Popular fiction...

...has always portrayed the first few moments following death as a journey into the light. After all, who can forget Patrick Swayze in Ghost, waiting a moment too long and missing his opportunity to step into the heavenly tractor beam presumably to be God's portal. Or how about the long popular portrayal of your own guardian angel guiding you to the pearly gates? The ancient Greeks of course had Charon, the dead's boatman guide on the River Styx.

The reality is, whether it's charming to talk about or not, you have an important decision to make. Is death simply a tragic, anticlimactic ending or the beginning of the ultimate adventure in your existence? There is nothing in between.

Jesus often used wedding imagery when describing the afterlife. There's something appealing to me about the image of Jesus as the bridegroom, sweeping me away after I have fully closed my eyes on this earth. There seems to be much less of a chance of me missing the portal if it is God's Son seeking me out. In fact, read John 14: 1-3 which says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms...I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with me that you may also be where I am."

So what happened to the allusive heavenly light I'm supposed to find? Or how about the final guidance of my lifelong enslaved guardian angel? Could it be that in those final moments as I leave this earth, just as my curiosity to look back begins to take hold, my saviour will put his hands squarely on my shoulders and say, "Well done, Alan. You sought me and I revealed myself to you. You followed me and introduced me to your friends. You raised your family in my teachings."

And as that so familiar man leads me away, his arm around my shoulders he says, "Now allow me to introduce you to your ultimate adventure and your eternal purpose."

"Will you tell me how to get there, Jesus?"

"Tell you, no. I'll take you there myself. You're gonna love this..."