It's the age old response: "If you are a good person, raise your family right, obey the laws, then you'll goto Heaven.". Well that doesn't sound right. Didn't God say something about that? Yes he did. In fact one of the most famous piece of Scripture in the Bible tells us that is simply not true.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God and NOT AS A RESULT OF WORKS, so that nobody shall boast." - Ephesians 2:8-9

What this verse here is saying is self explanatory. It is explaining that it is by the grace of God that you shall be saved through your faith and that no matter how great of works you have done, no matter how well you raised your family, no matter how generous, kind, or gracious or are, and even if you have never even gotten as little as a traffic infraction or cheated on your spouse, you will not be saved. You are saved and only saved through your faith alone. If you have faith that Jesus Christ came here through God and died for our sins, and that you repent your sins and invite him to take over your life, then you are saved.

There are some things I found while reading one of my favorite verses in the Bible(Rev. 3:20):

"You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in with him. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

-Revelation 3:17,19-20,22

The scripture above is very clear. 3:17 says that the man who says "I am rich, I need NOTHING!" God says you do not realize yet how wretched and pitiful you really are. He also says to be earnest and repent your sins in verse 19. Obviously verse 20 one of the most famous verses in the Bible for witnessing is one of my dear favorites. God stands at the door of your heart and knocks, but will you answer his knock? Or will you leave him outside of the door waiting? And verse 22 is very clear stating that he who has an ear let him hear. That means that he who has an ear and decides not to hear is at fault.

We can see a little bit about unbelievers who will not repent. But the question is, those who believe they can goto Heaven on their good works, do they believe in God? Well, yes. Most of the time. Otherwise they wouldn't even mention the word Heaven. So isn't that faith? Well, yes and no. They may believe there was this God and this God who died on a cross and there is a heaven and a hell but they do not repent their sins or invite the Lord into their lives. Thats the key point. Believing alone does not get you saved, faith without works is dead(James 2:20), but works without faith is also dead.

Now the most difficult part. What happens to these who are unsaved because of their lack of faith? Revelation tells us that as well. Read:

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be on the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."

-Revelation 21:4-8, 22:7

"Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you."

-Revelation 3:3


This is a very scary picture indeed. It is what personally upsets me and scares me the most. So repent your sins, have faith in God that he sent his only son Jesus Christ to die for our sins, and invite him to take over your life. Live with him. And answer the knock on the door of your heart. Because eternal life comes through faith, not by good works.

The 5k(3.20 miles) was last Saturday June 30th in Bear Valley at about 6:30 am. I've been waiting for months for the race. I've NEVER ran in any sort of race before in my life. I've started running since February and was barely able to go half a mile at that time.

So as we started I began in the back, passed a few people up. But during it I kept getting passed. Anyway, some of it had some really good incline hills and such. I placed 21st overall out of 60 people and 4th in my age group coming in at 28:31. I beat another guy behind me by exactly one whole second. I sprinted to the finish line and felt pretty good about finishing, since a few weeks ago I was barely able to go 1 mile without having to stop. So finishing it all the way through straight was a good feeling. It was 3.20 miles.

I made a newbie mistake though. Probably .05 before the finish line there was an explorer(they are like kids who have junior police officers kinda deal thing) and there were two cones out in the road and I took out my ipod earbud and asked him if that was the finish line and he was like "Yes" so I stopped. I started walking like I was finished and I looked behind me and this guy is still running so I was like well I better keep going just to make sure. So I sprinted as fast as I could after that and it appears he was wrong. The finish line was obviously ahead where everyone else was. But oh well...

My brother came in 7th overall and 3rd in our age group at 22:39. David Kaplan came in 6th overall and 2nd in our age group at 22:34.

Anyway, it was hecka fun and I can't wait until the next one!