Heaven vs Hell

Following my blog post a few days ago, about our place in Heaven and Jesus preparing our rooms for us, I have been thinking about heaven and hell.  I came across an article about near death experiences and not always good ones.  Some people talked of being taken into a dark, frightening place where they were deprived of light, love, hope and any emotion except terror.  Essentially, an absence of God.

When I worked in a cardiac intensive care unit in Cape Town, I received a patient back from theatre following his bypass surgery.  One of the things I enjoy about ITU is the unconcious patient!  No backchat, demands, tricky behaviours etc.  But we do eventually have to return them to conciousness and extubate them.  If they are tricky people, we can comfort ourselves with the thought that they are about to be shipped off to the ward soon.  LOL.  Usually, the patients are lovely, grateful their surgery is over and keen to recover.  They trust that we are looking after them and have their best interests at heat.  But this particular gentleman was a horror.  His timid wife was waiting for him to come out of surgery,  She looked like a typical tyrant's wife - mousey and down trodden.  He fought against his ventilator, struggled with his chest drains, pulled out his drips.  Everything.  And he wasn't confused.  He was just unpleasant.  When he was awake, he shouted abuse at us, shouted at his wife, was generally one of the most unpleasant humans I have met.

His children refused to visit him.  He was alone except for his wife, who didn't seem keen to be there either.

He had an arrest in the unit the next day and we spent a while trying to get him back.  We did.  He looked totally shaken, which is unsurprising considering, but he was very quiet.  He sat on his bed weeping.  He asked the curtains to be drawn around his bed while he talked to his wife.  She emerged a while later weeping too.  She made a call and her children arrived to see their father,  There was a lot of weeping, a lot of hugging and a lot of forgiveness.  I don't know the details, he wouldn't share them with anyone but his family, but he did say to me "I don't want to go back there."  Make of it what you will, but I believe that he had been to hell.  I can't say whether he became a christian, or what happened to him.  After he left the hospital, surrounded by his family and happier looking wife, I never saw or heard from him again.

I can't imagine a place without God.  He is so much part of my life.  It would be hell indeed without him.

I have been trying to spend time this week immersed in God.  Letting His love enfold me.  How much more wonderful will heaven be?  I have a lot of life to live still, but I am looking forward to heaven.