Paradise

This last Wednesday night, the girls in my small group pounded me with some really tough questions. What happens when you die? If you commit suicide, will you still go to heaven? Is my daddy bad since my parents divorced? This made me really stretch my mind to wrap around all of this and ask myself, "What do I believe?" Thank God for Jason! I told him what I thought happened to you if you die and he pointed to scriptures that expanded what my narrow mind thought. I have always been confused about what happens. Are you just asleep until Christ's return? He showed me 2 Corinthians 5:8 says that we are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present in the Lord. Luke 16: 19-26 describes a rich man and and a man named Lazarus who die and are standing on opposite sides of a great chasm. Lazarus is comforted and the rich man is in agony. That shows opposite sides...heaven and hell. In Luke 23:43 Jesus says to the thief that is being crucified next to Him "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Why would Jesus say that if we were just to be asleep until the Rapture? Jesus doesn't lie! He can't! I thought that I knew what I believed but after being shown scripture that support otherwise, I have changed my mind. You will be in the presence of God when you die. I am not sure exactly what that looks like except a PARADISE that I can't imagine.