Two Addresses

 So, here it is... Sunday.

My sermon, for today, is called 'Two Addresses.'

I'll write it like a story... J likes to sermonize that way.

A pastor I have listened to, once said... You only have influence while you're in your earthly tent. When your lifes' work is done, God pulls up the tent pegs, folds up your tent and everyone is packed away in a box and then you find out which address you belong at.

A pastor said... after earthly life, there are only two addresses... heaven or hell.

The determination for where we get to live, for all eternity, is made by the god whom we serve while still on earth. 

If we serve ourselves, well, you have to ask... did you manage to build a house in your heavenly realm so you can live in it when you have to live there? What kind of materials do we need there? What is the currency we need to buy building materials for the heavenly realm?

Many people who say... I'm just going to hell because that's where all my friends are... have a very grandiose idea that their evil friends are going to, somehow, provide for them, in hell, as they provided for them on earth. The way evil people provide for 'hell- bound' others is by stealing from honest people.

The people they steal from worked, owned all their own things and properties, and took great care of their living spaces. 

When he would come to my house, for Thanksgiving, I remember my Dad saying... your house doesn't even look like it has aged very much. The cabinets still look wonderful. Things look very well taken care of. Then Elmer would say, 'Elfrieda does all that.'

So, what do we get if we go to heaven? We get something there that nobody gets if they go to hell.

Any guesses?

                                                                    A crown.

How many people know where those words are found? In the Bible, those words are in a prayer, The Lord's Prayer. In my house, at 225, I put The Lord's Prayer, in the bathroom window... I purchased it at a thrift store. You know what I think is ironic about purchasing a machine- made Lord's prayer at the thrift store? Poor people shop at thrift stores and the kingdom of heaven includes poor people. So, what's really quite wonderful is that... if you don't like your address, on earth, and you chose to live in heaven (when it's time to go there), you will, eventually, have the most expensive address that will ever be.

The New Jerusalem coming down from heaven is described in Revelation 21:2- 8. 

In this passage, it details who will be in 'God's dwelling,' brought to humanity, and who will not be in this city. 

Some people believe the Bible, some people don't.

My first novel, The Orchard Walk- El Dueck, is a modern- day interpretation, a corollary of the Bible story, starting in Genesis.

The Orchard Walk El Dueck

Chapter 1

"Sam slowed the Hummer down to a dusty road crawl."

(In 2009, I purchased a Hummer H3 and it was demolished in an accident on August 19, 2019.)

Much of the inspiration for my novel came from my own life and the people I would meet.

"It was a good thing that they'd decided to travel in this rugged vehicle. These roads were raw gravel, pitted and dust driven by wind that is master of nature. The wrought iron gates of the winery...

Simmy rolled down her window to get a better view, taste, smell. "Hey Sam, maybe this is why I love flowers so much. Flowers are the depiction of Eden before the thistle entered on the back of the serpent.

I think you just found that artistic edge you were hoping would grow wings for your next novel."

My second novel, which I may have to re- write, starts out so dark and sinister because it has to have the warning of Revelation 21:8 written in layman's terms.

So, it starts out with some people meeting others, (people who should never be together) that creates the worst evil planners of destructive behaviour you can imagine.

The first and second chapters are, definitely, very bad people who should never have been together. They didn't all start out bad but, because they joined with really bad people, they made the worst partnerships. It's always the same story... a re- make of WWII which nobody wants to see happen.

Now, the first twelve chapters of book II are so depressing, I am unsure that a book that dark would be 'saleable.'

When I was working on the two or three volume novel, starting with The Orchard Walk- El Dueck, I was then already trying to figure out how to make the physical to metaphysical leap.

That was back in 2010, writing in my gazebo, at my 29 year house ownership.

So, the war on evil is what my writing is all about... on every front... let's say, three fronts:

the devil, supernatural temptation 

the world, external cultural pressures (my first novel dealt a lot with this)

the flesh, internal human sinful nature 

My second book starts with the flesh, internal human sinful nature, meeting the supernatural temptation of the domain of the devil.

Like I said... I'm not sure people want a Biblical corollary, number 2, especially those who didn't understand my first book but...

I continue writing.

Warren has been ensuring that every novel, of mine, and all my paperwork is being kept in pristine condition so I can keep my 15 year project going... as well as all my quilts and inventory.

Well, he's making sure everything I own is being protected, by him, so I can be secure in my working.