A Huge City

Sunday evening we had our annual Thanksgiving dinner at our church. After dinner, The Servant Quartet presented an evening of music and inspiration. As I was listening to one of the songs about heaven, the lyric mentioned "the city foursquare". For some reason, that phrase stuck in my mind. I refreshed my memory of its dimensions, scripture tells us that the city that God is preparing for us will be 1,500 miles wide, 1,500 long and 1,500 high. This city is huge. We are given the outside dimensions of the city but we are not told how high the levels are. If each level was a mile in height, there would be 1,500 levels. If each level was a half of a mile high, there would be 3,000 levels. If each level was ¼ of a mile high, then there would be 6,000 levels. If the levels were 1/8 of a mile high, then there would be 12,000 levels. We simply do not know. Regardless of the number of levels, There will be plenty of room for all of the redeemed through all the ages. We will not be packed in like a bunch of sardines. There will be elbow room. Jesus is preparing mansions for us and not condos. During the concert I calculated, (on my phone) that if the levels were a mile apart, the surface area of this heavenly city would be 3,375,000,000 miles square. Over a trillion square miles! To compare that to something we are familiar with, the earth's surface area, including water, is 196,935,000 square miles. What an incredible thought - even though it is hard to imagine. One of these days we'll wake up to an unbelievable sight, unbelievable, but real...

Was Christmas Ever Like A Thomas Kinkade Painting?

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas is to see the artwork that has been creatively painted and produced. Everything from manger scenes, to snow scenes, mountain villages, you get the picture. (pun intended) I have two Terry Redlin prints in my office that hang all year round. They are both wonderful country snow scenes with churches in the background and houses decorated for Christmas. Even though I know that the artwork is from the imagination of the artist, when I look deeper into some of these paintings and prints, I wonder if Christmas was ever like they portray. A village where everyone knows everyone, where the love and spirit of Christmas permeates everything people do. Where family gatherings seem to come directly from a movie script and memories linger well into the next year. I realize that Christmas really becomes what you make of it and I have celebrated some great ones. Just once, I'd love to be in a mountain town, with a carpet of snow, sleighs for taxis, roasted chestnuts on the corner. Our family all together in a big log cabin, with a huge fireplace and Christmas tree to match. We'd spend our time playing games, reminiscing about how good God has been to us, and just spending unhurried time together. We'd walk the postcard streets of the mountain town, greet everyone we met, sip hot chocolate, throw an occasional snowball and simply have a great time. Maybe I'm describing a time yet to come, where multiple generations will spend time together, rejoicing in the birth of our Lord, with Him with us. Christmas is what you make it. Make it grand!

A Must Read

In my last blog I told you about reading The Shack. I have finished the book and I highly recommend it to you. If you have trouble knowing God as a loving, unconditional embracing God, you must read this book. It is available at any of the major booksellers, or you can order it at www.theshackbook.com. This book came at a good time in my thinking because I have been overwhelmed with the process of thinking, praying through and talking to God about the way our church can reach people that live around us. In the latest issue of Outreach magazine, there is a mini-poll asking American adults, "What is an Evangelical Christian?" Here were the answers:

I have no idea 36%

A type of Christian 9%

Closed-minded 4%

Zealous/devoted 9%

Fanatics 5%

Impose beliefs on others 3%

Rely on the Bible 8%

Follow Christ 1%

If we follow Christ, we love, unconditionally. We don't force, protest, tear down, argue, demean. We love, just like God loves us. Read the book and we'll keep this discussion going.

The Shack

I am just about finished reading a wonderful book titled The Shack (Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity) by William P. Young. It is a story of a father and husband who is dealing with the tragic loss of a young daughter. Mack is experiencing what he calls The Great Sadness. A depression and sadness so deep that it is crippling life for Mack. During a severe ice storm, a note in Mack's mailbox invites him to meet "Papa" at the shack, a place in the woods where the reality of his young daughter's violent demise was discovered. I won't ruin the story by telling it all here, (you really need to read this book), but I can tell you that chapter 15 will have a profound effect on you as you see one possibility of eternity through this author's word pictures.

The one thing that has been so good for me in reading The Shack is helping me visualize God. I was raised in a fairly legalistic environment and from early on my view of God was someone who punished sin and responded to every mis-deed that I made. While I know that God loves me unconditionally, I still have difficulty putting that into a mental picture that I can equate with a loving God. I have struggled with consistent prayer throughout my entire adult life because I so often revert back to the image of a task master/punisher God, rather than a God who is my "papa", one who loves me and really wants me to spend time with Him, or in the case of The Shack, her. I'll let you read about that. :) Tonight I'll finish the book, and I think I'll make a note to re-read it again during the Christmas holidays. It's that kind of book!

November 4, 2008

By all accounts, yesterday was a historic day. Tuesday is normally my day off. Yesterday I spent 15 hours of it helping people, in precinct 435 in St. Louis County, vote. My specific assignment was to set up the touch screen machines for each voter, and to assist voters using paper ballots insert their ballot into a scanner that tabulated their vote. I arrived at 5am with 8 other team members and we got to work transforming the library of the Gambrill Gardens Retirement Community into a polling place. At 5:50am we were ready to go and we opened our polls with over 100 people in line at 6:00am.

Here are several observations that interested me. First, because of the location, we had hundreds of senior adults vote. Many of them needed help reading the ballot, using the machines, and even navigating the room. One lady I was leading to the touch screen machine tripped on a cord and knocked over the voting machine. I was able to hold her back from completely falling to the floor and hitting her head on a metal bookshelf. While the machine was damaged, the lady I "caught" only had a minor scrape on her arm. I'm sure she was sore today, but she was able to vote. I have a new appreciation for people who work with senior adults as a profession. The second observation was all the young voters, particularly those who were voting for the first time in a presidential election. Many of them came with marked sample ballots that they had spent time with, going over the candidates and issues. The third observation was that approximately 90% of the registered voters in our precinct actually voted. This was a great turnout. I thoroughly enjoyed the interaction with people as they waited in line for a free machine or paper ballot booth. I hundreds of short conversations and met a lot of nice people.

At 7:00pm we closed our polling location and started the tear down process, which included preparing the vote totals so they could be quickly tabulated at the central location. At 8:00pm I left the location, tired, but glad for the experience of being part of a historic vote. At 11:00pm I watched our new president deliver his acceptance speech, shed a tear for what could have been, resolved to pray for and be supportive of our new elected officials and then went to bed. The result could have been different, but not bad for a day off...

Christmas Is Just Around the Corner

I just purchased my third manger scene this year. In fact, it will go in my office this week to join two others that I keep up all year long. The other two new ones will stay at home and will go up the moment Kathy lets me put them out, maybe when we're cleaning up the dining room and kitchen after Thanksgiving dinner.

I am just a big "kid" when it comes to Christmas. Over the next weeks leading up to the actual day, I'll write several blogs about special memories and events, plus share a story or two. Here's the first wonderful memory.

I was raised in a Spanish speaking church. As a child, I could hardly wait each year until the annual Christmas pageant was held in our church. I remember this huge stage that stretched for hundreds of feet in each direction, with a cast of hundreds portraying the wonderful story of Christ coming to earth. It seemed like every adult in our church was in costume. Even though I had the story memorized, and I struggled to understand all the words (after all, it was in Spanish), it was new and fresh every year. To top it all off, as each child left the sanctuary that night, they were given a bag full of candy, nuts and a piece of fruit. Since my grandfather was the founding pastor of the church, I usually left with him and he was always the last one out. That usually meant that if there were any extra bags, I would get two. Every year I fell in love with the story again, and as I learned how to play the piano better, I began to contribute a little bit to the celebration. Even now, I can see the outline of the Inn, the stable with the manger, straw and farm animals drawn on the stable walls. What great memories...

Several years ago I had the opportunity to poke my head inside the church for a look, after having been gone from San Jose for many years. I couldn't believe how small the stage looked. How did they get all those people up there? I even checked to make sure that they hadn't remodeled the stage and reduced the size. Fortunately, when I think back and visualize those wonderful pageants, I see them like I remember them as a child. I wonder if they still do a pageant at the church? It would be great to visit one Christmas. Too bad the church isn't "just around the corner".