ASHES TO ASHES DUST TO DUST

Hey where am I ?
Wow it sure is dark and cold in this place.
What is that I smell ?
The aroma reminds me of  fresh soil right after a farmer has plowed a field.
But there is another unpleasant odor mixed in with it what is that ?
Smells like a hot smoldering fire that has just been smothered out with dirt.
 
Oh no…….. Wait,  I remember what happened I’m dead….It all really did happen this is real I wasn’t dreaming.
 
There was a bright light….  I saw my body laying there…My spirit was lifted into the sky to a place called heaven………..
I was asked to bow on my knee before God and his son Jesus Christ.   I thought I was going to enter the gate to heaven.  I had hoped to receive a new body.

Then God asked me to plea my case I said “Lord I accepted you into my life at a young age!   I went to church faithfully!   I tithed just like you told me to!   I lived a good life!  Why won’t you allow me to pass through the gate?”

As I knelt before God and His Son Jesus Christ I was asked a series of questions.  After which I had to ask myself questions as to how I did measure up to their expectations.
 
I recall now what Jesus said John 13:34-35 NIV “A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.“
 
I had to ask myself did I love others the way Christ loved me,  am I  one of his disciples?
Where, when, and to whom did I show my love did I truly abide in the WORD OF THE BIBLE?
 
Jesus said Mathew 6:33 NIV “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
 
I did always  seem to find the time to watch my favorite team play a game.  
I had spent time in my life searching for something in my life to bring me love, joy, and happiness.  

When I should have been setting aside time to seek his kingdom where was my bible?   On a shelf……. and, I was preoccupied with other interest instead of his word.

When did I take the time working to glorify His name?
 
There were so many people in my life that I could have blessed.  I should have been showing them my love but instead I was always trying to please myself and satisfy my own needs.   I was self-centered like he pointed out to me.  When I should have been abiding in God and His Word I was abiding in myself.  

I didn’t give the Holy Spirit enough time to guide me…………. did I?
 
When I rejected these people I did also reject him.  I wish that I would have read that scripture Christ quoted……….Matthew 25:45-46NIV “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’  “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

I now see that my biggest mistake was that I never saw nor repented of these sins ……………..If I had asked ……He would have gladly forgiven me.
 
I never took the time to sort out these important parts of my life.
 
He breathed into the dust a life for me….. from it I came and to it I shall return…..

ASHES TO ASHES DUST TO DUST

It became very quite, I heard God crying, the ground shook, there was a pit of fire.
That horrible aroma is me…. a pile of ashes that has burned in hell…
 I now exist only as a pile of ashes.

What if I would have just taken the time to be holy and shown more love towards others?
 
What would have it been like to have received a  new body in heaven?

Then the most wonderful thing happened I awoke from not a dream but from a HORRIBLE NITEMARE.  My bedroom window was open and the dirt aroma was  the farmer plowing the field.  The burning ash aroma was the next door neighbors burning  trash.

Praise Be To God there is still time for me to repent of my sins and ask for forgiveness.  I think I will get that Holy Bible off the shelf and read some scripture today.  I hope and pray that I will get the opportunity to share my love with someone today.
Oh Holy Spirit breath into me the breath of life fill me with life anew lead and guide me so I never have to face this nightmare again.
   

By Randy LeBrun  4/19/2010