around a Person rather than a place.

Do you want to go to heaven? Then make sure that the treasure of your life is the Person and not the place. If you treasure only the place, you will get neither. If you treasure the Person, you will get both.

Horror and Heaven

As a family doctor, I have seen and heard some really terrible things, and nothing shocks me anymore. Or so I thought... Several week ago, a patient came to my office crying, and when she finished telling me of an unimaginable horror that occurred in her family, I was utterly speechless.... There are some days when I don’t want to be a doctor anymore. That day was one of them.

I think about heaven a lot. I can imagine my heavenly Father running to me, embracing me in his loving arms, and then saying, “Welcome home my son.” Then in the security and comfort and joy of his embrace, all the horrors and evils of this world will simply fade away...