You know, there are a lot of places to visit in this big world! I haven’t been to many of them, but have been blessed to be able to get to some.

When I was 9 years old, we drove from Michigan to New York to visit my aunt and uncle and family. Because my uncle worked on the top floor of the Empire State Building, we went to the top floor there and even looked out a trapdoor at the top of a ladder above the normal observation deck. We literally went to the top of the Empire State!

On that same trip we walked up the inside of the Statue of Liberty and I looked out the center window of her crown. What an experience!

Later in life I was able to visit each of these landmarks again and gazed from that same crown window.

Where else have I been? Well, I have also been up the St. Louis arch twice, gone to the top of Pike’s Peak, seen Mt. Rushmore many times (I lived in South Dakota), seen Niagara Falls twice, stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon on two separate visits, gone up the Sears tower in Chicago and the IDS building in Minneapolis, visited Disneyland once and Disney World three times, been to Hollywood and Vine in Los Angeles, stood in front of Independence Hall in Boston and have seen Plymouth Rock, made it to Canada three times and Mexico once, traveled to Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, went white water rafting in Colorado, skied in South Dakota and Minnesota many times, lived in five different states, visited the Alamo in San Antonio, and just last week was to the top of the Space Needle in Seattle and to Mt. Rainier.

Have I been a few places? Taking a look at the list above, I guess I have. I feel very privileged to have been able to go to as many places as I have. Yet I haven’t come close to one of our faithful church member’s (Evelyn Magnuson) record of having visited all 50 states! So, where have you been? Perhaps you’ve been to most of these places plus many more here and in other nations! Then again, maybe you have hardly gotten out of your home county or state.

You know what? It doesn’t matter! Where we have or have not been is of little consequence. What is of great importance is where you and I are going. Where is our destination when we leave this world?

When we leave this world (either by death or when God comes in judgment) there are not a lot of choices. God tells us in the Bible that there are only two possible destinations — heaven or hell. Each person who ever has or ever will live will travel to one of these places or the other and remain there forever.

Now I don’t know about you, but personally I greatly prefer heaven! Looking at the descriptions given for each of these destinations, I want heaven to be my retirement home. The Bible says that heaven is filled with perfection, love, joy, peace, beauty and the radiant presence of God himself. Hell, however, is a place of everlasting terror, pain, fear, hatred, scalding fire, torture, evil, demons and Satan himself. Now it is sort of a “no brainer” as to which is to be preferred!

The problemis, however, that all of us have a natural ticket to the place of terror and pain, or hell. Because we are born sinful and continually go against the standards of God, we each stand under God’s “guilty” verdict and will end up in hell with all of the terrors. The Bible says, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) At the final judgment, by ourselves we would all hear Jesus say to us, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41)

Thankfully there is a way out of this! There is a way — but only one way — to travel to and remain in heaven instead of hell. It is the way that God himself has provided for us. And it cost him dearly to arrange it! We are able to have a free ticket to heaven by believing in the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) as the only true God and by believing in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as being our full savior from the consequences of sin. God assures us of this by stating in the Bible, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:16) Also, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

You see, when Jesus Christ died on the cross, he suffered the penalty for all of our sins. He willingly endured God’s anger in our place. He was our substitute in God’s courtroom. He took your and my sins upon himself, was declared guilty, was punished in our place so that we could be declared “not guilty” and be allowed into heaven.

So, where have you been? Perhaps many places, perhaps just a few — it doesn’t matter! What matters is where you will be going for eternity! I pray that God either has already or will soon lead you to a firm belief in Jesus Christ as your only Savior from sin. Then your everlasting “vacation destination” will be basking in God’s love in “heaven.”