I dug through several dresser drawers before I found last year’s mittens. A quick inventory of milk and bread saved me the trouble of waiting in endless grocery store lines. I think that I was as excited as the kids while we watched the sky turn from a vivid blue to a shady gray. We sure had some drama during Winter Watch 2010. And it seemed that almost everyone had an opinion.

As evening came, friends phoned in to share their predictions. A couple of them wanted to go on the record as saying that nothing at all would happen. Meteorologists were completely wrong and we were getting excited over nothing. Others called to make sure that we were worrying. The ice, the strong winds, the power outages were inevitable. It was just a matter of time. There was nothing that we could do about it. Sprinkled in there were calls from neighborhood kids. They spotted a few flakes and wanted to break out their ear muffs.

I was amazed to hear the passion in each person’s voice. I felt a little embarrassed to be one of the people pulling out cookie ingredients and cans of soup.

My alarm clock didn’t wake me. I was up much earlier. Excitement turned to frustration as I tried to shine a flashlight outside. When the call came from school that we were closed for the day, I was thrilled. No, the weather didn’t turn out the way that I expected. But, we were safe and warm. We had a wonderful day to play and rest. It was a nice treat after all.

Is that kind of what it’s going to be like at the end of the world? Are there still going to be some people who will moan up until the last minute that nothing really happens after you die? Life just ends? No big deal. But what if the other guys are right? What if Heaven is real? What if Jesus Christ really did live and die for our sins? What if I keep living my life as though that will happen? If I’m wrong, I have nothing to lose. But, if I’m right, I will have unimaginable joy.