the end matter

I think it must be my own personal "bomb scare" on the 60 fwy or the rapture dream I had recently, but I've been thinking more and more about the "end times" lately. We often get so sucked into the daily routines of our humdrum lives that we almost fool ourselves into thinking that we'll be going on like this forever (and sometimes it really does feel that way). But then we snap out of these delusions when we hear about some fatal freak accident or the death of some celebrity- a wake-up call of how fragile and ephemeral a human life truly is.

I remember when we were learning how to evangelize in the Philippines & Thailand, they told us that a good icebreaker is to ask people if they died right this minute, where they think they'd end up. At the time, I thought the tactic was too straightforward, even a bit harsh way to preach the gospel, but it was effective. It makes one really evaluate where they stand in terms of faith & assurance. I wonder if I asked the same question to weekly church-goers, how they would respond? I'm sure most people were never confronted with such a question.

During missions, Pastor Howard went through the study of the book of Revelation with us. In retrospect, I wish I wasn't half-asleep every morning/night so I might have learned something (I should fish out my notes though I'm sure they're just strewn with oodles of doodles).

When I was younger, I was so scared of the final book and refused to read it... those monsters with the multiples heads and such would give me nightmares. But now I really want to study it; it's really interesting how many different schools of interpretations there are on this book (e.g. Historicism, Futurism, Preterism, Idealism). I just got my ESV study bible in the mail last week, and I love the little introductions and footnotes for further explanations & historical context (My only complaint is that the thing is as big & heavy as a dictionary). It's the next best thing to having my own pocket-sized theologian professor.

on a lighter note: can you believe google is 11 years old? I thought there was a typo or my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw this:

trippy.