I watched a profound movie last night...skip over some of the unnecessary stuff, and "Stranger than Fiction." is a great movie. My favorite scene in the movie is a conversation between Will Farrell and Dustin Hoffman regarding death and tragedy. The line that stands out the most is when Hoffman's character says, "It's the true nature of a tragedy...the hero dies but the story lives on forever." I played that line over five times. I don't want to go overboard here because Noah didn't die for anyone else, like Christ did for all, but I can't help but think about his little life in relation to this movie and that line and how he changed my life forever. You see, I have said it before and will say it again, if I were given the opportunity to have Noah back today, I wouldn't take him. Of course that does not mean that I don't miss him, but I have never had more peace about eternity and the physical presence of God since knowing Noah, so to want him back would only be selfish on my part. He wants me THERE more than I want him HERE. (Chew on that...)

I have also thought about different scenarios regarding Noah's healing. Now, granted, these are limited because I'm a human without a clue of the Universe picture that God sees, but, say if Noah had been miraculously healed this side of Heaven, it would have been fantastic. Everyone would have talked about it for a while. Then, in all reality, it would have been forgotten. When meeting new people and sharing his miracle, they would see a healed kid and think, "Yeah, that's great! I didn't know what he was like before this, but that sure is great!" Life would have gone on and I'm not so sure God would have gotten all the glory that is due His name. I know I would have eventually taken Noah's miraculous healing for granted. I would have been grateful for it daily, but there would have been times that my perspective and purpose would have been too tied to life here. We get emails and letters everyday from people sharing what Noah's 7-month life has meant in their own. Many of these notes of encouragement and life change have occurred since January 12th, 2007.

I guess what I am trying to say is, here on earth, Noah was my hero. Jesus Christ saved me from an eternal death in a God-forsaken place. I have hope and have begun living abundant, eternal life because of what He did on the cross for me and everyone else. Noah didn't do those things for me. What he did do, though, was make the Word of God alive to me again. He revealed to me, for the very first time, the true meaning of what it is to store up for myself treasure in Heaven. Jesus' words of His return now have a voice in my head. I'm taking it seriously. I don't know what it all means and I know I don't do it perfectly everyday, but never before has Jesus been more real, and I've known about Him my whole life and known Him intimately almost 20 years. And, never before have I been more excited to meet Someone in my whole life! Yes, I'll get to see Noah again, but Noah got me excited about seeing my Creator! He was my little hero. Thanks, son!