There Are No Mosquitoes in Heaven

"No man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be." - Bram Stoker

Spring Break, 1982. I was spending a couple of weeks in Florida with my best friend and a group of students from the University of Delaware. They knew each other from the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship that met on campus and my interaction with them changed the course of my life forever.

After a few days in Delray Beach, we headed to the Florida Keys. One night, we stayed at a campground on Sunshine Key. The girls got the tents and the guys got to sleep under the stars. Sounds nice until you factor in scores of bloodthirsty mosquitoes who made it impossible to sleep. And so, my buddy and I climbed into the bus, closed the windows, and spent the night sweating like a pair of pigs. In fact, it was so hot in there that we marked the passing of each hour by drawing a line on the steamed-up windows. At least there weren’t any mosquitoes!

I still remember the relief we felt when the sun finally came up. Since then, I have experienced dozens of similar nights, praying for sleep while battling the flu, COVID, or attacks of severe heartburn. Thrashing around in a sweat-soaked bed while simultaneously shaking with chills is never fun. But when dawn – and your fever – finally breaks, you soon forget about the agony of the night.

My friend, someday soon, Jesus will either call you and me home or return in the clouds for His bride, the church. In either case, He will immediately transport us to a place called heaven, where there is no crying, pain, death, tears… or mosquitoes.

I can’t wait!

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4 (NKJV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President