Love Already Won

Rob Bell recently came out with a new book titled, "Love Wins. A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived." The premise resides around the afterlife. When we die, we will either go to Heaven or Hell. However, Rob Bell believes that in Hell, we will still have the option to find salvation in Jesus. Ultimately, he's proclaiming that "hell" may not even be a physical place. He's proclaiming that God's love is so great that he will pursue those who are lost in Hell until each of them chooses Him. For those who do not know, this is untraditional Christian thought. So much so, that Rob Bell is being labeled as a heretic by some. Perhaps he is. Perhaps he is not. I'm not here to label anyone. But I do have thoughts that I need to get out. So here goes...

Rob Bell, you ask, "Who says that God can't pursue people's hearts even after our physical death?"

Good point. We don't know the answers to the afterlife. We can only rest in 100% confidence in the knowledge that there is an afterlife and what we do in this life effect where we will go when we die... Heaven (whatever that means, with Jesus) or Hell (whatever that means, without Jesus).

Maybe God will save sinners in the afterlife... but what if he doesn't?

How can someone be sure that there will still be a chance in the afterlife to ask for forgiveness and live with Jesus? We can't be sure. I think its awfully foolish to wait for an option that may never be available. Maybe it will be. But why put all your eggs in a basket that may have a huge, gapping hole in it? Why deny love now?

I think the right questions to ask is, "What are we going to do in this life time that will make lasting impact for God's glory now?"

The Bible says eternity is now. We must live in that truth. We must live with eternal minds now. What happens today, in this moment, will have lasting impact. Therefore, I will focus my heart on loving God, living for Him, making Him my savior every day, doing what I can to save more of God's people now, and to bring God glory all the days of my life... on earth and in heaven. This is my mission.

I will not wait or rest on a possibility that may not exist... and I believe that this idea may cause people to wait. We must not stray. We must hold on to the truths that the Bible proclaims. God is Lord. Jesus is Savior. And we each have the choice to put our faith in Him and live in Freedom form our bondage, today.

You see, Love already won.

Love already beat death. Love already offers the gift of salvation and freedom to each and everyone of us NOW. It is our simple choice... today and tomorrow... to choose to live in Freedom, or not.

I think we put God in a box whenever we say "this is how God is. and this is how God does things." Yes, God is love. But perhaps giving us a chance on earth to proclaim God's glory and accept the gift of Jesus' death and resurrection that saves us from our sins is love enough. Who can say there is any bigger expression of love than that? Why are we always looking for something else? Something that makes that simple fact better, as if anything more than that could be better?

Rob Bell, yes it is ok to ask questions and ponder the unknowns. I myself wonder what Heaven will be like... if there really are streets of gold, and what worship will look like when we get to be with the Lord. But I will not stand for you labeling how God chooses to love or proclaim ideas that we have no way of knowing if they are truth. They may be... who knows? But that's just it... no one knows.

God says... "I Am who I Am." That is all we need to know. Now is the time to trust. Now is the time to believe. Now is the time to make eternal decisions.

Please don't wait on any idea that may just be that... an idea. Please, make your decisions on truth, now.

Live on strong

For three and a half years I've had this little plant on my desk. For three and a half years I have watered it, pruned it and tendered to its every need. I once even put one of those fertilizer thingys in its soil to provide more nutrients so it could grow strong. I love this plant.

Well, I am sad to say that after three and a half years, my plant looks like this... you may not be able to see from this photo, but every leaf looks brown... as if life hit it hard, leaving it downtrodden, with little will left to live... leaving it wanting.

I'm sorry little plant. I'm sorry that life has left its mark on your wilting branches. Little plant, I will do my very best to bring you back to life... but I am going to have to prune you and leave you with only two branches. Just remember... thee must pruneth to make room for great growth. There's more life left in you little plant. Live on. Live on strong and grow great and mighty as I know you can.

And birds will sing

Too many questions. Too many uncertainties threaten to infiltrate the deep troughs of our hearts that hold and protect our most precious - and our most vulnerable - thoughts, hopes and dreams. The fears of failure and loneliness rest upon the tips of arrows as poison, aimed at all we want to be, experience and love. How to choose? How to be certain and know? Who wins the wrestling match when it lies within?

It's a false loneliness brought forth by an irrational fear of mistakes not yet made and that which may never be made... and as insecurities are forced into the light against our will, the heart and mind become tangled with doubt. Oh what to do?

Perhaps this is the answer that brings light to the dark places of the soul... and hope and freedom where chains were once bound...

This is the thing though... We create because we were made to create, having been made in the image of God, whose first role was Creator. He was and is a million different things, but in the beginning, he was a creator. That means something for us, I think. We were made to be the things that he is: forgivers, redeemers, second chance-givers, truth-tellers, hope-bringers. And we were certainly, absolutely, made to be creators.

If you were made to create, you won't feel whole and healthy and alive until you do. My husband is a pianist and songwriter, and you can set a timer by his need to play and create. If it's been too long, I can feel it in our house, like something gone bad in the refrigerator or a dead mouse in the walls. He was made to play, to sing, to create with sounds and notes and words, and when he doesn't, he's not himself...

Get up. Create like you're training for a marathon, methodically, day by day. Learn your tricks, find a friend, leave the dirty dishes in the sink for a while. This is your chance to become what you believe deep in your secret heart you might be. You are an artist, a guide, a prophet. You are a storyteller, a visionary, the Pied Piper himself. Do the work, learn the skills, and make art, because of what the act of creation will create in you. (Shauna Niequist)

And the act of creation will create life within... beautiful, joyous, redeeming and hope-filled life. A reason for celebration and dancing. Where the songs of birds can't be quieted, and the brilliance of color can't be shielded. Where the radiance of freedom blazes a path forth from deep within our hearts to touch those around us, so luminous that others can't help but stop and stand in awe and wonder at the very first creator. This is our mission... my mission. So why does the pondering of uncertainty and insecurity remain? Fear, get behind my back.

... And I'm left wondering if this makes sense to anyone other than me...

What could be better than this?

Great weekend. A couple birthday celebrations sandwiched in between an amazing trip to climb some rocks at Vantage. Just imagine... 45 degrees of sunshine blazing down as you hang from the side of some rock pillars. What could be better than that? Honestly? I'm not too sure. It was a great trip. A much needed trip for my sanity... to get outside and do stuff just feels good. Hopefully this type of activity will keep my cabin fever at bay for a little while longer as my knee continues to decide whether or not it feels like healing today, or maybe tomorrow. It's pretty indecisive... much like my occasional self. Ironic. Don't you think? [Alanis Morissette: Yeah, I really do think.] Thankfully, I've been given the gift of rock climbing during this time of patience and acceptance. Booya. Life is good.

Remembering

Yesterday as I got off work and walked to my bus stop, a swarm of fire trucks, ambulances, police cars and officers swarmed into my path.

As I got closer to the Macy's parking garage, I realized the cross walk was closed. An accident, or something, had happened. And when I rounded the bend to the other side of the street, it all came into light.

People everywhere were in a frenzy. Fingers pointed up to the top of the 9 story parking garage and traced each floor down to the ground... and that's when I realized... a man either jumped or was pushed off the top of the parking garage and fell to the ground moments before I had arrived to witness the event.

Instinctively, I looked into the window of the ambulance on the other side of the street. Seeing paramedics working hard to resuscitate the fallen victim, I turned away. What more could be done?

I write this post in remembrance of that man. Without knowing him, the struggles he faced or the joys he experienced, I ask each of you to say a prayer for his family. His friends. And that he would be remembered with joy and celebration... instead of defeat.

I am left hoping that with his frail departure he has met much hope and joy at the doors of eternity...

Bittersweet

It's a rainy Tuesday. Comforting actually. Feeling struck by the irony of life... that which your desires fail to match your ability to obtain them. Life that which seems stuck between a hard place and a rock, so to speak. Both a bitter taste and a sweet existence.

I suppose it is in these times that we must look to grow, even when the question remains: how much is there really left to grow? More patience? More trust? More faith? I suppose there's always more to grow, even when we feel helpless to water the seed.

Shauna Niequist writes it best, "Bittersweet is the practice of believing that we really do need the bitter and the sweet, and that a life of nothing but sweetness rots both your teeth and your soul. Bitter is what makes us strong, what forces us to push through, what helps us earn the lines on our faces and the calluses on our hands. Sweet is nice enough, but bittersweet is beautiful, nuanced, full of depth and complexity. Bittersweet is courageous, gutsy..."

What a beautiful concept, yet seemingly difficult to put to use. I don't feel courageous. Or gutsy. I feel stuck... Stuck between the desire to explore, run, hike and experience all the world's beauty and the inability to do just that.

And while frustration abounds in this seemingly small area of life, celebration and thankfulness conquer the remainder of life. Oh, how easy it is to let the bitter parts of life overtake the sweet ones. I suppose it is far better to fight for life-breathing perception than to submit and indulge in self pity.

"So, this is the work I'm doing now, and the work I invite you into: when life is sweet, say thank you and celebrate. And when life is bitter, say thank you and grow." And when life passes out the sweetness of sugar and the bitterness of chocolate? Then partake in the gift of togetherness with the joy of celebration and the hope of growth leading your every step forward.

J+D