Jeremy shifted miserably in his seat. United Airlines Flight 175 had been hijacked by terrorists. He had no clue what they were going to do, hold the plane for ransom? Try to fly overseas? Did it have the fuel capacity to cross the Atlantic?
It didn't much matter to him what they did. Nobody would pay his ransom. His government, maybe. His wife had died in childbirth along with what would have been their only child. His family had passed over the decades of his life, leaving him alone. So they could chain him up and put him on a video demanding money and nobody would care. He hadn't loved since her death.
So he sat, and waited. Waited as the plane flew over New York City. Waited as it raced towards the Twin Towers.
He wasn't going to be a failed ransom attempt. He was going to be dead.
He silently began praying, something he hadn't done since his wife died. Trying to reconnect with God. He apologized for falling away, turning his back, cursing God's name and blaming Him for the destruction of his family. He prayed that the deaths would be minimal, and if they had to come, swift and painless.
Then the plane crashed.
The next thing Jeremy saw was a blinding light, that dimmed to reveal an endless expanse of clouds with a pearly gate some distance away from him. A lone figure stood guard outside the gates.
Jeremy half bounded, half floated across the clouds between him and the gate until he reached it.
"Saint Peter."
It was almost a question, he was so uncertain of what he saw.
"Yes, brother. Welcome home."
"I went to Heaven?"
Saint Peter grabbed a massive book, the largest Jeremy had ever seen by many times over, and lifted it, opening to the very back of the book. He dragged a finger along the page, looking for a name. He stopped and tapped the page.
"Yes, yes that's your name here."
Jeremy was almost bewildered. This was real and his fourth quarter conversion had worked. And yet a part of him had hoped so, because he surely wouldn't have found his wife anywhere else.
"Hm, there's just one thing. Before I let you in."
Saint Peter's words froze Jeremy in place. If this was some theological question, well, he might remember the more common Bible stories, but surely he would get it wrong. Surely there couldn't be a test?
"Yes?"
"What made you decide to come back to our Father?"
Oh. Jeremy let out a sigh of relief.
"To allow, motivate, men to take the lives of others, innocents, there must be some evil force. And if there is a Devil behind such cruelty, surely there must be a God ultimately opposing it."
Saint Peter nodded. Indeed.
The pearly gates swung open, allowing Jeremy through.
There in the clouds emerged a figure, shrouded by the misty haze. The clouds around it began parting as Jeremy walked into heaven.
They revealed the face of his wife first, then her body, including the sweet newborn held in her arms. The baby cried out eagerly for Jeremy as he ran to them.
"I've missed you, my love."
Jeremy smiled. Heaven was indeed all it had claimed to be.