It all started years ago in the Sacramento Amtrak station. I think I may have been crying-- I'd just missed my train.It was my fault, I was dumb. I was sitting quietly reading in the raucous "South" line, while the more sober "West" line boarded and left. By the time I realized my destination was actually on the "West" line, my train had been gone for a good fifteen minutes. It was getting late and I was alone, and now feeling stupid and sorry for myself in Sacramento. I went into the bathroom to be alone, splash my face, and figure out where I was going to sleep... and that's when I found The Burning Hell.
It was a small two color printed gospel tract with a threatening message aimed at my eternal soul. It was strangely delightful. I was touched by the 50s printing quality and the bold statements with whimsical grammar. I was not so much touched by the menacing passages from Revelations that the author intended to knock a punch, like: "and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire," but by the contrast of the helpful voice in between them that asked me, "How about it Friend, is HELL the place where you want to spend eternity?"
There was a weariness and resolve to the whole thing. It was almost as if you could see the author talking himself into all this degrading soul-saving.
"One day in HELL," he writes, "you will not have to be bothered by some Christian trying to give you a gospel tract. Neither will you have to worry about a soul winner knocking on your door and inviting you to go to church. No sir, but you will be remembering every gospel sermon you ever heard, every gospel tract you turned down and tore up..."
Even the devil on the front of the pamphlet looks weary and resigned.
It was all so odd and touching. Right there and then I had my own little conversion. Suddenly missing the train became an adventure. My internal narrator kicked in and instead of feeling sorry for myself, I started almost hoping the night would get weirder, or worse, so that I'd have a good story to tell when and if I ever made it to my destination.
