Page 45 of Share with Me

“I’ll try to remember that.”

“Sadly, Otto passed away six years ago. We were shopping and he had a heart attack right there in the book aisle. We had so many dreams unfulfilled.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about, Brinley. My Otto is in heaven now, and someday I’ll join him there.”

Brinley couldn’t finish her tea fast enough. “How do you know Otto is in heaven? How do you know he earned enough points to make it in?”

“Eternal life in heaven is a free gift that God gives to us through Jesus Christ. My Otto couldn’t earn a single brownie point even if he lived ten thousand years. You should see the mess he made which Ivan and I are still cleaning up. None of us is perfect. That means all of us have sinned.” Yun placed both hands together on her lap. “By believing that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for his sins, and rose again three days later to give him eternal life, Otto was saved. It wasn’t his works that saved him but Jesus Christ. He’s the only ticket to heaven.”

“So all he did was believe in Jesus?”

“For the forgiveness of sins, yes. You see, the whole world has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. That’s essentially what John 3:16 says.”

Yun dug around the side pockets hanging over her rocker arm, pulled out a small business card and handed it to Brinley.

Brinley read the verse quietly.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

“Thank you. I’ll keep this in mind.”

“No need to collect points, Brinley. Simply believe in Jesus, and you will go to heaven.”

“Then where is Grandpa Brooks now?” Brinley stared at her empty teacup.

“If he had believed in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, he is in heaven today.”

“I hope so.”

“Only God knows our hearts, whether we are saved or not.”

“Saved from what?”

“Saved from sins, of course. You see, God is holy and cannot fellowship with sinful man. But when Jesus came, he washed all our sins away, and now we can have a relationship with God through Jesus.”

“Grandpa Brooks used to take us to church.” Brinley poured herself and Yun their second cups. “I was sixteen when he died suddenly. Aneurism.”

“That can take you quickly. At least, he didn’t suffer.”

“The doctors didn’t think he even knew it. One moment he was here, the next he was gone.”

Brinley thought Yun had compassion on her face. “Suffering is part of life. We grieve. And we grieve.”

Brinley couldn’t hold it in. She reached for the box of tissue paper on the scratched side table between her armchair and Yun’s rocker.

“When Quincy was eight, Ivan was six, and Willow was five, their mother showed up one rainy day and dropped them off on the front porch. She didn’t come into the house. We never saw her again.”

“Their father?”

“The kids—don’t tell Ivan I told you this—had different fathers. Ivan and his sister, Willow, had the same father, some live-in boyfriend who dumped her. Quincy’s dad died in a car wreck some twenty years ago. As for Ivan’s dad, we heard from him once when Ivan graduated from high school. A small card to congratulate him. Nothing since then.”

“That’s a lot of pain for you to bear,” Brinley said.

“Well, my daughter is—assuming she’s still alive—an adult. She has to make her own decisions. I can’t make any decision for her. God sees our hearts. We choose a path and we live with the consequences of our choices.”

“You seem to know a lot about God, Yun.”

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