Randy Alcorn: The Rest of the Story

I first became acquainted with Randy Alcorn the writer soon after the death of our son back in 2007. Within the first few days of grief I was gripped with the desire to know what heaven was like - what was Sam actually doing or experiencing?  C.S. Lewis once wrote "You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you."  Having been a believer and pastor's wife for many years by then, I certainly understood that Jesus was the way to heaven, but I quickly realized how very little I knew about the actual place. Yes, it's being in the presence of God, but what else? Did the Bible describe it in any detail?  Learning about heaven became a lifeline for me.

Enter Randy Alcorn who wrote a book entitled Heaven. I soaked up the theology of this hefty volume and was truly blessed and encouraged by its words, and subsequently taught it to the women of our church. During my next annual 'read-through-the-Bible' trek, I then physically wrote out (remember paper and pens?) every reference on grief, suffering, and heaven that I found; that year was also the beginning of the writing of my book Heaven's Comforts for the Grieving Soul. I use it as a gift to every participant of GriefShare who attends the program at EPC, and the list of Bible references is available for anyone who would like it - just let me know. It's printed and not handwritten anymore. 😉

Anyway, the focus of today's post is not so much about Alcorn's book or mine, but about Randy Alcorn, the person and glorifier of God. I had no idea until recently about "...the rest of the story." What an amazing example of integrity and sacrifice in the life of this man and his family. While the article is a long one, please read until the end. It is well worth your effort. 💜

Here is the link: click for the article.