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| Flowers for Annie |
It's been three months today since Annie went to heaven, so I thought it would be a good time to jump in and do that book club we've been talking about. Let's read and discuss
Heaven, by Randy Alcorn. You can get a copy either through your library or on
Amazon for the reasonable price of $13.97 plus shipping.
Heaven is divided into three sections: Part I is "A Theology of Heaven," Part II is "Questions and Answers About Heaven," and Part III is "Living in Light of Heaven." Taking into account family reunions, weddings and vacations, I think we can get through the whole book this summer. It'll be a crunch.
There are 12 sections to the book--about 500 pages. It's a big one. Let's try to do 3 sections every 2 weeks. I'll post questions/discussion as often as possible, so we can get through this by the end of August.
Just to get our mental cogs moving, Alcorn points out in his introduction that "we all have a terminal disease called mortality." But no one seems to like to think about death, or life after death. Most of us have a tendency to have our feet planted firmly in this life of work, family issues, and meeting urgent, yet often not important, commitments. He also says that "God uses suffering and impending death to unfasten us from this earth." I would agree with that. Since Annie had her brain injury in 2007, and then died three months ago today, I have never been so anxious to leave this world and get home!
Bill actually gave me the book Heaven for Christmas in 2008. On the first page, he wrote:
Dear Jean,
I thought it would be fun to plan our trip.
Merry Christmas '08.
Love, Bill
Now, I have to be honest--I have only read one chapter so far. One chapter in two and a half years. My excuse is that caring for Annie was pretty consuming, and didn't leave me a lot of time to read books. But I don't have that excuse anymore. And, most of you don't either. So, let me start with this first question, just to get us going until everyone gets their book and reads the first chapter. "Are you looking forward to Heaven--why or why not?"
Jean
"Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath." Psalm 39:4-5
