We cannot picture what Heaven might look like.
It is impossible to fathom.

But there must be something familiar, something inviting, about it in order for it to be so appealing to the heart.

Just because we cannot picture it, does not mean we don't understand what it looks like.

No...what it feels like.

So my challenge is to try and find a way for us to express this.

One thing that has stuck with me for months now is how Jesus said, very clearly, that "The Kingdom of God [Heaven] is here now".

Too often we, as christians, go out on the streets and talk to people about a life that then can have AFTER death.  We talk to them about salvation and the Gospel, and how they can turn their life around to guarantee them an Eternal Gift.  We pass out tracts, we do prayer walks, we take seminars and classes learning different methods of evangelization, we go door-to-door, and we preach repentance by a single prayer.  All these I have done or been a part of, but none of them seemed to stick with me.  I'm sure they work for lots of people, but for me they just don't resonate.

[The Kingdom of Heaven is here NOW.]

That's why, two fridays ago, me and a group of college students went out to downtown Austin Texas in order to do something different.  Our mission wasn't just to change lives, but to be a part of people lives.  We wanted to express ourselves, through our art and our stories, to show that we are broken people and going through many struggles of our own.  We played our own music.  Sang our own songs.  Wrote our own poetry.  Drew our own art.  And then we talked to people.

This is not a success story.

We did not gather crowds as expected.  We did not cause a stir in the middle of sixth street night life.  We barely, if at all, caused a ripple.

At the end I did not feel satisfied.  Something wasn't working.  I still see a lot that can be done.  I still see things we can fix.  Talking with a friend of mine I realized that, besides a handful of us, the rest of our group were very new to christianity and outreach.  This was something many of them have never experienced before.  They had felt it on their hearts, surely, and they had drive that I found so amazingly spectacular in speaking with them, but they were still being challenged.  The challenge was on us.  The challenge was that we had to get over our fears and to understand why we were out there.  The challenge, for everyone, was to understand that, yes, this is out of our comfort zone, but with God on our side we can face those fears.

There is a lot to be done.

Because we...I...want to create a community that is familiar yet not experienced.  I want to tap into the kingdom of heaven that resides within all of us who have decided to follow the teachings of the son of man, and find out how we can invite others to be a part of it.  When we get personal.  When we can start relationships with the people out there to engage their suffering with our own.  When we can solve the issue of loneliness and the need for interaction by going where they are.  When we can laugh with them.  Cry with them.  Do this dance with them.  When we can get shoulder to shoulder in an effort to be with them.  Then we are doing so much more than just giving a simple prayer, allowing Jesus into their lives and sending them on their way.

We are showing them what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.
We are causing it to come crashing down to earth.
To have God's will be done here, as it is in Heaven, and to familiarize all of humanity what this new earth will be like once Jesus comes back.

We won't just tell them about the kingdom and their savior.  We want to give them the experience.  So they can know what it's like.  So it will be inviting.  So it can appeal to their heart.

Now.