existential mini series

so i have these questions...and they're all really existential in nature. i've been sitting on them, chewing on them for a couple months now and i've gotten to the point where i really need answers. answers about why we are here. answers to questions like: * is there such a thing as a marriage relationship in heaven? * don't we take our children with us to heaven? * what does God as of us, His children? big questions, with no little answers. and yet, in my confusion and questioning and seeking, i am blessed by others journeying similar questions and sharing their musings. with that, i want to share the writings of a couple friends. mike zetterberg is a friend from college. i knew of him for most of my time @ SPU and got to know him a bit better when we both worked in university ministries. he is awesome. he is wise. he has questions. he's sought answers! this is all good. he blogged about some questions and his understanding of how God wants us to live. i love it and he's allowed me to share. click on his name for a link to his blog - a reflection of life as he knows it in LA serving with PLACE corps.

here is what he has to say:

"what we DO know
I love talking to Paige. If you have never had a real conversation with Paige Hustead, you have not lived. She is full of grace and wisdom and love, and she consistently reminds me of who of I am and what I stand for.
We had a conversation tonight about faith and life. Both of us are in this place of questioning and pondering. We both love God and want to serve God, but we admittedly do not know who God is or what God wants or how we are to live in response to God.
Here are some conclusions we drew this evening:
Even amidst our doubt and confusion, we know there is God. What we know of God is that God asks us to love. We know from our spiritual texts that followers of God are called to love and give and share and care for others. It seems that we could spend our whole lives trying to do these things that we DO know, and yet we still may never fully achieve their demands. But maybe all God is asking of us is that we do what we know we must do. Maybe God doesn’t require that we try to figure everything else out just yet. Maybe we don’t need the answers to our doctrinal debates in order to live like we should. Maybe God is pleased simply by our honest pursuit of what we know God wants of us. Maybe the rest of our questions will be answered in doing these things, and still, maybe they won’t. But it seems that if we could spend our whole lives just trying to love and share and give and care, then it would be a useless waste of time to fight over the things we do not know. Maybe God is actually displeased when we focus so much on what we do not know that we become distracted from pursuing the attributes and actions that we do know.
I would be arrogant and self-righteous to state these conclusions without acknowledging that my life does present its share of controversial choices. There are many Christians who would point at my life and say that I am not living according to what THEY do know about what God wants. I hear those protests and I wrestle with their argument daily. But, I also admit with all sincerity that I DO NOT know what they know. God has never shown me what they know. So I am honestly seeking. But I am choosing not to let my questions or the questions of others interfere with my understanding of what I am to do. I am to love and to give and to share and to care for others. I must “Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly With God,” as my open arms remind me.
So, those are some thoughts. Do with them what you will. Let me know what you’re thinking about. “We’re all in this together,” as the cast of the HSM reminds us."

isn't that rich? i don't know about YOU but it gives me HOPE. and JOY. and reminds me that there's more to this life than just waiting around for Kingdom Come.

part two in this little Existential mini series to come shortly, with thoughts from the brilliant Nathanael Henry Berends.