Heaven

HEAVEN

The are a few options for celebrating Halloween, Harvest Day, Reformation Day or whatever it is you refer to in regards to October 31st. Our church offers a Harvest Party which my children have enjoyed from year to year. But a few times, this year included, we transported our carport into Heaven.

My husband enclosed the carport with dark plastic and hung a black light in it. I "painted" one side of our house with liquid laundry detergent. The one side of the house is one wall of the carport. My son and I were seated at the far side of the carport on thrones. My husband hung clouds from the ceiling of the carport and my dear friend, Kelly strung up homemade paper snowflakes from the ceiling with sewing thread. We also had big puffs of cotton at our feet that looked like clouds. My husband cut up little bits of white paper and sprinkled it all over the floor. The result with the black light is that everything white flouresced. The laundry detergent flouresces as well so everything appeared to be brightly glowing.

It isn't quite enough to show them a glimpse of Heaven but to tell them a bit of how to get there. With each piece of candy I taped a Bible verse on it. On a few I put "God's love is sweet!!" Our church also hands out Million Dollar Bills that are, of course, fake but do teach about the Gospel message on them. So some middle aged and older children got those taped to their candy.

It was a huge hit. So many of the adults were thanking us for the effort of putting it together. We made sure each person knew it was Heaven and not a Haunted House as some would think from the street as they would see the glow. We had a range of reactions-all positive. One man kissed my hand. One man blessed Matthew in Spanish with the sign of the cross. One man brought his baby to be kissed by Matthew. I tried to prevent 2 devils from entering Heaven but realized they were just costumes. Tee Hee Hee. One boy received the Million Dollar Bill and candy I handed him and then reached over my lap and grabbed a fist full of dollar bills and candy. He stole in Heaven. So not good. Several took photos. Some took photos with a flash against the black tarp. I didn't have the heart to tell them it won't come out.

What I hope is that in comparison to the ghosts, graveyards and screaming recordings, our house would stand out...glowing...as a light. Jesus told us in the book of Matthew to let our light shine for the world to see. I hope that the contrast painted a vivid picture and caused some to think about Heaven. We prayed while each piece of candy was being assembled that these Bible verses would go out into the community and be read by children and parents alike. God says His Word goes out and does not return void. I pray that some children would really think about God's love and seek His ways.

I have a dream that one child, rejected by his or her peers and family would find comfort in the verse and tuck it away in a drawer. The verse would be read over and over through the years and this person would seek out more of God's Word. Their life would, in time, be transformed and this would be their testimony. Some day, 20 years from now I would be reading in a magazine about a person of faith who reported that their first exposure to God's Word was handed to them attached to an Almond Joy and I would realize that I got a glimpse of how the seed we planted grew by God's grace.