Do you remember the old game of “Barrel of Monkeys”? It came in a plastic container made in the shape of a barrel. To play, you would open the barrel and dump out all of the monkeys. Now, the only monkey you were permitted to touch with your hands was the first monkey. Holding the first monkey by one arm, you would then connect it to a second monkey by its arm, lifting it up. The second monkey’s job was to stay attached to the first monkey, while lifting up the third monkey by one of its arms, and so on. The goal of the game was to pick up all of the monkeys. The nice part of the game was that there were no time limits. Only the breaking of the monkey chain would stop the game.
What if heaven is like the game “Barrel of Monkeys”? (Stay with me, here…) Maybe the barrel is heaven, where we are all meant to be, and meant to all be together? Maybe God seizes onto us and is inextricably connected to us, guiding us and “lifting us up”? Maybe God isn’t satisfied to leave any of us behind. He won’t give up until He has us all, because He wants us all.