{"id":15979,"date":"2022-05-02T04:39:12","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T09:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=15979"},"modified":"2022-05-02T04:39:12","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T09:39:12","slug":"the-gospel-express","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=15979","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel Express"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019m still here in Tulsa with Karen and George and my mother-in-law (99-1\/2 years old). I have had a change of pace to my daily routines when at home in Austin, except for my blogging which I fit into my schedule no matter where I am or what I\u2019m doing.

The time here is spent entirely with attention and submission to Mom and her needs. I\u2019m delighted that I can because it is giving Karen and George so much relief while getting some long-overdue things done. I am grateful I can serve this precious couple by attending to Mom.

Mom and I have many talks. I bring up many memories that she barely recalls, if at all. But there\u2019s the stories that she does remember that are indelibly imprinted in her mind. Like her horse and how she would ride him and pat the side of his face which encouraged him to jump over a hurdle. Like her baseball-playing days when she was a great player scoring many runs. She often asks me who I married and how many children I have. Her memory has waned, but mine hasn\u2019t. I remember enough of the \u201cgood-old-days\u201d that I can refresh her memory.

I was just 12-years-old when I met Mom; my husband was 13 and Karen was 9. We have a long track record. Mom directed the children’s Sunday School classes and the songs. She lights up with total recall and says: \u201cRemember when they came in with their arms moving and going \u201cSwish, swish, swish!\u201d And I reminded her of us singing: \u201cThe Gospel Express come along and say yes! We\u2019re leaving for glory soon!\u201d
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And mom sang the words with me. Those words \u201cWe\u2019re leaving for glory soon!\u201d are truer than true. It won\u2019t be long, and she will be riding that Gospel Express. I will treasure these days with her \u2013 just before she gets to go to heaven. Heaven matters to her more than ever. She sits in her recliner and dozes in an out. She wonders why she\u2019s still here. Maybe it\u2019s to remind us that this life is fleeting and whether we are 59 or 99 when we go to heaven, it\u2019s that WE GO TO HEAVEN!

One of my favorite sayings is \u201cIn the light of eternity\u2026.it just won\u2019t matter\u201d! I usually say that when discussions go controversial or making a trivial decision. I\u2019ve stopped making a big deal about small matters. I\u2019ve come to realize that what matters most is not what I\u2019m doing today, but what I\u2019m doing for eternity \u2013 for me and for others.

This life is so short, why should we sweat the small stuff? We\u2019re going to spend much more time in heaven, than we are on earth. In his book, “Purpose Driven Life”, Rick Warren said \u201cEarth is the staging area, the preschool, the tryout for your life in eternity. It is the practice workout before the actual game; the warm-up lap before the race begins. This life is preparation for the next\u201d.

When we really understand that there is so much more to life than just the here and now, and we understand that this life is just preparation for eternity, we\u2019ll begin to live differently. In the light of eternity, we’ll be able to handle every task, every circumstance, every relationship. Those things that once seemed so important to us\u2014the activities, the problems, the conquests will seem quite unimportant on the radar.

This time with Mom is reminding me that her time remaining here will be short-lived. As a matter of fact, so is mine and yours \u2013 when it comes to eternity-thinking. Perhaps it\u2019s time for all of us to consider the wonders and splendors of heaven that await us and get our ticket for the Gospel Express in our back-pocket and living in the light of eternity!

P.S. This photo is of Mom and Karen and I on her 90th birthday. Sweet memories!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m still here in Tulsa with Karen and George and my mother-in-law (99-1\/2 years old). I have had a change of pace to my daily routines when at home in Austin, except for my blogging which I fit into my schedule no matter where I am or what I\u2019m doing. The time here is spent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23522,23521,23523,23520],"tags":[23510,1210,1769,23518,23519,4210,10540,40,23515,23517,2859,3712,2569,23514,23516],"class_list":["post-15979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heaven-awaits","category-in-the-light-of-eternity","category-life-is-short","category-the-gospel-express","tag-99-years-old","tag-blog","tag-christian","tag-dont-sweat-the-small-stuff","tag-eternity-thinking","tag-heaven","tag-in-the-light-of-eternity","tag-inspiration","tag-leaving-for-glory","tag-life-is-fleeting","tag-memories","tag-rick-warren","tag-sunday-school","tag-the-gospel-express","tag-we-go-to-heaven"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15982,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15979\/revisions\/15982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}