"The Queen of Iowa"

Do you remember John, one of our sixth graders?  He likes to think up ideas for the blog and then work on the scriptures and prayers to go with them.  Those Chapel Hill sixth graders are something, aren’t they?

Well, John and I have both been listening to the music of a Christian singer named Andrew Peterson, who, by the way, I highly recommend.   Mr. Peterson writes music that tells some kind of story about the Bible or about his own experiences with Jesus.

One of his songs has the title “The Queen of Iowa.”  It’s about a woman from Iowa who was at the very end of her life.  The song finds her lying on her couch, and Andrew and his friend, Ben, are singing songs to her. 

Now I need to tell you that what Andrew and Ben noticed as they sang their songs to the “Queen of Iowa” is very true.  I have seen the same thing many times when I have visited people in their homes or in the hospital that were getting ready to meet Jesus in Heaven.   Andrew and Ben noticed that even though the “Queen” was about to give up her very tired and sick body, she was becoming more alive in her spirit than ever before.

A part of one of the lines in the song says, “…she was more alive than the others.”  So those words got John and me to thinkin’.  We were asking the question, “How can someone who is dying be more alive than the people who are going about their normal lives?”   Only ONE way!  John, not the sixth grader, but one of Jesus’ students, wrote this, “In Him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (John 1:4-5).”  Again he wrote, “I (Jesus) am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).”

When we know and love Jesus, we look forward to seeing Him.  The truth of the wonderful hope we have in our friendship with Jesus is that we will live forever in a place called Heaven with Him!  Several of our first graders understood this for the first time this week when they asked Jesus to come into their lives and be Lord.

Can we thank Jesus?  Lord Jesus thank You for Heaven, the place where we will always get to be with You!  Thank You that we can become more and more like You as Your life takes over our lives.  And thank You so much that many of our CHCS students are asking You into their lives.  In Jesus' name, Amen.  

Proud of you,

Pastor Wilson