Ever wonder if there’s a world out there beyond your imagination?

Citizens of the former East Germany got a partial answer to this question thirty years ago when the Berlin Wall began to be dismantled on November 9, 1989.

Those who had been trapped behind the wall for decades were suddenly able to travel to West Berlin and visit parts of Germany they hadn’t seen in almost a generation.

What they saw there astonished them.

Bright colours, neon advertisements, shops full of shiny new products: it was like a whole new world.

Barbara Hallmann, who grew up in East Germany, describes what she experienced back then in a November 9, 2019 National Post article by Meagan Campbell. Ms. Hallmann was just ten years old when the barriers between East and West Germany began to crumble.

She recalls being able to travel to Stuttgart with her family in 1989. The locals were immediately able to recognize them as coming from East Germany from the make of their car, the Trabant. They waved and honked their horns in warm welcome as Ms. Hallmann’s family drove by.

It was on this momentous trip to the free part of Germany that Ms. Hallmann saw her father cry for the first time. It happened in a department store, of all places. Her father was transfixed by the profusion of utensils in the cooking section of the store. They had never seen such abundance in East Germany, and it brought Ms. Hallmann’s father to tears.

“Nothing was shiny,” she said, describing life in drab East Germany. “We didn’t know the colour pink.”

Imagine going to a new place and seeing colours you’d never seen before, objects you didn’t even know existed. You’d realize the life you’d been living paled in comparison to this new world. You’d probably be moved to tears, knowing you now had unlimited access to this wondrous place.

Will it be like that for us, when we reach Heaven? Will we see colours we’ve never seen before? Will our minds be blown by the spectacular beauty of our new home? Will we be speechless with wonder? Will we laugh with immeasurable joy? Will we be moved to tears by the warm welcome of those we haven’t seen in years?

We don’t know exactly what Heaven will look like, but the Bible gives us a hint of its unimaginable magnificence in 1 Corinthians 2:9:

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (NLT)

Jesus has torn down the wall which separated us from God. Through our belief in His atoning death, our sins no longer form a barrier between us and God.

We now can have access to a world beyond our imagination.

Would you like to go?

© 2019 Lori J. Cartmell