There I was face to face with St Peter. He looked at his computer monitor and said. “Yep … your credentials are OK. You’ve made it. Welcome to Heaven!”
I smiled silently.
“We like our guests to be very comfortable here” continued the Saint, “and not feel too disoriented from where they come from. So you’re allowed to go back to earth for a short period and bring with you three items from down there which will help make you more comfortable up here.
“I have to enter them on the computer … so, what will they be?”
I stopped and thought for a few moments. Three items … what could I bring from earth which will make my eternity here more pleasant … as if that were possible.
I saw him smile at that last thought.
Perhaps I could bring my MP3 player with all my music collection … that would be nice.
He frowned a little and was about to type when I added … “Oh … it’s got Latin hymns on it too …” He said nothing and I saw him type in the reflection of his spectacles.
Perhaps I could also bring my DVD collection of all those movies I never had time to see …
He interrupted my thoughts by saying, “Whilst you’re thinking about this can I also tell you that you can bring three people from down there to share Heaven with you. Who will they be?”
“Three people?” I thought, “but I know more than three people whom I’d love to see in Heaven for eternity.
“My wife … my children, my extended family, my friends, and all my Blogging friends whom I’ve ‘met’ through the Internet. There’s many more than just three people I’d like here with me.
“But … but … their lives are so inter-dependent. If I bring my wife here, who will look after the children left behind? And is it right and fair to bring young children here before they’ve had a chance to live life? How about my extended family … I can’t bring one and leave the others behind? This is so unfair!”
“Sit down,” said the Saint sternly, “you think it is unfair because you see things through human perspective. You analyze and measure things your way; often in a possessive manner.
“You say things like my wife, my children, my parents and my friends … as if these people belong to you.
“No one and nothing belongs to anybody and everything belongs to God.
“God gave life and only He decides when it ends and whether people come here or … the other place.
“You humans often complain when a young life is taken or when someone leaves dependents behind with seemingly no one to care for them.
“You forget that God is there to care for them, and He leaves plenty of opportunities for those people left behind to take on the task He has set them.
“Everyone has his allotted time on earth, and whilst there, their main job is to do God's will so that when their turn comes to leave earth they end up here! You understand?”
I nodded meekly.
“Now tell me,” he continued with a smile, “which Latin hymns do you have in your collection?”
“Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do what my Father in Heaven wants them to do.” Matthew 7:21.
