Chapter 3
The Redeemed
They were streaking lights of energy moving through space. Keel felt his cells assembling and disassembling as he watched the children from the sanctuary racing along with him. He felt the exhilaration of supersonic flight, and he felt like his atoms were being pulled apart in every direction. Far below him, he saw earth like a giant orb and watched millions of other colored lights soaring from earth into space with him.
He thought as he traveled, "I never thought of heaven as being so far from earth. I believe I've traveled light years away." Suddenly, they were pulled through several galaxies, and then he noticed an uncountable number of angels traveling with them, some gracefully cart wheeling at incredible, acrobatic speeds in front and around them.
Irish appeared beside him and spoke into his thoughts, "Like the ride, Keel? It gets better," and sped on before him.
In the distance, there was a brilliant light stretching from horizon to horizon. It wasn't its size that impressed him, so much, as the brilliance of it. It looked more like a supernova, lighting up the heavens around them. As they drew nearer to it, they started to reflect a white-brilliance, then they saw themselves being transformed into its glorious, cosmic texture.
Aaron appeared near Keel and nodded with his own excitement. "Isn't this the best?" Keel nodded in a mental "yes," and watched as they headed directly for the center of a great, gem-walled city of spectacular dimensions—translucent and dazzling. Within its walls, were fields of open meadows and immense, fruit-laden, eon trees peppering the countryside. They flew over the city several times while watching millions of its inhabitants shouting and praising God with their hands in the air and welcoming them to the Godly glory.
Suddenly, they were standing in front of a great, white-marbled throne as the Son of man moved towards them. He passed through their bodies, and every participant drank from Him as they soaked up the very fabric of his glory that caused them to fall before Him, overflowing with His presence.
Then, there was absolute silence. Slowly the sounds of a sparkling brook were heard that flowed from the brilliant throne—rivers of Holy water. It flowed over everyone and covered and filled them till it began to flow from them. From the Father stepped the Son, and from the Son stepped the Father, and from them both continued to flow this grand river of glory. The Son spoke in a warm, loving voice just above a whisper that blasted into their consciousness as he said, "Welcome."
Moments later, Keel found himself in an expansive meadow full of flowers of every imaginable kind. He saw Irish walking towards him and felt her thoughts, "Nothing prepared you for this, did it?"
"Nothing," he thought back.
"I have someone I want you to meet. This is Grace. She's one of my most favorite heir-servant angels. She's going to start teaching you about heaven. Heaven 101 if you like."
Keel saw images of other people that had been transformed, but they were so full of light that he couldn't distinguish who they were. He was looking for God's dozen. (Those he had been with just before the rapture took place). He didn't see them. He only saw light images.
"Who are you looking for, Keel?" asked Irish as she watched him looking around.
"My friends, Hunter, Carey, Anne, Sister Bernard, Enya, Nash, everyone?" he replied while trying to focus on the images but unable distinguish their features.
"They're all around you. It's up to each of you to give each other more form. If you want to see them as you did before, you must do it together at first. At least, till you have more practice."
Grace approached Keel and walked through him to prove a point. "You don't have a body, Keel. You've been transformed, changed into shades and tones of bright light. You must concentrate on your own image to give yourself more form. Otherwise, you won't even be able to see yourself. Look at that water flowing beside you. Do you see your reflection?"
She continued, "You are not what you were. You are like the atoms of stars and galaxies. Remember, yield to the image of yourself within your own mind. You must do the same to see your friends. As each of you learns to control your image, they will see you too."
Keel spotted a small form walking towards him. He stood in front of them and relaxed his mind. He heard Grace say, "Step through her."
He didn't understand at first, then took a step forward standing exactly where the image was, then he knew instantly who it was. It was Carey. He felt her essence around her. He started to see the image of her old self emerging from him, and they both stepped away from each other, then looked at each other as slight shapes of their old selves.
"Cool," said Keel. "We thought each other like this, didn't we?"
"Yes, exactly, Keel. Carey, do you feel your body?" asked Grace.
"No, I don't feel anything. If I feel anything, it's a form of warm light, but I can see Keel now—sort of. But he looks like he could blow away. He seems to be waving back and forth. Can we make ourselves more solid?"
"Sure, ask him to help. Each of you think what you want to look like as if you were looking in a mirror at home. Imagine the clothes you were wearing and how your hair looked. Try it."
Carey kept thinking about her torn blue jeans, then that top she wore the day of the rapture. Finally, she appeared more solid, then at the last minute she seemed to change her mind and opted for a new pair of jeans and a colorful sweatshirt. She looked at herself and back at Keel and noticed that he was wearing exactly what he had on the minute of the rapture. When he saw her change clothes, he decided to do the same. It happened far quicker this time.
"You both need practice, but you'll get the hang of it," comforted Grace.
A tall, youthful form ran up to them and walked through Keel. "You know who I am?" she asked, very perky.
"Sister Bernard, you look great. You're a knockout," answered Keel, amazed at her transformation.
"Just the young me. That's all, except taller," replied Sister Bernard, and she disappeared.
Keel heard Enya crashing into his mind, "I really got the hang of this," she shouted as she sailed around Keel's head and found Nash moments later, almost not recognizing him until she accidentally moved through him in a crowd.
"Oh, Nash, isn't this wonderful?" she gasped. They both moved off together, and Keel saw them sitting beneath a fruited tree sharing an enormous apple.
"Are you hungry, Carey?" asked Grace.
Carey couldn't stop laughing while she changed clothes every other second and answered, "No, I'm too busy being fickle about what I want to wear."
Anne approached Hunter, and her image was just enough for him to tell it was her. He tried to hold her hand, but their hands passed through each other. For a moment, he was frustrated, but the emotion wouldn't develop, and he laughed at it.
"Hunter, you need to learn. It's a practiced art. Didn't our Lord promise you many mansions or dimensions? This was some of what He was talking about. You need to agree with each other what you want to feel and share. Do you want to feel her hand, and does she want you to feel it? What did it feel like before? Can you remember and imagine it? It's up to both of you," counseled Grace, tenderly.
Keel moved closer to Grace and asked, "Is there any limit to what we can or can't do?"
"You can't do evil because you are all righteous. There is no evil here. There isn’t any sin. There is no thought that is formed that disagrees with the Master. You are part of Him, and He is part of you. It is His body that flows and works within you."
Grace continued, "What's your favorite sport, Keel?"
"Fishing," he answered instantly.
"Then fish," said Grace.
Keel found himself standing on a body of water with a fishing pole in his hands. He thought a minute, and his old fishing boat appeared below him. He sat down feeling and hearing small waves lapping at his bow. He looked out and saw the form of Old Hickory Lake in Tennessee appear around him with all its familiar shoreline. Suddenly, a set of fishing poles appeared, all marked for different depths, just like at h
ome. He shook his head in disbelief. He looked up and saw his mother, father, and grandmother walking across the water towards him. He jumped out of the boat and moved towards them. They moved around and through each other while sharing an intimate loving dance.
Keel asked them, "Did you ever expect it to be this way?"
"Nothing prepared us," they answered together.
"I missed you, but I can't cry. I'm unable to feel that way for some reason. I feel only elated. I guess that's why there are no tears in heaven, right?"
Grace turned her attention to Anne and Hunter again, who were practicing each other’s images and had perfected it quite well.
Hunter asked the hard question, "I don't have the urge to be human anymore, not like before. Anne and I were beginning to be quite an item before this. How do we share just being with each other, now? How can we be special again?"
"You are special to each other. You haven't lost that. You just express it differently. Both of you, come here," said Grace as she pointed to a place in front of her.
"Hunter stand here. Anne you stand in the same spot. Now, both of you let yourself feel the glory of each other’s essence. Tell me what you feel."
Hunter sighed lightly, "I feel a special warmth and love different than the rest. I feel exhilarated and thrilled to be standing with her."
"I feel Hunter around me and through me. I feel all that special, short history of us blending with me now. I can't explain it. I feel like we're almost one. It's wonderful! It's all too wonderful!"
Grace spoke plainly to them all, "This is Heaven 101. Let's all go drink from the river of life and take a walk down by Peter's gate. You all still have to munch on some fruit from the tree of life, and my favorites, the leaves."
"Welcome in the Name of the Lord!" she shouted.