One might have thought it could have been worse. Surely there was something in Sam's past that had been harder than today. But, no, there wasn't anything worse. And though Sam searched his fevered mind for a remembrance of a sadder day, he found nothing. No thoughts of a time worse could be found.

It had begun as a normal day for Sam. How had it come to this? When he woke up this morning, Sam did his usual routine. He showered, had breakfast, hurried the kids up for school, told his wife Megan goodbye, and raced out the door to work.

Sam had, by worldly appearances, a good and successful life. At only 43, he was married with two daughters, and had worked hard until he owned his own business. He and Megan owned a beautiful home, vacationed every year, and basically had anything that money could buy.

Yes, Sam had really made it big, but not without a lot of hard work and many hours of overtime. Sam was thinking about the years he had put into making his fortune. As he drove down the highway heading for his office, he could not help but think again of the argument that he and Megan had the previous night. She had all but begged him once again to go with her and the girls to church. And once again, Sam reminded her, he wanted to be stay at home and relax. After all, how did she think she had what she had? Megan had finally given up, again, and walked away.

Sam had walked outside after the fight to cool off. He could not understand why Megan would not just leave him alone about her church. And to make matters worse, in Sam's mind, Megan had their daughters picking at him to go with them to church. Sam was tired of it.

With all of this still fresh on his mind as he rounded a curve in the highway, Sam never saw the truck passing coming straight at him. When they collided, Sam felt the cool November air change suddenly.

The next thing Sam knew, he felt extremely hot. Sam tried to comprehend how this could be when it was 38 degrees outside. Then he realized he was not in his car at all, as he had been only seconds before. What had happened? Where was he, and why was he feeling like he was on fire?

Sam began to look around him, all the time getting hotter and hotter. He was getting more uncomfortable by the second. As Sam looked around at the strange place he was in, a look of horror came to his face. And he screamed in agony as it dawned on him......he had heard of this place before.

It was five years ago that Megan had went with a friend to church, and taken Jennifer and Ashley, their daughters. Megan began to go regularly to church, always asking Sam to go with them. Sam, always with a reason not to go, never made it. Many nights, after working late, Sam would come home, to Megan putting the girls to bed with a night time Bible story. He heard her one night telling the girls about hell's fires for the unbelievers, and he walked away laughing at the thought of it.

The terrible pain was searing through Sam as he moved from place to place trying to escape the intense heat. But it seemed to get only worse. As he twisted in agony and torture, his mind tried to think of a worse time in his life than this. But he knew there was nothing. As he screamed in pain, he realized there was no way out of this place. Sam realized where he was and why he was there.

He was in hell because he had refused Jesus, who had been shown to him so many times. Sam thought sadly to himself, if only there was one more chance.

© Copyright 2001 by Cindy Thomas