One sunny day our youngest son and I were driving north on a backroad to town. “Caleb,” I said, “look at the mountain!” I stared in awe at Mount Hood in front of me, glistening white with entrenched, blue shadows.

“Where, Mom? Do you mean the sawdust pile?” His eight year old voice came from the back seat.

“No, I mean the enormous mountain straight ahead. Can you see it?”

He leaned around the seat and wowed with me, which led to a discussion of which one was taller—the sawdust pile or Hood. Beside us, rather impressively, stood the tan mound, probably 20 feet tall. From our view in our little Prius, it towered above us. Then I gazed back at the mountain of choice. They did look to be the same height, but in reality Mt. Hood boasted a massive 11,000 feet in height.

This got me thinking. What seems monstrously big in life now, in light of eternity, will mean nothing by comparison of being with Christ, seeing God face-to-face, sharing forever with Him in glory! Anything next to that would fade in value so quickly, don’t you think?

It’s kind of like a child who’s just taken a bad fall and is crying. You offer them comfort and eventually a popsicle. It’s a great way to divert one’s attention from the pain. Similarly, we can start thinking about what it will be like to have no more pain or death or crying ever again. Imagine seeing your BFF, Jesus – who paid your ticket to get to heaven – and now you are with Him FOREVER! And once the tears are wiped away and we lift ourselves off the ground from a LONG time of worship, you could have conversations like this:

“So, that galaxy over there, God. Could you tell me more about it?”

“Sure, you want to explore there next? I’ll take you.”

Friends, we are going to worship for real reasons. Saving our loved ones. Meeting children we never were able to see here on earth. Saving us from the deep dark places that would otherwise have consumed us. We can even see how our Creator created. Can you even imagine the “home videos” available there?

God very well may ask, “What do you want to see, kids?”

I can just imagine Caleb saying, “Could I see how You made the ocean and the sea creatures.”

Or our grandson, “I want to see how frogs were made.”

But me? I’ll want to see each time He spared one of my kid’s lives, because believe me, there were many! Eight active boys: trampoline tussles, motorcycle mania, and hunting hoopla. And one, let me tell you, angel-protected girl. There’s going to be so much to praise God for!

And those times that weren’t near misses. The actual losses you or I experienced. The very real scrapes, even amputations. Those dark and troubled waters, whole seasons and decades that He carried us? If we grew into Christ’s likeness in those times, applying His grace and trusting in His promises then the outcome is more than just done and gone. Our scars will forever shine His glory through us, like the beauty of a stained-glass window. The purpose of the trial will shine in full color and purpose and resound in awe of God’s grace through all eternity. A grace that more than got us through. It is the internal rebar that transformed us into Christ’s likeness.

These trying times are going to seem like mole hills when we see our Lord. Won’t that be a glorious day? The challenge is to keep perspective now in view of what’s ahead. The towering wonder of forever with Him. The hope of becoming more like Jesus will shrink the pain and magnify the anticipation. No more pain, sadness, sickness, suffering – REAL LIVING – freedom from the twistedness of sin.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NIV