The Road to Heaven...

Today, Craig, Katie, & I visited the 'Chasm of Heaven' and the 'Pit of Hell'. Here are some pictures from our day visiting these natural landmarks that have been named after eternal dwellings. A 2 hour drive later and a very long, careful hike later, and we were in a...well, a chasm in the ground looking up at this old church building. It was awesome to see, but the climb made it that much more to appreciate the beauty. My language teacher told me once that she didn't like visiting heaven, because it was so much work. It was actually more work leaving heaven than it was getting there. The hike back up the cliff was...exhausting. We were all a little out of breath, but really excited to have seen the cave below that bears the name of heaven. In Turkey, you can actually visit heaven and hell in the same day. A feat that actually, unless you come to Turkey, one will never actually be able to attain. It made me think...Really, you can choose whether to take the long hike down the cliff and back up to see the beauty found below in the chasm called heaven, or you can choose to simply lean over a gate and see the pit in the ground that is referred to as hell and miss out on the beauty hidden below in the chasm in the ground called heaven and miss out on the work to get there. Being in this place today for me was an object lesson. It made me in some small but greater way appreciate more the fact that Christ did all the work for me to attain endless life in Heaven. He lived flawlessly, and He died bearing my shame, and He rose victoriously offering me life in abundance here and endless life with Him and the Father in Heaven with a simple choice. Today, we chose to visit the 'Chasm of Heaven' and the 'Pit of Hell', but every day, I choose life in Christ and I praise Him that I made the choice to accept His sacrifice over my life years ago and the Road that He made to Heaven that has been made known to me. I walk in light of that life He gave me and gives me daily. Happy Easter week.