I would like you to star in a film I am making in your mind.
You have just arrived in Heaven. You are excited, with more than a degree of trepidation also. You do not know what to expect. You are so happy that at last you have made it to Heaven but you are not sure what it's like here and what you will find.
You are quickly made to feel welcome. The place is so calm, and quiet and serene. You've never felt like this before.
In no time you get to meet Jesus. Your emotions are all over the place. You don't know what to say or do.
He says, "Peace be with you," and you feel calm and still as a joyful feeling surrounds you.
Over a short period of time you get to meet other people here. Relatives and friends who passed away before you. You hug, you embrace as tears of joy run down your cheeks. You exchange stories, fond memories and tales of times gone by. You laugh and smile as you finally understand how and why certain periods in your life turned out as they did. How at the time you may have felt alone and afraid but Jesus was always near at hand to help.
In time, you begin to notice that certain people you know are not here in Heaven. You begin to wonder why. Did they exclude themselves from this place by something they did or said? Do they not want to be here? Why not?
You recall in your mind how those people were in life when you knew them then. You loved them and they loved you, despite perhaps some disagreements or clashes in personality or no chemistry between you. But you loved them. Deep inside they were good people really. Their attitude and manners may have been different to yours but they were good people. And now, they are not here. They are not in Heaven with you.
You miss them. You never thought you'd miss them when you were alive on earth. But now, in Heaven, you miss them. You'd expected they'd be here with you for eternity. And they are not. You miss them.
There's nothing you can do to change this. For some reason, they have excluded themselves from this place.
You sit down and think ... "Is there anything I could have done back then that would have ensured those people are with me in Heaven now?"
