Surely some of the grandest of God's creation yet unspoiled by the hand of man! That was Alaska's Inside Passage as we experienced it aboard and ashore from The Dawn Princess, sailing from picturesque Seattle, Washington on Saturday, August 26, 2006 and returning on Saturday, September 2. The cruise ship itself is a floating village 856 feet long, 13 stories high and home for a week to more than 2,000 passengers of all ages and stations in life hailing from six continents and islands of the seas. Yet for all the cosmopolitan diversity, it was a small world still. One day we chatted with a … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2012
THROUGH A PERSONAL STORM (1)
It was Sunday, September 7 (2008) and the aftermath of Hurricane Hanna had blown through New York the night before. The afternoon sun shone brightly as the Caribbean Princess glided through New York Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty into the Atlantic Ocean. For a year we had anticipated this seven-day cruise with our friends Mark & Phyllis Whitt, to Halifax, Nova Scotia and back to New York, with stops at St. John (New Brunswick), Bar Harbor (Maine), Boston (Mass.) and Newport (R.I.) along the way. By midweek, I became increasingly short of breath but pressed on. After a severe asthma … [Read more...]
THROUGH A PERSONAL STORM (1)
As you know, Hurricane Ike unleashed its wrath on South Texas last week (September 2008), with disastrous consequences on states as far removed as Indiana and Ohio. The storm took precious lives, destroyed billions of dollars in property and still leaves millions of people without electrical or other basic services. So today I pray for every victim of Ike, and give thanks for protection of my own and others' homes, an undeserved mercy which has no rational explanation in view of losses suffered by many faithful servants of God. I also give thanks for deliverance through a personal storm … [Read more...]
WHEN A PET DIES
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "We are in the process of watching a family dog die, and I'm feeling rather inadequate to prepare my children for this inevitable event. Has God no further use for animals after life on earth? I would appreciate your thoughts." * * * I don't know any New Testament passage that clearly says animals will inhabit the Age to Come. However the prophet Isaiah includes animals in his portrayals of God's promised future (Isa. 11:6-9; 65:17, 25). The Apostle Paul also says that "creation itself" awaits its final redemption, which could easily include its animal … [Read more...]
TIME AND ETERNITY
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "My question concerns the statement in Revelation 10:6 that "time shall be no more" (KJV), which the NIV translates 'there shall be no more delay.' Is time done away in the future eternal kingdom of God? Do the new creation and the New Jerusalem function beyond the confines of space-time-matter-energy? Will we transcend time in eternity?" * * * The New International Version is surely correct in its translation here. This passage says nothing about "time" in eternity, but only that there will be no "delay" in the transpiring scenes of the vision which John is … [Read more...]
WILL WE REMEMBER THIS LIFE IN ETERNITY?
A member of our circle notes God's declaration in Isaiah 65:17 that the "former things" will not be remembered in the new heavens and new earth. "Does that include people and relationships," he asks, "and questions we now have?" * * * We need not reach that conclusion, it seems to me, since the preceding verse assures us that the "former things" which are forgotten are the "former troubles" which God's faithful people had experienced at the hand of the godless and profane (Isa. 65:16). Life in the "new heavens and new earth," in this vision, includes families, old people and new babies being … [Read more...]
ACTIVITY IN ETERNITY
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "When I consider an eternity of praising God, it scares me that I think that I will get bored. I pray all the time for God to give me the kind of heart that will make that thought desirable, but nothing happens. What's wrong with me?" * * * Perhaps you have been wrongly taught. God's people certainly will praise him in eternity and enjoy unhindered fellowship with him face to face (Rev. 22:5). That does not necessarily involve formal religious services, it seems to me, for God and the Lamb (Jesus) will be right there with us -- a reality to which all earthly … [Read more...]
NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH (2)
A gracEmail subscriber asks for "a bit more elaboration" on the notion that God's redemption will include the creation itself as well as individual children, women and men. * * * According to the Bible, God brought the physical universe into existence and he heartily approved of all that he originally made (Gen. 1:1, 31). From dust of the earth God formed a man-creature, breathed life breath into his elemental nostrils and -- voila! -- Adam became a living soul. God then exquisitely shaped Eve, the woman-creature, and placed the two humans over the rest of the material creation to tend it, … [Read more...]
NEW HEAVENS AND EARTH (1)
A gracEmail subscriber asks for "a bit more elaboration" on the notion that God's redemption will include the creation itself as well as individual children, women and men. * * * According to the Bible, God brought the physical universe into existence and he heartily approved of all that he originally made (Gen. 1:1, 31). From dust of the earth God formed a man-creature, breathed life breath into his elemental nostrils and -- voila! -- Adam became a living soul. God then exquisitely shaped Eve, the woman-creature, and placed the two humans over the rest of the material creation to tend it, … [Read more...]
GOING TO HEAVEN
"I hear people talk about 'going to heaven,'" writes a gracEmail subscriber. "Does the Bible say that the saved will go there? If it does, do people 'go to heaven' as soon as they die, or at the end of the world?" * * * Scripture assures us that believers now have a house that is from heaven (2 Cor. 5:2), treasures in heaven (Matt. 6:20), reward in heaven (Lk. 6:23), names written in heaven (Lk. 10:20), citizenship in heaven (Phil. 3:20), a hope in heaven (Col. 1:5), and an inheritance in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4). Yet, surprising as it may seem, the Bible nowhere says that the redeemed will go to … [Read more...]