A Glimpse of Heaven

by Michael Leslie

It’s not every day that we get a glimpse of heaven, but on occasion God is willing to show us the place He has prepared for us. Through fellowship and times of serving His will, He will bless us with a vision and a feeling of what eternity with Him will be like. We were fortunate to have this experience and this glimpse during our time in the Czech Republic.

Communion takes place with regularity and I feel like at times we lose sight of the true purpose and impact this time can have on our faith and relationships with other believers. Tuesday evening, 25 November, 2014, we took the time to have a communion dinner including the Fusion Czech Team and members of Kostel Jinak. Wine, juice, and bread were served in a casual fashion. Large loaves of fresh bread were passed around on a plate and each person tore off a piece of bread. Some grabbed small pieces, others grabbed larger pieces. Then the wine and juice were passed around and everyone served each other, dependent on what they wanted. Once everyone was served, the evening began with prayer and worship. It was a time of fellowship, to build relationships deeper than just names and small talk. As the evening began, the idea was to share stories of how God had been working in our lives or testimonies to our faith. Like most group discussions on very personal topics, it started slow. There were people that wanted to share, but I sensed a bit of hesitancy due to the freshness of our bonds. Then people started sharing, with translations from Czech to English and English to Czech. There were stories of how God changed the way He exists in our lives. There were stories of God changing hearts from hard to soft. There were stories of God making His will and plan for us so clear that deniability was not an option. There were also stories of God challenging faith and walking through the fire of trials with us. Most importantly, there were stories of redemption and God’s endless mercy and forgiveness for us as sinners and believers.  Hearing these stories was and still is, inspiring, motivating, and encouraging.

As people shared, I began to feel God’s presence and it became overwhelming for me. We were all letting our guards down and sharing the personal things close to our hearts. This sort of vulnerability made it feel like family, it helped make us family. Hebrews 10:24 – 25 sums up how I felt that evening. We shared the positive in our lives and the negative, but ultimately it came back to how God changed us for His glory. They were stories of encouragement and God’s holiness. I saw a glimpse of heaven that night, and how it will feel to live eternally in His glory. It was a time and evening I didn’t want to end, and I shared that with everyone that evening. I still wish I was there, that we were together with God, basking in His glory. Every time I think about that evening, I still get choked up and overwhelmed. He is amazing and His love for us is endless. I left that night knowing that Kostel Jinak and Fusion had become family, even though we are thousands of miles apart. I look forward to seeing them again and can’t wait to grow in Christ with them more.