One day at the end of his days, the man
passed through the valley of the shadow of death and entered into the joy of heaven.
He stood immediately in the presence of the One he loved the most.
Welcome,
Child. I’ve been waiting for you. Thank You so
much, Lord. I’m so grateful You died for me and brought me all the way home.
We’ll
have all eternity together, Christ said with a radiant smile. And now, my son, I
need to talk to you about your stewardship. Yes, Lord, I think I’m
ready.
I
entrusted you with intelligence and creativity, and I gave you a good way with
people. Yes, Lord, I
know those gifts were from You. I used them to get a good education and to build
a successful business. The product we made helped a lot of people, and our
company employed over 100 folks. I paid them fairly and they all said they
liked working for me.
And I
know you maintained an unashamed witness of Me at work. Well done, good and
faithful servant. Thank You, Lord.
Another
thing. My blessings on your business made you a wealthy man. Yes, Lord, all because of you. And You
know from the beginning I gave generously and sacrificially to my local church,
to missions, and I set up a private foundation to help people. And the family business
will make it possible for all my grandchildren to get a good education.
Well done, good and faithful servant. Thanks,
Lord.
I sent you a large circle of friends over the years. Yes,
thank You. I was never a great evangelist, but I let every one of them know
about You, and some of them even believed in the gospel. Well done, good and faithful servant. Thank
You, Lord
Now I want to talk to you about the most important gift I
gave you, your wife. Okay.
We were married a long time, and she was a real blessing to me.
I
know she was, Child. Were you a blessing to her? I think I
was.
Were
you aware that she was lonely after the kids moved out? Really? She
seemed fine to me.
Did
you pray for her?
Sure. When?
You know, Lord – mainly on the way to work I guess.
Did
you know she wanted the two of you to serve for a summer on the mission field
after you retired? I remember her saying something about that.
But
you didn’t encourage her or even consider it. No, I thought
we should take to take a cruise that summer.”
How
ready do you think she is to meet Me? Well, I’ve always thought of her as a
strong Christian – stronger than me. Really? So did you ever think about her soul? Lord, that’s pretty much your department,
isn’t it?
Did
you know that she wanted to go back to school and get a Bible college degree? Yeah, but she was too old for that. Really.
So you remember how I said, love her like I love you.
Right. And nourish
and cherish her. Right.
You
know she was My gift to you, and I made you two one flesh. Right.
So what went wrong?
