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Come follow me and walk this way to heaven

“Walk this way” is a classic pun used variously in entertainment. In the Three Stooges short Don’t Throw That Knife a woman instructs the Stooges to walk this way and saunters off swinging her dress. The Stooges shrug and swing after her.
Rolheiser column
Pause for reflection

“Walk this way” is a classic pun used variously in entertainment. In the Three Stooges short Don’t Throw That Knife a woman instructs the Stooges to walk this way and saunters off swinging her dress. The Stooges shrug and swing after her.

Bugs Bunny tells Elmer Fudd, “Quick, run ‘this way’!” and puts him through some crazy dance steps while they continue to run. And the hunchback Igor says to Frankenstein “Walk this way” in a Mel Brook’s movie.

Recently I had an inspiration while driving through Calgary with confidence and expertise. How did this hap-pen? I simply followed my son-in-law’s car. I didn’t have to puzzle about Crowchild, Deerfoot or Sarcee trails. Then I thought, wouldn’t it be easy to get to heaven if we followed someone who knows the way?

The path to God has many turns, twists and challenges, but following the scriptures, church and spiritual exercises can help us glide along with confidence. It isn’t really so difficult if we follow Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

Jesus told Peter and Andrew “Follow me;” then James and John, “Follow me,” and the next day he told Philip, and they all followed, leaving everything behind. It was easy not to get lost if they kept their eyes on Jesus and listened to his instructions, “Walk this way.”

One of our biggest worries in this world is about what will happen when we reach our destination. What will it be like? What kind of a welcome can we expect? In this world the welcomes are heart-warming. I remember landing in Ottawa on my first visit to my son and daughter-in-law. I started smiling, and I realized I would be smiling for a while.

Billy Graham is a good tour-guide of the way to heaven. In Angels he relates an experience of D.L. Moody when death was at hand: “Earth recedes, heaven opens before me.” Moody saw familiar faces of loved ones through heaven’s gates. But God sent him back to earth.

The moment of leaving earth will be filled with wonder. Angels will escort us, Billy Graham says. When his grandmother died, the room was filled with a heavenly light. His grandmother sat up, almost laughingly saying, “I see Jesus. He has His arms outstretched toward me. And Ben (her husband) and I see angels.” Then she expired.

Graham shares the story of the passing of Phillip Brooks, writer of O Little Town of Bethlehem. A five-year-old Boston girl exclaimed after news of his death: “How happy the angels will be!”

The road to heaven is less mysterious since Jesus showed us the way. Accompanied by a host of angels when he came to Bethlehem, Jesus tells us Lazarus was “carried by the angels” to God (Luke 16). Just as Jesus was accompanied by angels in His tomb, we will not leave this world alone but angels shall bear us up.

Jesus tells us today, “Walk this way. Come, follow me.”

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