Category: Heaven And Hell

12/2/2017

HEAVEN Already?

Heaven Already? It seems like only yesterday I was 6 years old when I accepted Jesus into my heart in Summer Bible School in the very little town of Cable Wisconsin.
"Ok then, I am still here doncha know" <--Minnesota Speak but there will be a day when I will say Heaven already?
Truth is no matter if I had made the trip to Heaven as a child or if I am cut down in the 'prime of life' at age of 100.. it is a relative thing.

So Heaven already?.. is the appropriate question with eternity in mind when my time arrives.

This side of Heaven is a drop in the ocean of eternity. Imagine life free from this broken planet of pain, strife.. and certainly no 24/7 News Channels/Shows! That all by itself sounds like Heaven.

It was Just a year ago my mom at age 88 passed away and the answer to the question 'Heaven Already?' was NOW. Maybe not on a Stair-lift to Heaven through the clouds, but I still hear Heaven is great.

- can't you just hear the Led Zeppelin Worship Band playing?

In Heaven is my mom with no more pain, glasses, hearing aides, diabetes, walker. This makes me smile.

This makes me ponder my Heaven Already day. No more back pain, bi-focals, hearing aides, arthritis, or any of the many other ailments I am prone to mumble about. I think I have even been operating for a few years with my personal 'check engine light on'.
So on my Heaven Already Day I will be.. Jeff 2.0 I can't wait for the upgrade!

Thankfully Heaven is not like my cartoon world of Heaven where everyone is halo'd up and wearing white robes (a daunting laundry robe task I am sure) while wandering around in clouds. Good news, I am pretty certain Heaven is much better.

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? John 14:2
‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Mt 25:34
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4
But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,”What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:7-9

While these scriptures do not dismiss the pain and suffering of the dying, nor discounts our grieving hearts, but the promise of Heaven will be realized for all who love God.

May God bless and comfort each of you with this unimaginable promise of Heaven. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2

Jeff (on a holding pattern) Larson

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8/4/2017

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You can't stop TIME..

Well, I cannot stop Father time.. or in my case grandfather time. I will be 60 in 10 days, and if the calendar did not tell me that.. my body reminds me often.

I can't complain though, or rather I shouldn't complain. I am in many ways healthier than I was even just a few years ago. My blood pressure is very good, my weight is down 35 lbs from it's high water mark of 257, and I no longer drink alcohol (should'a figured that one out a long time ago). Now on the flip side, I now have hearing aides, a stronger bi-focaled eye prescription, and I describe through exaggeration my spine as a shaken up can of Pringles.

Along with grandfather time shouting into my new hearing aides, he reminds me of my mortality. When I was 20 this was never a subject I gave much thought to, but that was 40 YEARS AGO.

Ok, so far I have pondered getting older so let's move on to the topic of .. DEATH, and also.. ETERNITY. Oh great you are thinking, now Jeff is going to share his funeral home collection of cartoons. WRONG. :) I don't have funeral home cartoons.. yet. What I do want to share is the hope of Heaven. Not like I hope I win the lottery, but a infinitely better reward than a lottery, and with certain (100%) odds of Heaven.

The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Cor 2:9 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined the things that God has prepared for those who love him.”

Oh death where is your victory, where is your sting? These are also the words of the Apostle Paul (1 Cor 15:55) not Edgar Alan Poe. Paul continues.. 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Of course, this life does not guarantee us 80, 60, or 20 years, and no matter and our lives are a mere drop in the ocean of eternity. We cling to this life on Earth so tightly and that seems only right, but let's not hang on too tightly where we lose sight of Heaven.

May God bless each of us with real joy during our lives on Earth even when 'we' become 60 with hearing aides, bi-focaled eyes, and a spine like a shaken up can of Pringles. Sorry, I digressed. May God find us faithful in the moments that make up this life.

Jeff (achy breaky almost 60) Larson

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7/22/2017

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My Lovely day in HELL

I am not complaining.. I guess most would not say lovely and Hell in the same sentence, but as a cartoonist it means I was working on cartoons regarding the 'other' land down under.. WAY DOWN UNDER. These cartoons all reside in my BP HELL page.

So while the sun shines brightly here on a warm summer day in Minnesota I am in my office airbrushing Satan a nice a shiny red, and tidying up the road to Hell (Route 666).

Of course Hell is anything but funny, and I believe it is real. I don't know what it is or what the torments are, but I do know I don't want to go there. At the very least I fear it is the complete absence of God. An absence that has never fully been experienced during any lives on Earth. That alone is good enough to keep from playing close to the line.

This concludes my deep theological views of Hell.

I observe a favorite parlor game for protestants is deciding who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell. This is an topic subject to ponder, but thankfully those choices are made by our perfect loving God. His judgments are fair, and his grace is truly amazing.

Consider The parable of the worker (Mt. 20:1-16) who was hired at the end of the day but still received a full days pay. Or the Thief of the Cross who was saved by Jesus moments before his death. Think about how powerful this Grace is to save a man that we know nothing else about except he was a convicted thief. Not much of a resume if judged by man, but he was NOT judged by man, he was saved by God's grace.

This Amazing Grace redeems lives and saves souls from Hell, and this same Grace that saved that Thief on the Cross is the same 'Amazing' Grace that saved me when I was six years old in Summer Bible School... and is available to anyone on any journey.

May God bless each of you this day with His presence, His love and Grace that is there when you are on the mountain top or deep in a valley.

Jeff (Back Pew) Larson

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