Souvenirs from better times.

One of my favorite Death Cab songs is "Title and Registration" in which the singer apparently finds photos of a time when he was happy (which was probably before he wrote any music since most of it is fairly depressing, but excellent). I often look at pictures of when I was younger and think about how great those times were. I see myself riding around on my dad's back. I see my sister and I yucking it up because we were always laughing. I see myself thin and better at basketball in college. I see all those things, and I remember them all very well, but I remember them wrongly.

That is the problem with "those better times." Those times weren't better than now. We just tend to prop them up because the only photos we have we were smiling. Photos are by nature fake. They show us from our good side, because otherwise we would quickly punch the "delete" button. We would not want to admit that our picturesque life of ten years ago was not so great. We wouldn't want to admit that those pictures of me on my dad's back were followed a few weeks later by him leaving for good. We wouldn't want to remember that I was basically a jerk to both of my sisters most of the time, unless we were taking a picture. I may have been thinner in college, but I am now married to the love of my life and living a dream (albeit a little poorer than my dream).

So why do we do things like that? I think it is because in our hearts we long for the days when photos no longer have to lie. We want desperately to live with loved ones and not be afraid that they won't return home. We know in our hearts that this temporal "now you're happy now life sucks" type of life is not right. But we don't know how to fix it. And honestly, I don't think there is a fix on this side. I think part of our displeasure with the way life falls apart is because we know deep down that it doesn't have to be that way. We know that someday God will come and fix things.

He will no longer be the absent landlord, but the present help who physically holds us close. Basically, Christian eschatology. How will God wrap things up, when will he do so, what will our part be? Christian theologians and, ahem, "theologians" have attempted to answer these questions since Peter and Paul wanted to be with Jesus. Anytime someone tries to answer questions of eschatology in too much detail, that person is wrong. Anytime someone seeks to turn the book of Revelation (don't call it revelations) into a future history, that person is falling into error. Here is all anyone needs to know about eschatology: God wins. His people, by association, will win. We will live forever in peace and joy.

That's it. Anymore eschatology is mere speculation and more than likely it is incorrect. (Just ask the author of "88 reasons Jesus is coming back in '88.")