In heaven I will ski

I can't imagine heaven. My small mind struggles to comprehend anything good that is not in this world, or anything better than this world. So here's my childlike conception of heaven - it will be something like this, but infinitely better.

In heaven I will ski and dance and swim and write amazing poetry and marvel at beauty and teach people (though maybe not, for there each person will have full access to God, seeing him face to face) . I will do all this as praise to my Brother and Lord, with a glad and peaceful heart, together with all my brothers and sisters. God will be my beloved and loving Flatmate, Husband and King. Nothing will be sullied by fear or mistrust or anxiety or pain or crying or death. For they are part of the old order of things, and in heaven all will be made new.


Heaven will be a physical place, better than but not wholly unlike this world (Isaiah 65:17, 66:22; Luke 22:18; John 14:2-3; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 19:9, 21:1-7 & 10-11 & 21-26, 22:1-2). So how about you try to imagine it too. Think of what would make a perfect world for you here - then make it better - then eclipse it all by God's presence (Psalm 16:11, 27:4, 73:25-26; Jude 1:24; Revelation 4:8, 21:3-4 & 23, 22:3-4).

Trust

Christians trust God and his Word – even when our experience from time to time seems to belie those truths. And postmodern non-Christians trust experience – even when a multiplicity of experiences point to different, contradictory truths.

Experience tends to be the more fickle master, but knowing this will not shake a postmodern’s trust. And we all live our daily lives putting our trust in truths (we don’t jump off buildings, we give our pasta time to cook, we don’t expect our lover to always please us), but knowing this will not shatter a postmodern’s trust.

Indeed arguments of any sort don't persuade people to shift their trust. What's needed is for them to see Christians living under the one, true God and to be witness to the goodness and coherence of that life.

Thanks to Christos for getting me thinking along this path.

We Are All Part of the Body

My new Tassie pastor, Dan Shepheard, preached on The Body recently. I think that if a church, if my church, can understand this rightly, then it will result in a godly attitude amongst the sending church (Crossroads), the missionary (me) and the receiving church (?, somewhere in Latin America).

You need to listen to

• his first talk
• his second talk

I think that understanding the body helps bridge the natural distance we feel when people are physically far away. And I think that understanding the body helps correct false ideas about missionaries' roles and person (eg that they're doing something more worthy than everyone else or that they're more spiritual than everyone else). And I think that understanding the body empowers everyone to wholeheartedly and joyfully support everyone else, whatever their role.