Better is One Day in His Courts than Thousands Elsewhere

On the afternoon that we celebrated Case's life, Jon De Groot and the praise team sang Better is One Day as our family walked into the sanctuary. (I'm not sure why I'm blogging about this a week later, but it's still on my heart after our message this morning.) Last Sunday as the song title "Better is One Day" went up on the screen my heart started to beat faster, and I felt as though I was right back there in the church that afternoon gazing at his sweet picture in the front of me. The tears streamed down my face as I listened to everyone around me declare that "better is one day in His courts than thousands elsewhere." One day... Just one day... One moment... Or one breath...

As I stood and missed my nephew with an ache inside my chest, I knew with a conviction that I've never felt about anything before in my life, that at that very moment in time Case was in the courts of heaven surrounded by the presence of the Almighty Father God, and as sure as I stood there, that moment was so much better for Case than THOUSANDS elsewhere. Thousands. Better than another breath here on this earth. And so there is a new part of me that longs for the day that I will enter His courts, and I am striving to live my life so that my hope in Jesus Christ and eternal life in heaven is strikingly visible to those around me. I know all too well that I fail miserably at this task day in and day out, and it is only by the grace of God that I am saved!

We heard the Word of God from Genesis 50:20 this morning following the story of Joseph's faith through much adversity he said... "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." God is in control through pain and trials and joy and laughter...He is in control! And I can not let go of that for a moment.