How do you imagine heaven? Or don't you? That is precisely my problem. I (Gretchen) don't imagine heaven often enough. I am tooooo earthly-minded. I am so focused on the thousand little tasks I do throughout my day, my eyes pointed downward - toward my toddler and infant.
Justin and I started reading the book Heaven (by Randy Alcorn) together. And wow, what a breath of fresh air. To force myself to come to terms with the fact that the way I imagine has absolutely no biblical basis whatsoever! I picture Jesus on a throne and all the saints are surrounding the throne, singing, singing, singing. There are some angels flying overhead, and they're singing, too. And we all just sing. For eternity.
And I realized something. We as adults are not in the habit of exercising our imaginations. At least I'm not. Maybe you are. I remember when I was little and I used to play with my sisters. And we always had to decide what to "play" - store, house, tea party, bank... And we would insert ourselves into those scenarios, and our imaginations were so strong that we actually got excited about the corresponding real world opportunities!
If only I could abandon my shallow and boring and lifeless picture of heaven! After having read only the first couple chapters of Heaven that is exactly what is happening!
One of the girls in our youth group, Jona, recently read Alcorn's book. It had such an impact on her that she suggested to Justin and me that we do a Winter youth group retreat on the topic of heaven. We thought that was a great idea!! We are currently trying to find a venue for a retreat. So, please pray for this endeavor!
Oh yeah, and Happy Halloween!
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