It has been said that, "life is one long process of getting tired."* Well, yes, if it's done right. Nobody likes insomnia, so that can be a good thing. I always loved the feeling of laying my head on my pillow knowing I had earned my bread.  
2 Timothy 3:10-11  But you have fully known my doctrine, manner of life,
purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which
came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but
out of them all the Lord delivered me.
     This is an odd bit of a letter from Paul to his young mentee Timothy. I like it because we hear Paul saying, [Ah, but you know me well, Timothy. You know what I teach, how I live my life, why I do what I do, my reasons for believing, how I suffer, who I love, the limits of my patience, what I've gone through in this world, and how the Lord brought me through it all.]-My paraphrase
     Paul was transparant to those he mentored. He lived a transparant life. This does not mean that his life was perfect. It means he didn't hide his problems from Timothy. the key words here, for me, are purpose, and delivered. First, I like hearing Paul talk about his purpose. I hate purposlessness. God gave us a spine. I believe we need a purpose for living. But, the word delivered may be mistaken to mean something that it doesn't. It does not mean delivered in the sense that Daniel was delivered from the Lion's Den. He did not escape unscathed. He was beaten, and stoned, and suffered greatly. This deliverance was the kind you overcome by suffering through and coming out the other end intact in your faith. Yes, that is being an overcomer. And, therein is our purpose in this life... to overcome, with our faith intact. We will need it you know.
    
*Samuel Butler Quote

2 Timothy 4:13  The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when you come,
bring with you, and the books, but especially the parchments. 
     I find it a delight to see large churches and cathedrals around the world. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what it is I enjoy about seeing these buildings. We saw a beautiful curch while touring Savannah this past weekend. St. John's Episcopal Church is nestled under giant oak trees like those draped with Spanish Moss seen on Bay Street. More than the building itself, (since the walls, steeple, and doors seem almost small compared to the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church down the street on East Harris)  it is ultimately a sense of something "spiritual" or something ethereal being present among the cover of those trees that draws me.

     The church I would most like to see is Ulm Cathedral in Germany. It is the biggest in the world and has 13 bells. But, it looks like a storybook fairytale castle. There is so much to be said for organized religion, for and against. Personally, I like to study the buildings, books, and artifacts of Christianity. I know people who seem to be disillusioned about organized religion as a whole, and I understand their reasons. But, I see religion in all its trappings as man's reach for God.... a visual sign of how men have attempted to reach to heaven.

     Those last words are meant rather ironically, since God is reaching to man already, even before man reaches upward to heaven. Man reaches for various reasons, beginning with Cain and Abel, continuing through the Tower of Babel, and right down to our last trip to church, rolled up to the altar in a casket.
2 Timothy 4:13  The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when you come, 
bring with you, and the books, but especially the parchments. 
     So, you want to go to heaven? How are you getting there? In what ways are you reaching? Looking at the passage from the Bible I posted at the beginning, I see an old man, as death is approaching, sitting in a cold, dark prison. He asked of few things from Timothy, only an old coat to keep warm, a stack of books from his personal library, and some dear parchment/ papers he had written. (They may have been blank parchments on which he intended to write, but more likely were letters he had received in a time without email or cell phones...his only method of correspondence.) Imagine your Father writing you asking you to send some things he needs in his final days. This was Timothy's mentor, a Father Figure in his life. I feel so sad for Paul here. He was cold in prison. He needed a cloak. But, more than that, he just wanted his books and papers. God bless Paul! He wouldn't have despised the books and buildings of religion. No, he was busy building churches, and writing the books of our cannon. He took delight in the things of God. Now that he has reached paradise, God has given him the desires of his heart.
Psalms 37:4  Delight yourself also in the LORD; and he shall give you the
desires of your heart.
     I find this verse ironic because man tends to clasp whatever his fingers reach for. Men who long to build a church for God usually do so, in the same way that men who long for a pint or a joint usually find those wherever they are looking. We usually reach the desires of our heart, don't we? But, if we are desiring the things of God, we have to look beyond the things of God, to God Himself. If we take delight in Him, He will give us Him, what we wanted all along.