Minnie Goes to Heaven (45)

(a novel continued)

A little farther up the road they came to a castle the size of a cabin and made of sand, hard packed glistening sand. The entrance was such that only one person could fit through the doorway at a time. There were no angels here. There were no people here...just a cute little castle made of sand. Minnie and Lydia toured the rooms, all four of them and then squeezed back out the front door.  

“Why is that here?” Minnie asked.

 “Jesus said not to build your house on sand, but he never said anything about building a sand castle,” Lydia said.

Something else to ask Hershal, Minnie decided.

“How much further do you want to go?” Lydia asked.

“Let’s just see what’s around the next corner,” Minnie said.

Around the next corner they found another stream, a swift stream. They could hear water rippling, falling, thundering somewhere up river. “It must be a waterfall,” Minnie said. She loved waterfalls. Judging by the melodious sounds she judged a waterfall in heaven would be beyond her imagination. They followed the winding stream toward the bubbling orchestra. Around the last bend, they saw a ribbon of water which looked more like sparkling light glistening as it dropped from the sky. Rainbow light danced around the streaming ribbon. They stood in awe for several minutes.

“That was the highlight of the day,” Lydia said.

“Getting baptized was,” Minnie said.

Lydia smiled.

Minnie pulled her whistle out. “Shall we?”

Lydia nodded.

As soon as Minnie and Lydia blew their Fox whistles, Hershal and Ramone appeared, as if they had been with the girls before the whistles had actually blown.

“So, now you’ve visited Castle Row,” Hershal said. “What did you think?”

“Was an interesting day,” Minnie said. “Hershal, those men in the big castle with all the arches, who are they?”

“They, my dear, are very serious men. In every generation there are leaders among men who love the Lord, claim Him as their Saviour, love their fellow men, and put themselves in charge. The Lord lets them play king of the castle until they tire of it. Usually they end up calling on Jesus to rescue them, just in time for the next crop coming through.”

“What about the sand castle?”

“That is a visual aid. There are some among men who claim Jesus as their Saviour and yet believe that the good life they have led has earned them a way into heaven. So Jesus brings them to the castle made of sand and lets them choose. They can live in heaven as provided for by the sacrifice on the cross or they can choose to live in the castle made of sand. The sand represents all their good works. Every grain of sand represents some bit of self-righteousness.

Most understand the concept in quick order.”