My best friend and I were riding the bus home from school one day when he told me that next year, when we entered middle school, he would be joining the football team. He then asked if I would be playing football as well.

“Um, well, I’m not sure. I’ve never really thought about football before,” I replied.

It was true. I did not grow up in a home where football was on the TV—ever. I’m sure I had seen a game or two, but knowledge of how the game was played escaped me. After talking with my friend at length on that bus ride, I decided I would attempt to join him in the sport.

As a cattle rancher, I’m often presented with ample opportunities to ponder some of life’s greater questions. One of the most persistent is the meaning of life itself. While driving to the lease pastures the other day, I found myself thinking about heaven and hell, and what ultimately leads a person to one or the other. These places—if assumed to be real—are abstract, yet the outcomes of ending up in either are anything but. What follows is my attempt to put those thoughts on paper