My weekly issue of People magazine arrived in the mail today, so I, as usual, casually perused it.
Then, when I saw the article, “Remembering Patrick,” I slowed down and read carefully.
I’m a child of the 70’s/80’s, thus it should come as no surprise that Patrick Swayze danced his way into my heart in the movie Dirty Dancing…
What a heartthrob! His death saddened me…hence my interest in the article.
His wife, Lisa, has written a book about her life with Patrick, and the article contains excerpts from it.
I caught my breath, though, as I read the following…
Patrick rarely talked about his ‘dark thoughts.’ ‘Where am I going to go if and when I die?’ When he said [that] out loud, my heart would jump out to him. I wanted to comfort him. ‘You’ll be in heaven.’ I knew what I wanted to believe, but there was no way I could be sure.
I’m not God, so I can’t even begin to know the condition of Patrick’s soul when he departed life. Did he have a relationship with the Lord? From the above quote, my guess would be no. Nor does his wife.
How very sad…to live your life without the SURE knowledge of where you’ll wind up after you die.
You want to know the ironic thing?
Patrick knew he’d be somewhere.
Here’s the hard truth, folks.
When we die, we will go either to heaven or to hell.
If you accept that Jesus Christ, the only man who ever walked this earth without committing a sin, died for your sins and was raised after three days, then you WILL spend eternity with the Lord.
The alternative is…well…it’s not good.
As we bid farewell to 2011, we will, undoubtedly give thanks for another year that we either managed or feel blessed to have survived.
But what lies beyond…in 2012?
We’re not guaranteed tomorrow, folks. There are no do-overs…no Groundhog Days, despite what the movies would like us to imagine.
Salvation is serious business.
It’s the life and death stuff.
After all, when you strip our lives down…take everything away from us…careers, family, friends…all that’s left is our individual selves and our souls.
Tough stuff…not the lightest questions to ponder going into the new year…but important, nonetheless.
Where do you stand? If a loved one was going to write a book about you after you died, what would that person say?
Would that person be floundering for words, trying to figure out where you “landed” in the afterlife, or would there be a sure knowledge that you were in heaven, praising God with everything you had, anticipating that person’s own arrival one day?
Happy New Year to all of my bloggy friends and those of you who have never commented but either faithfully visit or got lucky enough (*cough, cough*) to land here today.
Filed under: Christian | Tagged: Christianity, New Year, patrick swayze | 5 Comments »
AuburnChick's Adventures 