“It is now thirty-five years since I, as a boy of six, was left quite alone in the world. You sent me word you would give me a home and be a kind mother to me. I have never forgotten the day I made the long journey to your house. I can still recall my disappointment when, instead of coming for me yourself, you sent your servant, Caesar, to fetch me.

I remember my tears and anxiety as, perched high on your horse and clinging tight to Caesar, I rode off to my new home. Night fell before we finished the journey, and I became lonely and afraid. ‘Do you think she’ll go to bed before we get there?’ I asked Caesar. ‘Oh no!’ he said reassuringly, ‘She’ll stay up for you. When we get out of these here woods, you’ll see her candle shining in the window.’

Presently we did ride out into the clearing, and there, sure enough, was your candle. I remember you were waiting at the door, that you put your arms close about me–a tired and bewildered little boy. You had a fire burning on the hearth, a hot supper waiting on the stove. After supper you took me to my new room, heard me say my prayers, and then sat beside me till I fell asleep.

Some day soon God will send for you, to take you to a new home. Don’t fear the summons, the strange journey, or the messenger of death. God can be trusted to do as much for you as you were kind enough to do for me so many years ago. At the end of the road, you will find love and a welcome awaiting, and you will be safe in God’s care.” *

This is the hope of the child of God, and this hope is found in Jesus Christ.

Jesus told His troubled disciples: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

“Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?’”

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” – John 14:1-6

Jesus is the Way to the Father and to eternal life in heaven because He paid the price for our sins through His death (Ephesians 1:7).  “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

In the words of John Todd, “At the end of the road, YOU will find love and a welcome awaiting, and you will be safe in God’s care” IF you will accept His offer on His terms.