i have been thinking a lot about heaven lately. i guess i hadn't ever put a lot of thought into it. or, i tried to put a bold face on it since all i'd really heard of it is the weird sounding stuff in revelation, or that the streets are paved with gold, or that Jesus is there building a mansion for me. frankly, those things did not excite me.
my favorite books in the whole wide world are the chronicles of narnia. i have read them about once a year since i was ten. c.s. lewis has a way of blowing open my imagination in all he writes, but especially those novels about narnia. and since i've been thinking of heaven more recently, when i read the last battle this last time, i was completely floored by the way he describes heaven, or aslan's country. my goodness, i want to go there. everything is just like narnia, just like our present world, except that all sin and darkness and pain and sadness is GONE. the characters could run and run without getting tired, could climb mountains, and they had all of eternity to explore with aslan.
THAT is the kind of heaven i want to feel free to dream about. to get to BE with Jesus forever, worshipping Him, and exploring His creation with Him without any fear. i was joking with joy and jerilyn last night about how if God knew me, which He does, He would know that i do not want to live in a mansion for all eternity; i would much rather He built me a treehouse in the forest between the austrian alps and the oregon coast! He and i could live there, being together and exploring without fear of darkness or evil or bugs or height or depth or any other created thing.
i long to worship God without any distractions. shoot, i distract myself when i try to worship. and i do not mean solely through music. my sin is so woven through my life that it's hard to truly, honestly worship God without something pulling me away. even time. it will be so wonderful to not have time restraints in heaven!
and you know, i have no idea what heaven will be like. who does? but i feel free to dream, since God knows how He made me and how i would like to imagine things. i'm pretty sure heaven will not be a disappointment, anyway. even if we don't know hardly a thing about it, i think we should start getting excited. we will get to SEE GOD! and Jesus!
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
