“For what does it profit a person to gain the whole world, and lose their soul?
Or what shall a person give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16.26)

Lord, what would You have me to say to this people? How do I explain to them the depth of your Love? How do I convey to them Your unconditional willingness to entrust everything to them? What words can describe Your faith in them? What descriptive language will convey Your hope that they will make faithful decisions in caring for each other in response to your Love? How does a person inspire fullness and responsiveness of faith in a people who believe in me, mine and ours? What do You want me to say or do that this people not lose their souls to the power of their possessions? How do any of us learn how to put You first in the practical terms of daily living, and not just in thought and prayer? Teach me, Lord, that I may live and use me, Lord, that others may live as well. Amen.

There was a man who chose, in his love for others, to worship God above all others, including himself. So, he began to pray continually, not the kind of praying that tells others he was praying, but the kind of prayer, the kind of conversation, which goes on all the time between friends on the road. He chose to talk to God in his rising up in the morning and in his lying down at night. He chose to talk with God in his going out and in his coming in. He chose to talk to God in his crying and in his laughing. He chose to talk to God in his working and in his playing.

The next thing that happened is that he began to talk to God as he walked down the road and as he talked with his neighbors. He began to talk with God as he took food to a person in need and as he gave a drink to a person who was thirsty. He began to talk to God as he offered comfort to a grieving widow and solace to an orphaned child. He began to talk to God as he held the hand of an AIDS patient who was dying and sang a song of wonder to a child who was having trouble going to sleep. He began to talk to God as he listened to the story of a battered woman and as he nailed shingles on a Habitat for Humanity home. He began to talk with God as he gave a few acres of his farm for use in a Food Resource Bank project and as he volunteered to drive an elderly person across town to their doctor’s appointment.

The next thing you know, he began to talk to God as he made intentional decisions about his life choices. He talked to God as he chose how to treat his employees, then he talked to God about being fair with his customers. He talked to God as he gave a tenth from everything he earned at work or harvested from his fields, then he talked with God as he chose to make gifts of peace and prosperity to those whose names he did not know. He talked to God about how he should get from one place to another and what his choices would mean to the earth and its’ resources, then he talked to God about how to heat and cool his home in a way that was fair to others. He talked to God about sharing his home with others and he invited all kinds of people to his table, then he talked to God about what he learned from everyone who shared their stories with him. He talked to God about what he saw other people worshipping, then he talked to God about what worship really was. He talked to God as he talked with his faith family and invited them to share the joy of his conversation with God, then he talked with God as he bowed his head and prayed.

He talked with God as his church told him that, though his ideas and beliefs were nice, they weren’t very practical, then he talked with God some more as his family tolerated him more than listened to him. He talked with God as he met new people and they became excited at the notion of having their own conversations with God, then he talked with God some more as his conversations caught on. He talked with God as some around him said that he talked too much, then he talked with God some more as they said nothing at all. He talked with God as they put him on trial for talking with God, then he talked with God as they nailed his conversations to a tree. And when his talking was silent and his conversation with God was no more, then the rocks and stones themselves began to talk to God as they rolled around in the palm of God’s nail-scarred hand.

The rocks and stones talked with God as the Man walked out of the tomb, then they talked some more as He told the women not to be afraid. And as the Man again found His voice and talked with God, and others began to find their voices with God in Him, then the rocks and stones were silent in the joy that was before them, as the heavens themselves began to speak with God as many people began to talk with God because of Him.

Though there are many who do not talk with God and many who will not talk with God, still He invites you to listen, to learn, to believe, to pray. Still He walks with God and still He talks with God and still He invites us to listen. The ones who hear His voice and welcome his talks with God into their talks with God are the ones who enter into his joy and hear His voice every day, and that is Heaven.

So from where I am, Hell must be that place where talking with God is not allowed. Hell must be that place where ‘me, mine and ours’ means more than the time we take to stay in conversation with God. Hell must be that place where the rocks and stones themselves have no song to sing. Hell must be that place where there is nothing left to share. Hell must be that place where God’s voice is silent in our ears. Hell is where ‘I’ am the only one who matters. Hell is no conversation with God at all.

The matter is simple and the choice is ours: Heaven or Hell, and the difference is just a conversation with God away.

Praying you are in conversation with God in all things,