Where are you?

I want to speak to the little boy or little girl inside each of us. I want to peel back the thick, cumbersome layers of adulthood that we pile on to mask our thoughts, feelings and emotions. I want to speak to the child in you – the innocent child that Jesus refers to when He says, in Matthew 19:14, “Let the little children come to me.” The little child who is afraid of the dark, afraid of thunderstorms, hates it when his parents fight, and does not understand why people don’t want to be her friend. Inside all of us, beneath the life-worn exterior of machismo and pride that child still lives within us. And, Jesus still speaks to that child: "Come."

In helping us understand God and the heavens, well-meaning adults pointed to the blue skies and white clouds and said, heaven is there and God lives in heaven. Even the Bible, in Isaiah 40:22, says God stretches out the heavens. We grew up with this idea that God is "up there" somewhere - somewhere far away. People stand in worship, face and arms lifted high, and for some they seem to be reaching upward to . . . somewhere. And, if we dig a hole deep enough, we'll come to a place called hell and the devil lives "down there." Good is up; bad is down. You've probably seen the old cartoons that reinforce this with an elevator. God is up there - far away - looking down on our lives and waiting on a few of us to join Him in the clouds when we die.

As a 12-year-old boy, I was hurting in 1971. I had a good life, lots of baseball, big farm to play on, parents who loved me, grandparents living just next door and they loved me, and all was well. When my grandmother died in 1971, as death often does to survivors, life got reshuffled. Nothing was the same. And, I was hurting. I've told the story many times: To ease the hurting, I used $10 of my birthday money to purchase a Bible, had my name stamped on it, and began reading it. Not long after, our pastor, Roger Williams, came to our Sunday evening Bible Study. He asked each of us (students) to be prepared to stand and read a favorite Bible verse in that evening's worship service. 

I didn't have a verse. I wanted to shout out, "My life is upside down right now. God is far away in those clouds up there. I don't even want to be here tonight. Leave me alone!"

As I sat in worship, between my parents, Roger asked we young people to stand and read our verses. I didn't have a verse. As other children stood and read, I stared at my Bible. It might as well have been a rock - literally. Then, I opened it and the words of Joshua 1:9 jumped off that page at me, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." It was like a wave of peace flooded through me and over me. I stood and read that verse. Then, I sat down, buried my head in my mama's shoulder, and began to cry. God was not far away; God was right there. And, I knew it. 

As a follower of Jesus, God had spoke that verse into my broken heart, reminding me that He is not an absentee God, far away in story-book clouds. For those who love Him through Jesus, broken under the strain of life, He reaches out through the Holy Spirit in a supernatural way, and says, “Anchor your life in me. I will always be with you. Always. I will be with you wherever life takes you. Even in the darkest, loneliest, most confusing places – I am there.”

Most of us know that God is right here with us. But, that hopeful message slips away. We forget it. We ignore it. We wander away. I have lived a life full of valleys, some very deep, and in each of them, I still look toward the heavens and think, “Where is God in all this? Why does He seem so far away from me.” I completely forget Joshua 1:9 and all the other reminders in Scripture: God is right here. And, while I am saying, “Where are you, God?” God is saying, Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Come to me. 

While I am busy asking, "Where are you, God?" God is responding with, "Scott, I am here. Where are you? Come to me. I will give you rest." God is waiting on me and you to come to Him.

What’s wrong with me – what’s wrong with you – what’s wrong with us – that we can’t hold onto that truth? What’s wrong with our faith that we are tossed around like a rag doll in the wind? What's wrong?

God isn't fun.
I am reminded of the family that learns their child will suffer with a disease for his entire life. The child will never know the same life experienced by the neighborhood children. And, how does the family respond? Do they run to God? No, they post Facebook photographs, showing drunken parties. They say, without saying, "God, I just want to be normal and have fun. You aren't fun, God. I don't want to deal with anything 'heavy' like religion. I just want to escape the pain." And, their hearts grow cold toward the only one who can bring them peace.

God isn't convenient

I am reminded of the man who was invited to join other men on a mission trip to North Dakota. He stared back across the table and said, "Well, that ain't happening. Hell will freeze over before I do that." He failed to realize that this wasn't a friend who was inviting him to be on mission - it was Holy God extending that invitation through another believer. Each and every day, God is inviting us to join Him in a work to improve the lives of other people. But, we say, "God, you are so inconvenient. I have plans. I have goals. I have vacation time reserved for me. My children need me at every single ballgame for the rest of their lives. My life can't function without ME. Don't get in my way, God. You are an inconvenience." And, their hearts grow cold toward the only one who can bring them joy.

God isn't forgiving

I am reminded of the woman whose past came rushing up to meet her one day. Poor mistakes as a young woman were being lived out through her children. She said, "God, I know you are punishing me. I am not worthy to walk with you. I want to get things 'right' with you, but I am so unworthy. My chance is over." Feeling blighted, scarred and beyond repair, she had come to a place where she felt God no longer cared for her. And, her heart grew cold toward the only one who could bring her hope.

These are just three examples. I could write 100 more and many would apply directly to me. We turn and run from God, and then we ask, "Where is God?" And, God asks, "Scott, where are you? Where have you gone?"

For Jesus followers, God is right here - beside you, over you, under you, inside you - all the time. And He is constantly speaking, constantly calling you to serve, constantly calling you toward change, constantly reminding you that Jesus came to save and not condemn (John 3:17). But, our hearts have been hardened by the valleys; our hearts have grown cold toward love, peace, joy and hope. We can't hear God. We have listened to bank accounts, the counsel of unbelievers, family calendars, and the false belief that we are responsible for the happiness of our children. We wander, lost, hurting, confused . . . like little children afraid of the dark, but paralyzed to get out of the bed and turn on the light.

And, some of you can't hear from God because you don't know His son as your Savior. Only through Jesus, can you hear God's call to peace, love and hope. Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Have you made that commitment? Have you said, “I can’t do it anymore all by myself; I’m tired of it. I need Jesus.” If so, have you told others? Because you can’t keep the light under a bushel – it’s impossible. Have you been baptized in front of family and friends – maybe not in a big church service, but have you made that public statement of faith? Do people know that you know Jesus? Only you can answer that, but I promise you that you will never, never know the peace that comes through God until you acknowledge Jesus, surrender to Him, confess Him to others publicly, and allow your heart to be massaged by Jesus' comforting words: "But those who drink the water that I give will never be thirsty again." (John 4:14). 

Where is God? Where is God in the restlessness of our lives? 

Where are you? God is here. Where are you?

Make a decision today. Make a decision to surrender your life completely to Jesus, and if you have already done so, make the decision to step from life’s confusion and uncertainty, and hear from God: Do not be afraid, I am here. I am sovereign. I am God.

Life In A Hole

Life in a hole.

From Facebook: Facebook friends and family, I need a prayer tonight. Tomorrow, I will be at the hospital and it's going to be a very hard day. This is really heavy on my heart.

Life in a hole.

Also from Facebook: I'm so very nervous and anxious. I just need to breathe! I would take an Ambien but it is almost daylight.

Life in a hole.

In an e-mail: Quite honestly, Scott, my wife does not love me anymore and we both know it.

Life in a hole.

From The Carpenters: Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.

Life in a hole.

From a conversation at the ballpark: I have failed my children. All of their friends have so many opportunities, and mine look at me and wonder, “Why not me?”

Life in a hole.

In an e-mail: My child is an alcoholic. 

Life in a hole. 

From a conversation over lunch: I close my eyes at night and see myself walking up the steps of a gallows. I have failed at life.

Life in a hole.

I've been in a lot of holes and you have, too. Some are just a temporary bad mood, others are a day-long funk (like, for me, last Thursday), others linger for a while, some show up to haunt us from our childhood, and some are deep and wide. We can see some of the holes coming from a distance, but others surprise us and we fall in before we can help it. Some holes are in our head, created by a wild imagination and too little rest. Some are knee-buckling and all too real.

We live our lives in and out of holes.

The purpose of this lesson is to give four reminders about life in the hole.

Jesus is there in the hole.

The Bible is one giant book about men and women who find themselves in holes and are touched by the hand of God. I would tell every hurting person - unemployed, separated or divorced, and sick over an uncertain future - to read the Bible and draw hope from God's redemption of people who found themselves in holes.

Most all of us are, to a degree, Sunday morning Christians. We want a nice, clean and easy faith life. When things are going great, we say, "Well, thank you, God, for all these blessings, and for making my life so great." We walk tall and proud when we are out of the holes. And, then we step in a hole and we panic. We forget all about God. The true color of our faith is exposed.

But, listen, God is in the hole. God is everywhere, and He is everywhere all the time. And, His son, Jesus, is calling us to faith in Him and a restored relationship with God, who can bring peace to us in the hole.

One of my favorite Bible stories is from Daniel 3:19-28. It's the story of the three boys, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. King Nebuchadnezzar ordered everyone to bow down to his golden statue. These boys refused, and the king had them throw into a furnace so hot it killed the guards who threw the boys inside. As the king looked inside, he saw a fourth figure with the boys, and he saw the boys were no longer bound. Ultimately, the three boys emerged from the furnace unharmed.

Many presume that fourth figure in the furnace was an angel. It could have been, but I believe it was Jesus - years before He was ever born in the manger. The reason I believe the figure was Jesus is because the king was converted to a faith in our holy God because of the experience.

I won't unpack this whole story for you, but look closely: These boys were consistent in their love of the Lord, and they stood for the things of the Lord. Their faith was not altered by the hole because they knew the Lord was in the hole with them. The hole was not prevented, but the Lord was in the hole with them.

In the first chapter of Joshua, over and over, God says to the people, "Don't be afraid. I am with you, always." The next time you feel a panic coming, open Joshua 1 and read it. Don't be afraid. Jesus' last words to His disciples, knowing they would all be martyred (John survived poisoning and was exiled), Jesus said, (I know you are going to find yourselves in holes as you carry the gospel), but I am with you until the end of the age (forever)." That message is for us today, too.

At one point in my life, I was unemployed. I was in a hole. The Lord called me to spend my idle time - waiting on interview callbacks - visiting people in the hospital. And, so I went to the church, got the hospital list, and went to visit those who were sick. I didn't know the right words to say, but I quickly found my "being there" was welcome ministry. Ministry is a great way to get out of a hole. During those visits, I had opportunity to sit - day by day - with a man whose daughter was dying with cancer. She was in the final stages. This was a strong family of faith, and she was a believer. I sat with this daddy every day until she died. I will never, ever forget the peace of that hospital room, and the peace this man enjoyed. He knew that Jesus was in that room. He knew the presence of the Holy Spirit was calming and I dare say glorious even in the face of a dying girl's groans. I will never get over that "knowing" that Jesus is in the hole with us, and that Jesus trumps death. I understood - in my own unemployment - that Jesus was in the hole with me, too.

Two more things: Jesus understands that we are afraid. It's okay. Just remember this from 1 John 4:18, "My perfect love will banish fear from your heart." Turn to Jesus in the hole. Pray.And, Jesus hears our prayers. 1 John 5:14: "And, we can be confident that He will listen to us.” For those who know Jesus, God is listening when we speak to Him, asking Him to make our lives right according to His will for us. 

I believe that most people, even most Jesus followers, never pray. My own prayer life isn't what it should be. Most people don't know how to pray. Most people are embarrassed to pray, believing it is a sign of weakness. Heck, I've even had people tell me not to pray for them because they saw it as a sign of charity. Pray, people. Pray. My most peaceful time with God comes when I say nothing out loud. I just kneel in front of the sofa, put my head in my hands on the sofa, and just focus on the Lord. As people come to my mind, I pray for them. I thank God for sending His son to die for me. I thank God for crossing my life with people who help me grow in faith. Sometimes, I cry out for God to help me out of a hole. There are no perfect prayers, and it's ridiculous to believe that we must seek out a "professional prayer warrior" to pray for us. I get nervous when I hear people, in the context of prayer, talking more about human intercessors than they do about Jesus. Brennan Manning wrote The Ragamuffin Gospel. I am reading it; you should read it, too. In it, Manning writes that God sees our prayers like a parent sees a toddler's coloring book. The toddler doesn't understand the colors.The toddler can't color within the lines. The result is a sloppy scribbling on a piece of paper. But, every parent looks at it and sees it as a Picasso. It's beautiful and it goes on the refrigerator. That's how the Lord sees our prayers. No matter how sloppy they are, God delights in the fact that we are praying. So, pray from the hole.

The size of the hole doesn't matter.

A friend of mine sent me a recent e-mail from within a hole.

I was so thankful that he took time to send it, honoring me with the opportunity to encourage him.

But, like so many of these cries from the hole, he wrote, "I know people are struggling with things that are a  lot worse than this." I told him, the power of God to be all to all and at all times is beyond our feeble attempt to even understand the word "power." God sees a person He loves, and He sees that person crying out from a hole. He focuses on the person; not the hole.

In Psalm 5:22, we read:  “Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.” There is not a heavenly pecking order when it comes to holes. Psalm 139:12: "Even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

If you believe that God doesn't care when your car won't start and you don't have the money to fix it, you are not in worship of a God who can hang each star and call it by name. If you believe that God doesn't care when you are sad because the children are growing up and moving on, then I call that blasphemy. It's an insult to God. If you have a faith in Jesus as the Lord and Savior of your life, your burdens - great and small and even tiny - burden the God who loves you enough to send His son to die for you.

The size of the hole does not matter to God.

Tell others when you are in a hole.

We hate charity, don't we? Why? Because in our "stand on your on two feet" culture of personal supremacy, we have relegated charity to be synonymous with government welfare. Charity is a spirit of generosity and helpfulness. Believers have an obligation to be involved in charity as providers and as grateful recipients. I believe a person demonstrates their faith in Jesus by their approach to charity - coming and going. Jesus' death and resurrection was charity. How can we follow Jesus, and not be deep in charitable lifestyle - receiving and providing?

In 1 Peter 5:9, we read, “Stand firm in faith, because you know the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering.” As believers, you and I join a universal family of faith, regardless of the sign outside the church building. We are part of a local church family, and many of us are a part of small groups of faith friends.

At the depth of one of my darkest holes, God sent a voice - spoken through the mouth of a family friend - who said, "Scott, your biggest mistake in this hole was not turning to your family and friends, who love you. As soon as you feel the ground shifting, reach out to those who love you.” Those words were a mile-marker in my faith life.

But, wait a minute. If I start telling people about my hole, they will start whispering about me. They might start raising money, and that will be embarrass me. They might start bringing chicken casseroles. They will take my pain and make it public knowledge. Some will try to fix my life. Some might say I deserve what I get. If you start feeling or thinking this way, well, you are hearing the voice of Satan, who wants you to stay in that hole with all its darkness and all its fear. You and I were not meant, as Jesus followers, to live private lives of pain. We have an army of fellow hole-dwellers standing with us. God says turn to the army of faith.

I was visiting a church recently, and sat on the periphery of a staff meeting. The pastor announced that one of the staff members was resigning. Her life had been in a hole for a long time, and she made the decision to leave the staff. There was obvious pain in the room, and there was no turning back from her decision. Clearly, around the room, there was concern for the hurting person. But, there was also pain at being robbed of the opportunity to love and serve this person before her climactic decision to leave.

It is sinful to be in a hole and selfishly rob others of the opportunity to exercise their faith - their charity - and to see how God will work in it. You can hide behind all the veils of privacy that you want, and initially some privacy with the Lord may be needed, but ultimately, I believe the Lord is going to say, "turn to your family of faith with this." Hole-dwelling can be very selfish and sinful. Don't be that way.

When you are not in a hole, help provide a ladder for those in the holes.

In those times when we are not in a hole, the last thing we want to do is think about the holes. Right? We stand on good ground, we breathe deep and we try to stay away from holes. We don't visit hospitals, prisons and nursing homes because they remind us of the dark places - the holes. And, we don't want to think about them. We don't want someone else's life to rub off on us. What if they pull us into the hole with them? We just want to rest and enjoy life outside the hole rather than looking down in holes.

Well, it's this selfish and sinful attitude that causes those in the hole to distrust us. Our inability to help people out of holes is why so many people get comfortable in holes and don't tell anyone. They don't want to be failed by those who claim to love Jesus. Is there a more sad statement than that? Not for me.

In 1 John 4:7, we read, "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.” We have to love one another. Believers must always carry ladders with them so we can help people out of holes.

I was able to exercise my faith last week, and received such a blessing from it. A friend of mine from high school was recently transferred to Texas. In this economy, it was one of those "move or lose it" corporate decisions, and so she moved. This separates her from beloved family. She's in a hole. I noticed her painful cry through Facebook. She wrote, "I'm having a difficult time adjusting to (Texas) and being without my husband and best friend, and my family. Keep me in your prayers that I will settle (calm) down and I will find a good church here for my Sundays away from my home church."

The Holy Spirit nudged me to contact a ministry counterpart (a wife, mom and grandmother much like my Georgia friend) in Texas, and my Texas friend reached out to my Georgia friend. They made a connection. Who wins in that? We all do. My Georgia friend, a believer, cried out, "I'm in a hole!" The Spirit moved me to bring a ladder. My Texas friend jumped in to help with the ladder. All of us were blessed with the reminder that God is larger than all the holes we face. 

Are you in a hole today?

Do you feel all alone in the hole?

Does God seem a long ways away? Do you know He cares? 

Do you know Jesus as your Savior from sin, and as the comfort – the cool water – while in the hole?

Do you feel Jesus there with you in the hole?

Do you have other believers around you, loving you? Are you confiding in them?

Are you experiencing the undefinable joy of blessing someone else’s life?

Are you walking in tandem with our Savior?

Death causes us to pause

Throughout my 20-year newspaper career, at both small weekly and large daily newspapers, I became quite skilled at writing obituaries. Granted, there was a style format for writing them and some were very basic. But, often a family would provide extra information and I enjoyed helping tell a person’s story for the family, and sharing light on how the person lived his life. I especially enjoyed helping accentuate a person’s faith in Jesus and involvement in her local church. Sometimes, I would even call the family and ask them to give me more information about the loved one’s faith story.

Obituaries are important on two fronts: First, they are the final written record of a person’s life. I call them the semi-colon, separating the Earthly chapter from the Eternal chapter.

Obituaries should tell the story of a person’s journey. Second, obituaries are not for the immediate generation; obituaries are for the future generations who want to reach back and understand their family legacy. I tell people the obituary is for four generations away, and it’s important to help that generation understand family and faith.

Writing obituaries and death always causes me to pause and reflect on our human existence. When death comes knocking, it always serves as a wake-up call for me, forcing me to recognize death as a reality of our human existence. The closer death knocks to our lives, the more it causes us to face some realities and ask ourselves some questions.

First, we are reminded that we are frail, that we are a vapor. Psalm 39:5: “You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath.” And Psalm 102:3, “For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.” And Psalm 144:4, “Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.”

When talking to my boys about the value of each day lived, I would breathe on the bathroom mirror and tell them, “What you see on the mirror is the total beginning-to-end of your life. What will you bring to this day? Order or chaos?”

How many times do we catch ourselves saying, “Where has time gone?” Each year, at Halloween, when I drag out all of my pirate gear and prepare for our church’s Halloween Carnival, I find myself saying to my Vicki, “Didn’t we just pull this stuff out yesterday?” and “Before we know it, Christmas will be here and gone.” I cannot believe three of my four boys are already in college. How did that happen? Time is fleeting.

Under the best of circumstances, we really have a very short existence here.

Secondly, death reminds us that it can come for you and me, and the ones we love, at any minute. And, so it begs us to be ready. Ecclesiastes 9:12 tells us, “People can never predict when hard times might come. Like fish in a net or birds in a trap, people are caught by sudden tragedy.” And, Luke writes in his gospel, in 21:35, “For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth.” Luke is referring to the final judgment, but that judgment follows death and death will truly come to all who live on the face of the whole earth.

These two realities beg then the question: Am I ready to face my death?

I believe our readiness comes in two ways. First, and most important, we must be followers of Jesus. Secondly, we are wise to be connected to a fellowship of other believers.

Can you imagine, for one minute, death and tragedy coming to your life and being found (a) on the outside of faith doomed to an eternity without God’s love; and (b) facing tragedy without the love and support of other believers, pulling around you and lifting up your arms, carrying you and your family through it? I have to tell you, I think those who go at life alone are among the most ridiculously foolish people that I know. I hurt for them, and I want them to find faith and I want them to find the fellowship of other believers.

Being a part of this family of faith is not about sitting in a classroom as a spectator. Certainly, the weekly gathering through Sunday School is critically important because it’s what keeps us bound together. We recharge and refocus together with laughter and study together. But, beyond our weekly gathering, it’s through our relationship that we are able to put feet to faith, exercise our faith, and get our hands dirty in ministry toward an eternal impact.

Acts 2:42-44 relates to the early church and it also relates to our fellowship and to fellowships like ours. Luke writes, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching (Scripture), and to fellowship (loving and serving), and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.” Then, look at verse 47, and they did all of this “while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”

Doesn’t that sound just like what we are experiencing as a fellowship of believers? Well, minus the Lord’s Supper, but we can take that if we choose to do it. Absolutely, it does. And, what convicts me is that God loves sending people into that kind of fellowship. So, we must be faithful in our journey with God, alongside God, waiting on God, and leaning on God. Because it’s through the fellowship of believers that people come to know Jesus; it’s through the fellowship that each of us is strengthened by the Holy Spirit in our daily walk.

I hurt for those who make a conscious decision to avoid real involvement in the fellowship of believers, whether the church at large, a group like ours, or both. Personally, I choose both and encourage you to do that, too.

But, before a person can embrace this community spirit, that larger issue stands as bold and rugged as Calvary’s cross. A person must first be a believer before they can fully join a fellowship of believers. Sure, people can join our class and discover Jesus through it. Some have. We celebrate that. But, in the long run – we are likely to share a thread in that we have made a confident confession of Jesus as our personal Savior from God’s wrath upon sin. Attendance at a church property will never save anyone. Only that confident confession of Jesus as Savior will actually save a person.

Our lives don’t end with the grave. The grave simply launches a new chapter of our eternal existence. For those who love Jesus, Romans 8:38-39 remind us that nothing can separate us from the love of God. While nothing separates us from the love of God, we have to know Jesus as our Savior in order to have that blessed assurance. Life without Jesus is bad enough. (A life without Jesus is wasted; you can never fully know the depth of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – Galatians 5:22-23.) But, imagine life without Jesus on the other side of death’s door. That place we call hell, leading to the lake of fire, is the eternal no-second-chance penalty for a life lived without Jesus. It is a place more awful than the human mind can fathom.

And, yet, some people foolishly choose chaos over peace.  John 14:6, the apostle quotes Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” And Matthew 7:13, the apostle quotes Jesus this way: “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” What does that say? We must be confidently confessing followers of Jesus; our lives must reflect that we love Jesus; our words must reflect that we know Him; and we must acknowledge our secret places of self-love and not brag about or worship those times (repentance). Our lives cannot be about what the world calls important, but what God calls important – loving Him, loving others, and helping others discover Jesus. That marks the believer.

Death causes me to ante up. Where am I in pursuing a closer relationship with the Savior that I claim to love? Occasionally, I still find myself very broken before the Lord, knowing I’ve let my life slip into the ditch, knowing I’ve disappointed my Savior, and knowing He is weeping over my words and decisions. I have found, personally, in those times of brokenness, a sweet, sweet peace as I draw closer to Jesus.

Death is a wake-up call. It’s a reality check. 

As believers, we must call each day precious and ask, “Am I ready to face death and spend eternity with Jesus? Am I surrounded by a family of faith – a close network of other believers? Who’s life will be better because I lived this short existence? Who will enter the gates of heaven because they saw and heard Jesus through me? Anyone? No one? Someone? Everyone? I pray, it’s everyone.