How to get into Heaven

I grew up in the hills of western North Carolina. In the early and mid sixties Old Fort was a quiet and beautiful places. My Mom had lots of kids early in life and my biological male parent (you can tell there's no bitterness there) ran off and left us in a bit of a spot. I and my three younger siblings were the lucky ones; we lived in Old Fort with my extraordinary grandparents. My Grandmother was a full blooded Cherokee Indian, or so the story goes, and the mother of eighteen. My Grandfather was a very tall, very loud traveling Evangelical minister. Now that sounds like a better job than it really was, you see all that means is that Grandpa spent most of his time yelling in the woods, parks, or small town squares. Any where somebody would stop and listen to my Grandpa share his version of the Gospel. Oh wow, Grandpa scared me to death. Now don't get me wrong, my Grandpa loved me and I loved him more than anyone I can remember. We had so much fun around the farm and exploring the hills and woods between Black Mountain and Monroe, but that's another story. I was young and all that fire and brimstone retarded my Christian growth well into my early thirties.

In fact I've spent many years scared to believe in Jesus. I learned to read before the first grade by candle light and the King James Version of the Bible. For many Americans my age, that was our preschool. (Bah, pre-school what a total waste of childhood, that's another blog) Where was I, oh yea, as the years past and my personal understanding of Gods living word improved it caused a lot of confusion for me. What I read just didn't match what I was hearing from the pulpit. What I read just didn't match the self righteous action of the religious leaders in my world. Do not let me fool you; I spent many years using the hypocrisy all around me to run hard and fast from God. It wasn't until the blessing of fatherhood and the challenges of raising children in today culture, that I was able to personalize and simplify my understanding and thus my relationship with God. Please, let me explain.

Being a Christian and spending eternity in the very presence of the Farther and the Son is the easiest process in the world. You don't have to be perfect, not even close in my case. It doesn't matter what you have done in your life, you will be forgiven. There is only one unforgivable sin and it's not murder, suicide, homosexuality, drug addiction, rape, or any other depravity mankind can think-up. The only thing that will keep you out of Heaven is refusing to accept Jesus Christ has your Lord and Savior. It's that simple, God loves us and there is nothing any of us can do about that. Let me clarify, you don't have to attend any church, you don't have to give money to any church, all you have to do is accept that which is already true. So listen, it's easy, it's fun and everybody is doing it. Let there be no confusion, God is always ready and able to help.