“He has said, ‘This man is your brother. I’ve forgiven him and you should as well. If you expect to be forgiven, then you must learn to forgive him. He is here with me.’”

Joanna then added, “I understand that this is hard to swallow, but it is the truth of God.”

Mitch had listened respectfully until that point, but he couldn’t contain himself any longer.

“So, Joanna, if I understand you correctly, you’re telling us that Danny is in heaven? Or rather, you’re telling us that God has told you that Danny is in heaven, despite the fact he murdered his wife and son and then committed suicide?”

Joanna noticed that Mitch had pushed the rose to one side of the table. He rolled his eyes and glared at Carolyn, who said, “Joanna, is that really what you’re telling us?”

“Yes, that’s really what I’m telling you.”

Carolyn watched Mitch do his furrowed-brow thing, and knew he was about to drill down into the details. At moments like this he wasn’t always the soul of tact, and so she kicked him under the table, which seemed to do the trick.

“Okay, Joanna, please don’t take this the wrong way, but why would God allow a murderer into heaven? Particularly one who then took his own life?”

Joanna thought before answering, because she knew from experience that this detail was simply beyond the capability of most people to comprehend or accept.

“Mitch, when Danny went to the ravine, he was filled with remorse. After killing Evan, particularly, he could not forgive himself, and then the same demons that had just pushed him to commit these horrendous acts turned on him, viciously accusing him of having done one of the worst things any man could do.”

“Well, they were right!” Mitch said.

“But Danny asked God to forgive him. He begged to be forgiven, calling out to Jesus to show mercy despite the fact he couldn’t forgive himself and took his own life.”

Before Mitch could respond, Joanna leaned in close and whispered, “At the very instant of death he was taken into heaven.”

Joanna sat back and looked at them with great sympathy, trying to find the words that would at least give them the willingness to consider what she knew to be the truth. “Danny, like all of us, was a child of God. He was a sinner, as we are, but his Father loved him nonetheless and brought him back home. God does not view sin in different levels. That is a creation of man.”