Nothing To Offer

Nothing
To
Offer
A Very
Short Story
. . . with Long Lasting Implications

JEFF CARRIER'S ANGER HAD FIZZLED A BIT, and it concerned
him. He wanted to meet Higgins with a full head of steam, but
the long wait was turning into a splash of cold water. Jeff
looked at his watch, the clock on the wall, and then asked the
secretary for the time. She glanced at the ninety-three buttons
on her phone and somehow, using a science unknown to Jeff,
was able to decipher the pattern of lights.
"Mr. Higgins is still on line five, and he's got another call
waiting on line seven," she said, without batting a phony
eyelash.
Jeff's smile almost broke a tooth. If nothing else, he was
getting worked up again. After twenty minutes, and five more
looks at the clock, he was finally sitting across the big guy's
desk . . .
"Sir, I'm here to file a complaint-- "
J.P. Higgins half listened, as he wiped his glasses. "You don't
wear glasses, do you, Carrier?"
"No, Sir. . . It's Mike Holloway; works in shipping. The guy
keeps witnessing--"
"Contacts?"
"Sir?"
"Do you wear contacts?" Higgins said.
"No Sir. He doesn't keep his religion to himself."
"This annoys me--"
"As it should, Sir. I think religion is a private matter."
"--They smear so easily."
"Who?"
Higgins lifted his glasses to the light one last time.
"SIR, please! This is important!"
"Right," Higgins hooked the glasses around his ears. "You have
a beef with this Holloway fellow."
"Yes, Sir. He keeps telling me I'm going to Hell if I don't
repent and trust Christ. I'd like you to respond."
"You want me to repent?"

"No, Sir! I want you to reprimand him; tell him to knock it off.
I've got my own beliefs and I don't appreciate, nor do I want him pushing his beliefs on me." Jeff had rehearsed the words several times in his head.
Higgins frowned, settling back into a slight rocking motion in his black leather chair. His face contorted into deep thought as he slowly swivelled to his right and faced the large stately looking portrait on the wall. "Are you familiar with my grandfather?" Higgins said.
Jeff rolled his eyes. "No . . . What about Mike Holloway?"
"A great man," Higgins said.
"MIKE?"
"No, No! My Grandfather. Stick to the subject."
"I'm trying, Sir . . . believe me, I'm trying."
"Granddaddy was a mover. He started this company, with only ten bucks in his friend's pocket. They were partners, you know--"
"A touching story." Jeff rubbed his forehead.
"--Of course, his partner left early on. No backbone; had no resolve for business." Higgins sank further into his chair. He was just warming up. "But granddaddy didn't know when to quit--"
"It runs in the family," Jeff added.
"HUH?"
"Mike Holloway, Sir. Will you please tell him to stop spewing his beliefs?"
"Oh . . . Yes, this Mike fellow. Sorry, can't do anything about it. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Wait-a-minute! What do you mean? You're the president!"
Higgins shook his head. "My hands are tied; original company policy.
We don't tell people they can't share their beliefs." Higgins turned his head, peering over his glasses at the portrait. "Granddaddy was a religious man himself. If you ask me, I think it's silly, but then again, it wasn't my ten bucks that started the company."
Jeff pointed to the portrait. "It wasn't his, either!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, makes no difference now; rules are rules."
Higgins stood up to say goodbye.
"Now hold on, Sir. What about us faithful employees? Why do we have to be subjected to one guy's opinion?"
"You don't!" Higgins sat down again. "My granddaddy had an old saying; fact, had millions of ‘em. Get out of the kitchen, if it's too hot, he used to say."

"But, Sir! I've worked here six years!"
"Calm down . . . Granddaddy also said, If you don't want to leave the kitchen, then fight fire with fire!"
Jeff frowned.
"If this fellow's religion annoys you, then give him a taste of his own medicine. Bend his ear with your own religion. Reminds me of a bully we had in school." Higgins tightened his face as he shook a fist in the air. "Why, one day, I had had enough. I grabbed that bully by the nose!
Yes sir, Moe Howard would have been proud of me . . ."
Jeff spaced Higgins out, taken back by the boss' suggestion.
". . . My, my, look at the time," Higgins said. "I've an important meeting; they're probably waiting outside right now."
The two men stood and shook hands. Jeff didn't know what to say as Higgins escorted him the short distance to the door.
"Remember, fire with fire. Your beliefs are just as meaningful as this Holloway character's. Invite him to your church; tell him all the great things he'll learn there; teach him some of your own doctrines. I take it this fellow likes to throw those Bible verses around. Never did care for them myself, but I can see where some might go crazy over them.
Did I tell you granddaddy was a religious man?"
Jeff nodded, still at a loss for words.
"Right! Quote him some of your own Bible verses! Show him you have something just as meaningful as he does. Why, he's not the only one with something to offer. Your God is just as real to you as his God is to him, right? Of course!"
Higgins shook Jeff's hand one last time. "Trust me, Son. That Holloway fellow won't know what hit him. He'll know exactly where you stand, and he'll remember it the next time he tries to preach to you again." Higgins winked. "In fact, you may even end up converting him over to your religion. Good luck!"
Higgins greeted the four waiting outside his office. The five men and women filed inside to have their meeting, leaving Jeff abandoned, alone with the secretary. She smiled, batted a phony eyelash, and went back to work, reading her lights.
Jeff nodded, still at a loss for words . . .

IF you were to die today, are you 100% SURE
you would go to Heaven? The Bible says
YOU CAN BE SURE (1 John 5:13).
BUT FIRST, you must realize that what keeps you from going to Heaven are your sins, because:
"...your iniquities [sins] have separated between you and your God," Isaiah 59:2.
In fact, in God's eyes YOU ARE A SINNER: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23.
SECONDLY, you must realize that there is NOTHING you can do to save yourself and earn Heaven: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8-9 Baptism, good deeds, church membership, self-righteousness are all examples of good works that cannot save you, because: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he [Christ] saved us," Titus 3:5.
THE ONLY WAY you can get saved is through Jesus Christ. He said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) THAT'S WHY: "...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8-9)
THEREFORE: You must REPENT (change your mind); admit that you are a Hell deserving sinner and can't save yourself. And call upon Christ, and Him alone, to save you. "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus [REPENT], and shalt believe in thine heart [TRUST] that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Romans 10:9
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