Day 4: "Made To Last Forever."

Welcome Back!! For NEW readers this is the book that we are discussing & we will for the next 38 days.

I know yesterday was a humdinger. I mean...it got the brain muscle workin'. There will be days in this book that MIGHT mentally drain you. He usually goes easier on you the next day or so after that :).

Day 4: "Made To Last Forever"

"Point to Ponder: There is more to life than just here & now."

Daily Verse: "This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will love forever." 1 John 2:17 (NLT)

Daily Question: "Since I was made to last forever, what is the one thing I should stop doing and the one thing I should start doing today?"

From my journal the first day of reading:

Stop: Worrying, waiting, being guarded, over-analyzing

Start: Moving forward with the things that God has placed in my heart & forgive people & forgive myself.

This is my FAVORITE part of this chapter & YES...I'm going to type the whole thing out: "Life on earth is just the dress rehearsal before the real production. You will spend far more time on the other side of death - in eternity - than you will here. Earth is the staging area, the preschool, the tryout for you life in eternity. It is the practice workout before the actual game; the warm-up lap before the race begins. This life is preparation for the next."

I am Catholic & I went to to a mission about a year and a half ago that talked about purgatory. At the time it was somewhat fascinating to me & I was trying to wrap my head around it. I converted from Lutheran when I married my husband, so I never really KNEW what purgatory was all about. What if purgatory is the bundle of layers our souls travel to...to get to Heaven? I think about all of us & how it just seems IMPOSSIBLE for us to FULLY understand all there is to understand about how & why & when things happen. What about the MOSTLY life-long atheist that receives GOD on his deathbed? I'm thinkin' he's not goin' straight to Heaven with the saints, BUT I think God will save him & his soul will have to go the course of whatever journey God has in store for him; to reveal what needs to be revealed, to give him the opportunity to KNOW & LEARN & DEVELOP a relationship with Jesus Christ. Just like the priest said at that mission: "There is gonna be a lot of disappointed Christians, if we all think we are going straight to Heaven." It takes MORE than going to church every SUNDAY, & MORE than living a GOOD life by the accounts of society.

Remember: The two questions God is likely to ask: "What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?" & "What did you do with what I gave you?" Are you bringing others to Jesus? Are you bringing yourself to Jesus?

I can say that this chapter has made me look at EVERYTHING differently...in a good way. I've gotten a lot better at not sweatin' the small stuff & being DIRECT about the big stuff & YES...I believe there is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more past this life. I don't need to KNOW what exactly. I find PEACE knowing that there is!

Buck Up Baby & Ride With Jesus & with all of us too!! Thanks to ALL that have participated in discussion thus far!!