"THE BEST IS YET TO COME"

In Mount Hope Cemetery, Hiawatha, Kansas, you’ll find several large gravestones erected by John Milburn Davis. Davis had managed to amass a considerable fortune. In the process, he didn’t make many friends. Nor was he close to his wife’s family, since they thought she had married beneath herself. Embittered, he vowed not to leave them one red cent.

When his wife died, Davis erected an elaborate statue depicting himself and her sitting at opposite ends of a love seat. He was so pleased with it that he planned a second monument, showing his wife kneeling to place a wreath at his future graveside. Then he had a sculptor place a set of wings on her back. One idea led to another, until he had spent a quarter-of-a-million dollars on tributes to his wife and himself. https://www.kansastravel.org/davismemorial.htm

When people asked him to contribute to the local hospital, or a swimming pool for children, the old miser would say, “What’s this town ever done for me?” Davis spent his life’s fortune on statues and died at ninety-two as a lonely, grim-faced resident of the poorhouse. And what happened to his monuments? Each and every one of them is slowly sinking into the Kansas soil—victims of time, vandalism, and neglect; memorials of spite and self-centered living. There’s a certain poetic justice in the fact that within a few years they’ll all be gone.

Oh, by the way, only one person attended farmer Davis’s funeral—Horace England, the tombstone salesman!

Sally Scott was the extreme opposite of miser John Davis. In fact, people had nicknamed her “Saint Sally” as she was busier than an ‘ol hound during flea season helping whoever or whatever. Whether it was cooking a buffet for a family funeral, taking admission tickets to the local high school’s athletic events or teaching a Sunday School class, “Saint Sally” never let any grass grow under her feet.

Sally’s husband had died over a decade ago from a widow maker heart attack. Two years later, Sally’s only child passed was murdered along with his wife during a home robbery. Sally had lost her vertical hold on life and spiraled down the rabbit hole of depression and insomnia until she went to a Billy Graham Crusade in nearby Oklahoma City. Graham preached a sermon on how to fix broken things and Sally took it to heart. Now 70, “Saint Sally” had helped thousands of people, volunteered more hours than fifty people and had cooked thousands of pies and dinners for funerals, church get-together, county fairs and still had time to enjoy her weekly bridge games. On top of this Sally helped kids buy clothes and school supplies.   

“Saint Sally” begin to feel a little tired and was losing weight so she went to see her doctor and the diagnosis dreaded by all mankind……….late stage terminal illness with just three months to live. Sally got to her car, bowed her head and prayed; “Lord, give me a clear mind to get my affairs in order. Whether it is Your will to work a miracle and heal me or it is time I see Heaven, I know You know what’s best for me. Please consider my selfish request to keep any pain to a minimum. Thank You and Amen.”

As Sally was getting her things in order, she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him the songs she wanted sung at her funeral, the scriptures she wanted read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible, given to her by her son one Christmas. 

Everything seemed in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her.

“There’s one thing more,” she said excitedly. “What’s that?” came the pastor’s reply. “This is very important,” the woman continued. “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.”

The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. That surprises you, doesn’t it?” the woman asked. “Well, to be honest, I’m puzzled by the request,” said the pastor.

The woman explained. “In all my years of attending church socials and pot-luck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, “Keep your fork.” It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance!

So, I just want people to see me there in my casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder, “What’s with the fork?” Then I want you to tell them: “Keep your fork. The best is yet to come.”

The pastor’s eyes welled up with tears as he hugged the woman goodbye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She knew that something better was coming.

God's Good Book teaches us the "best is yet to come" in 1 Corinthians 2:9; "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him.” Remember what Jesus tells Dismas when they are both being crucified; “Today, you will be with me in paradise. That is a solemn promise.” (Luke 23:43)

Using a little cow country logic, it is a safe bet if God, who created this magnificent earth, says Heaven is paradise then it will be more beautiful, blissful and rapturous than we can imagine.

God begins by telling us; "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." (Matthew 13:44) So we now know Heaven is so stunning and breathtaking we will sell everything to get in.

 God leaves us His "treasure map" as to how we get our admission ticket past the Pearly Gates into Heaven by telling us we must be born of water and Spirit to enter the Kingdom of God. (John 3:5) We are born of the water and Spirit by confessing Jesus is Lord and rose from the grave. (Romans 10:9) After we are "born again" we possess the only key to open all of the hidden treasures which is Christ. (Colossians 2:3)

 God also tells us how we can increase our rewards and riches (Colossians 3:23-24). In fact, God tells us an act of simple kindness such as giving someone a cup of cold water will increase our rewards. (Matthew 10:42)

Most of us will be happy if we can just get on the back porch of Heaven. I know I would be but whether we are on the back porch or get a high rise with frontage on the streets paved with gold, God promises us treasures in Heaven which will far outweigh any trials, troubles or persecutions we face to get there. (Romans 8:18)

 None of us want to die. Likewise, none of us want to prepare for our death. Despite death being a dead lock cinch at some point and time, it seems morbid to actually prepare for our final day on earth. Heck, many think such planning might even accelerate that last day on earth. But each of us has a choice to live our life like “Saint Sally” by helping others or exist as a miserable miser building self serving monuments when the money could help others.

Heavenly Father, thank You for creating a Heavenly paradise so we can enjoy eternity with You. Thank You for Your love, mercy and grace to give us victory over death. Just as Sally knew death was not the end but a signal the “best is yet to come,” we can sing the lyrics of an old rock gospel song; “Spirit in the Sky” which proclaims; “gonna go to the place that is the best.” So, the next time you find yourself reaching for a fork, remind yourself that the “best is yet to come to go to a place that is the best!”