So it all came to an end last night, 6 years of fantastic story that centered on an island that, well, we still don't have any idea of what it really was. Bu there was a smoke monster that, well, we really don't have any idea of what he was either.  Of course, the Others, who, um, we still don't know who they were. At least all the major questions were answered...no, not even that!  But you know what< I find myself oddly satisfied in the show's finale, and if I haven't had all my questions answered, I still have had an awfully good time with this story and its characters.  I admit it, I'm a Lostie.

So before we get too far away from the aura of the last 2 1/2 hours, I wanted to get some of my thoughts and feelings out before I forget them.  I went back this morning and watched the end again so i could hear everything that was said and I think I've got a pretty good handle on what went down...no really, I do!  I'll get to that in a minute.  I think I cried more the second time watching it then the first.  That's just the way I am!

Now we need to be careful drawing too much philosophically or theologically out of the show.  Did you see that church at the end had symbols for all the world's major religions? So it wasn't going to give us a purely Christian worldview, and didn't, but there were some very interesting pictures of redemption (do you ever think you'd actually like Ben by the end?), spiritual warfare (Jacob vs his unnamed brother, the MIB), and just the existence of a spiritual realm. But there was one picture that I really thought was cool.

We've been talking at Oasis about John 3:16 lately and this week we're going to deal with the "...will not perish but have eternal life" part of it, and I think the writers gave us a terrific glimpse of what that might be like for us (if, that is, you can set aside whatever that sideways flash universe was exactly supposed to be.) Several times throughout the finale we saw characters 'awaken' to their past life on the island with each other.  In each instance it was a time of reconciliation, or joy, of reconnection with people whom they loved.  Each time I smiled, cried and cheered. We liked it so much that we were urging the ones who hadn't yet reconnected (like Jack) to hurry up and get there! I think there's going to be a lot of that kind of relational joy in eternity for us as followers of Jesus.  Ann always says that relationships are eternal, they're the thing that will last, that we can take with us into eternity. Paul would seem to agree when he says "Now these three remain [or are eternal]: faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love." We look forward to a day where everything that has ever led to brokenness or separation in our relationships will be gone.  Where we will be perfectly reconciled.  I don't know if there will be a meeting like the LOST people had in the church, but I do believe we will love and be loved there.  Reunited. In relationship. Filled with joy and love for each other.  I thought they pictured that really well last night.  I caught myself smiling along with them, wanting that kind of connection.

Yes, I cried, I'm man enough to admit it.

I think that's the biggest thing I'm taking out of the show. So you want to know my take on what went down?  If you go back to the end and listen to Christian, he says that Jack is dead.  He says there is no 'now, no time, where they are, and that some have arrived before him and others many years after.  And he says that the place, the sideways flashes of life, was a place they corporately created where they would all meet up at the right time.  So everything on the island happened in reality (they did not die in the plane crash!) and possibly the man in black had to be defeated in order for them to be able to get to that ending.  When they were all finally dead (Kate, Sawyer and Claire leave to live for possibly many years, as does Hurley. Maybe Ben hasn't died yet.) then they all arrive in the sideways time in order to be reconnected and "move on." 

And that's the way it happened...or not!