Thoughts on the Life Hereafter

I had a moment of both profundity and clarity on the way to work this morning (which in and of itself is profound seeing as how the drive takes me less than 10 min.). It was an answer to a question that I had been pondering in the back of my mind for some time now. The question was this:

If the world is eventually going to end and all the things that we know in it are going to turn to dust, then why does God allow it to be so full of detail?

Everywhere you look, someone has created something. Variety can be found in everything from socks to potato chips. There are more books that have been written than could ever be contained in any library. There are more songs composed then you could listen to in a lifetime. You could discover something new every day for your entire life and there would still be new things to learn about and try. So why all this variety? Why does God allow man to spend so much time on things that will eventually cease to exist? And then finally this morning I realized why. Who made man's mind that he could think of all these things? God did. When man creates something new, ultimately, God gets all the glory because He is the One who made it possible for man to think of so many things in the first place. Also, consider this: we really are unique, all of us. I think that is something that is easy to loose sight of sometimes. But in the billions of people that have lived on this earth, no two have ever been exactly alike. God gave us each something to offer the rest of the world. God didn't create groups and nationalities, He created individuals. This got me thinking a little further. I have, for a long time, been under the impression that when I die in exchange for my incorruptible body I will have to sort of loose my identity. In other words, when I get to Heaven I will cease to have all of the the qualities that make me who I am on earth. My idea of Heaven made all of it's inhabitants into something like angels, perfect beings whose only purpose is to worship God. I'm not sure where I got this from but I supppose it was a compilation of the many things that I had heard about Heaven durring childhood. However, I have recently realized, if God gave us all so much individuality on Earth, why would He take that away from us in Heaven? Being sinless doesn't mean I will be personalityless (look, I invented a word). In fact, all those facets of my personality that don't get used to their fullest on Earth may have actually been intended for Heaven in the first place! I must say that the book, "Perelandra" had really challenged my views of Heaven. I think it is going to be much more exciting than I ever dreamed it could be. The Bible actually says something to that effect. Something about how man can't even fathom what God has planned. On the one hand this excites me and makes me want to go. On the other hand it challenges me to remember to use my time wisely and to remember that this is not the end but merely th beginning. Don't give up! Exciting times are ahead!

Good News from the Father Front

I am still a little bit in surprise about something that happened to me this morning. My dad actully explained something to me. Without getting mad. Or yelling. Here's the story:
Friday night I was going to go over to my friend Courtney's house and just hang out for the evening. She lives across from Trinity. The last time I was over there I didn't leave until almost 1:00 am. When I got home my parents were not happy. How was I supposed to know? They had never told me when I had to be back. All they said when I came back was, "You can't do this to us". I really had no idea what that meant other than, "Get in earlier so we can go to bed". Well, so as not to have a repeat of that evening, before I went to Courtney's on Friday I asked my dad what would be a reasonable time for me to be back by. Without even taking his eyes off the TV he said, "I want you in the house by 11:00 pm." I just stood there in shock. Once that wore off I tried a few protests such as how I was old enough to be on my own and how I wasn't going to be out drinking and doing drugs, just hanging out at her house. Of course, all of this was to no avail and I left the house rather distraught. I didn't see him at all on Saturday and only said one word to him that day: "Hi", over the phone. I knew I needed to apologize for arguing with him though. This morning, Sunday, I got up and talked to my mom a little and then said, "I need to do something". I went into his office where he was working on his Sunday School lesson and did what I needed to. You know what he did next? He forgave me and went on to say why he wanted me home by 11. He said that the only peolpe driving home then had been out partying and drinking and that if I got hit by a drunk driver comming home late one night that he would blame himself. I was touched. Of course I kindly suggested that he was being a little over protective but I also told him that I could respect this decision. So from now on, my curfew is 11:00 pm except for special circumstances, but I'm Ok with it because for the first time that I can remember, my dad gave me a rule but he also gave me the love that goes with it.

This Post has Nothing to do with Boys or my own Personal Pitifulness so Feel Free to Venture on without Fear or Disgust

I started my job with Extended Ed. today and it wasn't that bad. I actually liked it. Honestly I was a little scared because I had gotten so many mixed reviews about it, but it was ok. I think my biggest obstacle is simply going to be bordem and monotony. But we'll see. I have the oldest kids, grades 3rd-5th, or 4th-6th depending on how you look at it. We only had 6 today but there are 22 on the role. Also at some point in the day there are at least 3 of us with them. That is such a blessing. In my last job like this I had 15 by myself. You couldn't even go to the bathroom without help. We also have these cool walkie-talkies that are really helpful. Any questions we have can be answered very easily. One sad thing is the fact that I have now entered the phase of my life where I am called by my last name. "Ms. Blondin" sounds so old maid-ish. But wait, I said I wasn't going to complain about those sort of things. Anyways, they also put me in charge of the snack cart so twice a day I take it around to all the classrooms. I guess they gave it to me because of my foodservice background. I don't mind though because it breaks up some of the monotony. Well, tommorow is water day and I'm deffinately looking forward to getting wet. Perhaps there are more updates to come, but until then, I have to get to bed (the one sad part!)
ciao!