A WORD FROM THE BIRD

WELCOME TO PARADISE!

I greet you today from my happy place, which is truly paradise. I’m looking out the window at a pine and juniper forest on a perfect nearly fall day. We were treated last night to five head of elk in the distance and greeted this morning by eight head of white tail deer and a coyote. Of course, I’m describing Sunriver, my favorite writing retreat.

After a wonderful summer of writing and leading local tours in Portland, I’m finally back to my blogs. To those who have made the leap from my Childlike Kingdom Facebook Group to this new website, thanks for making the jump and I hope you missed me. I needed to focus on major progress for the second book of the series and I’m happy to report just that. In fact, I just finished chapter six yesterday! And to those who have just joined the fun, we’re so happy you’ve found us.

“Welcome to paradise” is an oft used line I use on tour with newbies to our Pacific Wonderland. Especially when looking at Multnomah Falls dropping 620’ behind three giant fir trees. Or looking for miles to the southeast from the Roosevelt Patio at Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge. Or looking south from Ecola State Park to Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock, my favorite view of them all. For those of us who live in Oregon, it is truly paradise found.

As I continue to meditate and write about the Kingdom of God, I’m increasingly captivated by the overlap of heaven and earth, of dirt and divinity. The church I attend in Portland (Bridgetown) has the compelling vision, “In Portland as in Heaven.” That’s not only what we long for, pray for, and work for, it’s what we live for. It is happening as we speak all over the world. The Kingdom of God is coming to earth today, and there is no stopping it! But we can work to advance it with every act of love and service in Jesus’s name. We can see paradise found in our communities this very day.

As Jesus was suffering and dying on the cross, he had a life-saving interaction with one of the condemned criminals. Of course he did. As this poor soul reached out for mercy to the Messiah, perhaps the last words on earth he heard were, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” Paradise in Scripture refers not to heaven specifically, but to an in-between state, not quite heaven and not quite earth. It is one of the many mysteries presented in the Scriptures.

It also illustrates the reality we can have today as we follow Jesus in the way of the kingdom. My church has a simple logo with two overlapping rings. It represents the hope of this ever-increasing overlap of heaven and earth. And the shared space represents, wait for it … paradise. It’s not quite heaven, and it’s more than just earth. And we don’t have to travel to Multnomah Falls, Cannon Beach, or Sunriver to experience it. And we don’t have to die either.

So my dear readers, new and old, “Welcome to Paradise!” I’m thrilled to be walking this kingdom way with you.

JAY