Welcome Home, Son, Welcome Home!

 

 

In The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis gave this description of the “real” Narnia which we all know was an allegory of heaven: "But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world ... had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

On September 2, 2013 we lost Austyn. Although it shocked all of us who loved him, it didn't catch God off guard. He saw it coming and I believe that at the moment Austyn left this life, God was there to greet him in a way Austyn had never been greeted before.

You see, I don’t believe in a passive God. I believe that God is more zealous about his creations than any human being could ever be. I believe that God is very hands-on in fashioning each and every one of us in the unique way that he desires. None of us were accidents. Even if a child is conceived unintentionally, that child is intentionally and intimately designed by a God who loves every single cell in their body.

Although God is omni-everything, I still believe that God is waiting with passionate excitement for us to join him in heaven. God had been waiting almost 19 years for Austyn to come home. As a Dad, if I had waited 19 years to be with one of my sons and the day finally arrived when one of them was coming home, you better get out of this Dad’s way. I would pull out all the stops. Nothing would hold me back. As a human Dad, I would do everything I could to show my sons how much I had missed them, how excited I was to get to see them, and I would do everything I could to keep from ever having to be apart from them again. So it is not hard for me to imagine what Austyn’s homecoming was like.

Picture this: a hot, humid labor day in southern Indiana with a potpourri of country related smells mixed with the smells of traffic exhaust. Imagine the sounds of roaring engines and the overall busyness of everyone around you. Imagine an excitement within you because things are starting to go so well for you at church but at the same time having heaviness within you because in other areas so many things seem to be working against you. Imagine wanting to get a decent job but not being able to because you haven’t completed your education, although you're working on your GED. Imagine the emotional frustration of wanting to get a driver’s license but not being able to because the documentation that you need to accomplish it is flawed. Imagine having your mind racing because there are so many things that you want to share with others…

...imagine to your amazement that you are standing in the most awe-inspiring place. Words cannot describe what you are experiencing because you have never seen anything like it before. People are rushing to welcome you and you are experiencing a love that you have never experienced before. There is no more heaviness within you, no more unpleasant smells or sounds around you and the temperature is perfect. Then you see the masses parting to reveal a majestic figure. You realize that this is God: your real Father, your creator. His presence completely engulfs you with the ultimate “love” experience and when you think that it couldn’t get any better, he looks at you and says, “welcome home son, welcome home!”

Out of selfish desires I still wish Austyn were with us. I miss having him sit in our kitchen eating to the point where he was about to burst. I miss hearing him tap away on the keyboard of the computer as he surfed the internet in search of the really cool thing that he wanted to show us. I miss seeing him sitting on the couch, quietly holding Petra, for hours at a time. I miss hearing him tell us about how his GED preparatory classes were going. I miss our discussions about God and life. I miss...  

...then I realize that my selfish desires must acquiesce to what is best for Austyn.  For that reason on this September 2, 2014 the only thing left for me to say is …welcome home son, welcome home.