And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Two great things...

I wanted to share two things that I have discovered so far this year that I think are great. First, some of you may be familiar with the Heaven Bible study that a few of the Sunday School classes at church went through. Well, a sweet lady at church gave me the study because she wanted me to be encouraged by it in light of Brenda's death, and I was changed by it.

This may not be new information to some of you, but the Bible study transformed the way that I think about Heaven. Basically, the author, Randy Alcorn, encourages Christians to think about the idea that God never gave up on His original plan, Earth, and Heaven will actually be a perfect Earth. Not spirits playing harps in clouds, but a physical place with physical people and physical things that have a redeemed spiritual nature. He rejects the Platonian idea that spirit and physical are opposites and believes that God created humans for earth and that Heaven will be redeemed humans experiencing a restored earth. I know this sounds complicated, but I find his ideas exhilarating because I never wanted to admit it, but I was not all that excited about the idea of singing on a cloud for eternity. But Heaven is so much more.

So anyway, I loved the Bible Study so much that for Christmas Lance bought me the full novel that the Bible Study was written from. I am learning so much. I definitely recommend this book if you want to learn more about what's to come for those who have asked Jesus into their hearts. If anyone wants to borrow it when I finish let me know or you can pick it up at Lifeway.

The other thing I have discovered this month is called "Group Groove." It is a urban/salsa dance aerobics class at Exygon on Tuesday and Thursday nights. It is so much fun that you don't even realize you are exercising. Basically it is cardio aerobics with a dance flare. The best part is that they turn off the lights and turn on a disco ball, and they cover the mirrors so that you can't see yourself acting a fool! My favorite cardio routine is to Vanilla Ice! Burning calories while having fun - it's a great thing!

3 comments:

Jenn said...

so...did you find out about the $3 a month or whatever you said to take a class?? Just wondering...not sure that even if it were that cheap I would want to go humiliate myself in front of everyone..lol. Let me know...

The Kyler said...

That study sounds like something I would like. I will have to look into it when I go to Lifeway next time. There are so many books that people have told me that are good, I don't know where to start.

The workout class sounds funny...I mean fun!!! I would love to watch, but like Jennifer I am not sure I would be brave enough to go. So did they get you hooked with your free days of workout?

MamaJ said...

I loved reading this book by Randy Alcorn after our son died. It helped me think about and picture what he might be experiencing.