A Glimpse of Heaven

A Heavenly Landscape

Sprague River, Oregon

June 2011

Matthew 13:44 NIV
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field."

Some people have difficulty believing in heaven, but I am not one of those.

There are places I have visited, where I have left behind pieces of my heart such as Bregenz, Austria; Richmond, Kentucky; and Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Long after I have lived in these areas, I still dream about them at night, reliving the places, people and landmarks.

As a nineteen-year-old college student studying german in Bregenz the summer of 1980, I ate with my classmates at the Golden Hirschen (Deer) every evening for dinner. Last week I dreamt about that landmark and tasted the delicious soups, entrees and desserts offered us that summer. Apple strudel has never melted in my mouth as much as it did in my dream.

I woke in a fog of confusion as I realized the memory was 31 years old. I searched online for the restaurant, and to my delight, I discovered it's still open for business. One day, ah, one day, I would like another meal there.

Richmond was my home-away-from home off and on for about ten years from 1978 to 1988, the year I finished my graduate degree. The foothills of the Appalachian Mountains roll through the region. About twelve miles south of Richmond, outside of Berea, is a trail that leads to a peak so high I could see Lexington, Kentucky, about 35 miles away, on a clear day.

Richmond was a place for discovery. I explored a cave located in a farmer's field, I frolicked (yes, frolicked!) in the rainbow colors of autumn leaves that had fallen in the Ravine on Eastern Kentucky University's campus, and I followed a small trickle of a stream to where it opened into a creek, where I first learned to fish.

Finally, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, has helped me work in the career I trained for in grad school. I earned my master's degree in English as a Second Language hoping it would take me back to Austria.  Instead, God led me to a developing nation that formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

My work with English teachers and their students has opened my life to a steady stream of adventure I would have missed out on had God not opened that door.  I have visited an underground lake with reported healing powers and seen a hill beside a sacred site that some women believe can make them fertile if they roll down it.

(As a side note, I don't know how effective it is to roll down the hill, but I know after walking beside it, I inherited a 15-year-old daughter as an exchange student from a remote region in Turkmenistan. I have no doubt God has a sense of humor as I was teased quite a bit by my companion about rolling down the hill. Apparently internationals don't have to roll at all, they just have to walk beside it to receive a child.)

God has imprinted these locations on my heart, and for me, a piece of heaven is represented by all. The Austrian Alps and the Bodensee (Lake Constance) that shape Bregenz, the rolling hills of farmland covered in Bluegrass surrounding Richmond, and the beauty of the living desert of Turkmenistan, where camels roam in search of food and drink and lonesome tumbleweeds blow in the wind.

Heaven will be all these places as well as other moments I have lived. It will be laughter breaking the silence of a somber day, an amber sunrise over lavender azaleas and wisteria, the festive melody of a brass fanfare.

Heaven is real: I have experienced bits of it here on Earth.
----------------------------------
Thank you Lord for glimpses of things to come.