One day this life will be over.
One day I’ll walk this earth no more.
I’ll leave behind Earth’s troubled times
And step onto Heaven’s golden shore.

I’ll take a step and walk on streets of gold.
I’ll reach to take a hand and find it the hand of God.*
I’ll fall asleep in Earth’s dark night
And wake in Heaven’s morning light.

One thing Heaven holds for me
One thing I long to see
The face of the One, God’s only begotten Son,
Jesus, Who gave His life for me.

When I stand before the Lord
When His dear face I see
Will I have earned a crown that I can cast down
To thank Him for all He’s done for me?

I’ll take a step and walk on streets of gold.
I’ll reach to take a hand and find it the hand of God.*
I’ll fall asleep in Earth’s dark night
And wake in Heaven’s morning light.


*When I was nineteen years old, I sat in the waiting room for the Intensive Care Unit, and I knew that my dad was dying.  Doctors gave us little hope. During the waiting, I picked up a magazine and read a poem by Robert E. Selle. The words of that poem comforted me during those dark days as I gradually released my dad into the hands of my Father. Bits of the poem have remained stuck in my heart. 

Many years later, as I remembered God's presence during that time, I penned the above words.

The original poem is below. There are a number of different versions, and several artists have written songs that include all or parts of the poem, but this is the closest one to what I read in the hospital that night. 

Think of stepping on a shore
And finding it Heaven!
Of taking hold of a hand
And finding it God's Hand!
Of breathing new air
And finding it celestial air!
Of feeling invigorated
And finding it immortality!
Of passing from storm and tempest
To an unbroken calm;
Of waking up and finding
it HOME!
--Robert Selle

I Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.