Just some early morning thoughts from me to you… 

“And just as they were telling about it, Jesus himself was suddenly standing there among them. ‘Peace be with you,’ he said.  But the whole group was startled and frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost! ‘Why are you frightened?’ he asked. ‘Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me…’”
Luke 24: 39-40 (NLT)

“He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.’”
Revelation 21: 5-7 (NIV)

Dr. Martin Luther King’s last speech ever given— “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”—was delivered in Memphis, Tennessee.  In that speech, Dr. King shared his views about Christ’s parable of the Good Samaritan, who stopped to help a man in need on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.

The next day Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, and passed on to be with his heavenly Father who had guided his every step.

Dr. King’s legacy and life reminds me of the life of another who passed into the arms of his Heavenly Father fourteen years ago on April 20, 2010. 

A dear friend of mine and many others who were forever positively impacted by—Keli Scott McGregor. 

At the time, Keli was also serving as the President of the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club. A friend whose life of impact was gone too soon, and can still be felt today in the lives of others. 

Keli saw himself in that story of the Good Samaritan every day of his life from childhood on, in every setting in which God placed him. Always looking out for the less fortunate, always coming to the aid of the least popular, always standing up for someone else in their difficult moment.

Serving Christ, whom he had accepted as his Savior in his life, by reflecting Him and being His hands, feet, and heart to everyone whom God brought before him.  

And for those of us who remember Keli and remain, we take comfort in knowing that his last step from here was into the arms of the God Whom he served by touching the world around him every day of his life.

And we take comfort in knowing that his life in this temporary home here on earth was but a blink compared to the life of joy and fulfillment he now enjoys in eternity with God his Father. 

Where he has experienced the final healing of all wounds and heartaches, and the only scars he can see are those in the hands of Christ now holding Keli forever. 

The same hands holding all those others we love, hold dear, and miss.

We also take comfort, though, knowing that one day we will see Christ, and that He will make all things new. 

And the only scars we will see as we enter Heaven will be those on Christ’s hands, those hands which will then be holding us.

Casting Crowns shares these words of promise to claim, in their song “Scars in Heaven”—

“If I had only known the last time would be the last time,
I would’ve put off all the things I had to do.
I would’ve stayed a little longer, held on a little tighter,
Now what I’d give for one more day with you.
‘Cause there’s a wound here in my heart where something’s missing.
And they tell me that it’s gonna heal with time.
But I know you’re in a place where all your wounds have been erased,
And knowing yours are healed is healing mine…
The only scars in Heaven, they won’t belong to me and you.
There’ll be no such thing as broken, and all the old will be made new.
And the thought that makes me smile now, even as the tears fall down,
Is that the only scars in Heaven are on the hands that hold you now.”

We are called to be His feet, heart, and hands to everyone in this our temporary home here on earth. 

As we also look forward to the day when His nail-scarred hands will hold us forever.

Hands now holding all those we love, miss and will see again.

In His Name–Scott

Be blessed and comforted as you listen to “Scars in Heaven” performed by Casting Crowns.