Dear Family,
What I’m about to write probably comes under the heading of dumb, but as I write, it is early in the week and no one won the Powerball last night (Halloween.) Perhaps Wednesday is someone’s “lucky” day.
The ‘dumb heading’ part is a question: Can I get as excited about going to heaven as I can about winning the Powerball? Part of the issue is that Powerball is a here-and-now thing whereas our heavenly anticipations are a part of our lives all the time.
To be honest, I really am not that excited about Powerball, but it did get me thinking about just how excited I am about heaven. After all, isn’t anticipation half the fun?
I was talking with someone last week about the idea of going to heaven. I wondered if when we were growing up, subconsciously we picked up the idea that saying you were going to heaven was really presumptuous.
At 81, I find the question has a shade more urgency, although I have told many I’m going to be here at least until 2029. My recently renewed driver’s license is good until then and I don’t want to give back to Florida any of that time.
Between now and 2029, I’d like to think I can, and ought, to try and ramp up my enthusiasm for heavenly wonders. One factor that makes it a little harder to do is that we don’t know what lies in store for us. “Eye has not seen; ear has not heard...” (I Cor 2:9) We probably can be a little more concrete about what we’d do with Powerball $$$.
Of course, there is the additional likelihood that having that much money would create an endless list of aggravations and irritations we had not anticipated. At least in my own mind, one good thing would be that it wouldn’t be my siblings who would be one of those problems. I’d share, but not because they would have asked. Another reason to thank the Lord!
Hopefully, I can depend upon the Lord to “help me preach” about this weekend’s readings. The single-mindedness of the seven brothers and their mother is really moving, and very much on point when it comes to being focused on eternity. The Psalm response says it all: “Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.” Sounds like it’s worth waiting for, doesn’t it?
Gear Switch
VOTE ON TUESDAY! We have a great country. Over the centuries it has stood as a model of democracy for many nations. One of the reasons it has been great is because we have taken on the responsibility of participating.
The freedom to participate has insured that we have the place and the space to practice what we believe. Maintaining that place and that space stands as our highest goal.
I’m sure in our history there have been tremendous challenges to preserving the greatness. In our own present time that greatness surely seems to be undergoing terrible challenges. Are they worse than other times? After all, we did have a Civil War.
Nevertheless, in our own age, we seem to be enmeshed in tangles of mindless controversies that seem insurmountable. I believe at least one way of trying to untie the knots and loosening the nets is doing what is our special privilege: VOTING! If sin is an abuse of a relationship, then I think not voting is a sin against our society. You can quote me!
In Jesus,
