A few days ago, I shared an excerpt from a book called "Here if You Need Me." I don't want to spoil the ending, but here's one more paragraph that really inspired me and might bless you too. I've been told that heaven and hell are not places, but states of mind. The author, Chaplain Kate Braestrup, agrees. She says heaven and hell are not about how we die. They're about how we live. Here's how she learned this.

As a favor, an adult friend named George was trying to burn a brush pile in her back yard. He used gasoline to ignite the blaze. Two of Kate's children were helping George, and leaning over the brush when he struck the match. The explosion that followed burned all their faces and arms.

Kate drove all three to the ER. George was cursing and crying because his burns hurt and because he knew the fire that hurt the children was his fault. "Oh my God, Oh hell. I'm so sorry, I am so sorry!" he yelled. 

Kate's son Zach was sitting in the seat behind him. In the middle of his own loud litany of "Oh God, Oh Hell!" Zach leaned forward. Kate recalls:

"He reached out with his burned arm, an arm blistering and shredding before my eyes, and put his burned hand on George's shoulder. 'It's all right, George,' he said. 'We love you.'

From this she concluded:  If you are living in love, you are in heaven, no matter where you are. May heaven hold you. May you always always live in love."