The Laughing Dead

“There are many rooms in My Father’s house. I would not tell you if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you.”

JESUS

I was deep in my meditation time yesterday when the Lord gave me a vision.

I know, I just lost a couple of you, but please allow me to explain, even though it lasted less than a minute. Let me begin by saying my wife has lost both her parents just in the last few years, dying five years apart, both at the not-so-old age of 73.

My Grandpa Stroud passed away back in 1997.

In this vision, I saw both of my in-laws and my grandpa. Ask people what they remember about Grandpa, and they’ll normally tell you about his silly jokes and sense of humor. He was always laughing, trying to find the good in life, even if it was difficult to find.

Thing is, in this vision, I instinctively knew Linda (my mother-in-law), Wayne (my father-in-law) and Grandpa Stroud were in Heaven, without anyone telling me.

My wife has told me in the past that her mama LOVED to dance when she was young, even though by the time I met her, Linda was already having serious health issues. She was taking literally dozens of pills a day, and honestly, I can’t picture her dancing, but in her YOUTH, I’m told it was her passion.

During these brief few seconds, it seemed the Lord opened a tiny window of Heaven, and while I could see nothing except the three of them, it was enough. There were no mansions or clouds, no harps, golden streets or majestic mountains. Just my in-laws and my grandpa, cutting up with each other and laughing, having a good ole time.

In 2018, Linda passed away from COPD complications, but had been in bad health for many years, with diabetes, her kidneys and a whole slew of other ailments. Hers was not an easy life, but she done her best to hold on to God during these most difficult years.

But HERE…

Ah yes, here in Heaven, she’s dancing. She’s wearing a white robe (as are all three of them), but it didn’t look strange. I know if I put a white robe on, it would look intensely weird, but it looked perfectly natural on them. So here is Linda, smiling, laughing and DANCING like a ballet star. She never said anything during this brief vision, just danced, barefoot in the grass, perfectly content.

The “barefoot” thing is important, because in the last few years of her life, Linda’s diabetes was so bad, her feet had curled up and barely looked human. She actually had to have special shoes made, due to the severe disfigurement of her feet.

Here in Heaven, though, her feet are young and strong, perfectly straight, carrying her through the cool grass, dancing all the way.

Wayne was standing to her right, and he was cutting up and waving at “me,” the camera, whatever you want to call it. He was young, thin, healthy and his smile was brighter than I’d ever seen. In fact, I NEVER saw him with that wide of a smile. It was like he was waving at me, laughing, saying, “Hey, ROB!”

His laugh was so big, so awesome and contagious, I just don’t know how to express it in words. To try and relate to you the vision, I did a Google search for “picture of young man laughing hysterically,” and a dozen other searches, but found nothing similar to Wayne’s uproarious smile. Thus, I saved this picture of Laurel and Hardy, since the smiles and laughter come the closest to his hysterical guffaw in my brief glimpse of Heaven:

Yeah, crazy.

So Linda is dancing away on the left, Wayne is cutting up and laughing in the middle, and then along came my grandpa from the right. Like Wayne and Linda, Grandpa was young and thin, healthy and deliriously happy. Grandpa said something to Wayne and then slapped him playfully on the back. Wayne turned and looked at him and then threw his head back and increased his laughter. Whatever it was Grandpa said to Wayne, it was apparently hysterical.

Since there were no words, like watching a silent film with no subtitles, I have no clue what he said, but their eyes were closed and they were laughing like children. Grandpa then looked at me and sorta waved, and then they all disappeared.

It lasted less than a minute, but had me in tears. I know people may think I’m kooky, and that’s fine. I believe God gives us dreams and visions every now and again to reassure, strengthen and encourage us.

And it did, in spades.

The movie Heaven is Real puts forth the idea that everyone is young in Heaven, and this brief glimpse into God’s afterlife playland reinforced the idea in my mind.

So I’d like to encourage you to cling to Christ with all your might. Life is short, so play hard when you can, but never forget what awaits us on the other side.

“We live with a joyful confidence, yet at the same time we take delight in the thought of leaving our bodies behind to be at home with the Lord.” 2nd Corinthians 5:8

“You should greatly rejoice in what is waiting for you, even if now for a little while you have to suffer various trials.” 1 Peter 1:6

Blessings.