Thoughts on Heaven: Stories in Heaven

People love stories. While styles and story structures change between different cultures and eras, the act of creating fiction transcends these times and places. Telling stories, like music or language, is one of the things which makes us human; it’s a part of who we are.

As the final question in my Thoughts on Heaven posts (part 1. and part 2), what will stories be like in Heaven? In Heaven we will be made perfect, we will at last be fully sanctified, but how will this affect the ways we tell stories? What will story structure be like then? Will we still see characters venture down the hero’s journey? Stories now are based on overcoming a conflict: an evil king, personal failure, a character flaw, but how will this be different in the unchanging state of Heaven? If we are no longer being transformed in nature (we will continue to learn, develop, and discover), will we find another way to create plot and story? Will conflict as the foundation for stories be replaced by something else? We have no way of knowing what stories will be like, but telling stories is such a part of who we are that surely it will continue on into eternity.

Another question I have is: will our stories from this age still be enjoyable? How will we, once in our final glorified state, relate back to our current tales about personal growth and overcoming an obstacle? Will our stories about imperfect characters, fighting evil or discovering who they are, be irrelevant to perfected us in Heaven? Or will our current stories be like children’s books which we have outgrown but still have fond memories of? And how will we relate to our memories of this life?

Will our perfection prevent us from relating to our imperfect selves now? Will our current struggles be alien to us in Heaven? I cannot imagine so, and that gives me hope both for my memories of this life and the stories we now tell. I am no longer nine years old, but I still appreciate my memories from when I was nine, and even when made completely whole these fallen earthly memories will forever be a part of the story of who I am.

Just like our memories, perhaps our modern stories will no longer inspire us toward who we can be (maybe they will somehow?), but they will still remind us of who we were and where we have come from. There is still great power in this.

Does God love us more than we deserve?

I want to share a short but encouraging thought I had about God's love for us:

Does God love us more than we deserve?

We humans may be loved more by God than our selfishness may hope for,
We may be loved more by God that we can expect to be loved by others or ourselves,

But if God as Creator is the one, and only one, who can truly declare someone or something's worth, value, or merit,

then we are loved exactly as much as God says we deserve.

and that value is beyond my finite comprehension

Living cross-culturally part 2.

This is my second post on living cross-culturally. See the first post here.

Besides the humbling process of being the guest in a foreign country, in our case France, living cross-culturally has helped humble me by bringing to light some of the sin and spiritual junk inside me. It is amazing all that we can keep bottled up and under control when we are living at home in the world we have grown up in, but take that level of comfort away, expose yourself to the endless drain of culture stress, and it is amazing what flaws and fears will bubble up to the surface. With the loss of cultural fluency and the ensuing powerlessness in the host culture, these character weaknesses are revealed. I believe this process has very little to do with the host country. France has been our crucible, but any country or place sufficiently different from our native lands will suffice for this process. While this is a hard process to endure, refinement always is, it is good. Exposing these faults to the light allows us to humbly surrender them to Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification. One example that God has shown me while in France is my anxiety.

779 days ago before we left for France, I would not have described myself as an anxious person. Today I have seen what a deep issue this was for me. The loss of my home culture created a profound awareness of my lack of control. This spurred in me the belief I had to control anything and everything I could. The only way to ensure something would work was to control for every detail possible. My anxiety drove me to control what I could and stress over the variables I could not. I had trouble falling asleep or waking in the middle of the night worrying. ‘What if I am missing some necessary piece of paperwork to renew our visas and our applications are denied and then we have to flee the country or face becoming illegal immigrants but we cannot find a way home so we are stuck living in some remote airport for all eternity?’ My mind would play these scenarios over and over. And once that crisis was over I would find a new subject to dwell on in the night: buying train tickets, finding someone to translate for me at an event, making it on time somewhere, paying taxes, etc.

But God was good and He began to work in me with regards to my anxiety. He first revealed that my anxiety stemmed from the belief that God was only with me on the macro scale; I knew He would be faithful with big picture things, but what about the day-to-day events? God had called us to France but what if that turned out to include a season where we had to wait in administrative purgatory until our papers were processed because of a mistake I made? I knew God loved me, but how did I know if I would be able to go home on vacation and see my family? Did I have a guarantee for such a small thing, and if not how could I ensure things worked out as I wanted? I believed I had to control these details.

Slowly God worked in me; through prayer and continuous laying down of my fears He eased my anxieties and showed Himself to be faithful both on the macro and micro scales. Because we have lived in France so long, I have been able to measure the progress of God’s transformation in me. We have had to renew our French visas twice now. The first time, a year ago, I was an emotional wreck and everything went fine. This year we had some hiccups with paperwork, had to come back a few weeks later and reapply, but I had God’s peace the entire time.

Surrendering my worry and trusting God continues to be an active choice I make; it is not yet “natural” for me, but God is faithful to walk with me through this process. Last week as we waited to pick up our new visa cards I felt the urge to worry what if the cards were not ready, and if not would that affect our ability to go home this Christmas? But I was able to brush these thoughts aside, to not allow them any headroom, and remind myself God was with me. I am learning to rely on God’s goodness and faithfulness, and I have been changed by His work in me.

I say all this to show a surprising benefit to living cross-culturally and share how God is using my circumstances to draw me into a deeper relationship with Him. How is God using your circumstances to change you? How have you seen the progress He is making?

Living cross-culturally part 1.

Emily and I arrived in France 767 days ago. Be sure to check out my photo-a-day blog. Living in France has been an incredible experience, one that has eternally changed me. It has been one of the most transformative choices we have made. It has been one of the most challenging choices we have made. I have learned so much from our time here, working with truly incredible people, and living in this wonderful place. And the bread here has ruined me for bread outside of France.

Our experience has been exactly what many other missionaries living in Europe had told us: living cross-culturally is extremely hard and you never get over culture-stress. Culture shock is the sense of confusion and frustration that engulfs someone when the "honeymoon” period of living in a new place fades. It is the utter disbelief at how another culture could function so differently from your home culture. Why can't people form a line to wait for the bus or the cashier? How is it possible in Grenoble, a metropolitan area of 500,000 people, for only one branch of our bank to accept cash deposits? The branch on campus opened our bank accounts, sold us renter's insurance, gave us our debit cards, PINs, and chequebooks, but the teller (not the atm) could not accept the 20€ I wanted to deposit for activating my new account. Instead, I had to go to the main branch in downtown to deposit cash. Thankfully, culture shock does pass; it takes time and perseverance, but it does not last forever. 

Culture stress is the fact that I am a Californian living in Grenoble, the fact that I am the stranger in a foreign land. Anytime there is a misunderstanding or conflict, it is the French culture which wins. I understand that it would be ridiculous of me to expect the French people around me to conform to my American ways. But it is hard that every day, with every misstep, I am the one who is wrong. It can be upsetting when, on top of the normal stresses of life, a cultural mishap thwarts your plans and leaves you feeling ridiculed for your cultural ineptitude. Someone is rude toward you and it's your fault for creating the awkward opportunity for them to be rude. It is not about logic or reason, it comes down to the fact that I am not at home here and everyone knows it the moment I open my mouth. Culture stress is described as a low-grade fever you never get over, and I must confess that after 767 days that is how it feels. I know that in time, perhaps on the order of years or decades, this fades away. 

One of the fruits of living here in France is the humbling process of culture stress. Being the person who does not know the culture, the language, or the customs puts you in a very dependent position. I need others to help me if only to verify that what I said in French actually makes sense. Being the outsider wears on you over time. The choices become either never leave your house, leave France, or humble yourself to your host culture. Humility is a hard concept to learn, I am very much still in progress, but living as a stranger in France has helped me along in this process. It has also made me extremely appreciative of the rare person who is kind and understanding toward me; who is patient with my less than perfect French skills, and who puts in extra effort to help me navigate life here. When we return to California, I want to find every opportunity to be like these gracious people and help others who are strangers and outsiders.

Thoughts on Heaven: Is Ministry a Temp Job?

This post is a continuation of the ideas laid out in my previous post "Thoughts on Heaven" and is a question I have been praying and wrestling about for a while: is ministry a temp job?

An aspect of Heaven which Scripture describes is that we will have jobs and roles in eternity (Gen 1.28, 1 Cor 6.2-3, Mt 19.28, Rev 3.21, 22.5). Immediately we think this sounds terrible; retirement is a dream of our modern era. This stems not from an eternal perspective on the nature of work, but is a consequence of living in a fallen world. Originally we were given the job of cultivating God’s good creation (Gen 1:26-30), and having work was a part of God’s design for humans. In Genesis 3:17-19 we see part of the curse is our work becomes difficult. Much of the enjoyment intended for our occupations has been replaced with weariness and struggle. But we still have a God-given desire to do, make, create, and work.

In light of eternity, what job security do I have as someone in full-time ministry? For those in vocational ministry, whether as a pastor of a local church, a campus minister, a cross-cultural missionary, or any number of other full-time positions, will we outgrow our need for ministry? Other jobs like engineers, baristas, and interior designers conceivably have a place in Heaven. Should pastors be concerned that one day we are doing to be replaced by the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11-18) himself? When Jesus came he made the high priest’s job redundant (Heb 4:14). Does the same fate await ministers in Heaven? What use will we have for sermons or Bible studies when standing in God’s presence? Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 that prophecies and speaking in tongues will cease in Heaven, and such means of experiencing God will be eclipsed by God Himself. What happens if a pastor’s only marketable skill or job experience is preaching? Does an infinity of unemployment await him or her?

Perhaps we will all have time to devote toward developing other jobs, tasks, and creative endeavors. My father-in-law (who is also in full-time ministry) says he is waiting until Heaven to learn to play the violin, so perhaps he will have a future in one of Heaven’s orchestras?

The good news is, despite the fact that we do not know what Heaven holds for the full-time minister, our God is far too creative to abandon us to idleness for eternity.

What are your thoughts? Have you found any scripture which sheds more light on this subject?