Wassup everybody!
I know...you get a blog..then forget about it... Well, I had forgotten my password! Ever wonder about passwords??? You're supposed to use a different one for everything, so pretty soon you have about 37 diferent passwords. Or 146,789 passwords. You've got your password for email, multiplied by ten different email accounts; myspace passwords; photobucket passwords; layouts passwords; password for you voicemail on your cell phone; password for 10 different bank accounts and credit cards. Then you have school related passwords: for the online classroom; passwords for your financial info, for you school email, etc. As if that wasn't enough, you've gotta remember your PIN number on about 15 different cards! Then there are your phone numbers (cell and home), your hubbie's (or wife's) cell; work phone; babysitter phone; etc....ad infinitum. And to top it all off (if you're the mother) you must (of course!!!) know your children's SSN and your own, as well as your husband's! Don't forget your password for the telephone account, the DSL, the gas, the garbage, the water, and the electric! Phew!
ANYWAYS!!! (as some of my students delight in exclaiming!) Point being, I forgot my password! Praise God I don't have to remeber a password to get into heaven!!! (Some of us might go the other way if that was the case... I can just see it now.."Wait!!! I got it...was it Romans 3:23, plus Romans 6:23, and then John 3:16??" "hold on just a minute! I'm remembering now! It was the name of the first apostle, plus the replacement for Judas..which one did they end up choosing anyway, was it Barsabbas, or Matthias?" "Oh no I know! It was name the tenets of Calvinism versus Arminianism!" (Which one was eternal security again?? I'm gonna go with that one, in case He brings up what I did last spring! Or the tax filing, that doesn't count, right???oops!) Of course, I am joking here!
And if you are a church musician, you have to figure out what key the music in heaven is in, as well as the chord inversions, and any counterpoint between the voices in the angels choir. Make sure you write out all the syncopation in the beat, as well as in the melody line, you know, you can't actually expect to play (music) in heaven if you can't even get the basics straght! Don't you dare try to escape the orchestation! And remember! You're not dealig with ordinary "earth" instruments here! NO, rap is not considered singing! If you want to rap, you'll have to apply in that category! One thing you must always remember, you can never use the aug. 4th (la cuarta del diablo), if you would like to perform in that style, you'll have to head below where that type of music is in vogue. It gets kinda hot, though!
Of course, I am joking!
Sometimes I think that in heaven everyone will be adept at making exquisite music, either with some sort of instrumen, or with their vocal chords, or perhaps, with our spirits. And it will be unparalleled! Astoundingly extraordinary, like nothig we have ever heard! The sound of voices from every tribe, tongue, nation, people, once held in capativity to fear of death, by the enemy of our souls, now freed, re-created in Christ Jesus, glorified, with bodies like Jesus Christ. Overjoyed to be in the presence of the Divine Lover of our souls, ecstatic over the wonder of our salvation, so beyond comprehension that it is considered the mystery which had been hidden in ages past. In this glory, the one of the most simple, childlike trust will extoll the Maker in depths that defy understanding, because the very simplicity of faith bring great glory to God. We will then behold Him with unveiled faces. We will know Him, and continue to know Him for all eternity. We will know ourselves as we are, and we will be all themore astounded that God considered us worth saving! For we are complex creatures, created in the image of God, yet with the capacity of turning around and stabbing our very Maker in the back! Yet, with all the potential for tremendous evil within us (think of the wars, the tremendous suffering caused by humans, the individual cruelty to children), we hold at the same time tremendous capacity for good---rather, for God, for He is the treasure that surpasses all understanding that we have within (not contained, defined or controlled by us, but abiding in and with us throught the Holy Spirit).
Some say it will be boring in heaven to go and sing songs to the Creator all day...I don't think that we can limit heaven to that. Yet, at the same time, I think we have a very small picture of what heaven, and God are like. It's like looking at a postal stamp of Yosemite falls and thinking that you know what Yosemite falls is...there is no comparing a tiny postal stamp, with a few brush strokes on it, a caricature of what the Falls is - to climbing the rocks beside the falls, sprayed by icy water carried over the mountains from melting snow high above, trying to hold on and stretching up to the next rock again, and again, only to reach a point a midway to the top. you get to a certain point and you can climb no longer, without special equipment. When you are close enough, conversation becomes difficult, then it gets to a point where there isno use trying to talk at all - for you cannot be heard above the deafening roar.
Or, perhaos if you've ever been out in a storm, not a little thunderstorm, but a truly magnific STORM, where not just branches, but whole trees are uprooted and thrown to the ground like so many dandelions. Where you truly see how small you are, how your life is very precarious on this planet, a testimony of divine grace. God is so much more powerful than that, to be reverenced, yet not destructive like a storm, but neither is He a "tame lion" as C.S. Lewis so aptly puts it. When we are in His presence, it will be the most marvelous, awe inspiring experience. Tender love, like an electric current will flood us all. Beholding the awesome power, sovereignty, strength, glory of God, we will immediately fall on our faces, giving honor to the Only One who could actually deserve it. Everything good, or noteworthy that we have done (with pure mtivations) will be the best gift we can give our King, for we are already His...all that is left is to offer up all the strength in every strand of muscle in our bodies living for His glory and renown alone. Yes, He is interested in us individually, yet He is so much greater than that, so far beyond what we have ever experienced or known, or could know, that even the greatest, most accomplished scholastic atheist will be completely and entirely undone, casting his whole being at His feet, weeping because it is now too late...
Thank God through Jesus Christ, we still have today and tomorrow, and the next day, until God gives us life, to live entirely for His glory, and we don't have to remember a password! Our only hope is in trusting in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross as taking our place, and as payment accepted by God for our sin, and turning the ownership and guidance of our daily lives over to Him.
I know...you get a blog..then forget about it... Well, I had forgotten my password! Ever wonder about passwords??? You're supposed to use a different one for everything, so pretty soon you have about 37 diferent passwords. Or 146,789 passwords. You've got your password for email, multiplied by ten different email accounts; myspace passwords; photobucket passwords; layouts passwords; password for you voicemail on your cell phone; password for 10 different bank accounts and credit cards. Then you have school related passwords: for the online classroom; passwords for your financial info, for you school email, etc. As if that wasn't enough, you've gotta remember your PIN number on about 15 different cards! Then there are your phone numbers (cell and home), your hubbie's (or wife's) cell; work phone; babysitter phone; etc....ad infinitum. And to top it all off (if you're the mother) you must (of course!!!) know your children's SSN and your own, as well as your husband's! Don't forget your password for the telephone account, the DSL, the gas, the garbage, the water, and the electric! Phew!
ANYWAYS!!! (as some of my students delight in exclaiming!) Point being, I forgot my password! Praise God I don't have to remeber a password to get into heaven!!! (Some of us might go the other way if that was the case... I can just see it now.."Wait!!! I got it...was it Romans 3:23, plus Romans 6:23, and then John 3:16??" "hold on just a minute! I'm remembering now! It was the name of the first apostle, plus the replacement for Judas..which one did they end up choosing anyway, was it Barsabbas, or Matthias?" "Oh no I know! It was name the tenets of Calvinism versus Arminianism!" (Which one was eternal security again?? I'm gonna go with that one, in case He brings up what I did last spring! Or the tax filing, that doesn't count, right???oops!) Of course, I am joking here!
And if you are a church musician, you have to figure out what key the music in heaven is in, as well as the chord inversions, and any counterpoint between the voices in the angels choir. Make sure you write out all the syncopation in the beat, as well as in the melody line, you know, you can't actually expect to play (music) in heaven if you can't even get the basics straght! Don't you dare try to escape the orchestation! And remember! You're not dealig with ordinary "earth" instruments here! NO, rap is not considered singing! If you want to rap, you'll have to apply in that category! One thing you must always remember, you can never use the aug. 4th (la cuarta del diablo), if you would like to perform in that style, you'll have to head below where that type of music is in vogue. It gets kinda hot, though!
Of course, I am joking!
Sometimes I think that in heaven everyone will be adept at making exquisite music, either with some sort of instrumen, or with their vocal chords, or perhaps, with our spirits. And it will be unparalleled! Astoundingly extraordinary, like nothig we have ever heard! The sound of voices from every tribe, tongue, nation, people, once held in capativity to fear of death, by the enemy of our souls, now freed, re-created in Christ Jesus, glorified, with bodies like Jesus Christ. Overjoyed to be in the presence of the Divine Lover of our souls, ecstatic over the wonder of our salvation, so beyond comprehension that it is considered the mystery which had been hidden in ages past. In this glory, the one of the most simple, childlike trust will extoll the Maker in depths that defy understanding, because the very simplicity of faith bring great glory to God. We will then behold Him with unveiled faces. We will know Him, and continue to know Him for all eternity. We will know ourselves as we are, and we will be all themore astounded that God considered us worth saving! For we are complex creatures, created in the image of God, yet with the capacity of turning around and stabbing our very Maker in the back! Yet, with all the potential for tremendous evil within us (think of the wars, the tremendous suffering caused by humans, the individual cruelty to children), we hold at the same time tremendous capacity for good---rather, for God, for He is the treasure that surpasses all understanding that we have within (not contained, defined or controlled by us, but abiding in and with us throught the Holy Spirit).
Some say it will be boring in heaven to go and sing songs to the Creator all day...I don't think that we can limit heaven to that. Yet, at the same time, I think we have a very small picture of what heaven, and God are like. It's like looking at a postal stamp of Yosemite falls and thinking that you know what Yosemite falls is...there is no comparing a tiny postal stamp, with a few brush strokes on it, a caricature of what the Falls is - to climbing the rocks beside the falls, sprayed by icy water carried over the mountains from melting snow high above, trying to hold on and stretching up to the next rock again, and again, only to reach a point a midway to the top. you get to a certain point and you can climb no longer, without special equipment. When you are close enough, conversation becomes difficult, then it gets to a point where there isno use trying to talk at all - for you cannot be heard above the deafening roar.
Or, perhaos if you've ever been out in a storm, not a little thunderstorm, but a truly magnific STORM, where not just branches, but whole trees are uprooted and thrown to the ground like so many dandelions. Where you truly see how small you are, how your life is very precarious on this planet, a testimony of divine grace. God is so much more powerful than that, to be reverenced, yet not destructive like a storm, but neither is He a "tame lion" as C.S. Lewis so aptly puts it. When we are in His presence, it will be the most marvelous, awe inspiring experience. Tender love, like an electric current will flood us all. Beholding the awesome power, sovereignty, strength, glory of God, we will immediately fall on our faces, giving honor to the Only One who could actually deserve it. Everything good, or noteworthy that we have done (with pure mtivations) will be the best gift we can give our King, for we are already His...all that is left is to offer up all the strength in every strand of muscle in our bodies living for His glory and renown alone. Yes, He is interested in us individually, yet He is so much greater than that, so far beyond what we have ever experienced or known, or could know, that even the greatest, most accomplished scholastic atheist will be completely and entirely undone, casting his whole being at His feet, weeping because it is now too late...
Thank God through Jesus Christ, we still have today and tomorrow, and the next day, until God gives us life, to live entirely for His glory, and we don't have to remember a password! Our only hope is in trusting in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross as taking our place, and as payment accepted by God for our sin, and turning the ownership and guidance of our daily lives over to Him.
