Heaven's Doorstep

"Mike get over here!"

I grabbed the heavy knapsack filled with amazing keepsakes, stuffed my
grandpa's watch in my pocket and hurried over to Jimmy.

I thought he had found something even cooler than the stuff we had
already found. I rushed over to see what it was, but when I saw his
face I noticed something strange. It was the look in his eyes. A look
that I had not seen since we were mortals. I had forgotten what it
looked like, but seeing it again on Jimmy's face I realized what it
was?fear.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"The door, it won't open." Jimmy's voice trembled as he spoke.

Trying to comfort him and steady myself I said, "oh, come on, it's
probably just stuck or something."

"No, I'm serious it won't open." Jimmy was beginning to panic as I
inspected the massive door.

I put all the stuff I was carrying down and gave the door a good push.
Nothing. Not a budge.

"Jimmy, give me a hand will ya."

Jimmy put his things down and began to help me push. We struggled for
a long while to push the door open. That's when both of us started to
get worried. What if we were trapped? If we had only known this would
happen we never would have ventured out the main gate of Heaven this
morning.

Just then Jimmy did something I couldn't believe at first. He turned
away from me and started to cry. Was this real? Could this be happening
here in Heaven? I hadn't seen tears since the day I got here, and now
my best friend was crying? Something must be seriously wrong.

That's when it clicked. Memories of long ago lessons started to
trickle to the front of my mind. Maybe we were not in
Heaven?technically. Maybe we were just outside Heaven and some of the
bad things of the World were creeping back up on us? Sure, we could
hear the music and people singing, and the light of Heaven was still
very bright out here on Heaven's doorstep. So close and yet so
far.

I did what came natural to me. I put my arm on Jimmy's shoulder and
told him everything would be all right. I remembered that there were
things to sit on in the room we had been exploring this morning so I
took him there to sit and think. Even though Jimmy and I were friends
he was smaller than me and I often treated him like a younger
brother.

"Mike, how come we can't get back in? Are we stuck out here on the
doorstep forever?" Jimmy asked trying not to cry.

"No, Jimmy, I'm sure we can get back in?we just have to figure out
how." I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

Jimmy pulled his dad's war medals from his knapsack and said, "Maybe
we shouldn't take all this stuff from this room."

"Why not? It's my families stuff. Look, my Dad's old drawing books, my
Mom's award's, and my scrap book stuff?all our stuff. Surely, they
would want them back, right?" I asked trying to convince Jimmy.

Jimmy was still admiring the medals, "yeah, but maybe we can't get
back into Heaven with this stuff."

It was then that I realized he might be right. My mind wandered back
to the past. I remembered learning that you can't bring anything but
your soul into Heaven. Just at that moment, I recalled my first day in
Heaven. There I was standing in the most beautiful and wonderful place
imaginable, and I did not bring anything from Earth. Funny thing is, I
don't remember missing anything from Earth. I was busy admiring my new
body, this fantastic place, the angels, my old friends, and most of all
my visits with God. He and I would take long walks together, fish, play
and discuss the meaning and purpose of our existence in Heaven. Those
are very precious times for me. My heart is glad that we have forever
to enjoy each other's company.

"Jimmy, I think your right." I said, standing up.

"Let's try opening the gate again. This time we have to leave all this
stuff on the doorstep. Empty your pockets too." I said, starting to get
excited about getting back into main Heaven.

We emptied our pockets of all our treasures. We made our way back to
the gate. We looked at each other as we stood before the gate. We
whispered a prayer, held our breath?and pushed.

The great pearl door swung open as if it were a feather! We were
inside Heaven again! One of the angels rushed over to greet us, but
when he realized we were not newcomers he gave us a "hope you learned
your lesson" look that only an angel that has about a million years of
Heaven experience under his wings can give.

Jimmy and I ran straight home to our families. We told them all about
Heaven's doorstep and how it is true that you cannot bring anything
into heaven but your soul.