Chaos had erupted.
The small living room was all of a sudden even smaller with 3 paramedics and my dad’s care staff now scrambling to each do their jobs they were trained for. “DAD!! , DAD!! Can you hear me!??” My face scrambled to within inches of my dad’s face as he sat hunched over in his wheelchair of many years now, the massive stroke his life had lived around displaying the difficulties his life had endured for many years now.
“DAD!! DAD!! LOOK at me!!”I cried. His glazed eyes slowly met mine as he ever so slowly lifted his head… no response. He was “somewhere else.” My heart was screaming…”Stay with me!! STAY WITH ME!! “You see it!! DONT YOU!?” I cried.
The next minute’s seemed a whirlwind and a blur as I followed the wailing sounds of the local ambulance to the hospital.
My dad had often talked about going to heaven and how he was not one bit afraid now since his stroke stole from his life at the early age of 62. He had accepted God’s free gift as a young boy, back in the 50s, so he knew where his eternity was going to be spent. Heaven.
But I wasn’t ready. Didn’t that count at this moment in time? “DAD!!”I shouted for the umpteenth time in the past half hour. The form laying in the hospital bed didn’t seem familiar. His eyes gazed at the ceiling… wide open. He turned his head at the sight of his “first born”. The way my dad addressed me now since the stroke had changed him some. With much enthusiasm my dad proclaimed:
“I’m going to haul gravel with my dad in heaven!! IM GOING HOME!!” My heart leaped with joy knowing my dad was still with us. I believe he had seen heaven. He “saw the light.” There was no convincing him he wasn’t going to heaven just yet. For the next few days, His eyes shone…he was focused.
My dad recovered from that time, He had stayed on the planet…for a little while longer, but I believe part of him was already living in a glimpse of heavens light. He had a stronger hope of traveling to his forever home where His mom and dad and sweetheart had gone on to now years ago.
He had missed them so much.
Now, 3 years in heaven, his glimpse of the light illuminating heaven now has become a beautiful reality for him. I choose to believe he is hauling gravel with his dad; my Grandpa, a love for both of them here on earth for so many years.
I believe heaven is more real than our earthly lives now. Charlie Pride had a hit in the 70s, “I Saw The Light.” It has drifted back to my memories often now over the years. It was one of my dad’s favorite songs in his collection, crooning from his 8 track 1970 stereo.
“I SAW THE LIGHT, I SAW THE LIGHT…NO MORE DARKNESS NO MORE NIGHT…”
I believe my dad saw the light of heaven that day. I, too, look forward to the day when my journey here is done, and I will “see the light of heaven.”
I believe I’ll be hearing, “I SAW THE LIGHT” streaming through eternity.
No matter what life has handed you, know that the FREE gift of heaven is yours. Accept God’s incredible love…
And experience “the light” of Heaven❤️
In the Moment 