ColoradoBennett

"All the traffic lights turn blue tomorrow."--Jimi Hendrix
Our friend, Muhammad, had to fly back to Kuwait yesterday because his mother died. It was so sad to see the state he was in. I'd wanted to ask him what the Islam religion believes about life after death, but it just seemed like a bad time to talk about it. I sent him an e-card saying that a prophet we follow once said, "I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions." (Alma 36:3) He'd asked us to pray for his mother often and we were very comfortable talking about our religion with each other. Speaking of such, I came across a quote in C.S. Lewis' book "Mere Christianity" that I thought was great:
"There is no need to be worried by facetious people who try to make the Christian hope of 'Heaven' ridiculous by saying they do not want 'to spend eternity playing harps.' The answer to such people is that if they cannot understand books written for grown-ups, they should not talk about them. All the scriptural imagery (harps, crowns, gold, etc.) is, of course, a merely symbolical attempt to express the inexpressible. Musical instruments are mentioned because for many people (not all) music is the thing known in the present life which most strongly suggests ecstasy and infinity. Crowns are mentioned to suggest the fact that those who are united with God in eternity share His splendor and power and joy. Gold is mentioned to suggest the timelessness of Heaven (gold does not rust) and the preciousness of it. People who take these symbols literally might as well think that when Christ told us to be like doves, He meant that we were to lay eggs."
I felt like quoting Jimi Hendrix and C.S. Lewis in the same blog because I think they are both on to something. Lewis says we need to spend more of our time 'occupied with Heaven' and Jimi sings about how quickly things can change and suddenly we find ourselves or our loved ones have gone there.