"We Must Be In Heaven, Man!"

That's what Wavy Gravy said at Woodstock when the concert turned into a disaster area.

Rain and shortage of food made the rock and roll phenomena a mess of such proportions that Gov. Nelson Rockefeller was threatening to send in 10,000 National Guard troops.

Chip Monck told us when the rain and wind came and the towers were swaying to, "Hold on to your neighbor!"

Wavy told us all that "breakfast in bed for 400,000" was going to be provided (not steak and eggs, but good food) and that we needed to take care of our neighbor.

He also said, "There's always a little bit of heaven in a disaster area."

I wonder if he realized how close he had come to the Kingdom Of Heaven?

If there was anything about what he said that disqualified him from the truth it's that he didn't go far enough.

There's a whole lot of heaven in every situation.

And everybody wants a piece of it for various reasons.

The following passage has been considered a difficult one.

Matt. 11:12 - "And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize--a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion]."

It's not so difficult once we understand the elements of the verse and what they actually mean.

The central thought deals with the violent seizing of the Kingdom of Heaven (not the Kingdom IN Heaven).

We tend to read that with the understanding that it would be a bad thing and that the violence is evil.

In the interest of space here let me just say that "violent" can also mean "energetic", and that the gospel has been sought after energetically by both those who see the truth in it and want to live by it, and by those who see the power of it and want to turn it to their own personal gain and profit.

The precious prize for the drug addict for instance is deliverance and restoration both physically and spiritually.

The precious prize for the TV huckster preacher is turning truth to dollars and cents to line his pockets.

The gospel could be said to have "suffered violence" in both scenarios.

One good. One bad.

"We must be in heaven, man!"

Well, sort of. 

We do get a glimpse at times because God chose to bring Heaven to earth when Jesus was born.

I think Wavy caught a glimpse of it at Woodstock. Perhaps many of us did. 

Anything that had to do with peace, love and brotherhood certainly had the Kingdom of Heaven quality attached to it.

It's not perfect. It's not perfect because it's still the earthbound version.

Someday it will be perfect because it will actually be Heaven.

I'm not sure how much of it will resemble Woodstock, but I do know there will be a lot of love and peace there.

I went back to Woodstock recently and walked the grounds with my wife where the concert took place. I went to the museum as well. It gave me warm feelings, that for one weekend, as imperfect and misplaced as it was, a half million people tried to live some fashion of what was loosely viewed as "heaven".

Perhaps Wavy will get the chance to repeat those words for real someday.

"We must be in heaven, man!"

Oh yeah.

Like the old hymn says:

When we all get to Heaven,What a day of rejoicing that will be!When we all see Jesus, We'll sing and shout the victory! 

Spend some time in Kingdom thought today. Even in the midst of your own personal disaster area contemplate that there is a whole lot of heaven in there with it!

Reach out and hold on to your neighbor.

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

www.reallifect.com