heaven

I sat at the roadside cafe alone and weary. My Bosnian traveling companions, bus mates on a 25 hour trek from Frankfurt to Sarajevo, gathered around the open-air tables enjoying their evening meal and a long-overdue break from the journey. Immersing myself in this Yugoslav setting, the lyrics of an American song played quietly in the background, "You and I can make this place heaven, if we work together." Pausing, I reflected on the message. It sounded innocent enough, if not promising in a place so scarred by war. But deeper inside the voice of the Holy Spirit interrupted, "Listen.... is it true? Can it be? Can this life be Paradise?" Balkan Bliss? Yugoslav utopia? No doubt we were designed for heaven. Even our longings tell us so. But is there such a place as heaven ...on earth?

What becomes of the man, the woman, or the nation who trades in the idea of life after death for the false notion of life before death? He becomes a materialist, a hedonist, a worshipper of happiness, of pleasure. No longer willing to suffer for the "glory to be revealed in us," he trains himself to avoid the pain, to dodge the sacrifice, and to live for the moment. "Eat, drink, and be merry" is his credo, "for tomorrow we die." Interesting, I thought, that an American song had sparked my musings: America, that marvelous country founded by heaven-bound pilgrims, fallen today into the intoxication of have-it-all-now materialism.

Living now in Sarajevo I'm intensely aware that this place will never be heaven. Regardless of the humanitarian aid, the prayers, and the diplomacy, Sarajevo will forever remain an earth-bound city of mortals quickly approaching their eternity. But it can be a place of hope and peace as men and women surrender themselves to the Lord of heaven.

Yesterday I worshipped with such a group of new believers in Bresa, a coal-mining hamlet about thirty minutes from here. Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats, (along with a couple of Americans), assembled together as family in Jesus. I know of few other settings in Bosnia where such a thing could, or would happen. Yet here, among those who had already died with Christ, was a new way. With hearts battered by pain and hardship, they live as strangers in a world that will never understand nor embrace them. But the light in their eyes reflects a Heavenly in their heart. Pilgrims in search of the Celestial City scorn the suffering of the present for the promise of glory to come. "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." My prayer today is that we, along with these dear Bosnian saints, will lay down our present lives for the sake of the glory that is yet to come.