How to Get to Heaven

It just costs a cup of water. Hopefully in a tin cup or a glass but a paper cup will do. Put in the hands of someone abandoned, thirsty, desperate, lonely, about to give up life. A cup of water can give hope. Quench a thirst. Save a soul if you do it and not walk on by.
 
There are so many area’s in the world where water is scarce, and a cup of a water is worth diamonds. But more important is when one sees someone on the street, ragged, dirty, unshaven, shoeless, hopeless, maybe tearing up: this is who God wants us to see with our hearts - offer them a glass of water or even some crackers or a Hershey bar and get involved with the pain, the stress, the hopelessness in that person’s life. Know them. And somehow squeeze in a story about love and hope about Jesus Christ, who was treated as a scam, a fake, a disrupter, a criminal, when He was the ONE Hope and savior for all the trillions of people who have walked on this earth since He died.
 
We all talk about, think about, pray about, hope for that scripture when, as Jesus told us, the Son of Man (that’s him) will come again, and all the angels with him, and He will sit on the throne of his glory and talk about forever and love and take us home. Although in Matthew, one of the gospel writers who didn’t witness Jesus but heard about what He taught and somehow was able to inscribe what had been communicated to him to make up a book of the Gospels.  He wrote that all nations would be gathered before him (Jesus Christ) and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and He will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. It doesn’t mean the goats are useless or sinners. I think this is symbolic and encouraging, so that we don’t stray away and that we do make sure we are doing things right as Jesus taught us to do the short time He was on earth. Jesus doesn’t say if the right hand will hold many more or less those on the left hand, but the point is to listen up and be sure we are on the right side for, those on the right hand will be blessed by my Father first and will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. And the judgement will be as simple as this:
 
I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.
I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
I was naked and you gave me clothing.
I was sick and you took care of me
I was in prison and you visited me.
 
How many of those can you check YES? Just one will do.
A cup of water or a hamburger or a sandwich, a shirt, a pair of shoes, or a visit when sick, and even more difficult, a visit in prison. It means we care for others. It’s not like we count how many times we did something for the sad, the poor, the hopeless, the dangerous or the hungry. We must do it without really knowing the good we are doing. it is instinct. it comes from the heart.  It’s nothing to worry about or have to make a grand decision about, it is instinct. Caring for others comes from the heart, and maybe from the gut. It definitely forms the soul of the giver, and the receiver.
 
I admire the many who went to Africa’s most difficult areas and try to bring water and sanitation, and farming - like back in the days of President John Kennedy, the Peace Corps was one of the first volunteer project to share and help others in poor countries. It’s not movie stars making appearances because they gave money for a school or a water pipe. The unknown ones, those are the ones who don’t count their cup of water or the things they do or did, because it comes from instinct, from the heart, from the soul, from God. Jesus points this out: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family you did it to me.” If we help, rescue, feed, befriend others in their moments of grief and suffering, then we have touched Jesus, without having to be told to do it, we just do it. Not worried about which hand we will be on or whether we go up or down in the end, if that is a legal direction.
 
When I hiked (very amateurish) in Annapurna area around Ghandrunk, Nepal,  up and down stone stairs called schist, thousands of them, letting pass by my slow pace humans carrying refrigerators or beds or tables on their back up the mountains since there were no roads, not even for motorcycles -  I was getting the hang of life as it was for those living or hiking or trekking up to the basecamp of Mt. Everest in 2008, I learned a lot about how spoiled I am, how weak my strength, and how much I could survive in uncomfortable, non-hygienic and adventuresome situations. First was learning to be without Kleenex) (I even load it in my suitcases coming to Uruguay because their version is just way off the same), a shower or toilet or water to brush one’s teeth or even to drink. Often a bottle of sprite and a Snickers bar, for some reason, would appear at little kiosks along the trails to boost energy. I learned I don’t have to shower every day, like most people in Nepal, and that I could eat water-buffalo yoghurt and after days of torturous climbing (I had trained severely but no matter how hard I did that in Memphis, it wasn’t neither a nip of what strength I needed and training I lacked. And I was ‘woe is me” too much, wanting to stop, but not wanting to stop.
 
When I was about to throw in the towel, God would award me with a huge rainbow across the magnificent Himalayan mountains, sort of a nudge to keep on struggling. And to quit worrying about the pain, the germs, diseases, filth, garage, and lack of “modern conveniences.”  To quit worrying about me! I had so much to learn even at 68 years old. And somehow, that awakened in me that I needed to care less about me and more about people all over the world who live at the lowest level of poverty with not much hope - or even desire - to change their situation. It didn’t matter if they were Christian or Buddhist or Hindu or Coptic or atheist or Orthodox or Jewish or Brazilian macumba or any of the many faiths that beget faith in such amazing people all over the world. It just takes a cup of water to quench their thirst or to let them know we care. That’s what counts.
 
Charity isn’t as big anywhere as it is in the US. But, God is everywhere beyond anywhere and no matter where I or you are now, tomorrow or in the future, if we just give a helping hand, a smile, a candy bar, a glass of water, a pat on the back a handshake, an encouraging word whether the skies are blue or gray or full of rain and snow. Just try. Be an example for others, let them know it’s alright, even healthy, to love each other and believe in God. And that you are there for them.
 
 
 ~ Rev
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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
www.audreytaylorgonzalez.com