i can only imagine...

this morning i went to "beach church". now, i expected to have church on the beach but i didn't really know what to expect. i thought it would be an african gathering on the beach. instead, it was an intimate group of fellow shipmates. we sang along with worship songs off of paul's ipod and then paul shared a bit about what God had been teaching him and then we just talked about what he shared and things in our own hearts. after the "service" we wandered a bit around the beach (a few went swimming). the water was cool, the day overcast and a during part of the time, there was a gentle rain falling. hmmmm, happy, happy, walking on the beach in the rain =)

one of our songs we sang along to was mercy me's "i can only imagine". while we were singing the chorus, i did try to imagine that time of Homecoming. "surrounded by Your Glory, what will my heart feel? will i dance for You Jesus or in awe of You be still? will i stand in Your Presence or to my knees will i fall? will i sing hallelujah? will i be able to speak at all?" the Father gave me a small glimpse i think.

i get stuck on worship looking like singing sometimes even though i know it is supposed to be my whole life as worship. (it doesn't help that we call singing worship and that some of the worship pictured in Revelation is elders singing 'Holy, Holy, Holy' around the throne). i have heard people say that if this is what Heaven looks like, it sounds unspeakably dull. but my glimpse this morning was of life! not life as we understand it in the here and now...this world is but a shadow of the one to come (Heb 9) and while some things will be different like no marriage (Mt 22) some seem the same living in mansions on streets of gold (Jn 14, Rev 21). but since everything will be made new, made perfect, so, too, will worship be perfect and not the shadow and copy that we do here. it won't just look like praising in song but it will truly be LIFE as worship. like we should strive for in the here and now.

perhaps others of you see this as a "duh" post but for me, it was a new glimpse and understanding of my Father.