Ah, Politics...

This video combined with the fact that our elected officials spend a ridiculous amount of time campaigning for re-election (anywhere from 30% to 70(!)%) instead of the job they were elected to do perfectly summarize what is awesome about our system of government in theory and how it is fundamentally broken in practice.

Ultimately though, where I stand on politics is pretty simple:

No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.
 - 2 Timothy 2:4

I apply this to politics -- I believe we as Christians are called to focus on pleasing God, which cannot coexist with concentrating our hope or energy on trying to find earthly solutions.

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
 - 1 Corinthians 15:33

This one's pretty much a no-brainer as to how it applies to politics. :)

(Think about it: how many times have you heard about someone just elected to office who was non-political and going to "shake things up"...and never heard about or from them again? They either got chewed up and spit out or fully assimilated.)

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I do vote. In my teens and 20s I leaned left; in my 30s and 40s I tended to lean right; now, I pretty much just lean away. I am registered NP (Non-partisan), and I truly take every issue and candidate individually. This is one of the reasons I vote by mail, because it takes me HOURS! I also get involved occasionally (letters, petitions, and even sometimes protests). I do not, however, put my hope in politics. To me, it's just an endless tug-o'-war, with very little of real value ever accomplished. Consider that the Jews of Jesus' day wanted him to overthrow the Roman Empire and return them to power physically; yet, there is a reason Jesus didn't run for office or anything like it. Getting to the heart is the only way to bring about true, lasting change.

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Now for the good news!  That's right: NO POLITICS IN HEAVEN!

In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
 - Daniel 7:13-14

God is in charge.
And his reign will be forever.
No tug-o'-war; no debates; no philosophies. Just God.
And since God is the very definition of "good," "love," and the like, this is something I very much look forward to!

Custom Built

Do you ever watch those shows on HGTV and other channels where people are looking for a home?  Or, have you, yourself, been through the experience of looking for a home, especially a home to purchase?  Boy do we have our specific criteria: the size of the home, how many rooms, the color(s) of each room, the view it should have, the yard it should have, the amenities it should have...and so on.

Now, unless you are truly wealthy, you always end up having to make some sort of compromise; you never get everything exactly as you wanted.  On the other hand, I know of someone who recently purchased a $55 million home, then spent $45 million to customize it!

Yeeeaaah...I'm pretty sure I won't be able to relate to that experience in this life.

HOWEVER....

...Jesus promised that he is preparing a place for me in heaven:

In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
 - John 14:2-3

When I get to heaven, I will have my own place, prepared just for me, by Jesus himself!  (I mean, Jesus treated his followers individually while he was here; how much more will he customize our rooms/places in heaven?)

How exactly will this look?  I don't know.  Will my place have an awesome game room?  Will it have a killer pool?  Will it be the starship Enterprise, under my command??

One thing we know is that Jesus can do "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20).  (I don't know about you, but I often feel like Han Solo with that concept: "I don't know; I can imagine quite a bit.")  So one thing's for sure (no, not that we're all gonna be a lot thinner): it is going to be AWESOME!!  I can hardly wait!

Plus(!), even the $55 million homes are here today and gone tomorrow; my home in heaven is eternal, paid for, and will never need any kind of maintenance whatsoever.  I'd say that is well worth the wait!

(Man, just imagine that house-warming party....)

All Play And No Work

There are those in this world who truly love their jobs.  I cannot relate.

‎So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.
- Peter, Office Space

Yeeeaaah...now that one I get.  I like to play!  (Now, to clarify, as long as I have to work, I will do so "as working for the Lord;" but, let's face it, most of us work because we have to, not because we want to.)

Did you know that work, as we know it, is a curse?

To Adam [God] said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,'
  "Cursed is the ground because of you; 
   through painful toil you will eat food from it 
   all the days of your life. 
It will produce thorns and thistles for you, 
   and you will eat the plants of the field. 
By the sweat of your brow 
   you will eat your food 
until you return to the ground...."
(Genesis 3:17-19)


When I get to heaven, however, I will finally have rest from all this toilsome labor!


There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
(Hebrews 4:9-10)

No work.  No toil.  No meetings.  No administrative nonsense.  No customers.  No bosses.  No budgets.  No deadlines.  No goals.  No hoops.  No "dog and pony."  (Did I already say, "no customers"?)

Just rest and play and joy!

I think about my favorite vacation, or relaxing on a lazy weekend, and then I think about how heaven will be unimaginably better...forever...and a little more of this doesn't seem so bad.

Death and Destruction

With the horror Japan has been experiencing this week, I have been thinking about all the natural disasters and subsequent destruction and death we've experienced or witnessed over the past several years (earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions).  These kinds of events truly break my heart; I'm not even able to watch the actual tsunami/flood footage.  Unfortunately, these kinds of events are often twisted by some to mean something they don't necessarily mean.  I find this "wrath of God" nonsense to be insensitive and repulsive, when we who call ourselves Christians are supposed to be a light to this dark world.

It is at times like this, more than any other perhaps, that we should be serving and ministering to needs without making claims that could not possibly be substantiated!  Maybe we should just stick to trying to imitate Jesus:


As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
   “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him."
(John 9:1-3)

After saying a few more things, Jesus simply healed the man.  Let us focus on meeting the needs; and, maybe, instead of howling fire and brimstone judgment that is not ours to make, we could try to comfort people by sharing with them that all this death and destruction do not exist in heaven!

Reunited, And It Feels So Good

Like so many, I have lost people very dear to me.  The most recent was a dear friend and an amazing man.  He died suddenly and tragically: he drowned during a family reunion trip.  The fact that he was very fit and athletic just added maddening irony to the whole thing!

A week or so after it happened, I drove to the location, sat on the shore, and talked to both him and God.  It was rough, but it was helpful too.  While making my way through the stages of grief, I found comfort in God's word:


The righteous perish, 
   and no one takes it to heart; 
the devout are taken away, 
   and no one understands 
that the righteous are taken away 
   to be spared from evil.
(Isaiah 57:1)

Pondering this verse and my friend's death led me to a recent theory that some people do, in fact, "arrive;" and, like Elijah, soon after get to go home younger than the rest of us.  (I've already shared this in more detail via a "Note" on my Facebook; so, I will leave it at that for now.)

When I sit and think about my friend Tom, it still brings tears.  I know, though, that when I get to heaven, I will see him again...and "what a day of rejoicing that will be!"

Why This Blog

I became a Christian on July 17, 1994. In the time since, I have had many struggles, experienced many victories, and have learned many lessons. At this point in my life, I believe the only way to "fail" in this life, whether as a Christian or in any other area, is to give up. I also believe that the only way to succeed is to keep your mind and heart set on the goal.

For Christians, the ultimate goal of our faith is heaven; thus, this must be our focus.

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:1-2).

Another thing I have learned is that this setting of our hearts and minds is not a once-for-all thing. Life happens. Jesus promised us, in fact, that each day would have "enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:34). This blog, at least for the time being, is my way of fighting this fight.