2006 - Books In Review

Below, a list of the books I have finished in the year past, with short commentary and/or a favourite quote.

Animal Farm - George Orwell – Orwell is brilliant. Animal Farm understatedly and accurately portrays the sinful nature of Man carried out to its realistic extents. The narrative is perfectly simple, the accounts never exaggerated or sensationalized. The characters are allowed to stand as who they are and how they would simply respond in joy, greed, sadness, or lust.
"Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

Frankenstein - Mary Shelly – A masterful reminder of all that I love about the Romantics: ecstasy in the triumph of a dream realized, anguish of a defeat, joy, and bliss. There is such wonder in exploring the depths of the human soul--lofty language, a heightened sense of emotions, grandeur in narrative and description—all things that make Romantics Isle a place that is great to visit, but not conducive to a sojourn of any great length.
“Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred.”

Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller – I don’t think I would ever confuse Donald Miller with a great theologian or philosopher, but I don’t think he is or is trying to be. Most of the frustrations I had with the book (beside the band name dropping) were when I was holding the book to the level of a Mere Christianity or an Institutes of the Christian Religion. Blue Like Jazz is more of an open, think-out-loud, ask-unanswerable-questions kind of exploratory. The themes I saw drawn out were his search for God in all aspects of life, struggling to nurture a love and faith for the everyday. There were many of his confessions or open-ended questions that were convicting or spurred my own consideration. There was also some of his advice that I think should quickly find its way to the wayside. I liked the book—a lot at times--but would not give it a whole-hearted recommendation.
“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Bagdad Theater in Portland one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes and he never opened his eyes. After that I liked jazz music. Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way. I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.”

Wild At Heart - John Eldredge – I love the idea he explores and most of the conclusions he draws. So much of the bleak depiction of modern man struck me deeply, and conversely, much of the description of who man was created to be resonated with my Romantic soul. This book has made me a better Cadet counselor, a better role model, and makes me long even more so for my own male offspring. Much of Eldredge’s A-to-B thinking is good, but gets into trouble when he tries to boldly go from B to D. There is Scripture referenced throughout the book, but often the “proof texts” seem to be stretches. He reads like a counselor, which he is. There is great wisdom to be gained from experiences, but concluding something is true because you’ve seen it play out a dozen times cannot and should not be held to be as true as the Word of God.
“Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man. The masculine heart needs a place where nothing is prefabricated, modular, nonfat, zip lock, franchised, on-line, microwavable. Where there are no deadlines, cell phones, or committee meetings. Where there is room for the soul. Where, finally, the geography around us corresponds to the geography of our heart.”

Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller – A tragedy of dreams never realized. Of the favored son never fulfilling the inflated potential imposed upon him by his father, and the forgotten son who may have actually achieved those dreams if only he had received more than crumbs of recognition. And above all, the dreamer of all dreamers, Willy Loman, who, at the end of his life, craves more than anything the assurance that he is, in fact, leaving a legacy. Yet in the end, he finds he has built nothing lasting after a life chasing the clouds. Rich characters, deep heartache, beautiful tragedy.
“Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people? Do you know? when he died—and by the way he died the death of a salesman—hundreds of salesmen and buyers were at his funeral.”

Fighting the Good Fight - D.G. Hart and John Muether – One of two books I was required to read in our church’s Leadership Training class, the other being Lest We Forget, immediately below. Much of what I read in Fighting the Good Fight was new to me, and I have an immeasurably greater sense of pride and gratitude with regard to the men whom the Lord has blessed throughout the history of the Church. Never before has the purity of the church been as precious to me, and therefore the fracturing of the visible church has never been as heartbreaking.
“This book is not intended to silence other perspectives but to contribute to a healthy discussion of the OPC’s identity and mission. We hope it will persuade the unpersuaded, confirm the already committed, and prompt those who disagree to voice disagreement. Above all, we hope that this book will challenge the church to think hard about its identity. For we believe that a church without an identity will lose its reason for existence.”

Lest We Forget - Robert Churchill - Fighting the Good Fight was much more the broad, historical account, while Lest We Forget is an autobiographical memoir of an early OPC minister in Washington state. What Fighting the Good Fight stated in broad, history book language, Lest We Forget delivered with a touch of genuine sadness and experiential intimacy.
“How then, you may ask, could such strong churches welcome into their teaching ministry [such liberal material] into their teaching courses? Couldn’t the church leaders recognize such un-Reformed and unscriptural instruction? The answer is not a simple one, but this at least can be said: fundamentalism in its non-Calvinistic form came into the Presbyterian Church to fill a vacuum. The vacuum existed because the church was no longer teaching the Confession of Faith and catechisms in any adequate or vital way. ‘Easy-gesis' (easy exegesis) of Scripture was often substituted for more scholarly exegesis and this allowed portions of Scripture, often taken out of context, to be forced into a human scheme of prophecy.”

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson – As many times as I may page through Treasure Island in the rest of my life, no reading will ever compare to the first I was ever privileged to experience--that of my father reading the story to my brother and sister and I in the summer of 1992. I was ten and it was the summer of my father’s sabbatical, when, among other destinations, we spent two weeks at a cabin on a lake in Ontario. Read by the light of the fireplace like a colonial family two centuries before, my father’s dramatic—and oftentimes frightening—unfolding of this fantastic voyage stoked my boyish heart and imagination as wild as the sea itself.
“So things passed until, the day after the funeral, and about three o’clock of a bitter, foggy, frosty afternoon, I was standing at the door for a moment, full of sad thoughts about my father, when I saw some one drawing slowly near along the road. He was plainly blind, for he tapped before him with a stick, and wore a great green shade over his eyes and nose; and he was hunched, as if with age or weakness, and wore a huge old tattered sea cloak with a hood, that made him appear positively deformed. I never saw in my life a more dreadful looking figure.”

Being the Body - Charles Colson – At my suggestion, the Washington Small Group began a study of the Church, using Colson’s book as a guide. I originally intended the group to read and study the book together, but for better or for worse, we eventually strayed from using the book at all. Colson identifies and thoroughly characterizes many of the social and cultural battles the church faces, both within and without. The Lord has used Chuck Colson more than anyone else in my life to help me understand the importance of looking at issues on the level of their underlying worldview, and for that I am grateful. The book served as a great topical outline for discussion each meeting, but I didn’t find Colson’s work able to stand alone sufficiently enough to make it the only source for our study.
“Are not these days of the early twenty-first century a season of urgency, shattered complacency, hellish loss…and unprecedented opportunity? If freedom is at war with fear, if catastrophe can turn from death to resurrection, if hope can triumph over despair…if there was ever a time for the church to be the church, it is now.”

2006 - Albums In Review

Listed below are the new albums that have entered the Pearce household in the last year with commentary following each.

Casting Crowns - Lifesong. Casting Crowns is a praise and worship band with a record deal. I was expecting depth, social commentary, and an elevated view of God. On the whole, I was disappointed.

Dredg - Catch Without Arms. This will be the last Dredg album I will ever buy. They went from being one of the most artistic rock bands to putting out an album named for a song about how much they hate their producer. Dredg are dead to me.

Eight Days Gone - 303 Sessions. I can't help but sound like a local newspaper columnist when I refer to Eight Days Gone as Allentown's best kept secret. They far surpass Fuel as the best band out of Allentown, and have probably been kept from Fuel's fate by the fact that no one knows they exist. Much thanks to Greg for passing this album on to me.

Jack Johnson - On and On
Jack Johnson - In Between Dreams. Jack is up there with Switchfoot as the most pleasant surprise of 2006. He has filled the vacuum that previously existed in the mellow genre between quasi-rock (Coldplay) and the soft girlie stuff (Norah Jones). Another plus is that he doesn't emit the not-so-subtle narcissism of other singer-songwriters. I feel like I could be friends with Jack Johnson. Two big thumbs up. In Between Dreams is my favorite of the two.

Jars of Clay - Who We Are Instead. The day that I gave up on Jars of Clay is now a day I regret. I was a mile-a-minute sixteen who's love affair with punk rawk was hot and heavy. I had devoured Jars of Clay's first album, but turned my nose at Much Afraid when it didn't rock nearly enough for my hormones. Seven years went by, and my wife has helped bring me back to the Jars. I'm glad they had me back. They have a depth, both spiritually and musically, that is grossly lacking in Christian music.

Jim Croce - Photographs and Memories, His Greatest Hits. I found Jim Croce about four years too late. He's got perfect songs for falling in and out of love, living in a town that is not your home, and half a dozen songs about things people just don't write about anymore.

Jimi Hendrix - Experience Hendrix, The Best of Jimi Hendrix. Again, about four years too late. I am now to the point where I don't think classic rock greatest hits albums have any appeal to me. Even the best collection only features four or five songs outside of the staple selection that classic rock radio plays every single day. Experience Hendrix has every single Jimi song I would ever want on an album, but somehow I'd still rather own an original album.

Johnny Cash - The Essential Johnny Cash. The same could be said about Johnny Cash, except this entire album was new to me. I don't think I will ever own a Johnny Cash album unless it's the live album from Folsom Prison. I was pleased to have met Johnny Cash.

Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Neil Young - Harvest. With all due respect to my wife, and Nick Ritenour, and Courtney Schmidt, I don't see what's so great about this Neil Young guy. He's not a good vocalist or lyricist, and his guitar solos are simple at best. I have no idea how Crazy Horse can be considered a "legendary backing band," and it's even further from my realm of understanding how Harvest was the top-selling album of 1972. I just don't think Neil Young is that great. However, he's definitely not. bad. and I'm glad we bought these albums. The melody and the feel of any of his songs can stay with you all day long without becoming oppressive--like the path of the sun on a summer's day. Neil Young--good but not great.

Our Lady Peace - Healthy In Paranoid Times. This album almost makes me forget how dreadful Gravity was, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wasn't already an Our Lady Peace fan. Raine's lyrics aren't anywhere near the level of the first four albums--he is deep in the rut of writing guy-girl relationship songs and isn't adding anything fresh. His lyrics have no nuances or quirks to them anymore. To an album, each release has been progressively less dark. Healthy is a twinge darker than Gravity, but maybe only cynically so. OLP fans take it at your own risk. All others leave it.

Pedro the Lion - The Only Reason I Feel Secure (Is That I Am Validated By My Peers). Nice little Pedro album. Didn't supplant It's Hard to Find a Friend as my favorite, but it does lend a few bright spots to my Pedro landscape.

Shiloh Ridge Band - I'll Be Alright
Shiloh Ridge Band - Big Payday Blues. Best $20 I've ever spent at a music table at a Christian festival/concert thing--and that means a lot considering I've also bought a few ska albums and a Geoff Moore & the Distance cassette in my glorious past.

Sovereign Grace - Worship Album

Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown
Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound. I cannot sing Switchfoot's praise enough. Without knowing it, they are what I have been longing for my entire life. They are a Christian rock band that are both Christian and rock, without sacrificing quality for message or vice versa. Nothing Is Sound plays like the book of Ecclesiastes set to music. Both albums are well produced and feature songs that truly rock. I am a believer.

Tool - 10,000 Days. We bought this almost only to be able to say that we own a Tool album. We own a Tool album.

To Joel and Liz

My kid brother, Joel, was married on August 12, 2006. I stood as his Best Man. Below is the manuscript of the toast I delivered at the reception:



I am a new face to some of you. I am Joel's older brother, Scott, older by two years. I have had the privilege of knowing Joel his entire life, and I do not remember my life without a brother.

In Joel I have been blessed with a younger brother who has been following two years behind me, doing many of the same things that I have done, but doing them better than I ever did.

Joel and I each entered public high school after each spending nine years in Christian elementary school. It wasn't until the end of my sophomore year in high school that I began to feel like I was making friends and feeling comfortable. Two years later, Joel entered already with a best friend in Alex Richards, and Joel was a big man on campus before the end of his first class.

I played baseball, my first love, for four years in high school, and finally made the varsity team my senior year. Joel played basketball, his first love, for four years, and was receiving varsity consideration during his second year, and starting varsity his third year!

After graduation, I decided that Geneva College was a responsible, practical, safe decision. I applied, and was accepted. Two years later, Joel set his sights on Grove City College, one of the most prestigious and elite Christian schools in the country. He was, of course, accepted; Joel thrived, and graduated with honors.

I chose Engineering as an academic discipline because it led to a definitive career path. Graduate with an Engineering degree, become an Engineer. I think that Joel chose Communications just so he would have the freedom to change his mind. You can't very well graduate with a Communications degree and get a job as a...Communicator, now can you? You need to do something else.

I took an engineering internship before my senior year in hopes that it would turn into a full-time position after graduation. I was planning for the future, getting my ducks all lined up in a row. Joel took an internship last summer, and after only a month decided, "I don't think I wanna work here after college, but for now I get these free golf balls with Yankee logos on them!"

My wife and I have stayed in New Jersey, and the Lord has blessed us abundantly there. Our decisions were, of course, practical ones. We wanted to remain close to our church, our family, our support group--and all the free baby-sitters. I think that Joel, on the other hand, must have looked around New Jersey and said, "Here I am in New Jersey. I don't have a car. I don't have a full-time job. I may as well be without a car and without a job in a place like Virginia Beach."

Joel, Wes Wallace's prophecy has come true. You have grown up taller, bigger, and in many ways, better than I will ever be. You have a tendency to do the things that I have done, and do them better than I ever did.

So this is my challenge to you:

Be a better husband that I am. By the grace of God, be a better husband than every man in this room. If there are ways in which I am a godly man and a good husband to Becca, be a more godly man and an even better husband to Liz. Not as a competition, but for the sake of your wife, and for the glory of God.

Love Liz more than yourself, but love her second. The only way that you will be a husband worthy of any praise is if you first love the Lord your God with all your heart, and then love Liz more than yourself.

It is only by the grace of God that you can aspire to these goals, and by His grace, may you achieve them.

I am so proud to be your brother, and I am overjoyed to be sharing today with you. May the Lord bless you both. May you be the best husband you can be--for the glory of God, and for the sake of your bride.

To Joel and Liz!

I'm The Engineer

They mean it as a compliment. I should be flattered, and I am occasionally. I only hear it once every few months, but every time, I become increasingly annoyed at the phrase, "You figure it out--you're the engineer."

I'm sure that your profession or academic discipline has its own catchphrase which never fails to lurch its way out of the lips of some doofus whose intentions are innocent.

"Look out--this guy's a Psychologist. He's probably analyzing us right now."
"Oooh, a Philosophy major. Please tell me...what is the meaning of life?"
“You talk to them—you’re the Communications major.”
"Shhh! Not so loud around the Librarian."
"You're a Computer Science major, right? Why does my computer keep crashing?"

I acknowledge that by comparison, "You figure it out--you're the engineer," is not nearly as ignorant or pigeon-holing as some of the above. Some may even consider it due recognition and an aspect of the prestige that comes with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering. People consider engineers to be rational, efficient, problem-solving eggheads because we work hard to maintain this reputation.

My gripe with the phrase is not what is said. Without reading too much into it, one can take it to mean: "This is a complex problem requiring a form of decision making other than relying on feelings or a group discussion. Please take the reigns." Or perhaps, "I wet myself at the thought of long division without a calculator. You have a big head and glasses—you solve the problem.”

However, I often take offense at what is implied by, and the context in which someone usually cops out with the "You're the engineer" phrase. There are very few contexts where the phrase is even reasonable to utter. Most involve a professional setting and a discussion of engineering things.

For example, an architect may be presenting the artistic vision behind his latest project to a design team. After blah blah blah-ing his way through the manner in which the outward form of the newest addition to the city skyline will embody the struggles of the immigrants of generations past, said architect will most likely be met with a blunt rebuttal from the structural engineer who will try to bring him back down to earth. The engineer will remind the architect of the finer principles of structural mechanics, and identify aspects of the design that will be nearly impossible to construct. To this, the architect will mostly likely reply, “That’s not my problem. You’re the engineer--you figure it out.”

That’s all fine and good, but I have never heard the dreaded “You’re the engineer” phrase spoken to my ears from the lips of an architect. I have instead been reminded of my academic pedigree by my father, and by my friends, and by any Joe Schmo who happens to know to what end my tuition dollars were spent.

- My father, God bless him, is not terribly handy with car repair. Having not fallen far from Father Tree, I do not know much about cars either, nor do I pretend to. We were at my parents’ house last month when the battery of mom’s car died. Not wanting to look like a puss in front of my wife, whose father could repair a John Deere tractor blindfolded, in a snowstorm, with oven mitts on, I volunteered to try to jump it. I have never had to jump a vehicle of mine in eight years, and have never even had to help someone else jump a car. I didn’t even know how to do it, but I understand the concept, and I have a healthy respect for live electric circuits. I said I’d give it a go. My dad, of course, responded with the predictable, “Yes, let’s let the engineer fix it.”

- At a recent work day at the church, Phil (an Electrical Engineering/Computer Science major from Bucknell) and I were watching two other guys (both college graduates in something other than EGR) try to alter the hinge spring on the sanctuary door in order for it to close more gently. We had been observing their progress for a not even a minute when one of these guys turned to us and said, “Well, what am I wasting my time here for? We’ve got two engineers here—let them figure it out.”

- In Pittsburgh earlier this month, the bridal party was helping my brother (the groom) and his new bride load their car with the wedding presents so they could drive away. It was plain to nearly everyone that the combined volume of the gifts was nearly the same or perhaps even greater than the available volume of storage that the vehicle could provide. If the gifts were not packed efficiently, they would not all fit. Several of us were sizing up the situation, when a voice chimed in, “Well, let’s leave this to the engineer to figure out.”


Granted, I take great pride in packing a UHaul for a move, or a loading an enormous volume of personal belongings into the back of a 1991 Ford Probe hatchback. I even like fiddling with gizmos and doohickeys of different kinds, trying to understand how things work by taking them apart and putting them back together. I volunteered to jump the car because even girls know how to jump cars, and to be handy with stuff like that validates me as a man. But what does my Bachelor of Science in Engineering have to do with any of that?

Do people suggest leaving it to the engineer because they believe that I took a class titled Space Management – How to Fit Lots of Stuff Into a Small Space? Why exactly would a civil engineer who deals with nothing but dirt, water, and rock every day know anything the inner workings of a hinge spring? Would my dad’s confidence in my ability to jump the car have wavered had he remembered that I barely passed Linear Circuits with a C-?

My beef with the “You’re an engineer” phrase is that I think it’s a cop out. It’s a cop out of a simple exercise in critical thinking. It’s a wuss out of looking at a problem objectively, flexing a little mind muscle, and deducing the best course of action.

How can it be that there are those who so easily diagnose situations as impossible to solve for anyone other than a high and mighty engineer? Why are some people so eager to pass the thinking on to an egghead? Have they no pride? If I were Joe Schmo High School Graduate, I’d take advantage of every opportunity to knock Mr. College Graduate down a few pegs by solving a problem using common sense and ‘real world’ tactics. Screw theory and mathematics. If the hinge needs tweaking, let’s tweak it. If the car needs a start, get the cables. Why is it that people jump at the chance to make way for the engineer when oftentimes they would do an adequate job on their own?

“You’re the engineer” strokes my ego more often than it bothers me, make no mistake about it. One of the reasons I chose to pursue a degree in engineering was the prestige associated with a BSE. But I will not let people assume better of me than I deserve. I will not let them believe that because of my degree I am more qualified to think than they are. I will not let people use it as a license to pass problem solving on to another.

Think for yourselves, people.

Thoughts on Heaven

People have many views of what heaven will be like. My first grade teacher at the Christian school encouraged sensationalized notions of heaven in our barely-wrinkled minds, teaching us that we would be able to fly, and teleport, and have any kind of food that we wanted at a mere wish, and, of course, that all our pets would be in heaven. While I can't point to any Scripture that explicitly disputes or confirms these exact projections of Paradise, I do wish that she had focused more on the wonder of being in the presence of God for eternity, being free of sin and death, or even just tried to get us to wrap our minds around eternity. I wish she hadn't catered to our first-grade mentality by letting us create heaven in our own image. I wish that instead she had tried to elevate our notions of God's heaven.

Since those early years, it has been primarily through the reading and preaching of the Bible that I believe that I have come to a better, albeit still imperfect, view of what heaven will be like. This is not coincidentally coinciding with the fact that I am, through the Holy Spirit, coming to a better knowledge of who God is.


Heaven As a Party

To know what one can expect to find at a Christmas party, one must know a little bit about the hosts, the theme, the dress code, what the reason for celebration is, and who else will be at the party. The offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ functions, in a way, as an invitation to heaven. I do not wish to cheapen either heaven or salvation by treating them merely as a party and an invitation, but I do not believe that they cannot be related in this way.

Jesus compared heaven to a great wedding feast where guests will be gathered to celebrate the union of Jesus Christ to His bride, the Church. You, reader, have been invited to heaven. The offer of salvation is free to all. You are on the mailing list.

The Bible teaches that God has made it possible for all to come to the feast that is heaven. But Jesus speaks of a 'dress code' in heaven, strangely enough. Jesus says that those who will be gathered in heaven will have one thing in common: they will each be dressed in 'wedding clothes.' He even goes so far as to say that no one will gain admittance without the proper attire (this can all be found in Matthew 22:1-14).

Whether we will be wearing robes or suits and ties in heaven is beside the point. The wedding clothes of which Jesus speaks are a metaphor for the righteousness of Christ that we are given metaphorically to put on for the feast. The invitation is not 'Come As You Are' implying that living a relatively good life or even that going to church will suffice for admittance to heaven. The invitation that Jesus extends for you or me to come to heaven reads more like, 'Heaven is Black Tie Only. You will not be admitted in even the best suit that you have. I know that you don't have anything good enough to get in. I know that you could never have afforded to buy anything good enough to get in, so I have provided a suit for you. I have bought it with my own money. You need merely to come and put it on. Come and put it on!'

It would be careless and unloving of me to continue with my thoughts on heaven below without first explaining why I have a reason to be excited about my place in heaven, which I have tried to do above. The Bible teaches that all who believe that Jesus died and took the hell that they deserve can come to God for forgiveness and be saved. I do not deserve heaven; I deserve hell. But heaven has been promised to me as a gift that I merely have to accept. I can't wait for heaven. Below is what I think it might be like.


Heaven As a Place

Bible 300 at Geneva College served to significantly alter my view of heaven, much in the same way that the last book in the Narnia series, The Last Battle, has done recently as I've re-read it. Both have caused me to think of heaven less as a magical, fantasy world with golden buildings, flying creatures, and superhuman people in robes, but more as simply Earth Perfected.

In The Last Battle, when the characters pass from Narnia through the door into what is, in the story, heaven, they begin to explore the new land in which they find themselves. It is a gradual buildup of recognition that causes them to eventually realize that they are, in fact, in Narnia--and yet it is not quite the Narnia they knew before. The characters struggle to express what it is that is different about the Narnia on the other side of the door, describing the colors as more colorful, or the mountains as being farther away. Finally, Digory is able to express it well when he says, "[The old Narnia] was not the real Narnia. That had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow or a copy of the real Narnia which has always been here and always will be here...And of course it is different; as different as a real thing is from a shadow or as waking life is from a dream." C.S. Lewis goes on in the narrative of the story to say how the difference between the old and new Narnias was similar to differences in viewing scenes through a mirror compared to viewing them with the naked eye. He says, "The new one was a deeper country: every rock and flower and blade of grass looked as if it meant more. I can't describe it any better than that: if you ever get there you will know what I mean."

It thrills me to imagine what heaven will look like. If places like Rock Run, and the green hills of Ireland, and the wilds of Alaska are somehow tarnished by sin in this world, I cannot sufficiently anticipate what it will be like to view and wholly enjoy the splendor of the new heavens and the new earth with my resurrected body. I imagine it might be similar to the difference between watching Spiderman in a state of the art theatre with the most advanced audio/visual components available when all you've known of movies before is the 12" grainy screen in your basement; or hearing a professional symphony for the first time after only knowing high school concert bands; or falling in love when all you've ever known is to live for yourself. I think these are crude illustrations, but it's what I've got to work with having never been to heaven.

The Bible speaks very plainly to the fact that all of Creation--stars and plants and animals, and photosynthesis, and the Laws of Motion, and music, and mathematics, etc--exist both for God's glory and to point man to the majesty of his Creator. That was true before sin and death entered the world, and it continues now, however imperfectly. There is no limit to my joy as I dwell on the fact that I will know God more completely in heaven, and partly because of what I will learn of God by learning more about heaven the place.

Seeing and learning about Heaven the place will help me to understand more of the God who created it. Just as the seasons, and the beauty of the sunrise, and the wonder of music all reveal to me elements of the character of God, so much more so will these things speak more clearly and more deeply and more lastingly to me when I can enjoy them without the veil, without sin as a filter.