Dreams Unlocked

A friend of mine is dying. He has lung cancer. I will not see him before he dies because he lives in another country. He recently posted his final Facebook post. He is too sick to receive visitors anymore.  I was trying to think of what I could write in the comments. I looked up 2 Corinthians 5 which talks a lot about looking forward to a new home in heaven. And then this in v.4: For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life What is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Stunning! Mortality is not life - it is not all of life. Real life is coming. It is around the corner. Death is the door into real life. Mortal life ends, so that real life can begin. When my friend sheds this mortal coil, he enters into the reality of which this life is such a faint shadow. What we consider our greatest earthly joy or achievement will be unrecognizable from the...

Jesus did not die alone. There were at least 2 others crucified with him. Two thieves. One on either side. The social and emotional context surrounding him was painful. The crowds, the guards, the rulers and even one of the thieves kept mocking him: "Come down from the cross, if you are who you say you are." The death of Jesus was the ultimate vindication of the crowd - he wasn't who he said he was. We were right - he was a fraud. They all mocked .... except. Except for one of the thieves. He rebukes the other thief: "Don't you fear God, since we are under the same sentence. We are being punished justly. But this man has done nothing wrong." Amid the din of rebuke, sarcasm and ridicule came the voice of truth from a ragged dying shell of a human propped up on that Roman gibbet. The thief understood the human condition - "we are being punished justly." He understood that he was getting what he deserved. And he looked at Jesus and re...