Vacation And The Afterlife

I have a couple interesting events to report.

One, while at the Field Museum in Chicago, we took our kids through the part of the museum that's a small version a pyramid. It gives you a chance to see how they were made, what went where, and to read some interesting facts about these ancient engineers. While looking at some mummies, a retired volunteer for the museum came up and started talking to me about the Egyptian view of the afterlife, how they saw the life force or energy as something that could not be destroyed and so they simply prepared for the next phase of their existence. He ended with what I thought was a telling comment: "many people today think the Egyptian's religion was morbid, but they were just preparing for another existence--no complusion or scare tactics--that sounds pretty good to me." For the sake of my family enjoying our time in the pyramid, I decided not to debate this gentlemen on the Egyptian view of death or the fact that less than 1% of Egyptians had the financial resources to go into eternity at all prepared (as did the Pharaohs and other prominent leaders). But the thing I really wonder about is what sort of experiences this man has had that would cause him to so quickly and so openly share his distaste for any religion that had any sort of concept of ultimate justice. I hope that in the midst of the message of judgment was a message of love and grace, but I know such was probably not the case. That's a good reminder for me.

Two, we went to the beach today and I have a picture to share of my kids. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I believe it, but I have also spent the last few years immersed in endless words and so I sometimes do not use pictures as much as I should. In fact, I have been blogging for some time now and this will be the first picture in my blog. That's what's so special about this post, not that we went to Lake Michigan (go Blue!) at a beach in Chicago. I have the greatest kids in all the world...other than yours, I'm sure.