NONE OF THAT MATTERS….NOW.

The day had finally come. For over three years, Glenda had saved, done her homework as to which plastic surgeon she should select, and she and her husband were on their way to the hospital.

Her husbands cell phone rang. It was the police. Their daughter, who was in school 500 miles away, had been in a serious accident and was being put in an ambulance that would take her to one of the local hospitals.

Both she and her husband immediately called the plastic surgeons office to re-schedule her surgery. None of that mattered now.

Two tons of a highly toxic liquid was being transported from Birmingham to Nashville via I-65. About 60 miles south of Nashville, the truck carrying the liquid veered off the road down a steep embankment and hit a concrete culvert. The impact caused the truck to implode and the liquid began spilling out all over the surrounding woods.

The truck belonged to Crown Trucking Co. The owner of Crown Trucking was Travis Powell. He and his wife were walking out the door of their home for a long-planned trip to Europe when the call came. Mr. Powell explained what had happened to his wife and they both agreed that none of that mattered, now.

Peter just wasn’t wired for church or anything that happened there. He went because his parents made him go. He was a kid for whom boundaries were challenges. And he loved challenges. In sum, what others wanted him to do, even though down deep he knew a lot of it was for his good, he resisted it wasn’t HIS idea.

He hated hypocrisy of any kind, that is, in others. Many had tried to get him to come to church, confess his sins, and accept JESUS as his LORD & SAVIOR but no. That was not for him. There was no way he could be that perfect. Fact of the matter, neither were they.

As he got older, his rejection of GOD began to gnaw at him. All of a sudden, he started having more and more what if? thoughts.

Then someone he loved died, unexpectedly. At their funeral, the minister made no mention of an after-life.

A week or so later, Peter happened to meet with someone he knew who he truly respected someone who walked the walk.

He told his friend about the funeral. His friend said he understood and expressed his condolences.

But in the course of the conversation, his friend felt led to make sure Peter knew that although our bodies will die, our spirits will not. And that regardless of how they lived and whether or not they believed in GOD, every human being was going to live forever and that there were only two possible destinations.

There was a long period of silence. Then Peter looked back at his friend and said, Forever? Really?

After a few more moments of silence, he told his friend about some of the what if? thoughts he had been having. He also told him how from his earliest years he had felt judged and condemned. especially by those in his own family, because of how he had rejected GOD and how much he still resented that.

So, forever? Only two destinations? What if I died today, where would I go?

His friend replied; Where do YOU think you would go, Peter?

There was another long silence. His friend broke the silence by asking Peter if he could answer his question with a brief story.

Yes Peter answered.

Many, many years ago, there was a man who also had the name Peter. At a very critical moment, he refused to admit he was a friend of someone who was on trial for a crime he did not commit.

After realizing what he had done, he went off by himself and wept bitterly. He was convinced his friend, whom he had betrayed, would never forgive him.

About fifty days thereafter, he happened to see his friend. For a moment, they silently looked each other in the eye. His friend knew him better than he knew himself. In fact, His friend knew exactly what he was thinking.

HE said to him, Peter, none of that matters now.

“I love you, Peter. Do you love ME? Will you come and live with ME forever?

OH! REALLY? Hmm…