Earth...Heaven's Appetizer

So I was surfing the net and reading Dan Kimball's blog and he was talking about this guy who wrote a pretty nasty piece on Kyle Lake (see friendly lookin guy in picture).

Now I have never heard of Kyle before today. The sad thing is I did not learn about him for what he did but instead how he died. (He sounded like a pretty alright guy to me tho.) It turns out he died in the baptismal tank (a waist deep tub at the front of many churches) when he took hold of a microphone and was electrocuted in front of an audience. Brutal and a little scary.

The nasty article basically said it was a Annanias and Sapphira moment, God struck him dead and basically wiped him from the planet. The article was pretty harsh. I guess the writer was willing to cast the first stone. Brutal and very scary.

Kyle's last sermon ended with this, " Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun. If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time. If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well. Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done-a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old's nose, don't be disgusted if the Kleenex didn't catch it all… because soon he'll be wiping his own. If you've recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And Grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you're eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift."

Moments before he died, he prayed, "Surprise me, God".

Here's what I think...for all that's worth. I just finished reading and totally enjoyed The Slumber of Christianity by Ted Dekker where he talks about longing for heaven. But Ted also talks about enjoying earth as a appetizer for heaven. Kyle seemed to be connoisseur....savouring, not gulping, God's created pleasures on earth. My sense is he was preparing to revel in the joys of heaven and the creator. Maybe heaven was Kyle's surprise! Sounds like the ultimate surprise to me!! When did we as Christians start seeing physical death as a punishment? "Alive, I'm Christ's messenger; dead, I'm his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can't lose." Philippians 1:21

If you skimmed everything else, in this post...linger on these verses below:

"For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade--and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less." 2 Corinthians 5:1 +

Let me know what you think!