Yes there will be tears in heaven

This weekend our church hosted its fifth annual Christmas Pageant. In a word I would describe it as being incredibly awesome, (OK two words). I was there last night with six of my friends and to a person they described it as being “very moving”. I know that I had tears in my eyes, (not that a macho man like me cries or anything). It is the largest church sponsored event in the Keys and something like forty people turned in a form stating that they accepted Christ at the pageant, and who knows how many more accepted Him as their Savior and did not fill out the form. If you have ever visited the Keys you would truly understand what a miracle that is. Believe me brothers and sisters that is something to sing the Halleluiah chorus about, Amen?

After the final performance, my wife and I hosted a party at our house for the entire cast and everyone else who was involved with putting on the pageant, and most of them (125 or so), came over to eat barbeque and celebrate another successful year. I was talking with the pageant Director who also serves as our music director for our church and is the pastor’s wife, (bless her poor little heart), and I asked her how she came up with the music and ideas for the pageant. I felt that this year in particular it was amazingly creative; she mixed some contemporary with the traditional and really pulled it off, and I was curious if she patterned it after some existing show or just how she came up with the songs and theme on her own.

She looked at me and said it came from the Lord; (I should have known that, after all she is a blond). Seriously I was very impressed with that answer. It is not hard to envision God inspiring her to come up with a plan, and then it is not hard to envision the Holy Spirit moving the hearts of the church members and attendees to work hard to pull it off and make it a reality. I know my wife was restless as could be and studied her music night and day and as it drew near, (she actually left me stranded on my plantation, having to fend for myself preparing my own meals and washing dishes, ugh), while she commuted to the Keys from our home in North Florida in order to attend practice.

Every year a common question is how could such a tiny little church possibly produce such a professional quality event. It takes tremendous resources and no small amount of money to conduct it. Just the lighting and sound requires rental of a million dollar lighting and sound system and stringing about a mile and a half of cable runs. Elaborate sets had to be painted, costumes sewn, dance routines learned, songs and narratives memorized, musicians had to learn new songs, on and on. Yes the Lord had His gracious hand in it, and his faithful servant volunteers rallied around Him and worked hard for months on it!

The director told me that she thought that this year that we had very close to 100% participation from the church, (I told you it is tiny). That means that nearly every family that belongs or regularly attends our small church was involved with this pageant in some shape, form, or fashion. There were no professional singers, costume directors, prop designers, etc. hired. You would have never have known it had you attended the event. I have attended pageants from mega churches that conducted similar events that did not come close to equaling this event; seriously!

It was outstanding and best of all just think of those folks who accepted the Lord and instead of being separated from God for eternity in hell, will now spend eternity in heaven; all because a small group of dedicated people cared enough about them to present this pageant. I wasn’t there to see it, but I can pretty much guarantee that the Lord Jesus had a huge smile on His face and millions of saints and angels celebrated and applauded as they watched God’s children diligently prepare for this event and then pull off all four performances.

God also watched as satan tried to disrupt it, even to include the untimely death of the Director’s 38 year old sister-in-law and mother of five small children less than one week prior to the event, necessitating that the director, (who is truly “hand’s on” for every minute detail), and the pastor miss final rehearsals for the week preceding the pageant as they attended the funeral of her brother’s young wife; (not to mention dealing with the grief from this tragic event).

Good news! Satan was defeated in his efforts to destroy the pageant. His efforts were thwarted to prevent those who would come to Jesus upon learning about the sacrifice that Christ made for our souls at this event. Just like the pageant depicted; Christ conquered death and arose after taking our sins upon Him. Something for all of us to think about, would you agree?

I hope that your Christmas season is not just about material gifts and gift giving, or worse this special season is being spent drinking and attending cocktail parties. What a joy and honor to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of the Savior of the entire world. Nothing is more appropriate than John 3:16 to identify the true meaning of Christmas. God “loved” us so much that he sent his only Son to earth to die a cruel death in order that we might live. That my friends is His very special gift for us, and our gift to Him should be to follow His lead and love others enough to spend some of our precious time and money helping to tell others about Him and hopefully lead them into His kingdom. One day we will all rejoice together in heaven with a halleluiah chorus that will bring tears to every eye. Man I cannot wait!!!

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son that
whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life.