Replies

My old man was a strong Christian - prayed all the time. I think that he and his mom went to the Charasmatic tent meetings back in the day (he was born 1917). He prayed to God and Jesus, but I recall he “talked” to his parents as well. I have no idea whether that is Biblical or not - but I thought that was a bit goofy.

I did call him out on when he brought my mom to a charasmatic revival meeting. My mom didn’t like it, and he was sort of implying that she didn’t have enough faith.

So I asked him if they had an interpreter for the guys speaking in tongues. “An interpreter - it’s for the Holy Spirit - not for us.”

Then I pointed out what Paul had to say about speaking in tongues, and having an interpreter. My dad made some comment about “Hmm - I guess I’ll have to do some more Bible reading about that.” He didn’t try to get my mom to any more meetings though!

He raised the family Lutheran. After being diagnosed with a terminal diesase he partly went back to his charasmatic upbringing. His mother was an invalid for most of his life - so I’m guessing that she, and later he, was looking for a miracle of healing.

The day he died he told all of us - “Don’t be sad. I’ve always said the best day of my life will be the day I die - and get to wear the crown of glory in Heaven.”

I held his hand and said “That may be so dad - but it will sure suck for the rest of us.”

A few hours later he was gone.

My son and I were just having a conversation about heaven. He’s an adult with a very strong faith. “Yeah - I don’t know dad - what about bacon? There better be bacon in heaven - I’m not sure how that works with the Old Testament and the Jews and stuff - but how can heaven NOT have bacon!?”

I replied “Yeah - I hope there is bacon too. And I hope that we can still recognize and know our loved ones. But you know, whatever it will be like - it will be great. And the bacon - I’m guessing that if it isn’t in heaven - we probably won’t even notice! Although ...... it IS bacon!”