Half way through the book...

finds me identifying with some of the concepts and thoughts that Elizabeth Sherrill has shared. The idea of working through life to "get to heaven" as a reward upon one's death is not an uncommon perspective. Many religions spout this as gospel and can use many quotes from the Bible to justify such an understanding.

But Sherrill's book is pointing to a new perspective, one that puts you in heaven now, that in the moment, you are already in heaven. When you accept Jesus into your heart and choose to follow Him, you've already breached the gates to heaven. You're in and the only thing that keeps you from knowing or feeling this is...you! Or in my case...me!

I'm only half way through the book but much of what I've read has really made me think about how I walked my Christian faith since I accepted Jesus about twenty years ago. I know that many folks have a date embedded in their brain as to the day they made the move but as I commented in my earlier blog, my journey was slow, contemplative and more for my son than for myself.

When you're living to get to heaven like I am, it's easy to get caught up in the all shortcomings. I don't pray enough, I don't read my Bible everyday, I don't have a quiet time, I don't go to a Bible study, I don't go to Sunday School, heck I don't go to church...the biggest one of all! Then you can pull stuff from way back, I should have prayed more in front of my son, I should have displayed my faith more to those around me who are without Jesus, I should have pushed my husband to be more bold. Do you hear this? When I spend that much time regretting all the things I didn't do, didn't do enough, or did wrong, how can I be in heaven?

Sherrill's book is just getting into the idea of living in the moment, in heaven. To see the splendor of a loving God who desires the best for me in the moment. He values my growth, he sees my potential and His patience is infinite. I'm going to keep reading and on my next post I will pull some nuggets of thought from the book to share.

Hope that God is blessing you in your moment in heaven...right now!

All the Way to Heaven

Thanks to my friend Carol, I have been reading the above referenced book by Elizabeth Sherrill. Though I was not familiar with Sherrill at first thought, it turns out I have heard of some her writings, primarily The Cross and the Switchblade, which I read in high school, back, back in the shadows of time.


First of all, let me say that so far this is a fairly easy book to read. Little snippets of information, building the foundation of explanation of Sherrill's thoughts that unlike our typical view of heaven as a goal, her perspective is that heaven is now, today, in the moment as we walk with Christ.


I've not finished the book, so I can't speak to any conclusions drawn by Sherrill, but her premise is intriguing and comes at a time when I'm struggling with my faith. Since the first of the year, I've been posting to another blog with my sister and two friends. That blog was intended to be about improved health but has meandered over a number of areas including faith. All of us profess our Christian faith, but we all struggle at times with our walk, some of us more than others.


My struggle is that I came to my faith out of a sense of responsibility to provide a foundation for my son, who was a toddler when my mother died. My family of origin did not practice anything resembling a religion but rather muddled alone with a father who was searingly anti-Christian and a mother who professed to nothing, not even her country's standards of Shinto or Buddhism. When I married, my husband professed to be a Catholic but it seemed to be a really convenient religion that required little in terms of a daily or moment by moment relationship with God. So when I embraced my faith, I did it with little preparation outside of a need to build a foundation for my son.


I learned about Christ through helping with the Sunday school class my son attended. Adamant that I could never "teach" Sunday school, even to toddlers, I listened and learned both in the church, in my adult Sunday school class, but also with my son sitting in my lap listening to the Bible story. Thanks to the encouragement and clear teaching at my first church, I did get a solid education about Christ but it never felt like it went beyond the surface for me. Perhaps I was too consumed with making sure my son "got it" to realize that God was with teaching me too!


I have been privileged to know many strong women of faith in my life. Women who have have been my Bible study teachers, friends who walk their walk with Christ, boldly with what seems complete faith in their Jesus. Oh, how I have envied them these many years. To boldly entrust ones self to Christ's love and guidance has been my wish for a long time.


But I continue to struggle with doubts and feelings of inadequacy that I should be a more mature Christian, that I should have great trust in my faith. Perhaps I'm not that unusual. Perhaps many of us doubt our faith but wisely continue to walk their faith walk trusting that God will see them through. And to a great extend, that's what I've been doing most of the last twenty some years...walking the walk despite the misgivings, trusting that God is really there despite the feeling of being lost, trying to do His will even when overwhelmed with the sense of being inadequate.


My immediate goal is to develop a pattern of relationship with my God, to make Him my touchstone, to start my day with Him, to make now my heaven, not some utopian place for when I'm gone. Imagine, heaven on earth with your family and friends who you love and you can enjoy now!


I've signed up to get my Bible in One Year sent to me via email, I'm also getting a daily devotional emailed and my subscription to Guideposts should be starting soon...I know where my Bible is and I'm on page 60 of All the Way to Heaven...the hardest part will be to keep the commitment to not only do the reading, but the bigger issue of prayer...yes, that's where all this is going. I have no prayer life and it's proving to be a great void in my life. But we'll talk of that next time.