There are stories that as we hear them we assume them to be true. I can remember the tales about crocodiles growing up in the pipes below New York City and spiders growing up to be larger than a car. Given my logic and analysis of the time I could not find a reason to not believe. As I look around me the number of stories where I know better causes me to wonder aloud about what I may be taking for fact. Are they myths that shape my life? Do stories that have no foundation in fact drive my behavior? Am I living in a fantasy world?
You and I face a challenge in getting to the “truth”. We are overwhelmed by the quantity of data and myths mixed on the internet. Visual media delivers their messages to a public only too willing to believe. Print media takes on even more subtle bias reflecting the values publishers see in their readership. If you take this mix and add some hectic, stressed out, overworked lifestyles you get a dangerous mix. People too tired to be able to take the time to dig in, validate, confirm, and then accept.
This extends to all parts of our life. From leisure, to monitoring the world around me, to living and growing in the relationships that I hold dear, and even to work and the values that each of us hold most precious. Everywhere one looks one begins to wonder; is what I am seeing really true?
People often assume that heaven is a blissful, probably boring place where nothing ever happens. Everyone who lives will eventually end up there unless he or she is really terrible and even then God will do something to bring the souls to the right destination.
John records a heaven in the middle of a bloody war. “War broke out in Heaven. Michael and his Angels fought the Dragon.” (Revelation 12.7)
God is real. God is engaged. The only way you are going to know the truth is to have the relationship firsthand.
