What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day?
What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me?
Welcome back to season 6 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In our next few moments together, we hope to learn some of the most important lessons from some of the simplest things in life. Thank you for taking this journey with me.
This past Thursday was a big day for Major Lague Baseball fans, because Thursday was the “Field of Dreams” game. So far there have been three special regular season games played at the iconic cornfield stadium located in Dyersville, Iowa next to the iconic movie site of “Field of Dreams.” In 2021, the White Sox & the Yankees played the first game there. In 2022, the Reds and the Cubs squared off. Then after a 4-year break for construction, finally this week the Phillies and the Twins played again at this nostalgic filled field. As a baseball fan, very little can give you more chills than the Field of Dreams game. One day, it would be a dream to get to attend one of the games there, and I know I’m not the only one that feels that way. As I was watching the broadcast live on Netflix, one father had a homemade cardboard sign leaned up against his stroller that said, “Is this Heaven? Nope, just my first Phillies game” – obviously referencing his young son sitting inside the stroller all dressed up like a tiny Phillies ballplayer.
The sign is a play-off of one of the most iconic lines of the film, “Field of Dreams.” If you don’t know anything about the film, allow me to summarize it for you quickly. Kevin Cosnter stars as Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer who begins hearing an unknown voice in the cornfield saying, “If you build it, he will come.” Despite the fact that it will financially ruin his family, Ray becomes convicted that he must plow down a good portion of his corn crop in order to build a baseball field. After doing so, supernatural and mysterious things begin to happen. One by one, long since dead players from the famous 1919 Chicago White Stox team begin walking out of the cornfields to play baseball again – with players like Shoeless Joe Jackson making an appearance. The voices continue to call out to Ray, all building to the true climax of the film involving Ray’s long-lost father Jon that he was estranged from. Ray had rebelled against his father when he was young, and that included moving away from baseball which connected the two of them. They never reconciled before he died. As the movie begins to come to a close, we finally learn that one of the players on the field was actually Ray’s deceased father as a young man – finally making sense of the line, “If you build it, he will come.”
It’s a teary and emotional filled film, highlighting family and the reconnection of an estranged father and son over the game they loved. The most recognized line in the film comes from a conversation between a young Jon & his son Ray, as Jon asks his son, “Hey…is this heaven?” to which Ray responds back, “No…it’s Iowa!” Jon says back, “Iowa? I could have sworn it was heaven!” The line is among the most recognized in the movie, inspiring the signs that were seen all over the broadcast about Dyersville being just like heaven.
There are places we love in this life, and all of us are partial to our own favorite locations and experiences. For some of us it’s a baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield. Maybe it’s a lighthouse on the coast. Maybe a mountain peak thousands of feet above all other things. But my friends, there is no such thing as “heaven on earth.” Despite the beauty, majesty, and peace that we can experience in this life among the wonderful things that God has created, none of it can compare with the glory of what is waiting for us in our hope of heaven.
In Hebrews 11, we read of so many of God’s faithful – people like Abel, Abraham, Noah, and Moses. Beginning in vv. 13 the Hebrew author will say, “These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” These men saw some wonderous things in this life. They saw the promised land. They saw signs and wonders done by the hand of God. They experienced great victories as God delivered them time and time again, showing his faithfulness to the covenant and to his people. And yet despite all of this, these faithful ones knew that there was a better place waiting for them – a heavenly one. One far greater than Canaan, far greater than Jerusalem, and greater than anything one could experience in this life.
We get a small glimpse of what will make heaven so wonderful in Revelation 21:1-5, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.”” Truly, one day God will make all things new! In our heavenly home, it will be completely void of all the things that make this life so hard. In heaven there will be no weeping, no loss, no pain, and no death. Even the most wonderful places on this earth are not devoid of these things. In this world we will have trouble, but in the place we are going which Jesus has prepared for us, all of our troubles will cease. What’s more, our home will be with the Lord himself! Like he did in the garden, once again God’s dwelling place will be with us and among us – and we will forever be in the presence of our creator!
In Romans 8:16-18, Paul will record the following encouragement: “The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.” No, my friends, this isn’t heaven…but heaven is going to be worth it! No matter what the cost, nothing we can face in this life will even be worth comparing to the glory we will experience in our eternal home. Your greatest struggle, greatest failures, and greatest losses that bring us to our knees in this life will be as nothing, long forgotten in comparison to the joy of heaven. Just hold fast, stand firm, and like the patriarchs of old, keep seeking a better place – your heavenly home.
This has been season 6 episode 26 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped each Friday of the week. If you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating, and tune in next week. Even more important, share the spiritual truths that we learned today with someone else. And more than anything my friends, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.
