I sat up later than normal last night watching a live broadcast of a man I admire.

Since I last saw and heard him he has met with multiple calamities. Among the more significant, his wife of 30+ years died a horrible death due to cancer and he is now fighting cancer himself. He has lost weight, seemed frail and was much grayer. As he came up on the podium, he was actually assisted so he wouldn’t stumble.

The moment he opened his mouth I realized that appearances can be deceiving.

He opened up a portal to heaven.

He was always a powerful speaker previously. Now, though frail in appearance, I knew he’d been in the presence of the God-of-the-Angel-Armies. As he stated, “I understand now that the thin veil which separates us from the heavenly realms is indeed thin. I am ready to part it but He wants me to stay a while longer.”

He became a giant-killer, transformed into a man thirty years younger, and spoke with such power and angelic presence that I was transfixed to my little screen. He wove a tapestry of a Being so immense that we can’t even fathom, who is desperately in love with us and pines like a lover awaiting his love to come to him. That love is surrounded and interwoven with imagery of peace, war, desire, accomplishment and fulfillment. He aches to transport us to His lap.

Oh, that I might experience His presence in that manner…