Heaven w/o God?

Sounds funny huh? I truly believe that there are believers that could get to heaven and not even notice if God was absent (this couldn't happen - but stay with me - it's all hypothetical). As long as their mansion was furnished to their taste, friends were available to "hang out" for thousands of years on each other's front porch, the sacred baseball diamond was manicured to perfection and ready for play, there was always an open tee-time for the "Dream 18," the food was exceptional gourmet quality, the great fishing hole in the sky always had ginormous bass, and their crown fit just right on their head and showcased all of their jewels. I say much of this "tongue and cheek," but some of it may be more true than we want to admit.

Here is the problem with that thought process. God is the very essence of heaven. He makes heaven heaven. Without Him what's the point. Heaven exists because of God. There would be no point in being there without God, but so many people are worried about filling the time in eternity that the peripheral things become primary. Without God heaven would be void. There would be no lights because His glory illuminates heaven (Rev. 21:23). Even the peripheral things wouldn't be there because God is the furnisher. Heaven just isn't heaven without God.

John Piper speaks of the magnitude of God concerning our time in heaven, and it has rattled my cage ever since I heard his sermon over the doxology at the end of Romans 11. The old time saying, "we will be perfect when we get to heaven" has been tainted over the years. I think Piper gets it right when he says that we will understand everything we thought we new on earth correctly once we get to heaven. Then he goes on to say that every day for eternity, we will incrementally learn more and more about God. WOW, that's unreal! Go put that in your theological pipe and smoke it.

How big is your God?

Proud Papa

I can't believe that my little boy is gonna be 1 this Thursday. It seems like yesterday that he popped out of Mama just over 2 months early. He stayed in the NICU for a month and came home at 5 lbs. Now he is a chunk and getting into everything. It won't be long before he will start taking his first steps. Now that I am in Spring and my family is back home, it makes it real hard to be apart from Amanda and Luke. This is only the first week that I have been away from them, and the separation is killing me. I fully expect we will sell our old house, and they will be here by the middle part of August.

New position at Memorial Baptist Church

This is my first week on the job as full-time youth minister at Memorial Baptist Church in Spring, TX. The transition from Old First Orange to here has been a roller coaster. I had to leave after an awesome week at camp to finish at Old First and come to the big city of Houston. I don't think anyone actually wants to move to Houston but work brings us here. God has overcome my anxiety for moving to Houston, and I am excited to see what He has in store.