When 'heaven crashed' into Cliff ...

His name was Clifford D. Harris, and he died about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28.

Born in 1936, he was my mom's youngest brother — the seventh of seven brothers.

Photos of a young Clifford D., as he was sometimes called, showed a good-looking blond guy who likely turned the hearts of a few girls.

When I was teen-ager working for him in his plumbing business, I could easily envision him running the streets in a fast Chevy during his younger days.

I pictured him as something of a teen-angel.

Like many of us who have Harris blood, Cliff walked a little bit on the wild side. Well, Cliff would have me shoot straight: The fact is, Cliff likely walked a lot in the wild side at various times in his life.

But those who know me, know that I did, too … and the God who knows each of our hearts in the way that only he can, knows that you did, too. Maybe in a different way, but we all have rebelled against God in some manner or fashion.

But all of that is OK, because God loved Cliff … and still loves Cliff.

God loves each of us.

He has no choice; because God is love. It's his very nature to love us.
You've probably heard the words, but if not:

• There is no one righteous, not even one. (Romans 3:10)
• For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
• But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) That proves God's love toward us.
• And this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loves us and sent his Son as a once-and-for-all sacrifice for our sins. (1st John 4:10)
• And this is the Message: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 43:16-17)

That's the Scriptural nuts and bolts, but Rob Bell of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., might sum it up this way: "Love wins."

When we heard Saturday morning that Cliff was dying, my mom and I left for Newport News, Virginia, in hopes of seeing Cliff before he died. We planned to stay with my sister in Richmond, about 50 miles from where he lived.

On the way to Richmond, mom and I listened to a message by Bell, based upon Revelation 21:1-7 and entitled "The Flames of Heaven."

"The flames of heaven may be hotter than the flames of hell," Bell says.

Why is that?

Because "when heaven crashes into earth" on The Day of the Lord, the "floodlights" of God's pure love, pure grace, pure forgiveness, pure generosity, pure acceptance — the things of heaven — will crash into earth.

Bell wonders whether some of us will be happy when that happens.

I, too, wonder whether those of us who harbor bitterness, who harbor unforgiveness, who do not accept people of a different race or ethnicity, who are miserly with the gifts of God, whether we will be happy when the antithesis of those things comes crashing into earth.

My mother and I were crossing Afton Mountain just above Charlottesville on Sunday morning when the call came from my cousin Jeff, telling us that his dad had died.

To say it another way, around 9:30 Saturday night, heaven came crashing into Cliff's reality.

All of the heartache, all of the pain, all of life's disappointments, all of his mistakes, were bathed in the light of God's reckless and furious love. All of those things became ashes in the heat of God's love — and what was left, made God smile.

You see, it's no surprise that God loved Cliff.

God had no choice. As G.K. Chesterton puts it, our God is a God of reckless, furious, radical love that knows no bounds.

But I believe God also liked Cliff.

Our God is a generous God, and anyone who knows Cliff knows that he had one huge generous heart.

Even if he didn't have something, he gave it away.

I worked for Cliff one summer, doing plumbing work.

I saw his almost legendary generosity: It was radical.

And I believe God liked Cliff's generosity.

In the Gospel according to St. Matthew, Jesus tells this story about a guy who owned a vineyard, and early one morning the owner goes down to the corner where people hang out hoping someone will hire them for the day.

He hires some workers for maybe a dollar a day.

So the owner hires a bunch for workers early in the morning for a buck a day. He then goes back at about 9 a.m., and hires a bunch more for a buck a day. He needs more workers — or maybe he wants to "spread a little heaven," as Bell would say — and then goes back about 3 p.m. and hires some more, agreeing to pay them the same.

At the end of the day, he tells the foreman to bring in the workers, starting with the last hired and making his way to the first hired … paying them each a dollar.

The ones who were hired first were furious that the ones hired last got the same amount of money.

The owner says, "Didn't you agree to work for a dollar a day? I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

You know, Cliff was generous like that, and maybe even more so: The owner of the vineyard had lots of money to give away, while Cliff likely gave away what he didn't have.

And I think it made God smile.

You know, as far as I can tell, Cliff didn't go to church every Sunday; in fact, I have no idea if he even went to church and there was no reason to ask anyone. There was this Christian singer named Keith Green who once said, "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald's makes you a cheeseburger."

I dare say when heaven comes crashing into earth, the light of God's love is going to reveal how many of us in church reflect his generous, reckless, furious love and generosity.

There was this other story that Jesus told; this one's in the 10th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke.

During Jesus' time the Jews despised Samaritans, and there was this guy who got mugged on the road to Jericho.

As he lay beaten and bleeding on the roadside, there was a priest who went on the other side of the road to pass him by, and then a Levite did the same thing.

The Levite and the priest sort of represent the deacons and elders of the church in this story.

But then, this despised and rejected Samaritan — the one whom the church leaders despised — well, let's pick up at verse 33:
"But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'" (NIV)

My memory of Cliff is this:

He was generous: He would give away what he had.

He was compassionate: If a man was bleeding and beaten on the side of the road, he would have compassion on him.

He was accepting: He did not care what color, what creed, what ethnicity you were.

God is like that.

And when heaven came crashing into Clifford D's world on Saturday night, all of the hurt, the pain, the disappointment, the sins of the past, were burned up in the light of God's reckless, furious, love.

And God smiled at the generous, compassionate, loving child who stood before him.

Grace and peace ...