November 30, 2004

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the
road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that ooked like Mother of Pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold.

He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man
at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"

"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.

"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.

"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up." The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler asked.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a
dirt road which led through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been
closed. There was no fence.

As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and
reading a book.

"Excuse me!" he called to the reader."Do you have any water?"

"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there."

The man pointed to a place that couldn't be seen from outside the gate.
"Come on in."

"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.

"There should be a bowl by the pump."

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old fashioned
hand pump with a bowl beside it. The traveler filled the bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was
standing by the tree waiting for them.

"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.

"This is Heaven," he answered.

"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said. "The man down the road said that was Heaven, too."

"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's
Hell."

"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"

"No. I can see how you might think so, but we're just happy that they screen
out the folks who'll leave their best friends behind."

Today is the feast day of St. Andrew, the Apostle. Andrew, the brother of Peter.

In the Gospel today, Jesus calls Andrew and Peter to follow Him, much like he calls each of us in our own way.

As we begin the season of Advent, it's a good time to reflect on exactly what He's calling each of us to do. We're all called in a different way, but we all have the same goal, eternal life.

Like the man in the story, we have no idea what's waiting for us when we get to heaven, but we do know that God has a mansion prepared for every one of us. Advent is the season of preparation. We're getting ready for the birth of the Son of God. As Deacon Mike said on Sunday, for the next few weeks we're going to be bombarded with materialism. But as they say, Jesus is the reason for the season.

During the next four weeks there will be a lot of things competing for your attention. But the only thing that really matters is that little baby, born in a manger, a long, long time ago.