The Love of the Lord

By Joseph C. Collins

As I lay in my bed I remembered all the things of my life. I head a sound. I looked at my door and there was my whole family walking into the room. They all gathered around me: my daughter with her husband on one side and my two sons with their wives on the other. All of their children were there. My lovely wife was holding my hand.
They all looked at me with love in their eyes, but at the same time with sorrow.

They all told me how much they loved me and how much I meant to them.
Still they could not hold back their tears.
“It’s okay.” I told them. “My time is shot, yes, but I am not afraid of dying. I know that I will be in the palace of our King and we should all be happy.”

My daughter leaned over, put her hand on my head and kissed me
“I love you daddy.”
“I love you to sweetie.”
Soon they all said their goodbyes, slowly leaving the room.
I looked at my wife, who was still with me. I looked at her the way I always have and she looked back with those eyes. Such lovely eyes they were. I told her how much I loved her and how beautiful she was and had always been. I told her I would be waiting for her,
“I know,” she said. “I love you and I will see you soon.”

With her holding my hand I felt the Lord calling me home. I looked at her one last time and said, “Goodbye my love.” I then closed my eyes. I went on.
As I opened them I found myself standing in front of a great gate. It was tall and made of gold. Behind me was a long and narrow road, but beyond, to both the sides, there was darkness.
When I looked straight, my eyes came upon a man whose face I soon recognized. It was Him: the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. It was my savior. It was Jesus.

I fell to my knees with my face down. Suddenly I heard footsteps coming towards me. He stopped in front of me. I kept my face down. I felt a hand on my chin lifting it and soon I was looking in his eyes
“Why have you come here?” he asked me.
“My Lord,” I answered. “I have no right to be here. I know that you are Lord of all and that you died on the cross for my sins’ am your slave, my Master, your slave.”

With him still looking into my eyes He said, “No my child you are my friend and I know you just as you know me, so fear not. You are now home.”
He reached for my arm and helped me to my feet. We started to walk towards the gate .
“What now Lord?” I asked.
Jesus replied, “Well now that you are here there’s someone who wants to see you.”
“You mean other then you?”
“Yes, other then me.”

We walked up to the gate and Jesus signaled to an angel to move aside. The instant they did, the gate swung open. Soon my eyes come upon the kingdom of God and for the first time I felt real, so real that my life on earth felt like just a dream. I saw mighty mountains in the North. I saw stone streets to the side of them were houses and people were going one way and another. In the center of it all was a magnificent white castle.

Jesus looked at me, “That is where we are going. In the castle is who you well soon see.”
As we started to walk through his kingdom, there was a group of women to my left that were at work. Some that was sewing and some were weaving. Beyond them I saw in the West long soft fields and in the fields men that were working the crops. Looking higher my eyes come to a hill on which there was a man..

I gazed at him. He turned my way and looked at me. I recognized him. It was David tending a flock of sheep. He gave me a smile and looked down and went back to tending his flock.
We soon made our way to a stone wall. I could feel a sweet breeze on my face, so like a child I ran to the wall to look beyond it. My eyes opened wide in awe, for I saw a calm yet mighty ocean in the East. On the beach lay boats, Men were working out on the ocean One of the men I again recognized. It was Peter, who had just cast a net into the water. As he stood back up, he looked to the sky for a minute or two, then he looked at me and gave me a smile and waved and went back to fishing.

Jesus came up to me,” Beautiful isn’t it?” he asked
“I do not have the words to say.” I answer
“Come on we are almost there.”
He put his hand on my shoulder and we continued to walked. As we turned the corner of a building, there in all its magnificence was the castle. In front of it was a court yard, with no wall or fence. This baffled me, for while I was on earth all of the castles had a wall around their courts.
I asked Jesus, “Lord why is there not a wall around the courts?”

“Why should there be? For there is no war here. There is no reason to protect the parapet. Besides, how then would all of my people come to see me. All are welcome to see their Lord.”
We walked through the courtyard and soon came to the stairs. Up the stairs there was a pavilion. In the center was a big arched doorway. Just as we were about to make our way up the stairs, we heard a sound in the bushes. We stopped and suddenly a pack of children jumped out behind the bushes. They were all calling out, “Jesus, Jesus”

Jesus ran to meet them and the children all at once jumped on him. He fell to the ground laughing a joyful laugh.
Then the children stopped and looked at me. One of them asked Jesus, “Is he a child of God?”
Jesus answered “Yes he is.”
The children all gasped as if something great had happened. Then one of the girls reached down to the ground to pick something up. She ran to me and reached out her hand and giving me a flower, she said, “Welcome home.”
“Thank you,” I replied.
They all then said goodbye and ran away.

Jesus got up and looked at me. We soon made our way up the stairs.
When we got to the top we went through the arched doorway that became a hallway. I looked around to see and in the center was another hall crossing through the main hall. At the end of the main hall were angels guarding a big door. While we were walking to the door, a creature with many eyes passed by mumbled the tasks to itself that it had to get done.
When we got to the door, Jesus said,” Are you ready?”
I started to fix my hair and my shirt. Jesus gave a small laugh.
“It’s okay, He well not mind.”'

The angel suddenly snapped to attention and the doors opened. I was now standing in a great throne room that was so big and magnificent that it could hold all of humanity. Looking around I soon saw Him in all his glory. It was God sitting on his throne with an angel showing him something. We walked up to the throne.
Without looking up, God spoke and said, “What can I do for my Son?”
Jesus said,” My father there is some one here for you to see.”

Suddenly the Lord stopped what He was doing and looked up right at me. The next thing that happened at that time I did not believe. God himself came off his throne and began to walk towards me.
I did not fall to my knees for I was in shock. I was in the presence of the Great I AM. He walked up to me, put His hands on my shoulders and looked into my face.
Then He pulled me towards him and began to embrace me. As I stood there in the arms of the Lord all the pain and all of the sorrow and the shame in my life went through my mind.

Suddenly I came out of my shock. Soon tears started to fall from my face. For my sins still weighed heavy on my soul. For the first time in my life I felt truly loved,.
Then God said to me, “It’s okay I am here.”
So I cried and cried what seemed to be an eternity of tears. I now could let them all go.
He stepped back and spoke with a voice that shook the heavens and the earth. And the Lord said, “Let there be music and let there be joy for one of my children has came back to me.”

I could hear a song of praise through His kingdom. From the mighty mountains of the North to the golden fields of the West to the vast ocean of the East and the great gate of the South, they sang “How great is our God, who reigns with wisdom and justice. All praise, for His mercy has set us free.

Let his love and grace pour on us like the rain. How great is our God!”
Even Jesus began to dance. All were praising His might Name.
Then the Lord put his hands on my shoulders and once again looked into my eyes and said, “Well done my child, well done.”

A Groom’s Prayer

By Joseph C. Collins

Oh God, as I look I see all the beauty that you have made, but none has captured my heart more than a presence of a lady. For she walks with grace and with stature; You bless her with love and understanding and with joy like a child’s. Such an honor it is, oh God, to see such beauty.

And so I ask, oh Lord, help me, my God, to be the husband that she deserves. Let my ears be quick to listen and my tongue be quick to silence. Let my arms be her comfort and my words flow with Your peace. I pray that my touch be as gentle as my kiss. Grant me your wisdom so I can honor her.
My God, help me to understand her, for the greatest privilege I will have is to look upon her face as I wake up next to her and throughout the day.

Oh Lord, help me be the husband that you meant for me to be, to become one who loves her as she should be loved. My King, help me to serve her, even after a hard day at work, for my day does not end until my head is on my pillow.

This is my prayer, oh Lord, for out of all that you have made, none has captured my heart more. To me she is the most beautiful of all Your creation.

Tears of God

By Joseph C. Collins

What happens when sorrow and despair enter our lives? Who is there for us, if anyone? This is a story of what happened to a man.

The man walked along the road with pain in his heart. If you were in his shoes you would feel the same for he had been waiting a long time for someone like her, but she did not feel the same. He was a gentleman to her, who listened and was ever so kind.
Unfortunately, it was not enough, for someone else had won her heart.
So he did what a man does when such things happen. He said, “I wish you all the best,” and walked away.
So there he was on the road with an ache in his heart, but it is what happens next that is the reason for this story.
As he walked along the road the pain in his heart grew stronger, so strong that he could no longer stand. So he stopped walking, fell to his knees and grabbed his chest with his hands. As he was rocking back and forth, the pain became too much for him to bear; so much that his heart could no longer take it. His heart shattered into a thousand pieces all falling onto the ground.
But the man was determined not to give in and so he reached down to the ground and began to gather the pieces of his broken heart. However, the thoughts of what happened to him kept going through his mind. Soon he saw no point in fighting anymore. He dropped the pieces back on to the ground with tears filling his eyes.
As the tears ran off his face someone’s hand reached down and began to catch them. When the man looked up he saw the face of the Lord and on His face was a look of love and pity.
So the man cried and cried with he Lord’s hands under his face catching all his tears, and when this was done the Lord reached behind Him. There in His hand was a bottle. He took all of the tears that He caught and put all them into it.
He held the bottle up to the man and said, “When we reach the end of this road you will look back on these tears as nothing more then old tales.”
Then the Lord reached down onto the ground and began to pick up the pieces of the man’s broken heart.
But as he was watching the Lord the man looked into the Lord’s face and from His eyes tears began to fall. Except when the tears fell off of the Lord’s face they continued to fall until they hit the ground, disappearing for ever.
Then He took all of the pieces of the man’s heart and placed His hand on his chest.
The mans chest began to glow, and with every piece that the Lord put back, He put a bit of hope, strength and love in.
Suddenly the man felt new again. The pain that had haunted him for so long was now gone and in its place was peace.
The Lord helped the man to his feet and said, “Come on, let’s go.”

So as you can see, when sorrow and despair come into your life and the tears begin to fall, the Lord will always be there to catch them. But when the tears fall from His face no one well be there to catch His. That is why He is God and I am not.