I have a dear friend and I’ve benefited from his wisdom, prayers and friendship for nearly 25 years now.  He suffers from a life threatening condition that could send him home at any time – he has already lived well beyond the expected life span of people with it.

I called over to him  yesterday.  We have this arrangement where I give him a call and if he is there and well enough (did I mention that the condition leaves him constantly tired?) I pop in for a chat.  Or rather I come to spend time in the presence of someone living on the edge of heaven.

It is remarkable how much blessing can come from being with someone like my friend in such a short time.  He seems to be always hearing from God.  Even though my last visit hadn’t been for over 9 months, and he didn’t know I was coming until a few minutes before I arrived, God had been speaking things to him the day before that were what I needed to hear.  During our conversation he also spoke other things that encouraged me.  And of course he listened more than he spoke.

Some day, any day now, he will walk from the edge of heaven straight into the middle of it and there will be no gap between the two.  And in one sense not much will have changed, he will just  be that little bit closer to the One he loves than he is now.