'You Get Two Choices"

I visited Ronnie in the hospital today.

I wasn't even sure I would, wasn't sure what I'd say. After all, Ronnie was the reason I'd had to visit several girls in the E.R.

But, as my husband gently reminded me, he needed Christ too.

So I went. On the way I prayed for the compassion that had eluded me regarding this man since I discovered his dark secrets.

Midway through our polite conversation my husband stepped out to take a phone call and my blunt nature took over.

"Are you just trying to kill yourself?" I asked him. "All this anger..all this rage that comes out with that bat is literally eating you alive."

He was like a caged animal, or a guilty first-grader, rapidly firing off the misdeeds of others and spinning the same tales I no longer believed.

Accepting defeat I sat at the foot of his hospital bed and started to pray the perfunctory hospital clergy prayer.

Somewhere in the midst of the prayer, after binding the spirits that tormented him as well, the real Ronnie emerged.

Broken and repentant we continued our conversation after the prayer ended.

"Ronnie, I know everything and I'm still here. That's the love of Christ. You cannot even imagine how much greater His love is for you."

He started to receive this love then wavered.

"But she..." "But he..." "You know I..."

I cut him off.

"None of that matters when you stand in front of the Lord," I told him.

"You get two choices: He's either going to say 'Well done, my good and faithful servant' or 'Depart from me, I never knew you.' That's it. No one else will be standing there for you to point fingers at. Now do you know what He's going to say?"

I left him with that; he has some soul-searching to do.

What about you? Two choices. On that day of judgment, what will He say to YOU?