Looking at the early part of Genesis the way we are doing in our Sunday morning auditorium class always gets my imagination to spinning. There are talking (and walking) snakes, no apparent disease or death, a garden where everything grows except weeds (not like any of my gardens). Then you start to imagine nine-hundred year lifespans. What were their lives like? What could they have accomplished with 900 plus years of life on earth. And what was their earth like? What little we know makes me think that their world was very different from our own.

Thinking about that kind of stuff to me is fun. Letting my imagination run away with me can be a fairly enjoyable passtime. But then, eventually reality sets in and the mundane wins once again. Sometimes there just seems to be no room for imagination in the "real" world. After all there are tasks to accomplish (my Remember the Milk(tm) account is constantly yelling at me), there are people demanding pieces of my day, bosses that never seem to take a break, meals to cook, yards to mow, bills to pay, activities to attend...and the list goes on and on.

So, no room for imagination, right? Actually, for a Christian I think a healthy imagination is a must. After all, what is the imagination but the ability to see the unrealized potential around us. Our imagination helps us to contemplate the things we can't see. As a Christian my life is centered around things I can not physically see or touch, like, say Jesus and God. But wait! Aren't we talking about faith now instead of imagination? After all, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the certainty of things not seen." Right? Right. Our faith is what allows us to be certain about things like the fact that God and Jesus exist and the resurrection will be real, etc. But imagination still has a part to play. For instance, what did Jesus look like when he was on earth? Was he the blond hair, blue-eyed European that so many painters have portrayed over the years, or did he look more like a present day Palestinian? Was he tall compared to others, or was he maybe just average, or even short for his day and time? Was he muscular, or was he thin? What did his voice sound like? What did he laugh like? Was he good at games? There are a few hints in scripture as to some of these things, like the fact that he was a Jew and not a middle aged blond European, but for the rest we are left to our imaginations.

Now you may be thinking, what does it matter? We can't know the answer to things like that. True, but we can imagine, and imagining is important becuase it helps us keep our focus on what we're waiting to find out. One day I will see Jesus face to face and know the answer to some of these questions, but until then taking the time to try to imagine those features helps me focus on the fact that Jesus is a real person, with a real smile and a real laugh that I will see one day. Think about a trip you've taken at some point in your life that you were more excited about than any other. Did you spend a little time before that trip thinking about what you expected it to be like (that's called imagination)? As a Christian I think that is how we should approach the ultimate trip we will all be taking - death (and Lord willing) heaven. What will it be like? The Bible says so little it's almost infuriating at times. But I can imagine.

And there's so much more in the Bible that demands our imaginations lend a hand in trying to think about what God's universe is actually like. Do your faith a favor today, let it play with your imagination. Spend some time contemplating heaven, or angels, or Jesus or the Father. Don't worry, when you're through letting your imagination run all those tedious things will still be there waiting for you.