Recently, my wife and I moved to a 55-plus community promising a very active life-style. It started out as a small retirement community 40 years ago and has grown to over 160,000 residents with more than 70,000 homes for just about every budget. It has become its own city, with 3 zip codes spanning as many counties, and covering 90 square miles. It was reported the developer has acquired enough land to continue developing for another 20 years. It is truly a golf cart community where it is commonplace for residents to originally arrive with two vehicles and end up with 1 vehicle and two golf carts. It has become so successful, that the developer built additional housing communities and schools to accommodate the army of personnel who serve this growing population of retirees. By the way, the schools are top notch in education offering state of the art facilities.

My wife loves it. She came home giddy from an early morning golf cart ride to the grocery store. She said it was just like in the movie “The Truman Show” starring Jim Carey. While driving the golf cart home, she was greeted with a wave from Rodney cutting his grass, a good morning from Butch walking his dog, and a big smile and a wave from Jane weeding her flower beds.

I call it Pleasantville

There are people from all walks of life from all over the country and other countries who come here. They are identified as snowflakes, snowbirds, and frogs. Snowflakes usually rent for 2 to 3 months to escape the coldest months from their hometowns. Snowbirds normally own two homes with the home in Pleasant Ville serving as their winter home, and they stay for 4 to 7 months. Frogs are the people who live here year round and intend to do so until they croak. One of our neighbors has declared their status displaying a very cute ceramic green frog in their front flower bed.

Pleasantville offers an amazing trove of physical activities and they are serious about their sports here. In order to play on a softball or pickle ball team, you have to get rated to make sure you play with people at the same level. But if you are like me and resist having to be on a fixed schedule, they offer “open” play times for the various levels of athletes who prefer non-league play.

As I mentioned, people from all walks of life choose to live here. Pleasantville is enjoyed by retired doctors, lawyers, teachers, law enforcement, first responders, corporate and government employees, …et al. People with more than enough money, those with just enough, and many in-between. For the most part, everyone mixes exceptionally well.

The “believers” and “non-believers” of Pleasantville share one common trait, they are all “thankful” to live here. There are a ton of worse places to live, so Pleasantville is certainly not a hell on earth. Yes, it can be wonderful and very pleasant at times, but it’s definitely not heaven either.

When it comes to the spiritual perspective of Pleasantville, I am haunted by Randy Alcorn’s quote …“For Christians, this present life is the closest they will come to Hell. For “unbelievers” it is the closest they will come to Heaven”.

If you like an active life style, Pleasantville is an amazing place to live. And for the lucky believers who have made this their last stop on earth, it’s the closest to hell they will ever get. Believers know they will enjoy eternal life in heaven with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is promised to us. In my short time here, I have had the pleasure to meet many believers who enjoy the amenities and lifestyle of Pleasantville, and still find time to honor God and serve Him by volunteering to serve others.

Unfortunately for the non-believers, Pleasantville will be the closest to heaven they will ever get. No matter the number of years they have left to enjoy golf cart rides, swimming, pickle ball, golf, water polo, the amazing clubs for every hobby, the nightly dancing and music at the town centers; it will all come to an end. It’s at best temporary. I fear for those who accept they have reached the pinnacle in life and this is the heaven they have been looking for.

I was describing to my brother how nice Pleasantville is, but also how surprised I was to see people my age acting like they were 16 again, but this time without having any parent supervision. Pleasantville can be very seductive. If a person arrives here without having a relationship with God, and they are at a point in their life of financial independence with an abundance of activities to keep them busy; how would God ever have a chance to get their attention? If they are not careful, Pleasantville could be that shiny object that keeps them from seeing God’s light.

My spiritual journey has introduced me to many people who had to experience the lowest points in their life before coming to know God. But there have been some who actually reached life’s brass ring and found there was something missing, a void that was still unfulfilled. No matter the journey, believers all enjoy the peace of Christ that surpasses all understanding. I pray for all non-believers, here at Pleasant Ville and all around the world, that they too enjoy His peace; the profound sense of tranquility and assurance that can only come from faith in God. – Amen

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