Sunday Semon........The one who dies with the most toys:

What does a man profit if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiates, life is like a vapor. We're here then we're gone. But to where? Let me tell you the parable of the twins. No it's not in the Bible. But it describes man's existence with a bit more clarity.

Once upon a time, twin boys were conceived in the same womb.

Weeks passed, and the twins developed. As their awareness grew, they laughed for joy, "Isn't it great that we were conceived? Isn't it great to be alive?"

Together the twins explored their world. When they found their mother's cord that gave them life they sang for joy, "how great is our mother's love that she shares her own life with us."

As the weeks stretched into months the twins noticed how much each was changing.

"What does this mean?", asked the one.

"It means that our stay in this world is drawing to an end", said the other one.

"But I don't want to go", said the one, "I want to stay here always"

"We have no choice", said the other, "but maybe there is life after birth!"

"But how can it be?" responded the one. "We will shed our life cord, and how is life possible without it? Besides, we have seen evidence that others were here before us and none of them have returned to tell us that there is life after birth."

And so the one fell into deep despair saying, "If conception ends with birth, what is the purpose of life in the womb? It's meaningless! Maybe there is no mother at all."

"But there has to be", protested the other. "How else did we get here? How do we remain alive?"

"Have you ever seen our mother?", said the one. "Maybe she lives in our minds. Maybe we made her up because the idea made us feel good."

And so the last days in the womb were filled with deep questioning and fear and finally the moment of birth arrived.

When the twins had passed from their world, they opened their eyes and cried, for what they saw exceeded their fondest dreams.

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Have you ever asked yourself how important that Armoni suit and Farragamo shoes are? When with the blow of the wind, you could be in a hospital forced to wear that gown with the little blue paislys and a pair of non-skid sock slippers?

Will that Rolex be worth much when it's replaced by a wrist I.D. band? It could happen in the next heartbeat. We're fortunate for every breath we take. There will come a time when a wheelchair may do you more service than your Mercedez. But most of all, what will all of these things profit you if your soul goes on to live an existence in hell?

The French Paleontologist/philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote: "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience."

The thought of my spirit or concious being spending eternity trapped in a dead body scares the daylights out of me. (and that's not even imagining the gates of Satan's domain) Being trapped in a rotting body sounds like hell to me. On the other hand, if I refuse God's offer to spend eternity with Him in heaven, would I not be as foolish as the twins who thought they would die upon birth? Can you imagine having a bank account of Muconium or amniotic fluid?

As short as 9 months seems in the womb; is not 90 years a vapor in the eye of eternity? We take life so seriously, why don't we take death even more seriously?

The one that dies with the most toys is..................... Dead. Period.