A man and his best friend were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.
He remembered dying, and that his friend walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the
road was leading them.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.
When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and his friend walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.
When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"
"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.
"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.
"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up."
The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
"Can my friend come in too," gesturing toward his best friend of many years too?" the traveler asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we only have room for you."
The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his friend.
After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book. "Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in."
"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to his long time friend.
"There should be two bowls by the pump."
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with two bowls beside it.
The traveler filled both water bowls, giving his friend the first bowl and then took a long drink himself.
When they were full, he and his friend walked back toward t he man who was standing by the tree. "What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.
"This is Heaven," he answered.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell."
"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"
"No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind." Email Subscription:
“Wow! Would you happen to have some water?” the man asked.
“Of course, sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice water brought right up.”
The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
“Can my friend come in too,” gesturing toward his best friend of many years too?” the traveler asked.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we only have room for you.”
On a double-count, it wasn’t hard to realize that the “man sitting at the desk to one side” was not telling the truth. First, was the fact that we all know that there is no ice water there; and secondly, heaven would never negate someone practicing, with sincereity and compassion from the heart, Jesus’ “new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” [John 13:34]
Have you seen the Harrison Ford movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”? Can’t help but think that the scenario here is similar to Indy’s having to choose between the golden and bejeweled chalices and the simple, unadorned, wooden chalice crafted by a Carpenter.
Compliments of that movie and the reading of the Scriptures, I have learned to “think outside the box” and to “expect the unexpected.” Consider Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Son as written in Luke. The meaning, the true meaning is not found on a glitzy surface. And, believe it or not, grasping the message in the parable really helps to determine whether we go in for the ice water, leaving our friend behind because everything we do is really “all about me”; or whether we choose to sacrifice for others out of love for others as well as God because we have been commanded to “love one another”; and, therefore, we live and are motivated by, as well as continue to grow, a “servant’s heart.”
…my fear?…that I will choose the ice water and the golden and bejeweled chalice and that I will be as the parable’s “elder son”; that I have chosen the ice water and the bejeweled chalice and that I have acted as the parable’s “elder son.”
God forgive me.
…and thank You, Lord, for loving me and for showing me what “love” is all about so that I know that I “MUST,” not only “love one another” but so that I will choose to love one another because it pleases You.