My Take on Love Wins, by Rob Bell

One evening I was sitting on the recliner, and my daughter Harlo was sitting on my lap. She was rubbing my chest and my face, and with her little eyes she was telling me how much she loved me. She didn’t have to use words, because I knew exactly what she was trying to tell me. That I was her daddy, and that she loved me.

Recently I have been trying to compare my experience as a father to how God is referenced to as our Father. Is there ever a point for my daughter where there is no hope? Is there a point where I would be willing to condemn her to Hell for all of eternity…without any hope for redemption? Absolutely not! And yet this is how I thought God was like?

All of my spiritual conversations up to this point (before Love Wins) have left me with the idea that Scripture is 100% clear in what happens after death. That we basically have this life to live, and if we don’t become a part of the “in crowd” before we die, we are eternally punished with no hope of redemption.

This is what I was told how things work all of my "Christian" life. That this life is our only chance, and once we die, God turns his back on us if we are not a “believer”. Before that point, God is a loving God who is always waiting for us to return home. But after our physical death, he can’t do anything but let us burn in torment and agony for all of eternity…..WITH NO HOPE.

Is this what the Bible says about our God? Is this God good? Is this the message Jesus came to earth to reveal to us? Is this really good news?

These are the questions that Rob Bell goes through with his book Love Wins. I am so grateful that Bell had the courage to publish a book like this, because it challenges how most evangelicals look at heaven and hell.

I’m not here to defend his book or his claims. I think the book does a good job in speaking for itself. But before you call Rob Bell a heretic or a universalist, please read his book. People have already made their Bible point lists in why Rob Bell is wrong, before even reading the book. And you can find people all over the internet disagreeing or agreeing with what he puts in the book.

For me the book has challenged me on so many different levels. I haven’t seen God at work in my life in so many different ways as I do now. My perspective on Who God Is and What He is Like is more real now. I’m so grateful for this book. I just hope everyone will read the book objectively so we can have constructive discussions with each other on Who God Is and What He is Like. Those are the real questions that are worth answering. And this is why I think this book is so important.

Pyramid Version 2.0

So this time around, I got my friend Mikey T to help me make a cat jig by connecting pieces of wood. It was very precise and stable, and I think that was part of the reason why this turned out better than the last one.

The last time took a total of about 50 hours. This time, it took a total of about 30 hours, and the sewing is down more accurately this time. I also used heavier thread.

Below are photos of the tent (one of the photos was taken on a different day).

The pole height is 72.5" and is in five separate pieces, that fit into the tent bag. With the stuff sack, poles, tent and stakes, it all weighs 2lbs 9.5oz (or 41.5 ounces). I'm hoping that adding a floor and a perimeter netting will total around 3.5 lbs.

I'm thinking about converting from using trekking poles to using a hiking staff/stick and use this as the center pole. This would save around 9.5 ounces. But I also like having the collapsible pole as an option.