(October 1, 2010 for October 10, 2010)

This afternoon when I was looking past the bustling crowd at Denver International Airport (that I needed to navigate through to see monitors that would reveal what gate my next flight was at) it reminded me...

How much I really enjoy busy airports, but especially...

How great it is to watch arriving passengers be greeted by their loved-ones just outside security.

Now-and-then I also get the exultation of being reunited with family at the airport...and you can imagine how having a bouncy, ever-smiling, curly-haired boy adds to the experience. But there is a uniquely different positive sense I receive from looking over and seeing a young couple bolt across the baggage claim and jump into each other's arms; mom and dad greeting a homesick child after she returns from her first semester of college; or grandparents encountering their infant grandchild for the first time. "Joy" doesn't seem emphatic enough for some of the emotions people feel at reunion.

For those promised eternity by the Lord, we look forward to a reunion that also can't be done complete justice by human words. Even so, Paul magnificently describes the occasion:

For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words (Ephesians 4:15-18, ESV).

Many of people reading this have at least one person where the earthly tears of separation (caused by death) will be replaced by the jubilance of reunion in the clouds—and that experience will be far more joyful than what I've ever viewed next to a United baggage claim.

And even greater than the joy of a grandparent surveying their grandchild for the first time will be what we feel at our inaugural view of the face of someone who, while we were still sinners, died for us (see Romans 5:8). We wonder like MercyMe: will we dance for Jesus, or in awe of Him be still; will we stand in His presence, or to our knees will we fall; will we sing hallelujah or be unable to speak at all? We truly can "only imagine."

And praise God that that reunion is guaranteed!

For those who haven't repented and put faith in the One greeting us in the clouds, there is another reunion Scripture shares that should help convince you how your heavenly Father will welcome you with open arms if only you will return:

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants." And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him (Luke 15:18-20).

That is but a small portion of the famous story of the Prodigal Son...and that short excerpt does not fully communicate the excitement that your God feels at your return. Additionally, Jesus divulged that "there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10, emphasis mine). Isn't it great to know that news of your pending arrival results in angelic rejoicing?!

So...how 'bout it...is your sin worth giving up a reunion that starts (right now) here on the ground, moves to the clouds, and ends up in heaven? God asks you to leave your baggage behind and fly First Class to the the place Jesus prepared for you (see John 14:1-3).

"Seating all rows, all passengers." What are you waiting for?

| More...