Guilty Bystander

Why is it all matter? This is the question that’s been bugging me a lot for quite a number of months now. Some say I’m going through an early mid-life crisis, others say I’m just depressed. I say, I’m just asking questions. Why is it all matter? Not often we feel “allowed” to ask such questions . Everyone either doesn’t think about life or just pretend that everything is ok. Or.. maybe people think about life but just too scared the name things what they are. So why is it all matter? Why people find talking about personal issues so difficult? Why people find hard talking about death. Even after someone died. It really bugged me when my mother died, no-one who came to me, actually said the word “died” as in “sorry to hear that your mum died”. They all say, “sorry to hear about you mum”. What did you hear? Why can’t you just say it? Why is it so hard to talk about death when someone has cancer. Why people are afraid to ask their friends who have cancer, something like, “are you afraid of dying”? As if we don’t ask, maybe they won’t die, or as if we asked, the person would die sooner, than if we didn’t ask. The person with cancer certainly thinks about death, but why is it so hard to talk about it?

By why is it all matter anyway? Why is it matter to keep the lines straight, floor tiles exactly square, power sockets on the same level, socks that match? Why is it all matter?

Since Adam and because of Adam’s sin, we’re locked in into this mortal cycle, called life. Work, pain and more work, it’s all consequence of sin. The things in life matter in a way that because who we are in this life, we have certain affect on our friends and people around us. Because of who we are and what we do, we can make the life of each other a little bit that easier. We can share the burden of each other in this life. Taking it just one day at a time.

Believing in God and helping our neighbour, we’re turning from an egg-white and egg-yoke into a chick inside the egg shell. When we die and go to heaven, we’ll break out from the egg shell into a new, “real” life, we’ll become a chicken, a new creation, with a new body. We will finally be free.

It all matters, because of what we do and what we are can make the life journey of people around us a little easier. Who we are may help people see that the life actually starts when the chick breaks out from the shell. That’s the new life I’m really looking forward to.

Lately we’ve been talking with friends about what it would be like when we get to heaven. A few very interesting questions poped up.

1. Will there be children in heaven?
Assuming that we will have some sort of physical appearance, will we be subjected to aging while in heaven? Often the passage in Isaiah 11:6 is used to describe what it will be like in heaven:

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

If there will be children, it means that there will be young adults… older… old people. People will get older, children will grow into adults etc. Interesting what kind of body this will be to be ok to grow older infinitely…

If one day is line a thousand years, it will be one really long day! If someone wanted to meet you at 9pm, you’d have to wait a few hundred years for that 9pm to arrive!

2. Will there be food in heaven?
Unless our new bodies will be powered by solar panels (and there will be enough sun for that)… we’ll need something to sustain them. Will there be food? If there is no evil and no death, will everyone be vegetarians?

Thinking about heaven gets me excited. I think it will be an interesting an a strange place at the same time.