marvelous light

this week, in three days, i read heaven is for real by todd burpo. the content of the book (which is true, by the way) is this:

colton, todd's three year old son, had an emergency appendectomy. while on the operating table, colton experienced heaven. colton was actually in heaven. over the course of the next year or so, he shared what he saw with his parents. all of which remarkably aligned with what the Bible tells us of heaven.

revelation 21:23 says "the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the Glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." one day colton's father tried to kind of trip him up by asking something like "what did you do when it was dark in heaven?" colton responded by saying "It doesn't get dark in heaven...God and Jesus light up heaven." 

i've been listening to a couple of songs on repeat lately. one is "nothing" by the script which has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but it's a kick ass song that everyone should listen to (you can actually feel the heartbreak). the other two coincidentally speak to this idea of God as light. the first is "marvelous light" by charlie hall. it says "into marvelous light, i'm running, out of darkness, out of shame." listening to this song this morning, after reading the book, struck me. the light. i've also been listening to "from the inside out" by hillsong united. the song says, "everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades. never ending, Your Glory goes beyond all fame." the book gave new meaning to these lyrics for me.

 
i've considered myself a Christian my whole life, though what that has meant in my life and my understanding of it has constantly evolved. but i knew i believed in Jesus, believed that He died on the cross and conquered death, and that i would one day join Him in heaven. but i've never really given heaven anymore thought than that. this book has not necessarily changed my perspective, but helped it. gave thought to things i hadn't. it's changing the way i listen to music, the way i talk to jack about Jesus, and the way i view death. though death still carries a lot of fear for me, "death has lost its sting"...

i want to go to heaven.

farther along

we're here! and loving it. been here for a month. and it's starting to feel like home.

this is the home we stayed in our first three weeks here. steve's best friend and his wife blessed us immensely by allowing us to stay here while they were serving on young life assignment in colorado. staying there gave us a little time to figure out what in the world we were going to do. it bought us some time. and i fell in love with the house. if i could pick it up and move it closer to the city and live in it, i would. obsessed.

this is the home we're staying in now. it's a cute, older home with plenty of space for our family of four. and it's in a neighborhood just a couple miles from the heart of downtown. a historic neighborhood with cute shops, a starbucks, and killer pizza place. we like it. notice the "for sale" sign in the yard? yeah, that's the catch. s and i weren't ready to sign a year lease anywhere, wanted to keep our options open. so our realtor friend turned us onto this home. owners were moving out of state and were interested in the idea of having people keep an eye on the house while keeping it on the market. it's a win-win. we're free to leave at any point and they're free to kick us out at any point. i'm just hoping it's not next month.

we love it here. we feel at home. and though life is a little crazy right now and there's still a lot up in the air, there's no doubt this was the best decision for our family. i love learning the city, finding my way around, knowing the different areas, and finding my favorite spots. like mo'joe for coffee. jockamo for pizza. yats for cajun. the chatterbox for drinks.

a trip to chicago shall happen soon though because i miss these two a lot (and i need to meet the puppy):