Kate [Loop] Hannon
[Originally published as Short Story: Changing Shells]
Dedicated to Alice Faye Hannon, my mother-in-law, who has recently entered into God’s presence and her new “shell.”
Jeremy was very sad. His Grammy, whom he loved very much, had just died. Her body was now still; where was she now?
“Let me tell you a story,” his mom said.
Shelly the hermit crab lived in Temporal Aquarium with many other hermit crabs. She was loved by many of the other crabs.
One day, though, the crabs couldn’t find Shelly. Her shell was still there, but she wasn’t inside of it! They all felt sad.
What had happened to Shelly?
The aquarium owner had given Shelly a new shell to live in — a beautiful shell that wasn’t tight and didn’t pinch her like her old shell did. He’d moved her into a new home — a great big lake where she wouldn’t feel cramped anymore.
Shelly’s shell was empty because Shelly had a new shell.
“So you see,” Jeremy’s mom explained, “Grammy had to change shells too. When we die, we don’t stop living — we just change shells like that hermit crab. We either live in a new, perfect shell with God in Heaven, or we live on in a miserable place away from all that’s good. Grammy put her faith in Jesus; because of that, we know she’s in Heaven enjoying her new shell.
“You see, our sin separates us from God and His perfect place called Heaven. But Jesus died to pay the price for our sin so that we could enter Heaven. You know how when you make bad choices there’s a consequence? Well, Jesus took our consequences. But we have to trust Him and ask Him to make us God’s child. When we do, then our lives change now and forever — and a beautiful new shell in God’s perfect world awaits us when we have to leave this one behind.”
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 2 Corinthians 15:53 (ESV)
“Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8 (ESV)
