Mark and I were going for a walk, as we do most mornings, walking and talking and praying and enjoying those free-floating endorphins..! We were discussing the spiritual path we've found ourselves upon ... how some friends and acquaintances have become alarmed, many have issued warnings and dire predictions ... some have even turned away from us, and against us, in this process.

We were crossing over a bridge as we said this, and entered the park ... suddenly, from the playground, a little boy, all of three years of age, jumped right in front of us on the path, and declared, "Stop! You may not walk on this path!" We kept going, of course, and each gave him a high-five as we passed him, smiling at his chutzpah. Of course we would continue down that path ... we knew it was the way home.

Then, I asked Mark, "Was that some sort of message? Do angels come in the 3-foot size?" But, instead, we both had the thought that this is the absurdity of those who would say, "you may not go down this path" ... as if they have all the authority and insight of a toddler, making his declarations in a high-pitched falsetto voice...! As if they know, any more than he does, about the way to go...

As if we have to play the game.

This reminds me of a joke Paul Young shared with some of us last year:

A man dies, and goes to the pearly gates. He walks up to St. Peter, and asks, "So, how do I get in?" St. Peter looks up, and says, "You need points."

"Points? How many points does it take?"

"One hundred points," replied St. Peter.

"Well, how do I get these points?"

"That would depend on what you did in your life..."

The man thinks, and then brightens up, "Oh! I spent 20 years volunteering at the homeless shelter ... feeding folks, cleaning up messes; I showed up every week, without fail!"

St. Peter chews on the end of his pen, considering, "Ok then, that's one point."

"One point?!? Wow, well, I was a pastor! I spent 40 years preaching, and I was there every Sunday and Wednesday, without fail, never even took vacations!"

St. Peter screws up his face in contemplation, "Hmmm... I don't know ... not sure about that one.."

"Aw, c'mon!"

"Alright," St. Peter laments, "you can have a point for that, too."

The man is flabbergasted -- his entire life's work worth two points! Just then, he sees a man from his town come up to the gate. This man never went to church, never amounted to anything ... and he just walked right IN the gate!

The man, astonished, turns to St. Peter, "Don't tell me that he had 100 points!"

St. Peter shakes his head, "Nah, he just doesn't play this game."

Shalom, Dena