In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14: 2
They say in Heaven, love comes first
We'll make Heaven a place on Earth
Ooh, Heaven is a place on Earth. Pop song sung by Belinda Carlisle
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Buffalo, New York, averages 92 inches of snow per year due to the lake effect—when frigid air moves over the warmer waters of Lake Erie it picks up moisture, which then falls as snow when it reaches the colder land; likewise, the city’s position in the western part of the state places it in a region that frequently experiences significant winter storms. Dan Baxter and his wife Beth loved their home town despite the long brutal winters. The devout Presbyterians also loved their children Janey and Benjamin and the emotion was reciprocated, unusual for American teenagers raised under the thumb of discontent and rebellion.
One brisk January Sunday morning the Baxters prepared for church. They weren’t going to let an overnight dusting of a mere 18 inches of new fallen white stuff hamper their worshipping—or miss another wonderful sermon delivered by Reverend Miller which today was entitled “Heaven is Home!” that was full of platitudes, suppositions, and promises about the parishioners’ future forever place.
“I believe our eternal abode will quite resemble our earthly one because that is where love took root, where happiness flourished. . . family and hearth and home breed contentment . . . I might even conjecture that the ‘shining city on a hill’ Jesus mentioned in Matthew, Chapter 5, is a spiffed-up Buffalo! Regardless, always remember to live, laugh, love, no matter what your address. Amen.
The message seemed prophetic and appropriate—on the way home Dan hit a patch of icy 1-190, which jackknifed the vehicle towards an overpass pillar, causing it to burst into flames on impact. The four corpses pulled from the wreckage looked liked marshmallows that were left roasting over the open fire too long. The singed souls hovered over the carnage a bit, blinked, and then found themselves gathered round their kitchen table, their skin now as soft and supple as marshmallows fresh from the bag. They were ecstatic that the ersatz split-level was an exact replica of their vacated premises on Crown Royal Drive. Looking out the living room bay window they saw the Buffalo skyline. To make them feel more at home, a blizzard of snow suddenly blasted, the flakes swirling, then wafted softly to the ground.
“The Lord thinks of everything, hallelujah!” Beth shouted in ecstasy. “Love you Ben.”
“Love you, Mom!”
“Love you Janey!”
“Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, Dan!”
“Love you back!”
As if a housewarming gift, another sudden blast of blizzard swirled outside and wafted gently to the ground. “Love you, New Buffalo!”
“Can’t wait until this storm passes, then we can do some sightseeing,” Dan interjected.
“Can’t wait for the plows to get out,” Beth replied. “See if the freeway is paved with gold as the Bible described. Head downtown. Maybe bump into an apostle or two; heck, maybe even meet Jesus although they might be kinda difficult to identify if they’re all bundled up in parkas and stocking caps.”
“Hey Dad,” Ben interrupted. “I had a thought . . . now that we’re living in the land of miracles do you think the Bills have a shot of ever winning a Super Bowl?”
“That, my dear son, is up to our new landlord.”
Dan stared out again at white-out conditions as yet another blast of blizzard swirled outside and wafted gently to the ground. “I have an idea. Let’s make some s’mores and cocoa, then gather round for a family game of Yahtzee. These snowmageddons can’t last forever. When they lift we’ can enjoy the fresh air of Paradise.” Another violent blast, swirling, wafting. “Although it may be a while yet”.
There is time in heaven, just nothing to measure it by. Minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, centuries, millennia, eons are man-made constructs, although all four Baxters agreed that time was moving like spilled molasses this time of year. After many more board games, the family was getting a little bored themselves, and yet there was no break in the sudden blasts of blizzards, swirls, and wafting.
After many, many more board games and blizzards, a seething animosity began setting in. The family members began to get cabin fever. Stir crazy. Kind of sick of each other.
"I understand that you replicated our former city, but come on God, give us a little sunshine and above freezing temps for a change,” Beth pleaded as yet another winter storm hit. “Even our former city thaws out at least a little by June. Oh well . . . Everybody gather round the table for yet another game of rummy. And Dan, please stop putting you dirty coffee cup in the sink. The dishwasher is an arm legnth away—use it!” she said snarky.
“KIds, get down here and clean up the kitchen! Why? Because I said so, smart mouth.” Dan yelled at his son who was shut up in his room. “Janey, grab a broom!” He looked out the window. Blast. Swirl. Waft. “This bs is getting old and I can’t even take an afternoon nap now that sleep is unnecessary for the resting and repairing of our bodies.
“Why do I have to do all the work?” Janey snapped at dad. “I hate you! I hate you! I hate you all!”
“Why you’re a sassy little bitch, aren’t you girl?” Beth shot back.
“Just like the woman who raised me!”
“Live, laugh, love my jet-puffed ass!” Dan cried to the ceiling. “You’re all a bunch of ingrates appreciative of nothing!” He was beginning to feel like the axe-wielding father in “The Shining”.
Time—and the wild winter weather—continued unabated, although the board games and family camaraderie did not. Now the Baxters could barely stand each other. Looks that kill predominated.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhqSq7Whmj
On a planet in the Zeta Reticuli binary star system, an adolescent creature burst through the front door of the family home. He jibbered in Zetanese, a language that linguistically sounds like a cross between R2D2 and a hungry goat.
“Bleat beep! Bleat beep! (“Mother! Mother!”) “Clank whistle bleat beep beep chirp!”(Look what I found inside a trash can at school”!). The slimy lad held out a tentacled arm with a suction cup grip to a base which held a clear glass ball containing a split-level structure. Inside the structure were four small objects moving about. “Clank bleat hum.” (“Now watch this!”).
He gave the globe a violent shake and watched in amazement as a blast of tiny white particles swirled and wafted slowly to the ground.
“Beeeeeeep!” (“Cooooool!”). Clank hum bleat bleat!” (“Do it again!”)
“Beep, hum, whistle, bleat, hum, chirp, bleat, hum, beep!” (“This is my new favorite toy and I’m going to play with it forever and ever!”)
It was going to be an especially long and brutal winter in ‘heavenly’ Buffalo, New York.
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and then Add to home screen.