Tuesday, October 7, 2008

H is for Heaven

H's are my life...there's me..Heather, our Hannah, our little Honey dog(our dachshund) H should be my easiest blog, but I just couldn't let it be that easy. Descriptions of Heaven have always intrigued me...almost as much as angels..(see A is for Angels) I found this little excerpt about it and wanted to share it. Take some time to read it. Pretty good stuff...
There is a common stereotype often given concerning heaven: someone sitting on a cloud, strumming a harp, seemingly bored out of their wits. Is that what heaven will be like? It's highly doubtful.
Think about it: we're talking about God. As you've probably noticed, he's pretty creative. If you're in doubt, just gaze at a sunset, or try to fathom how the universe is held together, or think about the vastness of space, or read about DNA. Yes, God knows a thing or two.
So, what do we know about heaven? The Bible says that, "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain." That's huge, isn't it?
No more "death"? You mean, no cancer, AIDS, wars, or murders? Sounds pretty good. No more "mourning"? You mean, no young widows trying to raise four children, no toddlers kidnapped by psychos, no crosses on the side of the highway signifying someone killed by a drunk driver, no whole cities perishing in an earthquake? Ever? Sounds great!
No more "crying" or "pain"? You mean, no divorces ripping homes apart, no daughters being violated by fathers, no teenage boys or girls selling their bodies for money, no people feeling insecure because they're too tall or short or fat or skinny, no villagers starved out by governments, no lonely grandmothers whose husbands died twenty years before they will, no talented people wasting their lives through a heroin addiction, no gin-infested husbands using their wives and children as punching bags, no insults or malice just because someone has a different skin color, no hateful words spoken or heard? That sounds like a great place.
What else will heaven be like? No one but God knows for sure. But obviously it will be a whole new way of life. And, if the current world is any indication, we can expect the next one to show even more of God's creativity. We're talking different dimensions of time and space, and new activities and recreations we never even dreamed of. And that's just the point: it's beyond our imagination.
Do you think you could have come up with the idea for the giraffe? Or the tiger? Or the zebra? Maybe. Okay, you're feeling pretty confident. What about the four seasons? What about having the earth spin on its own axis while it rotates around the sun? (That's a pretty good one, you have to admit.) Or having the moon effect the ocean tides here on Earth? What about the human eye? Okay, what about sex? (That got your attention.) Have you ever wondered if God has something better than sex planned for the next life? You say: "No way!" But what if he does?
The point: God is very creative. All we have to do is look around us. Our world is amazing. And yet, it could be that God hasn't even shown off yet. It's likely that he hasn't. But we can be confident of this: whatever heaven is, it will be much more than we ever imagined, or could imagine. We just have no idea.

3 comments:

Barbara said...

Streets of gold; pearly gates--I don't think that even touches it! I like the "creative" idea! What a treat we're in for!!

Jill McCormick said...

Praise God for H...!

Anonymous said...

Hi there!Greetings from Sunny Senegal in Sub-Sahara Africa. I can't believe I stumbled on this site. I'm glad to know I can keep up with what's going on in your life now. Are you still living in Jax? We were in the US for about 9 months last year. We just returned back to our post in June. Things are going fine with our fam. I've got pictures posted on my facebook photo page. Check it out. ~blessings, Cindy DeMars