The law firm where I work has always hired outside IT support for our computer services. For the most part, the guys (not being sexist…they’ve all been men) have been much like what you’d expect from the stereotype, but there’s one that stands out to me most and his name was Ben.
Ben reminded me of Jimmy Fallon’s SNL character, Nick Burns - Your Company’s Computer Guy. (You can check out Nick here: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/nick-burns/2786/) Ben was nice enough for the most part, but you could tell within minutes of speaking with him that he was very smart, very technical, and lacking a bit of social tact.
And though Ben was good at his job and took care of our problems with expertise, what I remember most about Ben was what he shared with me about his thoughts on the afterlife.
How our conversation about my “blue screen of death” computer malfunctions transcended into a talk about Heaven, I cannot recall. But I do remember with tactile clarity that he told me, “Heaven is something man created because most people can’t accept the thought that when you die, you just become worm food. It’s easier for most people to fool themselves than to accept reality.”
I know that there are many people that do not believe in Heaven and Hell the way the Bible describes them, but Ben’s particular detached point of view really saddened me. And what I found sad wasn’t just that he didn’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ, which he openly admitted, but that he’ll live his life without the hope that only the promise of Heaven can provide.
This brings me to the reason that I was thinking of Ben today. Today is Memorial Day. As Sydney explained it earlier, today we honor our fallen soldiers. I have two Grandparents who served in the United States Navy who have passed on. I am comforted by the fact that when I get to Heaven, I hope to be reunited with them. It is this hope that gives me peace when I think about Grandma’s passing. She’s been gone for nearly a year, but I still miss her terribly. Anytime Sydney mentions Grandma in her sweet little girl voice, my eyes well up and my heart swells with feeling. But then I cling to that hope, and I’m able to turn those feelings from sadness to thanksgiving - I will see her again and I can wait for that moment. I do believe this promise of Heaven is Christianity’s greatest perk and I cannot imagine living life with its ups and down without the knowledge that there is more in the end than becoming “worm food.”
I don’t know where Ben is now; we’ve switched IT companies quite a few times over the years. I would like to think that something in his heart has made him reconsider his agnostic theology. There’s enough hope in me for this as well.
