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Heaven When You Least Expect It
My father-in-law was cremated this morning. I have no intention of giving details; you can find such things on the internet.
I have not written much since his sudden decline and death but today I know what I want to post. John would've loved this,
too. Luckily, he got to see it years ago when I wrote it.
I taught Sunday School to first-, second- and third-graders for fifteen years. Many times we'd skip the "lesson" and discuss
what to do when a dog chases you, how to handle your favorite pencil being stolen by Andrew who is a bully anyway and what
happens when you die.
I have pulled my notes out, since I wrote a brief handwritten entry each Sunday after their class. The comments are verbatim
but the childrens' names have been changed.
I'm not giving this to you, it's for my father-in-law.
But you can read it.
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1. (Madison, 7-year old girl)
"I don't know the details but I can tell you this. If my teacher Miss Hendershot is there, I'll know it's not heaven."
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6. (Elizabeth, 7-year old girl) "First they take you to a hospital to make sure you are really dead. Mistakes like
this happen all the time." (This with a meaningful look at me; they know I'm a nurse. I have not made the mistake Elizabeth
reports there.)
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2. (Tyler, 8-year old boy) "After you die, you can talk to God any time you want, it's not like standing in line to see
Santa Claus. Of course, you can talk to God anytime you want here, too..."
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7. (Brett, 8-year old boy)
"I'm not sure but if you die, look for your dead relatives, they'll tell you what to do. My grandpa would tell me
exactly what to do and he'd find me, too."
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3. (Kaylee, 8-year old girl) "Heaven is full of Oreos. Everywhere. So many Oreos that you could get full just looking
at them."
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8. (Sarah, 7-year old girl)
"You can have a horse there if you want. Two horses, even! I don't know about three horses because even God has limits."
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4. (Robert, 7-year old boy) "Dogs. Due to I saw the movie."
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9. (Joshua, 8-year old boy) "I'm pretty sure my grandpa is running the library up there because he said he'd only have
time to read after he died. So that's where HE is."
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5. (Bryan, 8-year old boy) "People get all sad but that's dumb because you're up there telling Jesus all the bad stuff
people have done and if the people crying knew that? They'd stop crying is what."
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...........
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10. (Jade, 8-year old girl)
"It's like just falling asleep and nothing hurts. But it's not like being asleep because all you have is wonderful
dreams. There are no more nightmares. Not one."
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