Have you ever crawled under a house? Crawling under some houses would be a piece of cake; however, those with closed in foundations, small crawl spaces, and lots of critters can cause the bravest person to cringe in fear.

Shiver and shake is what my son, Clint, told his kindergarten test administrator he would do if it was cold outside. He missed that question, since the test-makers decided that ‘put on a coat’ was the only correct answer. Testing and questions perplex people throughout life. Standing before the Lord, when life is done, will come the greatest question of all, ‘Did you accept Jesus as your personal Savior’? Shivering and shaking will surely be going on while waiting for an answer from the Master…’Welcome and well done my good and faithful servant, or sorry but you must depart; I never knew you.’

Just as I questioned the validity of a test that would penalize one’s answer to shiver and shake when cold, many people dispute the validity of the Bible, of a God who loves unconditionally and sent His Son to die for our sins, of a place called heaven, and a pit called hell. We may question, debate, hire lawyers to plead our cases, and stand our ground until answers we believe are right are accepted; however, when we get to those pearly gates, only one answer will be accepted. Shivering, shaking, even shouting for God to review our lives and see all the good we did on earth will not get us into heaven, unless we have accepted Jesus, repented of our sins, and lived our lives connected to the Vine.

Heaven is real, so is hell. If Jesus answers, ‘I don’t know you’, there is no question of where one will spend eternity. For sure, sinners won’t be shivering forever and ever, but sweating and screaming, ‘I meant to accept Jesus. I should have listened; I can’t take this place any longer. I wanna’ go to heaven.”

This story stirred in my heart one morning when Jesus and I were talking. You could hear my voice fill the darkness of my bedroom; His quietly nudged my heart. A flashback of early years of marriage and Tim’s cry for help, while working on pipes underneath our house, played in my mind. He needed a wrench; I was certain I could crawl through the dark, tight space with tool in hand and make my husband proud of me. The more I crawled, the more I cried, ‘there are spiders in here Tim, oh no — a snakeskin is under my leg; I hate this dismal, dark place, I gotta’ get out of here’! And I shivered and shook!

As I reflected on that day, God stirred my heart to write this story. ‘Write about hell, about how awful it will be for anyone who enters that pit of darkness. Warn my children of the wicked creature (Satan) that lures them there, the critters (demons) that torment there, the wide road that leads there (sin), the length of time one stays there (forever), the miserable lifestyle there (no light, no love, no fellowship, no God). and the easy way to stay away from there (repent of sins and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior).

Some readers may question the validity of what you are reading. The story of Tim and me underneath our house did happen. My early morning time with the Lord did happen. Our time on earth ending one day will happen. Entering heaven or hell for eternity will happen.

My heart was stirred to share how awful hell will be and how much God wants His children to turn to Him, to accept and honor Him, to rise up and be a bold witness for Christ, to recount love and share details of why we love Him, and to enjoy living our lives out loud in obedience and in love with Him and our loved ones. Most of all, God wants to say, ‘come on in. Heaven is all right, all light, and all love,forever.’

Where will you spend eternity? Why not accept Jesus today and be assured of a spot in heaven? Time is running out for people who ponder and postpone answering these questions. Listen to the plea of a Father who longs for all His children to go home to heaven when time on earth ends. The only right answer to enter heaven is, ‘yes’, come into my heart Lord Jesus, come into my heart today, come into my heart to stay,forever!