The Great Divorce - the Process

C.S. Lewis in his book The Great Divorce discusses the afterlife with a rather unique perspective. he presents the idea that "I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road....Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good. Time does not heal it."

The book talks about the journey of those who have passed from this life into the next. Now, the former fundamentalist side in me screams that the point of salvation is to rest forever in heaven with God so that we don't perish in everlasting torment. After all hell is reserved for those who clearly deserve it and those who just didn't get a chance to hear about Jesus. But the point of salvation rested in the 'transaction' of the recieving. I heard and used the prototypical evangelical question. "If you died tonight, do you know if you'd spend eternity with God?" Or I asked, "if you were standing in front of the pearly gates and God asked you why He should let you into His heaven, what would your answer be?"

These questions scared me. And when I used them on others it scared them too...well, the ones who actually cared about being saved. The ones who blew me off were probably destined for torment, so it was their fault for not being scared.

Now, the current me has changed a bit since then. I've grown to learn that salvation is more a journey of relationship rather than a 1 time obeying of the Gospel. I hear that...they 'obeyed the gospel.' Well, good. Are they still obeying it or was it just that once? In 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul uses the term 'we are being saved.' He also brings up in 2 Corinthians 2:15. This statement was very intriguing to me because I never thought of it as a process. I dealt with absolutes. Right or wrong...no gray areas. But the idea of the grace that this statement presents is very comforting.

I've grown to learn that salvation is a growing process...a relational process. It is not programmatic nor is it committee based. Evangelism doesn't have to be scary. Unless you don't like people...then it might be scary. But more on evangelism later.

C.S. Lewis presents people as completely imperfect. Not in control. The struggle still present after death with those who have found themselves on the frontiers of heaven. How we hold onto things and think for a moment that we know better. In upcoming blogs I'll be talking about certain characters that are revealed and how I find a bit of myself in most all of them.

I'd love to hear your comments...

A New Normal

It’s been quite some time since my last post. Partly due to the fact that I really just didn’t want to write about anything. When you’re unpacking, painting, working a lot and not spending enough time with family - words are used more for speaking than writing. We’re in the house now and it’s still more than we expected. I’m still amazed at how God seems to over indulge his kids sometimes. He gives us more than we expected…well, maybe not more, but better. Quality, not quantity I guess. Overall, we sleep well.

As far as thinking goes, Shelly and I have been talking a lot about what it means to live well. When we’re bound to the ruts of our making, whether in lifestyle, or social interaction, we fail to fully realize the freedom that we have been given. It’s difficult to get out of those ‘same ole-same ole’ ways. It’s difficult to forge new process thereby creating sort of a new normal for ourselves. But, the new normal begins with conversation.

There’s a book that deals with our past, and our future. It deals with the idea of what it means to get rid of ourselves. CS Lewis tells an interesting tale about possibilities of the afterlife. It’s an original story full of interesting and provocative characters. One character might remind you of yourself or someone you know.. What I would encourage you to do is to go buy it – It’s called The Great Divorce.



http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0060652950&itm=1

This will be the subject of my posts for a few weeks to come. So - I’m getting out of my rut now. I’m going to attempt to rough ride my way into a whole new rut…hey I gotta start somewhere!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I’ve recently been a busy bee.  We’re getting ready to move from our luxurious 750 Square foot palacial estate to a much larger plantation type home.  Of course, the plantation is not necessarily true, but it is larger than we thought we could afford, but by the grace and blessing of God, we’ve been able to go forward with the purchase.  Now, what I’ve realized is that buying a house takes a LOT of time.  I’m busy, yes, but when you add in the house walkthroughs, the meetings, the other things, the business just adds up.  

The good thing, besides the rockin house, is that I’ve been able to realize exactly how much time I waste on an average day.  I try to be responsible, yet sometimes, we waste time doing the piddly things.  Now, this has gotten me to thinking about my life.   It seems that the one thing that Satan likes to do more than anything is to get me to waste my time.  If he can get me to waste my time then I won’t be effective.  I’ll get down on myself.  I’ll become distracted from my real purpose.  I’ll become rushed trying to make up for lost time.  I don’t want that.  I want to be busy, but not because I have to be, but because I want to be.  

Just some thoughts…

WOW

WOW!

I can’t believe how much stuff one can accumulate over a 5 year period. Useless stuff that we don’t really use…but we might, so we keep it. We’ve just spent the last 3 days moving out of our current house into a temporary smaller house, (located directly adjacent to Shelly’s Parent’s house.) But, this wasn’t because we were kicked out or foreclosed on…we just happened to sell our house a bit too soon. Some of our house purchase deals weren’t quite right, so we decided to go ahead and move out despite the difficulties.

Liv, our daughter absolutely loves it. She’s three and just yesterday morning, her wake up words were, “good morning mommy, I’m going to say good morning to Nana and Papa now.” We have to try to tell her that just because we are on the same lot of land doesn’t really mean that they want to see us constantly. Well, they might want to see her maybe, but probably not us. So, that leaves me here, worn out, or as a friend said to me, “You look plum tuckered!” I told her…”Yes I am.” That’s my life this week. I’ll give more details later.

Narnia

Saw Narnia today. It's a new resolution of mine to go and see more movies. Not for recreation mind you, but mainly to keep up with the culture. Now there are a lot of bad movies out there, but occasionally one actually makes a crease in your memory. Narnia, moved me. The parallels are enticing. The story, I've always thought, was strange. The play, done by mainly by high schools now, is just drudgery. I did it in high school. Although the relieving moment came when my best friend Paul flint came out at the last moment dressed as the cowardly lion, er...Aslan. Now that was funny.
Nevertheless, This film urges me to consider myself in relation to each child. It seems I relate most to the traitor Edmond. But I wish to be magnificent and face my fears and fight my battles as Peter did. But too often I rationalize things away like Susan. But it all really comes down to little Lucy. Could we have the childlike qualities that help us overcome fear and be willing to sacrifice our comfort in order to help others? If you haven't seen it, I urge you to do so. Although I wouldn't take 7 and younger because of some pretty violent images.

Just some thoughts.

A whole new Year!

I know, I know, I haven't updated since December 5th. Well, that's another new resolution. I will write at least 2 to 3 times per week. What does it really matter anyway huh? These are just words of rambling from someone who may or may not be insane. Yes, 2005 wasn't the best year for us. In fact it was not good at all. Of course, we still have our family and our jobs, and laughter and money...some in our country do not. We still have the ability to walk around on our own two legs and flip the remote with our ten fingers...some in our country do not. We have the ability to work and take care of ourselves...some do not. All in all, we're alive, healthy and still fighting the fight. At least that means something!

I was watching Dick Clark on New Year's eve. The guy is AMAZING! He had a stroke but still found the guts and determination to go on the air, slur and all, and do what he loves. And when the clock struck 12, he kissed his wife - passionately. (at least, I think that was his wife) WOW! It looked like he was just so happy to be alive! Inspiring.

As for me...I look for the good in the new year. It's time for some good things to happen. Not just for my family, but for the world. But I don't really have control over a lot of that, so I'll focus on doing what I can to change my world. That includes those around me.

So, here's to 2005. Thanks for coming and Going. Here's to 2006. I hope we miss your departure.

This Moment

I’m listening to Pink Moon by Nick Drake right now. I don’t know why it is, but I love this song. It kind of centers me. I’m not even sure what it means really, but the images that it gives me are serene and confident. It’s like I have the whole world in front of me, and a lifetime of experience behind me. I guess that’s true regardless, but it just sounds better saying that while I’m listening to the song. I’m in the midst of the struggle. You know, those daily things that could get you down if you let them? I’m in the middle of it. That’s ok though. That’s life isn’t it? You get through and sometimes you laugh, and sometimes you weep. Your mood determines your spirit sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t.

Of course then you have those moments of complete happiness and laughter. The moments when the music seems so inspiring that just by listening to it, you could do anything. “Each passing moment is another chance to turn it all around.” That was a quote by one of the characters in the Tom Cruise movie Vanilla Sky. It is an enormous truth wrapped up in a short 11 words. So…I’ll take this moment. I’ll enjoy it. I’ll just think about the Pink Moon…whatever that is.

We'll never really know until...

It’s Thursday. I got back into town Tuesday night from a fun-filled week in Disney with my family. My 3 year old was simply amazed at this whole new world. To her, it was real. She loves Belle from Beauty and the Beast, so when she saw her at a lunch, she couldn’t take her eyes off of her. I couldn’t take my eyes off of my daughter. That uninhibited stare. The adoration…actually it was more amazement I think. She had seen this princess on the magic boxes in her living room and in our Mini. But, now she was actually seeing her live for the very first time. It was a moment to remember…for me really. I’m sure she’ll probably forget. But I won’t.

I’m glad we went. This week I realized how crazy in love I am with my wife and my daughter. I would have done anything for them. Before we went, we would tell her about Disney and she would smile a little. But it was kind of like the Bible describing heaven to us. We can only imagine what it is through the words that people use in the description. We’ll never really know what it’s like until we get there. When Liv walked through those gates and saw the castle towering before her, she couldn’t do anything but giggle. The excitement just shot out of her. And her eyes - to see her seeing that place for the first time – wow! I think Jesus is going to want to walk with us through heaven for the first time. But, to him, he’ll be more interested in seeing that excited look on our faces. He’s described it to us, but He knows that we’ll never really understand until we get there. Of course, I’m sure it’ll be a bit better than Disney.

Intro Video Project

I just finished another Sunday Morning Intro Video. I tell you…this was like pulling teeth. I was trying to get something that was a bit more modern, but I think I ended up doing something similar to what I’ve already done. It’s interesting because I approach these things with a truly clean slate, I don’t want to repeat and I don’t want to do something that mimics Michelangelo. I want to start simple and let the creativity guide me. Sometimes I know it’s clicking! Other times I just have to finish or start all over.

With this particular project, I was trying to go with something that wouldn’t outdo the images. I wanted a look that was basic, but interesting. I was looking through a magazine called Dynamic Graphics and got an idea for a look that included straight lines, circles and basic, thinner style text. I liked the look, but wasn’t sure how to incorporate it. I started with some circles, but thought they looked kind of forced. I ended up with just one straight line and frames panning from right to left in a complete moving motion. Different colors highlight the piece, but the focus is on the images and the text scrolling across the screen.

The song is “clap your hands.” I experimented with some still images of clapping hands, but that looked just plain creepy…free floating hands moving unnaturally…creepy. So I focused on the text and the images. Still, after inserting the images, it just didn’t feel great to me.

I honestly worked on this 1-minute piece for about 30+ hours total. Of course, if you haven’t already noticed, I think it’s good, but I don’t think it’s one for the highlight reel. It did, however, teach me some things. What…I don’t know…but I’m sure I learned something. View the video (3 mb).

The Feel of History

While in Nashville, we went to the original Grand Ole Opry. I walked in, not really knowing what to expect, but was actually moved to emotion as I stepped foot inside this historic landmark. Yeah, I’ll admit it, I grew up with parents who were, ‘closet’ Hee-Haw lovers. (Mom, Dad, if you’re reading this, then just admit it…) I actually liked it myself. We would enjoy it most every Saturday at 6:00 p.m., especially when we went to Mama and Papa’s place. That was my only escape from the small chitchat and conversation, which isn’t really that good as an 8 year old anyway, so I was actually sparing my relatives from meaningless and forgetful conversation.

As I walked in I could just feel it. You know when you sit in a chair that has been recently occupied by someone else? The warmth that you feel is an immediate reminder that someone was there. This is what I felt. Honestly, the echoes of music and laughter and emotion caught up with me and for a brief moment I breathed in deep, like you do when you’re trying not to weep. My breath stammered a bit and I just closed my eyes and tried to see and hear those years of life being lived and sung about from the likes of Patsy Cline, Roy Acuff, Gene Autry, Bob Hope, Minnie Pearl, and yes, John Bon Jovi. I didn’t expect to be hit like that.

I wonder if my life will leave such an impression. I wonder if my church…or my Christian brothers and sisters could inhabit a place with such passion that the very presence of that passion lingers? I wonder. (Hebrews 12:1)

The only way I could remember it was to revert to my tourist tendencies, so Shelly took a picture.

Now, I can say that I have stood where they stood and I’ve seen some of what they’ve seen. I am glad that I could piggyback on the passion of their lives.

Of course, I took a picture of Shelly as well and thought, now that's passion!

The Core

I just got back from a Worship Conference in Nashville called the “Look to the hills conference.” Shelly and I were able to spend Wednesday through Sunday in the Tennessee hills communing with God and with each other. This was vastly different from the Chicago “Willow Arts Conference” that we went to back in June. The conference was about the ways in which we see our people and our church relating to the world. Although I was a bit disappointed with the organizational aspect of the entire week, I was encouraged by some of the content.

My wife has such a good way of seeing and putting things-so discerning. She has a gift. Something I can only hope to one day attain. But she said, some of these topics, the things talked about by Mike Cope, Jeff Walling and some of the other speakers hit right at the ‘core’ of what the message of God is all about. The Incarnation of Jesus - how can we be Jesus to the world? It was so poignant to me. I realized that at times Christians become disgusted with the world and with what our nation has become. We become upset at how TV has gotten so trashy and how films have become so frivolous with morality. I have heard voices of hatred for the world from some Christians…at times I have been that voice.

But, what I’m being reminded of is that Jesus did not hate the world. (John 3:17) He was not shocked by the world’s lack of morality. He Loved The World. And when he approached us he didn’t do it with an attitude of Judgment. He didn’t expect us to meet him where he was. He didn’t have make people see that he was God before he would get to know us. He lived his life in relationship with people. He lived his life respecting people and showing them their value.

That is what it means to be Jesus today. It may mean not caring if someone is Jehovah’s Witness, or Muslim or Hindu…It may mean respecting their past and building relationship with them. It may mean that we love them and not expect them to come to church with us. Being Jesus isn’t getting someone to see God and then moving along to someone or something else. It’s letting them see God through me. My life, my friendship and hospitality. Breaking bread shouldn’t be restricted to Christians. I should be inviting others to break bread with me. That’s what Jesus did. And when we talk about the core of Christianity, we’re talking about Jesus.