Death Rate – 100%

Yesterdays post, Vapor, was followed by about 12 hours of downtime, proving that it’s not just our lives that are a vapor, our blogs can be too. And I still highly recommend Wordpress, the problem was behind the scenes, not with Wordpress.

Have you considered that the death rate is 100%? And if you are a Christian, you believe that life is eternal, so you know that after your earthly death, something else is going to happen to you. I love the Mercy Me song, I Can Only Imagine. I find that imagining heaven helps me make better choices down here. It reminds me that this is not my home, this is just temporary – boarding school, perhaps. One thing that has helped me really focus is the Randy Alcorn book, Heaven. This is a great resource. He first addresses the problem that deep inside, many Christians don’t actually want to go to heaven. Oh, they say they do, but deep inside there’s some dread there because they don’t know what to expect, and they fear change. Americans in particular are mighty comfy down here, and it’s painful to leave what we (wrongly) think of as a ‘definitely good’ situation for a ‘probably better’ one. Part I addresses theological questions like will the earth be destroyed or renewed, will we actually rule with Christ and what does that mean in practical terms? Part II is what I flipped to first – it answers questions like will our old pets be in heaven, what will it be like between you and your spouse if you were married, will there be arts, entertainment and sports? Will we work and travel? Will we be able to body fly? It may sound awful, but for a long time I avoided thinking about Heaven because I didn’t want to think about being without my husband.

With each question, Alcorn provides the scripture references and other resources (including the writing of Jonathan Edwards, John Calvin, C.S. Lewis, and John Piper) that led him to his conclusions, and invites us to test those conclusions against scripture. The whole book led to a paradigm shift for me that is continually changing me the more I think of it. My earlier, childish fears are relieved as I learn more about God and His plan. I think of the years I wasted here trying to build my home on the sand because I couldn’t imagine a viable alternative. Now, I can imagine what Jesus is preparing for us. And the more I think on these incredible gifts – eternal life with the most talented, creative Being ever, plus whatever else He wants to include – and he gave us some pretty good clues in the bible what to expect – the more I am overwhelmed with gratitude and love.