No. 8
The Thing About Death
Whenever it happens you want to go back but all you can do is advance.
It’s kind of like birth but it’s better. You can run, jump and roll or take flight,
and your new home’s not drier or wetter, and there’s nothing around you that’s
tight.
Word is, the folks are well meaning, and the fabrics they wear are all light.
And some folks have said, who have been there and back, that the scenery is
“flat outa sight!”
But the entrance can be a bit tricky we’re told. St. Peter will grade your exam.
And should you NOT pass all the questions he asks, understand that your
progress is damned.
You’ll be jerked out of line and set to the side as a heavenly hearse is brought out,
then you’re tossed in the back like a deflated sack and your face gains a
permanent pout.
And those who were waiting inside Heaven’s Gate will anxiously watch the tableau,
knowing well that their welcome of love and respect is not what awaits you
below.
And the hell that you enter will have every ointment to treat burns and heatstroke in
kind.
But you’ll find to your horror that none can be bought for you’ve left all your
money behind.
No sunscreen, no spray-on, no paste will be yours to cool off your skin that will peel,
no bandage, no water, no help will be yours to bind up the wounds that won’t
heal.
And there you will stay ‘til the very last day of the sentence your life choices earned,
‘til time comes at last when your penalty’s passed and your spirit is no longer
spurned.
Unless, of course, ‘though your voice may be hoarse, you manage to murmur a cry
asking the Savior to come to your aid and forgive what you once had denied.
That your debt of sin was paid out in full at a Garden and Cross long ago,
and that His sacrifice and obedience to law has covered whatever you owe.
But for those who remain ‘though they be racked with pain from a conscience that’s
lost in denial,
there is no way back from Satan’s attack for those that dismiss Jesus’ trial.
For His arms have been opened since first you appeared as a child of Adam’s
transgression,
and all that He asked was you shoulder the task of joining His righteous
procession.
And Truth and Justice are the standards twofold that compete for the Savior’s
attention,
as He seeks to be a merciful judge who can stifle eternal detention.
But we have the choice of what kind of life our agency brings to our door
as to whether we’ll live among those that seek truth or dwell with the spiritually
poor.
And all of these thoughts will weigh on the minds of the souls that reside in the pit,
and at last they will know what experience shows that two Masters want us to
commit to the power and might that each side expects will draw us to choose who we’ll be,
whether shallow and selfish or selfless and kind, whether captive or soul living
free.
And a trumpet will sound as hell gathers round at the end of Satan’s domain,
which will spew forth the crew that will gather anew now to stand at God’s Gate
without blame.
free.
And a trumpet will sound as hell gathers round at the end of Satan’s domain,
which will spew forth the crew that will gather anew now to stand at God’s Gate
without blame.
Then Peter will say no test blocks their way to enter where Heaven awaits,
for they’ve paid for their sins on their own and now clean, redemption
invites a new fate.
And those souls whose lives now pass Peter’s test will tread different paths on their
way.
in the company of families or friends of all sorts as they’re welcomed into a new
day
where, whatever was spent in earth’s service and love will determine their final
address
and they’ll find they enjoy that the Savior employs to secure their self-deserved
rest.
For the Lord of all Lords, the King of all Kings, is love untrammeled and pure,
Who jealously guards the children of God and seeks that their way may be sure.
And He never gives up on the children of man be their circumstance happy or sad,
for he sacrificed life for each one of us that a Heavenly home may be had.
And the fate of our future was set in our past when our contract for life was agreed
that we would come down for a brief go-around as mortals weighed down by our
needs.
To see if by choice we’d adhere to the rules that would one day allow us to be
set safe in God’s arms, protected from harm, partakers of God’s guarantee…
that a Savior would come to assure every chance we’ll be plucked from Satan’s foul
grasp,
with a right to inherit all things that our Father has offered His children that ask.
And their sins and commissions He’ll forgive and forget for the sacrifice made by His
Son,
and the works of the Lord will finally restore all the damage that evil has done.
Jeff Jarvis/Bountiful, Utah/2022
\Note”
This poem is about agency. We call it “free agency” although that’s not always
what it is. However, agency is so important that it was one of the first gifts God
gave to mankind. It is also promised and secured by our Constitution. Because
God CANNOT lie and Satan CANNOT compel us to do his will, then God WILL
NOT compel us to follow Him.
One path to our destiny leads to kingdoms of everlasting, escalating glory.
Another, separate path leads to everlasting, eternal misery.
What path we follow is our choice and our choice alone. Therefore, we are at
peril to choose wisely. That we may choose wisely and righteously is my prayer,
in the sacred name of Jesus Christ.
Amen