Sea Shells

At any given time, I would rather be at the beach than where I am. Even awesome times would only be more awesome on the beach. I've made several road trips to Galveston, which a lot people tell me is a gross beach that isn't worth the drive, but I go anyways because a gross beach is still better than no beach in my opinion.

Maybe heaven is like the beach. I don't know. Maybe it's like the mountains. Maybe it's like Saturn. I have no idea. Here's what I do know, though. Heaven is not the beach. It's not the mountains. It's not anywhere on Earth or in the universe (sorry, Saturn). 

We get confused about two things about heaven. 

1. That it's comparable to things we know now.

2. That all the cool things to do there will make us happy.

What heaven truly is is our home. It's where we were meant to be. The world we live in is a shell of a home for us. Even the coolest parts couldn't satisfy us forever.

I used to think that in heaven Pokemon would be real. I know someone who once told me that he thinks heaven has a guy doing five back flips on a dirt bike over a Coke machine. Maybe those things exist in heaven, but if they do, I don't think we'll care. The true sweetness of heaven will be finally being able to be around God. Think of it like when someone who's really special to you is around (maybe your grandma, maybe your big brother). You have such a great time just from being around them. They don't even have to do anything, they just have to be there. Being in heaven with God will be like that, but magnified roughly five gajillion times. We'll be complete at last. 

Get hype. He loves you.

Schmergen Dergen Blurgen Blu

"Finkle dinkle doo, romper bomper stomper boo."
-Abraham Lincoln.

The above quotation is the opening sentence of the Gettysburg Address translated into gibberish.

Do you speak gibberish? Of course you do! Everyone does. If you don't know how, all you have to do is make up words and say them. It's the best language ever. Try it, it's fun! I once spoke gibberish for three straight hours.

Gibberish is wonderful, but it often suffers as a means of communication due to the fact that nobody can understand what anyone is saying. Everyone has their own distinctive dialect, and very few words translate directly. Though it is fun, gibberish is one of the most useless forms of speaking.

Speaking in gibberish is kind of like living a life without love. In 1 Corinthians 13:1 it says that being able to speak in every language (that includes languages of men and angels, even gibberish) is like being a loud, annoying cymbal without love. It makes everything you say and do useless and futile, because you've missed the point of life.

God put us on earth for two reasons. Simply to love him and love people. Everything else is meaningless, but sometimes other things seem like they matter more. Check in on yourself from time to time and make sure you're not forgetting how much love matters.

I would like to close with a message from one of our most well respected professors in Gibberish Linguistics, The Swedish Chef.

Memories, oh the memories

When I was a camper at Sky Ranch, I always came on the Fourth of July week. My dad knew how to party on The Fourth, as our garage had a cardboard box that was designated as a stockpiling spot for sparklers and Roman Candles, so if I were going to pass up an opportunity to light my own fireworks in the backyard and eat pizza with my brothers, it would have to be for something significantly more awesome.

And Sky Ranch always delivered. I think the fireworks at camp are amongst the best in the world. As loyal friend of Mickey, I fear it may hurt him if he ever reads this, but I'm going to type it anyways. I liked the fireworks at Sky Ranch better than the fireworks at Disney World. Something about how close we were to them, it felt so personal and special. A unique privilege that only us Cabin 9 boys were entitled to.

My first firework show at camp was on July 4th, 2001. I was eleven years old when we laid our towels out on the grass by lake and watched was technicolor explosions in the twilight illuminated Skywaii. A girl with braces sat beside me and my brother sat behind me. I'll never forget the glory I tasted in that panoramic view of God's creation. 

I'm sure that everyone reading this has a similar recollection, a time when Sky Ranch felt like home. A moment that God gave to you to keep in your pocket forever, frozen in your mind to be revisited once and a while. These moments are elusive, sometimes they're few and far and between. Sometimes the time between them is like an endless desert. 

Well get exSKYted. Because summer's coming, and God is going to write new stories in your life through and about Sky Ranch. The happy days are here again.

Loss

Anyone ever experienced loss? I know I have. Once I lost an entire sandwich. It was tragic.

But seriously, in life we are often going to come up short. Things that matter to us are going to be taken away. And it hurts bad.

At times when we lose things we love or care about, it can feel like God is a mean kid with a magnifying glass trying to burn all of us ants down here on earth, but I think it's important to remember one thing:

"For though he wounds, he also bandages. He strikes, but his hands also heal."
-Job 5:18 (New Living Translation)

God never destroys for the sake of destruction. He never takes away something from you just because he felt like being a jerk. There is love in everything he does, and if he tears something down, it's to build something better.

And if you're in a time of loss, this ALWAYS helps: