I was watching some movie the other evening and had to leave before the conclusion, so I have to guess what happened. The plot went something like this: a man died unexpectedly and had not left a will to explain what the family or business was to do with his fortune. 

There was a supposed warning in my family – not explicit, but strongly suggested – that when you made out a will, you were going to die real soon. If families were only made aware of the terrible squabbles, fights and legal battles that happen with the leftovers when there are no legal written directions for them. Most of you understand the pain and separation that has been experienced.

Back to the story. This former wealthy business and family man had always used his wealth to manipulate his employees and his children. His world was to succeed – no matter the cost – power was to control, and the end he desired justified the means to get there. For him, any method of getting his goals was acceptable.

Okay. He may have died, but wakes up in a hospital-like environment with a sort of angelic nurse who tells him he was a stinker in life but has been given an opportunity to make things right. He will be given a week before his death to change a mean old man into a nice old guy.

Yes, this is Hollywood, and yes, most of these shows have a tear jerker predictable ending. However, it triggered something important for me.

What would I do if I found I had a chance to redo or make right all those errors I have made in my past? First off, I believe I know enough to realize that those times when I failed to be the man that I always thought I was made memories I cannot erase or forget. What about those situations when I failed people, hurt their feelings, refused to listen or took them for granted? What about those moments when I only went half-way when just a little more effort would have made a considerable difference? What about those times when doing the correct thing got in the way of doing the right thing?

Wasn't it Aristotle who said, "We need the ability to do the right thing, at  the right time, in the right way and for the right reason."

The facts seem to be that we are who we are. I am just like I am, who I am, and it is very hard if not almost impossible to change.

I believe that the man in the story had pretty well gone as far as he could go. My frustration and anger with the process is when we are left with choice but also without guidance. Hang on!

Is this the life that God has given to us, to me? Am I to go through life and die, perhaps prematurely, without significance or without meaningful purpose?

No, I do not think so.

The God I have trusted all my life and who sent His Son so that I might have so much more than I deserve would not let me die as a misfit, a tragedy, a waste of time. Remember the passage from Matthew 25 when Jesus separates the goats from the sheep?

"Lord, if we had known it was You, we would have fed You, sheltered You, given You help."

Jesus answered, "When you gave to strangers, the nameless, those who could never repay you, who never thanked you and might have even taken your kindness for granted, you gave to Me. Enter the joy prepared for you."

We do not earn our way into heaven. We do not follow a list of rules to make us worthy. We cannot erase our past and create a past that never existed. We simply live each day with the knowledge, "God so loved the world...!"

God will never disappoint us.

Thanks, God!