The Kingdom of Heaven is Like a Grocery Store (Happy Birthday, Annika)

Years ago, in a previous home in a previous city, Seth and I became friends with our mailman. He was a very kind, helpful, and talkative man, and we often had long, meaningful discussions about life. One day he told us that he could never believe in God because his son has autism, and if God truly existed, He never would have allowed something so horrible as that to happen.

I could see his logic. It was very similar to the logic of so many other people I'd met who were angry with the way things had turned out. Life sucks and then you die. Isn't that how the saying goes? The logic makes me sad. No hope of heaven. No hope of a God who loves you. Because, yes, life can be pretty crappy. Something horrible gets written into everyone's life story. Perhaps someone you love gets cancer, or your dog gets hit by a car. Maybe you were born with a deformity or a disease. Maybe your child was born with a deformity or a disease. Maybe your child was never born at all.


So do the horrible things happening in the world mean that God doesn't care, or that he doesn't exist at all? The Bible says that when God created the world that it was "good." His original intent for us was a place of beauty and bliss. Adam and Eve walked with God. They were hanging out with God! But rather than make us into robots, God gave us a choice. And man chose sin. And sin made horrible things happen. And life sucked and then we died.


So I would be inclined to agree with those who would rather not believe in a God who allowed that. If that were the end of it. But fortunately, God didn't make that the end of it. He became a man. He walked the earth and shared in our sorrows. And then He died on the cross to pay the price for sin. Not only that, but he went to prepare a place for us in Heaven, so that we could be with Him again. Live forever. Walk with God.


I look at it this way: the kingdom of Heaven is like a grocery store. (Just go with me on this one.) Let's say you live in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The only grocery store you have to shop at is awful. The clerks are mean and unhelpful. The meat is often rancid and the vegetables are usually wilted. The bread is never very fresh, the packaged food is stale, and there are bugs in the dairy section. The whole place is overpriced. Last week, there was a shooting in the parking lot. But you shop there, because it's the only store in town. It's so terrible, you wish you could move to a new town. Relocate.


Then, one day, a new store opens up in the next town over. It is a big, beautiful store, full of delicious food, sparkling clean shelves, smiling people, and the smell of fabulous, fresh baked bread. And better yet, everything is there is free. Wow. Now you really want to move.


So if you had a big, beautiful, shining store like that in your own town, would you still be wanting to move? Would you even want to make the drive over to the next town to go shopping, if you had a great store right in your own town? Of course not. You would be content.


The beautiful grocery store represents heaven, while the store in your town represents the world. The world is full of rancid meat and stale bread. It doesn't satisfy, and it comes at a great cost--your life. Heaven is better than anything we've ever known, and... it's free! But if the world were as wonderful as heaven, why should we look forward to heaven? If life presented us with no bumps in the road, no tragic moments, no horrible events--if it were absolute bliss--what's the point of heaven?


Today is my daughter's birthday. Her name is Annika Love, and she is six years old this year. She would be six, that is, if she had lived. If I wanted to, I could follow the logic of my mailman friend, and use her death as reason to rule out a loving God. But I don't. To me, it proves His existence and the heaven that he has prepared for us. He loves me so much that He wanted to be with me forever. He loves Annika so much that He wanted to be with her forever. And He did all that despite our first desire to choose sin over Him. I can't wait to get to heaven to be with my daughter and my God!


Not to mention, I hear the bread is fabulous.