Submarine races! You told your mother we were going to watch the submarine races?” The thought made me nervous. “Isn’t that what you told me?” The summer sun complimented her golden hair. I opened the door of my little Chevy truck and she climbed in. “Yeah but…you weren’t supposed to tell your mother.” “Why?” She looked puzzled and yet exceptionally beautiful in her cutoff jeans and a white tank top which sported a large yellow Happy Face. I walked around to my door and considered that perhaps her German mother didn’t understand American idioms for necking by the river. Then again, apparently Heidi didn’t either. I put the keys into the ignition, “So what did she say?” I asked. “Have fun and be home in time for dinner.” In those days Heidi’s dad wouldn’t allow her to date. However she could go out during the day as long as I got her home in time for dinner. It was on one of these “daytime” dates on a warm summer afternoon we had a discussion on spiritual matters. “Do you think you would go to heaven if you died?” We were sitting on a blanket on a grassy hill eating fried chicken when I asked her. “I think so,” she paused as if thinking deeply. “I hadn’t killed anyone so I think I’m good. How about you?” I hadn’t killed anyone either, yet I wasn’t convinced that was enough. “Would you like to go to church tomorrow?” I asked her thinking maybe we should talk with someone who had a little better knowledge of the subject. After the church service we met with the pastor. He spoke to us about Jesus, the Cross, and the Resurrection. He opened his Bible and read these words written by the Apostle John: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13) The pastor told us that if we believe in Jesus, the Son of God; we can know that we have eternal life. Our lives were changed that day. For if eternity has a beginning, it began for us on that warm August day in a little church outside Grants Pass, Oregon. There is great peace in knowing Heidi has eternal life, and while she has entered the eternity side of this life, we too, may one day join her… if we believe in the name of the Son of God.
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 02:09:12 +0000