Faith
When Joe woke up from his coma, he looked to his side and saw Rick sitting in the chair next to his bed, sound asleep. On his lap was Ashlyn, who had also fallen asleep. Joe leaned over and shook Rick's shoulder. Rick opened his eyes and looked at him. "Joe, you're awake," he said with a smile on his face. "I'm so glad you woke up! I was scared you wouldn't make it after the way you were injured!"
"Don't be so surprised I woke. With your snoring, I'm surprised you didn't wake everybody in this hospital," Joe said with a chuckle. He always was a light-hearted man. Then he smiled. "I'm joking--not about your snoring, but about why I woke up." His eyes widened."Rick, you won't believe it! I saw fire all around me, and I heard a Voice telling me I didn't need to experience seeing fire. I left my body. I had one of those out-of-body experiences, and when I came back to my body, I woke up! Rick, why did I see fire? I'm a good man. It's not like I'd burn in Hell!"
Rick rubbed a little sleep out of his eyes. "I thought you didn't believe in Heaven or Hell," he said.
"Well, now I'm thinking there might be," Joe said, "and if there is, why would God send me to Hell? I'm not a perfect person, but I'm sure my good outweighs my bad. It must have been God telling me I don't need to experience Hell. Do I need to make up for the bad stuff I did through penance, and then I'll go into Heaven, or at least purgatory and wait to go to Heaven?"
Rick gave him a serious look. "Joe, there's no way you can earn Heaven. Nobody is good enough. God is perfect, and we are not. Even if you've never killed anyone or cheated on your wife, if you've even hated anyone, God considers it murder in the heart, and if you look at a woman lustfully, you've already committed adultery with her in your heart. If you've lied or stolen anything, even if it was something small, you've still broken God's rules. The Bible says that, because of our sins, we are not worthy of Heaven, because we are not worthy to be in the presence of an all-perfect God. We can't earn that. God loves us so much that He doesn't want us to go to Hell, though, so He came to earth as a Man named Jesus to die on the cross for our sins." Then he exhaled. "You know, Joe, I used to be a strong, devout atheist, just like you. Mari's always been a Christian, and she took Ashlyn to church, and Ashlyn became a Christian, too. At first I was mad at Mari for taking my daughter to church, but then when God healed Ashlyn after she accidentally fell out of a tree and hit her head in a way that doctors said would most likely lead to death, I knew He was real. She showed no signs of concussion or brain damage or anything."
"Ashlyn was in an accident? I am so sorry!" Joe exclaimed.
"Thanks, Joe. I just thank God for my little girl still being here." Rick hugged Ashlyn, who was still sound asleep, closer to his chest and kissed the top of her head.
"I would like to receive Jesus." Joe said with tears in his eyes. He prayed a solemn prayer in his heart that Jesus would come into his life and be his Savior, and then he saw angels standing all around his bed, telling him it was time for him to go home to Jesus, where he would be healed forever, never to experience pain or injury again.
When he was finished with his prayer, he said, "Rick, I am sorry for firing you and Mari. God's angels told me it is time to go home to Heaven, so i am going to leave you my science lab. I never had any children of my own to leave it, too, and you're like a son to me. I want you to have it. See you later." With that, his body went limp, and he breathed his last.
Rick's eyes filled with tears, and his throat became clogged. Finally, he let the tears come out like water over a dam, and Ashlyn woke up. "Daddy?" she asked.
"He...he's home with Jesus now, honey," Rick said, hugging Ashlyn.
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This really touched my heart. Very well written. Thanks so much for sharing it!
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