this past weekend, jonathan and i took a trip to NYC. we saw the yankees play (poorly), we went to bryant park to glimpse a bit o' fashion, and we dined at the new family restaurant owned and operated by jonathan's cousin called Red Egg (which i HIGHLY reccommend if you are in NYC/Chinatown not far from Little Italy). if you don't trust me, read this review. when we weren't traipsing around the city, we stayed in jonathan's childhood home. jonathan's parents have quite a collection of books and i had the opportunity to browse their shelves. i concentrated on the one's that weren't in chinese (my chinese is REALLY bad), and of these, one in particular jumped out at me.
the book is called 201 great questions and the author is jerry d. jones. you can check it out here.
the cover let's you know it was published in the '80's. the book is not really a surprise - it has 201 questions in it (i have yet to determine if they are all "great" as we only made it to question 4. the questions are to spur conversation, get to know people better, and discuss your ideas about interesting topics. jonathan said we could take it for the car ride home, and when jonathan and i got stuck on question 4, i immediately thought it would be interesting to pose this question to my friends/family/whoever else is reading via this blog....soooo....here we go!!!
Question: If God put you completely in charge of creating heaven, what would it be like?
i'd like to hear/read some of your responses and then i'll post my own. not fair? well, ok. here's what i think.
DISCLAIMER: when i thought about this question i had to figure out if my heaven would be different than REAL heaven. i believe there is a REAL heaven with a REAL God. i don't know much about real heaven, but i know some about REAL God who created real heaven, hence my answer below.
ANSWER:
my heaven would essentially be a perfect earth. to be clear, it would not be earth as we know it now. my heaven would be earth without sin, suffering, selfishness, and separation from God. my heaven would be a place that is perfect, without suffering, each person serving and loving each other, and united together to glorify God.
on the surface that might sound kind of impossible but it's my heaven so it's possible. this idea might also sound kind of boring, but here's where it could be exciting! upon entry into my heaven, each person would learn why they were created and what made them unique - they would learn their purpose. each person would be FULLY KNOWN. i don't know about you but i wish i could be fully known right now and not have to wait until heaven. not having to explain and wonder and think so much. that sounds really nice.
after that, in my heaven you would get a nice one-on-one with God. you know, a time to reflect on your life, relive the highlights where maybe there would be some embarrassing video footage of you in coke-bottle glasses and a bad perm (hypothetical). and you could ask all of those questions for God you have compiled over a lifetime.... i'm starting a list so i don't forget. here's my top 10 so far:
1. cockroaches....WHY?
2. where exactly IS the garden of eden? the ark of the covenant?
3. how old are you? <-- hahaha trick question! 4. what was the most fun non-human thing you created? 5. what's the funniest joke you ever heard? 6. how big is space exactly? 7. what is stonehenge anyway? 8. of all the actors that have played you over eternity, which one was your favorite? 9. bugs in general....WHY? 10.
ok so after the question/answer session (assuming God is patient enough with me), is when the seemingly scary part would come where we would go over all of my mistakes, but WAIT! we don't do that!!! because jesus died on the cross for my sins and i accepted him into my life as my lord and savior i have a clean slate. it's as if i had to pay a fine for my mistakes/imperfections to enter into heaven, but jesus already picked up my tab so i look perfect and i'm free to go in! so now i get to experience heaven in all it's glory and not be separated from God at all. this is the part that would be overwhelming because you would realize that you are FULLY KNOWN and FULLY LOVED! plagerism fully intended here because i think this is really where my heaven and real heaven are pretty spot on the same. let's ponder that, shall we?.......
finally, my heaven would be FULL OF BEAUTY. i love the natural earth and being outdoors. i remember my first experience with God was in a summer camp where i looked around at nature and thought "this is pretty, therefore God loves me." so in my heaven everywhere you look would be beautiful and amazing. think of the best sunset, the calmest beach, the most magnificant mountain with breathtaking views - and then multiply it by an imaginary number like eleventy kagillion and that's how beautiful my heaven would be. there would be perfect weather, the purest water, the clearest skies, the most healthy and plentiful animals (except bugs), and no suffering - the potential of the natural earth would be fully realized - everything in perfect equilibrium.
so what do we DO in my heaven? well, for a looooong time we are so overwhelmed by being fully known, fully loved, and being in a place full of beauty we just praise God. we use whatever God has purposed us to be to praise him. the artist paints, the singer belts 'em out, the speaker inspires, the thinker meditates, the cook makes amazing dinners. every person fully known, completely loved realizing their fullest potential in the most beautiful of spaces.
what do you think? is your heaven like mine? different? do you think there is a REAL heaven? let me know your thoughts....
