Heaven's Getting Crowded...

Butch Moran, Justin Whitaker, Erin Moran, Ben Moran
Natalie Whitaker, Barbara Moran and Brenda Whitaker on
our 1987 Walt Disney World trip.

It's very appropriate that today is All Saints Day. It feels like I've been thinking a lot about saints this past week.  I wrote about the passing of my former boss and pastor Max Rees.  I wrote about the 8 year anniversary of the death of Mike Yaconelli.  Sunday night we received word that the father of Alan Brown, one of my best friends from my Quaker Lake Camp days, had passed away last week.  And then literally a few minutes later we found out that Jack Moran had passed away in High Point, NC.  All wonderful men, all gone to be with God.  Do you ever get the feeling that heaven's getting crowded with people you know?


Jack Moran was one of the great guys you could ever hope to know.  I have written before about the "inter-woven" nature of my youth group at Springfield Friends Meeting back in 1986-1994, and how so many of the youth were the grandchildren of Max and Avis Rees.  Many of the rest of the students I served were the grandchildren of Jack and Bea Moran.  And some were both!  When Butch Moran married Barbara Rees the two families became connected in ways I cannot even begin to describe.  Even the kids who weren't cousins felt like they were.  Butch & Barbara had three children- Jon, Ben and Erin Moran- who were a huge part of the youth ministry and who shared the two sets of grandparents. Jack & Bea had three daughters as well - Bonnie, Brenda and Debbie- who married and had families as well.  These families gave our youth group such great people as Traci Whitaker, Natalie Whitaker, Justin Whitaker, Heather Beggs, Emily Beggs and Mandy Beggs. Debbie's family didn't attend SFM, but her husband Mark Rumley made a memorable impression on us all as a chaperone on our 1993 trip to Walt Disney World.  As all of these folks became a part of our youth family, Jack was always quick to include Marilyn and I in his.  We were often part of family events and traditions.  As with the Rees clan, the Moran clan was a family everyone wanted to be a part of, and Jack and Bea always set the tone.  Bea passed in 1994, but Jack continued as the heart of the family until his death this past weekend.  His loss will be felt by many, but it is especially difficult timing for our dear friends Butch & Barbara, having lost her father Max less than a week ago.


I am a firm believer in eternal life.  However, I have never been a person to dwell on how wonderful it will when we reach heaven.  I'm more of a "serve Jesus with my life right now" type.  But this last week has reminded me of how fleeting our time on earth is, and how amazing it will be to be reunited with the great cloud of witnesses that has gone before us.  I did not get to travel to NC to say good-bye to Bill Brown, Max, Jack or even Bea all those years ago.  But I am comforted by the knowledge that the next time I see them it will be to say hello, not good-bye.  It will be to join them in basking in the presence of Jesus.  It serves as a great reminder to me that I do not want anyone to miss out on that great family reunion, and that sharing Jesus here and now is the best way to ensure that is what happens.  I WANT heaven to be crowded, full of people I love and who love me. I know and understand that this world is not my home-and as the old TV theme song says, "Sometimes you wanna' go where everybody knows your name..."   My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the Moran family.


Because of Jesus,