Hot, hot , hot!!!

Pappy and I worked outside for hours...and hours...and hours....on Saturday!!!

We got soooo much done.....got some things accomplished that I had wanted to get done for quite some time but just couldn't find the time

(I know...what do I do with all my time, since I don't work?????)

We FINALLY got most of the leaves out of the yard....well, except for one small area and we'll get around to that!!! We both worked really hard and were sore and tired to prove it...or, to prove we're getting old...older....and how out of shape we are!!!
(Pappy would probably rather I speak for myself!!!)

But....for those of you who live in "woods"....you understand what I mean about leaves. Oh, I love living here in the summertime, with all the shade....and I love it when the leaves turn beautiful shades of red and gold and orange....but....when those things turn loose and hit the ground....and they get blown against fences and under decks and just about every spot in the yard is covered....and when you try to rake them, you take about 3 swipes with your rake and you already have a humongous pile.....then, I'm about ready to pack up and move!!!
We've lived here for going on 30 years, so I don't think that's gonna happen!!!

We accumulated huge piles of leaves....and we have a couple of places in the yard where we burn...so we had a big fire going and I was trying to spread the leaves around so they all would burn.....and I couldn't believe how hot the fire was, and I wasn't even that close to it. My legs got really red and were burning so I had to step back from the fire and let it die down a bit before I would start over.
When I was young, my Daddy would burn leaves....actually pine needles because we didn't have many leafy trees...just pines...but I would get a stick and put it into the flames and let it catch fire, then swing it around in the air (this was after dark....don't ask me why Daddy was burning after dark...I have no clue) but, would swing the stick around in the air to watch the embers glow!
I got too close to the fire once...and I was barefooted (or, just had on flip-flops which is all I wore when I was a kid)....and received blisters on my foot...
but I can remember to this day how badly it hurt.
Have you ever burned yourself on the oven rack???
Or, have hot grease pop out of the skillet and burn your hand???
My brother was burning brush several years ago....using gasoline (a BIG no-no)....and caught himself on fire, resulting in spending time in the hospital in whirlpool baths to remove the dead skin!!!

Burns hurt...but only for a short period of time....normally.
When I was standing too close to that fire on Saturday burning leaves....the thought went thru my mind....how could anyone risk spending their eternity feeling that kind of pain and torture?
And....the thing is....they don't have to!!
I had a family member say once that our heaven, or hell, is here on earth!!!
Oh, how that saddened me. We would invite them to church and the comment made to us was always how they wouldn't be welcome because people there knew what kind of life they had lived. That might be another post for another time....how we so often judge others, instead of making them feel welcome and loved!!!
But...to think that our heaven, or hell, is here on earth....
and to truly believe that so strongly that you don't make a commitment to the Lord....to not question "what if"...."what if this isn't all there is"?
"What if" I never ask Jesus into my heart and truly believe that He died for my sins...."what if" I will be spending ETERNITY in HELL!!!!
Most people don't even want to hear about HELL!!!
But.....it's a very real place.
When I think of hell I just think of torture....and it's torture that we'll bring upon ourselves.
Haven't you heard it said that if God is so loving why would He send someone to hell?
Listen...
God gives us something called "free will"....something that I often wish I didn't have...a huge list of do's and don'ts would be much easier, then I wouldn't make so many wrong choices.
But...with "free will"....we have the choice as to where we will spend eternity....it's all up to us! The following verses of scripture have absolutely nothing to do with a rich man not going to heaven because he was rich....it was the fact that he knowingly....deliberately....didn't share what he had with someone who had gone so far as to beg him for something to eat.....but, this is the story that always comes to my mind when I think about hell:

Luke 16:20-25 (KJV)
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

There's a choice to be made....

and it's up to each of us to make that choice....

for ourselves....because nobody can make it for us!!!

In His Most Precious Love....and with mine!!!