Heaven: Part I

In addition to random thoughts I may have throughout the week, I am going to start writing the lessons from X-session each week. That way, if any youth didn't make it they have the opportunity to read it, but I will also have the opportunity to go a bit more in depth than on Sunday mornings. So, that is what this blog is, and subsequently, Heaven: Part II will be coming next week.

Heaven: What comes to mind when you hear that word? Pretty much everyone has some idea about what Heaven is, what it looks like, who will be there, where it is, what we will do there, and often you will find almost as many ideas about Heaven as people you ask. For some, Heaven is a fluffy place in the clouds where everyone floats along with angles. For some, it is a paradise of doing whatever you like for eternity. For some, everyone will be in Heaven. For some, it is a perfect version of Earth. For some it is streets of gold. For some, it is eternal singing. There are tons of ideas about Heaven, but what does the Bible say? What does God say? He would, after all, know best, right?

Revelation 21:1-5, 21-27

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. ² I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

³ Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:

Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity,
and He will live with them.
They will be His people,
and God Himself will be with them
and be their God.
⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Death will no longer exist;
grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer,
because the previous things have passed away.

⁵ Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 

²¹ The 12 gates are 12 pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The broad street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

²² I did not see a sanctuary in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its sanctuary. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴ The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. ²⁵ Each day its gates will never close because it will never be night there. ²⁶ They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. ²⁷ Nothing profane will ever enter it: no one who does what is vile or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 22:1-5

¹ Then he showed me the river of living water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the broad street of the city. The tree of life was on both sides of the river, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, ³ and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His slaves will serve Him. ⁴ They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ Night will no longer exist, and people will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.

So, that's a lot of info there, but let me point out a few things that I find pretty cool.

• The Bible states here that once in Heaven, there will be no more crying, no more grief, no more pain. Every tear will be wiped from our eyes. Now this doesn't just mean that people will no longer cry, or that all emotions will be stripped. What it means is that there will no longer be those things that make you cry, grieve, have pain. There will be no more physical pain as a result of sickness, or accidents. There will no longer be the emotional pain that is so rampant in the world. When we cry because we are lonely, we feel unloved or unappreciated, we see the pain of others, we are made fun of, we are yelled at, someone dies, etc... we know that none of those things will be present. God has said that they will no longer exist. DEATH will NO longer exist! Basically, all that is bad and messed up with this world will cease to exist. The "previous things have passed away" when we get to Heaven as God makes all things new!
• God's will dwell with us! This is remarkable and amazing! In the beginning, this was God's design and plan. He intended to dwell with us, to walk among us, and then we screwed it up. We separated ourselves from God, and we see from that moment on God orchestrating a plan to bring us back to Him. We see the creation of the Tabernacle/Temple as a means by which God could dwell with His people, among His people, and yet there was still separation. The idea that He was so close, and yet so far. There were curtains and rooms and laws that separated God from us. Then Christ came, and He ripped that curtain down the middle. He separated that barrier that existed. Christ, who was God, physically lived with us, walked with us, spoke to us, and yet there was still a separation. Christ was both fully God and fully human, and yet the total completeness of the glory of God the Father, Son, and Spirit was still not fully present, dwelling with men. We still see that we cannot fully look on the face of God in all His glory. While we now have more direct access to God, and Christ's sacrifice created a bridge to span the gap of separation if we accept it, we are still separated from God because of our sin. Once we get to Heaven, however, that is different. God Himself will be with us, dwelling with us, living with us, and even more WE WILL SEE HIS FACE. How incredible and awesome will that be! There will no longer be a curtain, a veil, any separation. We will no longer see darkly, but we will be with God 100% and see His face 100%!
• To continue on this whole seeing God's face theme: one of the reasons we cannot see His face now is because we cannot look on the full glory of God and live. Yet, in Heaven, His glory will illuminate everything. We see that there will be no need for external light, and night will be a thing of the past. Where as now, we cannot look on the full glory of God and live, then, everything we do, every step we take all the time, will be fully illuminated by this glory, this perfection.
• We see the Tree of Life again. Remember the Tree of Life, that tree in the Garden of Eden that would grant eternal life, the one Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat from after sinning and disobeying God, the one that cherubim and flaming swords guard. Well, in Heaven, we see that tree again, and we get a much better description of the tree. We see that the tree is huge, spanning across a river (A River that flows with living water), that it has 12 different types of fruit, that it bears fruit every month, and that its leaves heal nations and reverse the curse. Now this is pretty incredible! The curse of sin, the curse that was inflicted on humanity when we first chose to disobey, will be obliterated. There are lots of thoughts surrounding the curse that was ingested when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil, but one thing we know that is involved with it is death. Because of the curse, death was brought into the world and into our lives. In Heaven, there will be no more curse, and subsequently, no more death (or disease or pain or grief or crying, etc...) I for one cannot wait to see that Tree, to smell, and taste, its fruit, to be free from the curse.
• Finally, just some cosmetic stuff. Heaven will have gates made from single pearls, the streets will be pure, transparent gold. That's gotta be pretty incredible to see. There will be no single source of light, but an all encompassing illumination from God's glory, and walls and streets made out of highly reflective material, which means, no shadows at all, perfect light. There will be no night or darkness (either in the physical or metaphorical sense). There will be a river flowing down the middle of the street, and the river contains living water, salvation, Christ Himself. I could do a whole study on Living Water in the Bible, but for now it suffices to say that that is going to be beautiful, and then we see the Tree of Life over that river, over the street. I get the idea that this is a huge tree, seen everywhere.

Now, this is only one passage that talks about Heaven, but it gives a pretty good look at what it is like. Not exactly fluffy clouds and floating angels, but so SO much more incredible!

So Heaven is pretty incredible, but what does this mean for us here and now, how does the fact that heaven exists, and what it is affect how we live our lives here and now, before Heaven? That's what we'll be looking at next week.

God Bless!

525,600 Minutes x437,000

More than 437,000 years, that's how long it would take to pay off the national debt if we paid $1/second toward it and didn't increase it anymore. That's basically inconceivable, and it illustrates that there are some serious problems with our government/governmental system. Now I'm not specifically talking about any one politician/president/political party, etc... I'm talking about the whole thing. This is something that my brother, cousin, friends, and I have been talking about recently. There needs to be a serious overhaul of our governmental system because it is failing.

Here are some of the ideas that we have come up with to improve things:

• Campaign Fundraising should not be allowed. If you are going to be elected it should be on the basis of your credentials and what you can do for the city/state/nation you are representing, not on how much money you have. There was recently a campaign fundraiser in Albuquerque. It was a $10k-a-plate dinner. Now, I don't know how many plates were present, but I'm pretty sure there were several hundred thousands of dollars dropped at this dinner to support the campaign of a single man, and this was just one event on one day in one city. Imagine how many millions of dollars are being pumped toward campaigning, and then issues like poverty, economy, unemployment, small bussinesses, etc... are discussed ad nauseam. What if all of the politicians took these millions of dollars and applied them toward fixing some of the issues?
• Anyone who can benefit directly based on whether or not a bill passes should have no place voting on it or holding that office. Our Representatives and leaders should be governing and leading based on what is best for the nation and the people they are representing, not on what can get them more money or power. There are way too many Congressmen, Senators, etc... who have vested interests in corporations that clouds how they vote, and this should not be allowed.
• Political positions should be voluntary and unpaid. There is already enough temptation for corruption being in a position of extreme power. There is no need to add to that by paying a huge sum of money to hold this position of power. Members of Congress/Senate make anywhere from $175,000 - $223,000 and the President makes $400,000. These are very large sums to pay out, and are sure to entice temptation. Now I understand the argument that these men/women should be paid for the service they are giving our country, but I wonder, how many would continue to serve if they were not paid? Might we get people in office who actually care about making a difference if that was the only reason to serve? Or, at the very least, if we are going to pay for these positions, why not set the salary the same as the average American?
• Prohibit nesting issues within bills. There are far too many problems that are never resolved because politicians spend so much time arguing and fighting over bills. Even if everyone agrees on the main issue, there are so many small issues that are tacked on to almost every bill that they effectively kill any progress or forward motion. If we need to vote on a specific budget reform, then vote on that alone, and not tack on issues about funding for a bridge or abortion or healthcare or anything else. If you want to pass a Healthcare bill, that should be the only thing being voted on. If you want to pass a bill to increase Border security, there should not have to be a month long debate over whether or not you can also agree to set aside 200,000 acres of land to protect a rare beetle and the finances that go into it. The Nesting of issues only serves to stop all progress and allow members of opposing parties to blame the other one for not allowing things to be done.
• There should be no political parties.  I get that people will have different thoughts, opinions, and convictions, and that people will tend to gravitate toward others that feel the same way, but there is a problem with our system today. If you are not either Republican or Democrat you have no hope of becoming President, and almost no hope of getting into Congress or the Senate. In addition, what if there are 3 "Democrats" who are all better, more qualified candidates than any Republican, Independent, Green, etc...? All 3 will never have the opportunity to run because only 1 gets the party endoresement. There should be no party endoresement. We should have people running against people, whether that is 2 candidates or 20, and it shouldn't matter what their "party" affiliation is. We always hear about "reaching across the aisle," so why don't we just get rid of the aisle entirely. Stand or Fall based on you, not your party or money.
• Prohibit Smear campaigns. I am sure everyone is sick of these, but I can't stand all of the smear campaigns. Sure, we are humans, and we will always talk down against our opponent, but if I am going to vote for you for a political position, I'm going to vote FOR you, not against someone else. I don't care what your opponent has or hasn't done, what are you going to do? As the old saying goes, "If you can't say something good, don't say anything at all."
• Get out of debt. The fact that our nation is over $13,000,000,000,000 in debt is insane, and what is even more insane is that every year we sign into law a budget with an operational defecit. If you or I were insanely drowning in debt and we went to a financial advisor, we would never be told, "figure out what your annual salary is and then budget to spend well above that every year. Go out and get a few more credit cards, buy a new car, go on vacation, etc..." If we are in debt we have to cut our spending, get rid of non-essential expenses, cut back, and yet as a nation, we do the exact opposite. We spend more than we have make, and encourage our citizens to do the same, creating a never ending cycle of debt in our nation. We need to stop this, and we need to get out of debt, which will require a serious overhaul of the government as a whole.

So there you have it, a few ideas to improve our nation. There are more, I'm sure, and if you have ideas go ahead and leave them in a comment. The question now, however, is what can we actually do to make a change?

Be A Man: Part II

*Disclaimer follows.

Ok, so last week I talked about the fact that, like it or not, there are inherent gender roles that men and women are designed to fulfill, and in today's society those gender roles are being abolished in the name of "gender equality," which is resulting in a lot of problems. So today I am going to elaborate a little more on why I see this as a problem, and what I see happening as a result of the loss of gender roles in our society.

Once again, I'm going to be talking a lot about men. So, let's begin.

Men are designed to be fighters, protectors and defenders of our families and convictions. We are meant to fight for those we love, but this is being stripped, and rather than warriors, men are becoming watchers. We are becoming complacent and lazy, but that inherent need/desire to fight for something is still there. So what happens? Here are a few things that I see.

• Because men are no longer fighting or expected to fight for the ones they love, for the heart of the one they love, I believe is one of the reasons that we have so many marriages that are failing, so many men abandoning their families, children, and wives, so many men having affairs, etc... Here's why. When we fight for something and prevail, when we "win" something, we are proud of it. We parade it around and display it for all to see. It is precious to us because we put our blood, sweat, and tears into obtaining it, and we not only want to show the world the precious thing that we have, but we will continue to fight to protect it to keep it pristine. Sadly, for many men in today's society, we no longer fight for the woman we love, for our children. Now, it may seem sexist to say that women are prizes to be won, but think about it, what woman doesn't want to be treasured and prized? If you had the choice of being an invaluable, priceless, timeless, treasured prize to your husband or a ring from a cracker jack box, which would you prefer to be? What is sad, is that, for too many men today, their wives are not treasured prizes, they are are simply a passing fad, getting married was something to do, and even though they may have loved them in the moment, they did not and do not fight for them, so they are easy to leave in pursuit of something or someone else, that maybe they do have to fight for, or maybe is just another passing fad. So many women go after the "bad boy," the rebel, and I don't believe it is because they are "bad" or rebellious, but because they fight for what they believe, even if they are misguided in their belief, and they fight for the one they love. So the first problem I see is that, as men lose their gender roles they abandon their families because they go from something they treasure to something they simply have.
• As men lose this fight for their convictions and those they love, they don't lose the inherent role of a fighter and protector, so we see men acting on this role in violent, rather, than noble ways. This takes many forms. It can manifest in random acts of violence that we hear about on the news every day, but it can also manifest itself in abusive relationships in which men, instead of embracing the honorable, God given role of leader in their homes, stoop to abuse and control, whether physical, verbal, or emotional. Instead of leading in a Godly manner, they violently and abusively control the situation so that they can feel in charge.
• As more and more women move into the roles meant for men, often out of necessity because the men have abandoned these roles, this leaves a gap in the role of nurture and loving caretaker for our children. We can see this in far too many families. We see children who are lacking the necessary love and support that comes from their mothers and fathers. I think that we underestimate how important the role of nurturer is in society. We place so much importance on the more "glamorous" professional/political roles that we forget that "we all wanna be loved" and love is vitally important to development. Sadly, many of our kids are not receiving the love and care that they need because the ones designed to primarily fulfill this role are busy elsewhere.  

These are just a few of the problems that I see arising from the loss of gender roles in our society, and truly, I think that this loss is a root cause behind many more problems.

So men: stand up and Be A Man. Fight for the ones you love, fight for your convictions, fight for the poor, widows, and orphans, fight for God. Lead your families, don't make your wives fulfill your role because you have abandoned it.

*A lot of these statements are overarching generalizations. I realize that. I am in no way saying that all men are violent and abandon their families, that no woman should ever have a professional job, that no man can provide love to his children or cook a meal and do the laundry. We are all made in God's image, and as such we all, male and female, have amazing capabilities and capacity for love, devotion, fight. We see examples in the Bible of women who are strong, courageous, leaders who follow God and save many, and we see that not all men are burly fighters, there are poets, musicians, chefs, gentle fathers. However, there are roles that males and females are better fitted and designed for, and this is my point. We need to not focus so much on what is "politically correct" and focus more on fulfilling the roles that God established. He does, afterall, know best what works! 

Pork 'n Play Thursdays

About 3 months ago my family initiated Pork 'n Play Thursdays. "What is Pork 'n Play Thursdays?" you ask...well...it is a time once a week (Thursday nights to be exact) when all my family (brother, sisters, grandma, uncle, cousins, M&M, mom, dad, and sometimes friends) get together to eat dinner together, play games, hang out, and talk. Sometimes it's all fun and games, and sometimes it's more serious. The last few weeks have been a bit more on the serious side. All in all it's a really nice time to get together as a family and catch up from the past week.

It reminds me how important family is! I don't know what kind of family you have, if they are small or large, close or distant, broken or complete, but regardless, your family is important. You will always have times when you can't stand your family or some member of it, but regardless, your family is often the ones who love you and know you the best. Something that is amazing, as I grow older, my family gets much larger and more dynamic. When Manda and I got married I got a LOT of new family, and that part of my family is much different than the family I was born into, and it's great. When Mallory was born, M&M and I suddenly were our own little family, even more than just Manda and I were, and it brought a whole new dynamic, which is fabulous! My family is constantly growing, and changing, and I've started to realize more and more just how important your family is.

This week is probably one of the last weeks that my whole family will be at Pork 'n Play Thursday as my sister is most likely moving across the country very soon. In some aspects it is quite sad. I don't really see or talk to my sister except for Thursday nights, but I've also never lived over 10 hours away from her. It's strange to think about, but just like all the other changes, this is just another change in the dynamic of my family. There are a lot of unanswered questions in her move, but I sincerely wish her the best and hope it turns out great for her!

So regardless of how close or far away your family is, why not give them a call, send them a text, go say hi, tell them you love them, and realize that family is an amazing gift that God has set-up for us!

Why I LOVE Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

For some reason, this seems to be one of the most hated holidays on the calendar, which is ironic because it is a holiday all about love. It is called Singles Awareness Day, and people rant and rave about how it's a corporate holiday that only exists to cause people to spend money. One of the biggest complaints that I hear is, "Why do I need a special day to show the one I love them that I love them. If you really love someone you should show them all the time, not just on one day, and you shouldn't need a day to show them."

Now I understand the sentiment behind that, but I disagree. Here's why. I completely agree that when you love someone you should not need a single day to express that love. You should be showing it everyday in your words, actions, interactions, gifts, sacrifices, etc..., but who says we can't have a day to celebrate that love? As Christians, we should constantly be aware of, and grateful for the death and resurrection of Christ. It is, after all, what bought us salvation, and yet we still have a day, Easter, on which we remember and celebrate that. The same holds true for Christmas. We have a single day that we celebrate Christ's birth and celebrate goodwill and joy and all of that, but that doesn't mean that that is the only day throughout the year that we think about it or that it is important. Again, Thanksgiving is not the only day we are to be grateful and humble, and we shouldn't only be patriotic on the 4th of July. All of these holidays serve as memorials, if you will, to these events/emotions/actions that are important to us every day. In the same way, Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love, something that is vitally important to all of us in our every day lives.

Now I'm not trying to say there is no corporate/retail behind Valentine's Day. Of course there is, but there is behind Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, 4th of July, New Years, St. Patricks Day, etc... If there is a way for people to make money they are going to do it, and giving gifts to the one you love is a valid way to express that love, hence, people spend a lot of money on this day. Is it necessary to spend money to purchase large gifts or chocolates or flowers or jewelry or stuffed bears or anything else? Of course not! You can show the one you love that you love them in plenty of ways w/o spending money. However, is there anything wrong with spending money to purchase gifts? Of course not! I personally, love to give gifts to people. I want to get gifts, lots of gifts, large gifts, small gifts, for my wife. I love getting her things that she wants/needs. It's one of the ways that I express my love. So I am all for buying gifts on Valentine's Day.

Now to the whole, Singles Awareness Day title, yes, Valentine's Day is primarily focused on romantic love, and that can tend to make those who do not have some form of romantic relationship feel singled out or depressed. However, at the heart of Valentine's Day, it is a day about love, in general, which encompasses both romantic and non-romantic love. St. Valentine, which the holiday is named after, was not some great romantic. I have, since I was a little kid, and still do, receive Valentines from my parents. Kids give Valentines to their classmates in school. I gave Valentines chocolates to the kids in my youth group. I am giving a Valentine gift to my daughter. Non of these are romantic relationships or gestures. They are, with the possible exception of classmates, expressions of love.

God has commanded us to love. 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, has this to say about love. "Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love." In fact, love is arguably the most important theme in the Bible. Christ says that the greatest commandment is to "love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." and equally important is to "Love your neighbor as yourself." We are called to love, above all else. Christ died for us because He loves us. We are to love God, we are to love our friends/family, we are to love our wives/husband, we are to love our enemies. God established love. God is love. So on this day, Valentine's Day, let's celebrate love, whether that be romantic love or platonic love. Whether you celebrate with heart shaped chocolates or acts of service doesn't really matter, but rather than be cynical and hate this celebration of love, embrace it and show love to those around you, better yet, show God's love to those around you. Let the world know you by your love.

And that is why I LOVE Valentine's Day!