A Billion Trillion Realities

Willard: Kenny, we're getting to be old men. Ken, I am afraid to die. I know you are a church guy. I know you believe. But me, I do not believe there is a God. How can there be a God in this cruel world?

Kenneth: Willard, we are getting old. Do you know why you might not believe?

Willard: Kenny, I have done too much and seen too much. Look at the way the world has gone in the last 100 years. WWI, WWII, Korea , Viet Nam , Iraq , Afghan. Look at how things run in the inner cities in just about any major city. Crime, violence, hatred, you name it. Kenny, I've seen it. I've been in it. I was in Nam and then I was a government security expert. I still got a secret clearance the big boys still know about. There is no God.

Kenneth: Will, if you think there is no God, why do you want me to convince you there is a God?

Willard: I don't know for sure. I do know I am an empty soul. To tell the truth, I got nothing in my life. I am an empty shell of a human being. I got no hope. I got no remorse. I got no feelings about anyone or anything. I got no money but I do have a mountain of debt. I live in a camper. I got no wife and no kids. I got no future.

Kenneth: Will, if you had God in your life you would have something, actually someone to fill your life, heart, and soul. People instinctively believe in God because if everyone told the truth, everyone has the same emptiness you have. God is a giving being, not a taking being. God is so powerful and so loving, God has the power to create a whole new special reality or world, just for you. God is a personal God. God loves you in the most personal way possible.

Willard: If there is a God, then where is He? Where is God in the mess we continue to make in the world? Why didn't God create a more perfect world?

Kenneth: God did create a more perfect world with perfect human beings in the perfect world.

Willard: OK, then where is it? Where is the perfect world?

Kenneth: Willard, we fell out of the perfect world. Actually, we kicked ourselves out by not following God's orders. I agree we are in a mess. I agree the world is on the brink of catastrophe. But God is a perfect God. God stands ready to rescue us.

Willard: Kenny, there is no rescue. There is no perfect world. There is no God. Kenny, the whole God idea is something cooked up by people eons ago and the idea has stuck around.

Kenneth: Willard, if you were going to create a perfect time and place, when and where would that place be?

Willard: The farm in Iowa . No doubt about it.

Kenneth: Did you live on a farm?

Willard: (With tears in Willard's eyes) No, but for one week in the summer when I was a kid, me and my two cousins would go to my uncle's farm outside of Iowa City. That farm, that place, that time, those kids, those adults, all of it was the perfect of perfect. Every summer, for a week, my two cousins and I would go to the farm. Kenny, it was another world. Whatever problems we had as kids, and we had them, we did not have any problems. The whole week started off with a big family pitch-in. Tables were set up out in the big yard. Every aunt, uncle, cousin, grandparents, and any other relative came to the big gathering. Then the week of fun began. You've never had fun unless you go back to that week. The two cousins and I were soul mates. We played games and invented games. The whole week was so incredibly perfect. Every night Uncle Joe and Aunt Gladys would take us some place. One night it was to the drive-in movies. One night it was to the Dairy Queen. One night it was to a town festival. One night was to the church. Kenny, if I had a trillion dollars, I would pay it all to go back to that week. The week was a time where everything was perfect. Time and the whole world stood still. For the six years we visited during the summer, it never rained during the week. Uncle Joe and Aunt Gladys took us to church every year we were there, and the first song the people in church sang was "Amazing Grace." I suppose it was some kind of co-incidence, but every year, the first song was always the same. Everything fit. I am not a soft-hearted kind of guy. And I'm breaking up now, but…

Kenneth: Who made that perfect week, Will?

Willard: I don't know, but I would sure like to meet the guy. No one made the week. The week in Iowa just happened. I had those weeks for six years. Of course, we got older, me and the cousins. The other two died young. One died right out of high school. The other died in Viet Nam . They are gone and the perfect weeks are gone.

Kenneth: Will, do you think perfect times just happen? When perfect times happen, those perfect times are made by God because God is perfect. God made those perfect weeks in your life. God was there all the time. In every moment, of every one of those weeks, God was there. Be honest. Was love in every moment of each of those weeks?

Willard: Yeah. Love was in those weeks.

Kenneth: God is love. God was in those weeks.

Willard: Maybe you are right. No, wait a minute. If God was there, in those perfect weeks in Iowa , why didn't we see Him?

Kenneth: God is invisible. Being invisible gives God advantages. God was visible once. But we rejected Him. We crucified Him. God is invisible because love is invisible. Love can go, and do, and be anywhere at any time. Will, I promise you, there are a trillion billion infinite number of perfect weeks waiting for you in the future. In your future, the green grass of Iowa , the good times without end, the love beyond love is waiting for you. All things are possible with God. God has created a billion trillion realities with a billion trillion farms in Iowa lasting a billion trillion years, then some…all for you.

Willard: I wish I could believe you. Man, I wish I could believe.

Kenneth: Will, if God made those weeks in Iowa before, couldn't He make them again?

Willard: Yes, He could make those weeks again. Would He? Would God make those weeks again?

Kenneth: Sure. God can make those weeks again…just for you. God loves you so much God would make a place for you with perfect weeks without end, in Iowa , in California , or wherever was the perfect place. Every perfect moment you've ever had, God will remake again. Not only that, but God will keep out the imperfect moments.

Willard: You know, I have always blamed God for making the perfect weeks come to an end. I know this isn't right, but we three kids got older, started working in the summer, things just changed. When both of them died young, I held their death against God. When both of them died, part of me died with them.

Kenneth: God doesn't make people die. God creates people to live. With God, all of us have a chance to live forever in the summer time on a farm with loved ones in Iowa , with drive-in movies and Dairy Queens. Actually, what God has created for us in the future is better than Iowa , but we have a hard time getting our mind wrapped around heaven.

Willard: Is heaven real?

Kenneth: Yeah, heaven is real. Was heaven real for you in Iowa when you were a kid?

Willard: Yeah, heaven was real in Iowa when I was a kid. I want to go back. Can I go back Ken?

Kenneth: Yes, you can go back, but you have to turn away or reject all the sin, corruption, pain, suffering, and trials of your life. You have to reject all the darkness you have inside of you to get back to Iowa .

Willard: OK, I reject. I'm desperate. I turn away. I know I've lived a rotten life. I reject it all.

Kenneth: OK, that's great, now where are you going to turn or who are you going to turn to?

Willard: Oh, I think I get it now. Is this why Christ died? So I would have perfect weeks in Iowa again?

Kenneth: Yes, this is partly why Christ died. Christ died for you. Christ died for you because He loves you, not just so you could have perfect weeks in Iowa again. Christ loves you and wants you to love Him back for what He did for you.

Willard: How could Christ have died for me? I don't deserve it. Will He forgive me?

Kenneth: Yes, Christ will forgive you. Christ has infinite love. Christ has infinite grace. Will you ask Christ to forgive you?

Willard: Yes, I will ask Him. Jesus, please forgive me. I don't deserve it. I am sorry I have lived like I lived. I am sorry I lost what I had in Iowa so long ago. I accept you died on the cross so I could have infinite weeks in Iowa once again.

Kenneth: Welcome to the sheep fold, Willard. Keep the thought of your future visit to the Lord's farm in Iowa in your mind. The dark powers will come after you, but keep the thought of living in a perfect place. When you go home, open your Bible. Start with the book of John. I'll send you some material to get you started on your road back to Iowa .

This story is based in-part upon factual occurrences. Names and places were changed.

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. (KJV)

Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (KJV)

The message appeared in May,  2010, in the Virtual Church web site at http://www.shepherdscare.net