Senior Connections Senior Connections Mar 2019

LEGION COMMANDER from Pg 1 month, September through May. In June, they host their annual supper in New Germany. Their big annual bingo fundraiser, that they have been doing for more than 60 years, takes place in November. Sauerbrey and others in the Legion frequently participate in funerals, playing taps on a bugle. They also attend many Memorial Day events. Family Sauerbrey recently celebrated 51 years of marriage with his wife, Linda. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in the same place they had their wedding reception 50 years ago; in the City of New Germany City Hall/Community Center. They have a daughter and a son, and eight grandchildren. Their son served in the Navy for eight years, before starting his own family. The family is very active in the New Germany American Legion. Linda serves as the treasurer, his son is a member, and his daughter is the president of the Legion Auxiliary. Other volunteer work and pastimes Besides serving as the New Germany American Legion Commander, Sauerbrey is constantly checking his email to make sure he doesn’t miss anything. He is busy with Rotary, is the president of Waconia School District 110 Foundation, is chairman of the Moravian Care Foundation, and attends the Moravian Church in Waconia and sings in the choir. He likes to golf and bowl when he has time. He and his wife have a ﬁ fth-wheel travel trailer that they take camping to enjoy the outdoors. Roger Sauerbrey joined the Army Reserve in 1962. SUBMITTED PHOTO Where do we go from here? Dale Kovar HJ GENERAL MANAGER I recall a pastor once saying “Think twice before you tell someone to ‘go to hell,’ because you need to understand the signiﬁ cance of that.” That’s good advice, as often we take hell lightly, or jokingly. I once told a co-worker “If you go to hell, there will be a ringing telephone and you won’t be able to answer it.” I’ve also described my version of hell as round-the- clock polka music with disco on Thursdays; plus tuna and sauerkraut served at every meal. Those are embarrassingly shallow comments in contrast to what hell really is. First, let’s consider what happens after one’s death. One school of thought is that exis- tence simply ends. If that’s the case, we might as well be as selﬁ sh and greedy as possible now, because, hey, we can’t take it with us anyway. For those, it will be a rude awakening. The other option is that life con- tinues in another form. With that comes the fantasy of reincarnation, where we get to live again as an animal, or perhaps an- other take another try at life as a dif- ferent person. It’s the ultimate recy- cling. But that’s just ﬁ ctional material for movies. The actual possibilities are heaven and hell. The Creator of the universe told us so. The frequency of the word “hell” in the Bible de- pends on translations, but there are several dozen ref- erences to hell. Jesus himself talks about hell often. Bill Wiese is a former California real estate agent who one night had an out-of-body vision of being in hell. He wrote the book “23 Minutes in Hell,” and later followed up with “Hell,” a detailed study of what scripture says and what we could expect hell to be like. Wiese gives some simple explanations to make hell quite understandable, such as: Suppose you went to the most expensive, fanci- est house in the country, knocked on the door, and announced to the owner that you are moving in to- day. Do you think you’d be cheerfully welcomed? Why not? Because he doesn’t know you. So why would some- one expect to go to heaven without a prior relationship? Wiese answers the question “Why would God Senior Connections HJ.COM Senior create a place like hell?” God is love. An important attribute of love is free will – love cannot be forced or required; it must be a choice. Everything good is associated with God, and God cannot be part of anything bad. So the other choice is the place of torment, fear, pain, stench – ev- erything bad and evil. “Why would a loving God send people to hell?” God doesn’t “send” people to hell. It is their choice in free will. Jesus took on the punishment for all sins in the world, including ours, to make us blameless. If we ac- cept that gift (a prior relationship), we are welcomed into heaven when the time comes. If we choose to blow it off or outright reject it, then . . . --------------------- This column also ran in Herald Journal’s 2019 Estate, Pre-planning, and Sympathy section, which is available at www.herald-journal.com; click on “Online Edition,” then scroll down and click on its icon. Connections March 2019 5

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