"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James 10:14 (NIV)
Sue Johnson thought she had her entire day planned out. Sue prided herself on her organizational skills. Day runners, Blackberries, and on line appointment book were so stuffed with appointments, meetings, and closings, her time was parceled out like Ebenezer Scrooges coal. She, only half jokingly, told her assistant to write in a bathroom break every two hours! Sue felt confident and successful. She had clawed her way to a top tier executive assignment. She had shattered the “glass ceiling” by working harder and longer than any executive in her company. She had discovered she had a real talent, a genetic disposition for closing big contracts. Just about any real estate agent can get a verbal agreement to buy a home. But when it comes time to put ink to paper, they balk. She was responsible for properties assessed at two million and up. She had taken dogs to the vet, picked up children from school, and bought pizzas, all at various times to convince various purchasers to put ink on paper. Sue did it all to close the deal. Just three more years, and she could take an early retirement …
What happened next seemed to occur in slow motion to her, …a cement truck . . . Sue heard an air horn coming from her right…The crunch squeal of metal on metal, as her mini copper was flattened into something like a tin can, then everything went dark and she began to feel disconnected from her body. . . . She rose above the hospital, like a hot air balloon whose sandbags had been released. Sue felt the pull of the Earth fade, as if the law of gravity had been repealed for her. Wait! Hold on a minute! Sue was not ready for this. It was not on her calendar. But Sue left the bonds of this earth and floated on top of the planet she had lived on for 41 years. She felt herself moving toward a distant, but warm and inviting, light. Sue felt something else. She felt the purest kind of love coming forth from that light. Then, in one single moment, everything changed.
She realized the horrible mistake she had made; it was far too late to fix it now. She had had some friends come back from some Christian retreat. They were so different; they seemed so much more relaxed and sure of themselves. Sue had let her girlfriends talk her into attending the next time it came to the city. The girlfriends kept asking her for just a few minutes, over lunch. They would treat. They wanted to explain the experience to Sue. Do you want us to explain how you can know, right now, where you are going when this life has run its course? No one knows when that will be. She had taken a Bible tape and a small Bible they had given to her. As she got closer to the pure light, she came to feel its sadness. Abruptly, she stopped. Then she began to scream.
Sue found herself in a huge courtroom. Seated in front of her, on a massive Judges bench and wearing a black judicial robe was God. Sue fell down on the floor and began begging, crying, and pleading. The anger in His eyes was so frightening; she tried to turn her head but could not do anything but stare into those eyes... It was Judgment Day, and she was standing alone before Almighty God. She was standing without the Messiah. She had never closed the deal!
Copyright 2007 Timothy E. Davis