Home again

“Jeshua is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” stated Uriel as he turned towards the bright light.

Maria desperately tried to see through the bright light that was streaming in through the tunnel. The warmth was rolling over her in waves again as she began to catch wonderful fragrances of honeysuckle, night blooming jasmine and something that smelled like orange blossoms mixed with roses. As she neared the portico’s exit she heard a beautiful sound. It was a powerful noise like she was standing under a magnificent churning waterfall.

The sound intensified as she walked out from the tunnel’s portico. It was choral music Maria had been hearing but it wasn’t just a single song but a myriad of distinctly different melodies harmonically intertwined around each other phasing in and out as it filled the atmosphere around her. The words were all about praise and thanksgiving to the Lamb and the Father who reigned forever and ever.

Maria was startled to see a city laid out around this park that went on as far as her eyes could see. The streets were made of a translucent gold and glowed with each step she took. People walked, talked and played in the large park like area that filled her view while others reclined on balconies perched on the back sides of these beautiful buildings overlooking the park’s perimeter. The city was almost indescribable as there was so much detail in the ornately handcrafted exteriors. 

The park meandered around patches of pin oaks, aspen, blue spruce and groves of magnificent redwoods that towered over the pines and oaks. A wide river of pure living water, crystal clear glacier blue flowed through the center of the park and from its banks grew a variety of fruit trees. The tree of life grew in the center of the city street and on both sides of the river. The leaves on this tree were for the healing of all nations that were represented in the Holy City.

Maria stood amazed as she became aware that someone was walking directly towards her. The figure’s   robe fell loosely to his sandals but was tightly girded around his chest by a golden band. She knew who it was while he was still a ways off, he was the Lamb of God, Jeshua in Hebrew or as the Greeks called him Jesus Christ. As he walked closer, Maria saw that his head and hair were white as newly fallen snow and his eyes burned like the fiery topaz she had seen at the gate. Then he spoke.

“Welcome Maria, well done my good and faithful servant, enter into your rest!” said Jesus with a smile that would have made the Cheshire cat a little jealous. 

Maria fainted and dropped to her knees. Uriel was already lying in a prostrate face to the ground position as the mighty voice of Jesus roared, rolled and tumbled with the force of a mighty river crashing over a waterfall. When she got up her courage to look back at the Lord she noticed the wounds still fresh in his wrists and feet. 

“Come take my hand Maria for I have something to show you.” said the Lord as Maria trembling reached out to hold his hand.

As she touched Jesus, immediately her surroundings began to stretch, swirl and after she had blinked her eyes she noticed that they were standing in front of a beautiful several storied house that was snuggled on the edge of a beautiful country lake. 

“I have been working on this for you, would you like to see the inside?” said Jesus as he reached for the handle on the front door.

Maria couldn’t believe her eyes as she walked into the house as many of her favorite things she remembered from her childhood filled the space.  A large wooden spinning wheel full of home spun yarn, a brick fireplace with the miniature bronze horse statues that her mother had collected sat on the mantel.  Jesus took Marias’ hand and instantly she was in her bedroom. Her wooden four posted bed with her favorite quilt her grandmother had made looked brand new and was folded on the edge of the bed. On the nightstand sat her old fashioned red alarm clock and her green plaid diary she had kept as a young girl. She had lost the key and hadn’t been able to continue writing in it but now the key was there in the lock.

“But how, how did you make all of this, Lord. And where does it all end?” asked Maria.

“With God all things are possible!  Heaven gets bigger the further you go in, there is no end.” smiled the Lord.