called to stand here

Someday… someday I might adopt an eternal perspective. I’m not there now. If I were, the acceptance of “ I AM ” as the answer to every question/challenge/problem in my life would satisfy. That isn’t the case, however.  In the meantime, struggle is the order of the day. The struggle for survival at multiple levels: physically, relationally, emotionally, culturally, spiritually, intellectually, socially… all of that, and more: gastronomically, visually, aurally, environmentally, politically, organizationally, economically… Struggle is the appropriate response to the challenges of all the above categories. Struggle that leads to success as often as I can achieve it, but it’s not always possible. There are levels of success and failure. Not all meals satisfy on all levels, but we get fed enough to survive. Or we don’t. Death is seen as the enemy to be hated, dreaded, contested, and ultimately overcome. The afterlife is the expectation of many, if not most, religions. Heaven or hell. Gr...

Seeing with two eyes imparts depth to our vision. Hearing with two ears imparts depth to our hearing. The slightly different positions of the pair of eyes and the pair of ears from each other gives each ear and each eye a unique perspective that combines with its mate. Mated but unique pairs provide a fulness to perception, both visual and aural. With it, we can locate the object or sound in relation to ourselves. Without it, we’re missing the essential triangulation that is essential for precise location. With it, we have higher success rates in our hunting; without it, lower success. Yes. But so what? It’s just the most obvious analog of a principle that extends everywhere in life and relationship. Culture is based on this principle. Its negation is this: uniformity is sterile. One version of the principle is this: higher forms of life require at least bi- or multi-form expressions. It takes two to tango. It takes two (at least) to negotiate. It takes two (at least) to have a con...

When most Christians think about heaven, I believe they think about the end of suffering, and very little else. The idea that eternity will be spent worshipping the triune God is beyond what most of can conceive. The simplistic picture of playing harps on clouds is an unfortunate rut that endures without a more compelling thought to replace it. I think that’s one reason most people just don’t think about heaven or eternity much. It makes their heads hurt. The belief that there will be a pre- or mid-tribulation rapture of believers has weak evidence in my view. I take Jesus’ words in Matt. 24:29-31 at face value: “AFTER the tribulation… he will send out his angels … and they will gather his elect…” How might this unfold? I believe that the believers will be most focused on forming a welcoming party to receive the conquering king. Rather than focusing on the idea of being raptured out of the tribulation, the believers will be celebrating the arrival (the Advent in Latin, the Parousi...