Last month Andreas and I were enjoying a springtime stroll down the street towards the park. An older guy walking the opposite direction approached us, holding onto his long white beard. As he passed us, he leaned towards me, eyes down (was he looking at my feet?) and mumbled, “Sideways to heaven.”

“What did he just say?” I asked Andreas, a few paces later. “Did he say something about my shoes?”

“He said, ’sideways to heaven.’” Andreas told me.

Sideways to heaven, he’d said. Was it a theological statement? Perhaps he was saying that there’s no ascent after death, you just sort of slide over a little bit. Or maybe it was a statement about how God walks beside and within us every day? That heaven is right here, walking down the sidewalk on a late spring evening? Maybe it was dirty, like, “Honey, I gotcher heaven RIGHT HERE. All you have to do is get sideways to enjoy it.”

Sideways to heaven … so many possibilities!