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Chapter 2

-A Gentle Giant-

 

            “Well, hello there friend.”

            Kim had no idea of how to respond and nothing she thought of saying seemed to make any sense. She was curious and confused at the same time. This gentle giant might be able to answer some of her questions, but this did not make her less shy. The stranger continued to sit where he was, and he surveyed her in a kind and relaxed manner. Even sitting down, with his back against the tree, he was still taller than she was. Whether it was a dream or not, she had not expected him to speak English and she kept wondering how to keep from blushing. For a few seconds she alternated from looking at him to looking down to the side and then back at him again. She had never been cowed into silence before and when she did not speak at first, the gentle giant nodded and went on.

            “It’s all right. Take your time. I can see that this is something of a surprise to you. Don’t worry about anything. You are safe here."

            “You…you speak English! But...how?”

            “Well, yes. I can speak English. In addition to a few other languages, I normally speak the language of this country. It is…convenience wise preferable to English. Nobody here speaks English to communicate. But since you do not know the language here, English will do.”

            “Aha. What do you call your language? Ah, I mean, what country is this?”

            Kim could not help looking around once or twice when she asked this question. Just then she saw a bright red ladybug about three inches across scurry under a bush not far away and she tried not to be distracted when she was talking to him. She was reminded by the aroma of the fruit that she was still hungry, but she could ask about eating the fruit a little later and not just after she had met whoever she was talking to. Why hadn’t she smelled any fruit that smelled so good before?”

            “Well, to tell you the name of the language used here, well, you can call it the Heavenese for short or Heaven's language.”

            “Heavenese?”

            “Yes. Think of the very best aspects of every language on earth without any shortcomings, and then you will have an idea of the glory of Heavenese. If you take the scale of Chinese, the natural flow of Spanish or Italian, the scope of English, the poetic nature of French, the flexibility of German, the intrigue of Japanese, the prose of Russian or the scientific exactness of Korean, then it is a small glimpse of Heavenese.”

All this time the giant stranger had not moved. He had stayed where he was, talking to her as he continued to lean against the tree. She noticed that the white cat had heard their conversation and was slowly coming in their direction. As she talked to the gentle giant, the cat came up and sat next to the giant. Next to him it was the size of a housecat.

“Thank you for telling me that. It sounds really interesting. Can you tell me something? I have no idea how…wait!”

At that moment Kim realized that the giant stranger had mentioned the words heavenly language, and suddenly, Kim was in shock. The wonderful word ‘heaven’ was connected with another word that was not wonderful.

            “Oh no! Did I hear you say...heaven's language, a minute ago?”

            “Yes. Heavenly language, or Heavenese.”

            “Am I insane? You mention Heavenese and here I feel as calm and relaxed as if I had taken a nap! If this were not a dream I would be going into hysterics about now. Am I really dead? How did I die! Why...don’t I remember it?”

            “Trust me my friend. You are not dead.”

            “Why would I be here if I had not died?”

            “Have you ever heard of a man named Moses?”

            “Yes…ah…he is someone…ah, a priest from the Bible, right?”

            “Well, in a way, yes. In brief, when Moses died and was brought back to life again by God he was brought here. People do not go to heaven or hell when they die, contrary to the popular myth which was prevalent for most of earth’s history. “

            “Well, that is all I have ever heard. I mean that you go to heaven or hell after you die.”

            “Many have mistakenly believed in ideas that were more than calculated errors.”

Kim had to sit down for a moment. She had been hungry shortly before, but this was all so strange that she had forgotten she was hungry. It was a bit much to take in all at once. She could not help wondering yet again whether this new experience was a dream.

            “Sorry. I had always thought…well, I have always supposed that heaven was a…well a dull place. All the paintings I have ever seen depict angels like fat babies who do nothing except play harps and sit on clouds all day. I have heard people ask how to spell the words ‘boring,’ and ‘myth’, when the word heaven comes up in a conversation. But...if this is heaven and not a dream…I have indeed been misinformed.”

            “If he could not dupe people into believing that heaven does not exist, the great deceiver would have people from earth believe that heaven is a dull place. As you can see, it is another great lie. I can't help wondering whether you have read the Bible much.”

            “Well...honestly, no. My grandmother was religious, and I have had friends who sometimes share some basic information about the Bible with me. Ah, who is the great deceiver anyways?”

            “That would be the devil, or Lucifer as he was once known.”

            “The devil? I have always thought...well, I have always heard that he was a myth.”

            “A clever enemy would rather his victim believe him to be a myth. If a victim believes his enemy is a myth, then the victim will never be on guard. This is what the enemy of souls wants. He was once a citizen of heaven just as I am now. How long have you been here?”

            “Mmm, I would say…maybe five minutes? So far, there is nothing here that has not been a surprise, and I can't help wondering whether this is a dream. I usually wear a watch, but not now as you can see. That must mean that this is a... dream because I always put it on when I wake up and I always put it on my lampstand at night. Maybe I should pinch myself.”

            Kim pinched herself and jerked very slightly. “How can I feel that if I am asleep? But how could all this be if I was not dreaming? You are sure that I am not dead, right? I think...”

At that moment, a little of the spray from the fountain reached them and the freshening mist alighted on the back of Kim's neck. Kim's mild knee jerk reaction was to look over her shoulder at the fountain, after which she turned her face back to the gentle giant. The gentle giant gave Kim an amused yet understanding look, as if he knew just how she felt. He was very courteous and spoke at a steady pace. His mild-mannered gestures with his hands were similar to those of a music conductor and there was almost as much communication in his fluid body language as in his speech. Kim watched his expressions as he spoke and from the ways his eyes moved and from the way he expressed himself, it was easy for Kim to see that his mental agility was far beyond anyone she had ever met or heard of.

            “I know you are not dead.”

            “Well, I am still confused, but I am more than a little glad to hear that.”

            “Is it a fact that people die?”

            “Well...ah, yes. I like looking at dates on tombstones. Some of my friends say that my hobby is a depressing one. Maybe they are right, but death is indeed a mystery. I guess that a lot of people believe that when someone dies, that their soul does not die. I suppose that is what I have believed.”

            “The Bible says that when people die, they know not anything. Death is like sleep. Before you go to sleep, you can truthfully say that you know where you are. When you go to sleep, then of course, where you are is something, you cannot ask yourself. After you go to sleep, you lose the ability to think, talk or move until you wake up. There is no consciousness in sleep and none in death.”

            “If I am in heaven, does that mean that some people are in…ah, hell? I can’t say for certain that I am be good enough for heaven.”

            “Well no. Nobody is in hell. Hell is an event in the future which has not yet happened. And without the grace and salvation of God, humans could never enter this place or be saved. Did you ever read the story of how Adam and Eve sinned?”

            “Well, I have heard about it, but I have not exactly read it.”

            “At the beginning of the world, God put Adam and Eve into a garden...kind of like this one...a garden with many kinds of trees with fruit for food. There were two special trees, one with forbidden fruit and one with fruit that would make you immortal if you continued to eat it. As a test of loyalty, God told them not to eat the forbidden fruit, or they would die. The great deceiver declared that Adam and Eve would not die if they ate the forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve ate the fruit, and eventually they died. There is a good reason the enemy is also called the father of lies.

Now you are alive! You can think, talk and you are aware of where you are. Your body can facilitate consciousness except when you are asleep. A dead person who has been buried cannot know this. The body they used can no longer house their soul and is incapable of facilitating life let alone consciousness. So, to say that there is consciousness after death, without being resurrected first, is a contradiction. The idea that one goes to heaven or hell when they die is simply not true.”

            “So…I am really in heaven?”

            “Yes.”

            “I am in heaven, but I am not dead.”

            “That is right.”

            “So, if this is heaven, and excuse me, I am not trying to call you liar, but, if this is heaven, where are the people? Shouldn’t there be more people? Shouldn’t there be some angels around?”

            “Well, remember what we went over a bit ago? Everyone who has died up to this point, with the exception of Moses and the people who went to heaven when Christ rose from the dead, are dead and in their graves. Oh, and not to forget Enoch or Elijah, but neither of them died. There are not many people here yet. And I think you have not seen any angels because they probably know you are here and do not wish to alarm you.”

            “Oh. Where do the angels live? Why would they alarm me?”

            “Well, usually when a human meets an angel for the first time, the angel’s brightness in some cases leaves humans quite cowed, and in other cases terrified. When you read the Bible, the good angels usually say, “don’t be afraid.” And as to where they live, look over there.”

            Kim turned and looked over to the tree she had been near when the whole adventure started. She turned back around to look up at the tree upon which the gentle giant was leaning against. She realized that the tree where she had first seen the white cat, still had light filtering through it, and she realized that the perfect singing she could still hear was coming from that direction.

            “Is that a city behind that large tree where I woke up?”

            “Yes, that is a city, and that is where you will find angels. It was probably their singing along with all the others sounds we are hearing that woke you up.”

Immediately Kim felt the first pang of sadness. If she had woken up, then it was probable that she would go to sleep again, if this was a dream. She did not want to leave this place of wonder, peace, beauty and happiness. Then it occurred to her that she had not even told this gentle giant her name. And of course, she did not know his name. Before making an introduction, she stood up.

            “My name is Kim,” she replied reaching out to shake the gentle giant's hand. She felt slightly awkward for a moment because of how much larger his hand was than hers.

Kim stepped back as he slowly stood up. She realized that he was at least three times her height. The white cat nearby was truly the size of a house cat compared with him. But the gentle giant seemed to understand how she felt. He looked down at her and lowered himself on one knee so that he was not so very much taller than her. Very gently, he reached out and shook her hand. Her hand in his was the size of a baby’s hand in the hand of an adult.

            “You can call me son of Amrahm, Rahm’s son, or Rahm. It is a pleasure to meet you!”

            “Thank you. Rahm…how much time do I have here?”

            “Well, to be honest, I don’t know exactly.”

            “I have not been here more than ten minutes, and I can truly say I never want to leave it. I feel that I could never spend enough time here. What do I do? Why was I brought to this place?”

            “Well…there was a young woman who came here from earth once…over a hundred years ago, and her mission when she left was in part to tell others about this place. She remained here for a short time, and it was very hard for her to go back. But she too went, as she saw in retrospect, back to the dark earth. She felt lonely when she went back to earth, but of course she was not, because the King of this place did promise to be with his faithful followers to the ends of the earth.”

            “Rahm, why haven’t more visitors come here?”

            “Kim, there is a risk that those who come here will want to come here for the place, and not because they love the ruler of this place. People who come here to live will come because they love the Lord of this place, not because of how wonderful it is. With fallen human beings, whose frequent motivations are often selfishness and pride, egotism, hate and distrust, well...people should not want to come here because of selfish motives. The motives have to be because they love the lord of this place.”

            “But Rahm, I am a visitor here. I don't know the king of this place. Why was I chosen to come? I still can’t say for certain whether or not this is a dream.”

            “The young woman I told you about. She was told that if she was faithful, that she would definitely come here to live.”

            “How will I know how much time I have left?”

            “Kim, there is no point bemoaning the fact that your visit will end. I think you should enjoy and learn from the time you have been given in this place…heaven, whether it is a dream or not. And if you have such clarity, whether it is a dream or not, you will remember it better. When you do return, you will have a lot to talk about with those true friends who keep sharing God’s love and word with you.”

She thought about what Rahm had said about not wasting her time worrying about when her time here would end. He was right, and Kim decided to make the most out of her stay. She looked over at Rahm who was now sitting cross-legged a few feet away.

            “Not to be rude, but, how old are you Rahm?”

Rahm looked over at Kim with a smile and a chuckle and then in the direction of the golden city behind the large tree not very far from them and then back at her. He glanced down and began speaking. After a second, he looked up, turned his head slightly to the side and looked directly at Kim.

            “In this place, we ask how young somebody is, not how old. Time has no meaning here. Because our lives will never end, we no longer measure time since our centuries and millenniums are unshackled by numbers. The Bible, which has outlived the vise of time, still instructs, intrigues, challenges and blesses us. We still look to it, and it is as unchanging as it was when it was written on earth. We do measure time to know when to honor God’s Seventh Day Sabbath. I would say it has been about two thousand years since most of the humans who live here arrived.”

What was this Seventh Day Sabbath he mentioned? She was about to ask when some large songbirds swooped by her and Rahm, warbling their happy songs. Kim looked around her, amazed every time she saw all the beauty of the place, and trying to make sure that Rahm did not think she was not paying attention. Then she had another thought which made her forget what she was going to ask.

            “You are two thousand years old! That is hard to take in. And whether I was one hundred or fifty, I would still be an infant time wise.”

            “You are visitor here, yet your perception of this place and the things your eyes, ears and nose are telling you are, but a faint and feeble representation of how wonderful heaven really is. What you see here is a microcosm of the true reality and wonder of heaven. It is risky to let fallen humanity even glimpse this place because getting here rather than getting to know the Savior will be the motivation. When you truly get to know the Savior, coming here will be inevitable.”

            “Well…again, I can’t help but wonder why I am here and now much time I have left. Oh, right. I am trying not to worry about how much or little time I have. It is a bit of a challenge.”

            “I can imagine. Would you like to see the city?”

            “Well…sure! I would love that.”

            “Okay. Hold on. We will visit another place first.”

At that, Rahm stood up again and Kim marveled once again how very tall he was. He stooped slightly and laid a large finger on the side of her shoulder. Then he smiled and nodded. His eyes twinkled and instantly, they were in a large room. Well, it was large for Kim, but not so large for Rahm. Kim’s look of wonder was plain to be seen as she gawked at Rahm right after he removed his finger.

            “Yes. Transportation is...less complicated here.”

Kim’s next moment of awe was taking in the room. It was a well-furnished room with windows everywhere, and she had to squint a little because the light coming into the room was so very bright. Underneath some windows were picnic-sized tables with plants on them. There were hanging plants in various places. There was a sort of couch type of sofa with woodwork and some sort of flat soft pillows. There were the most beautiful stone fresco floor designs. There was a window behind the couch and there was some sort of decorative plants that grew to about the middle of the window.

There were some pictures on the wall of the people who were perhaps family members or good friends.

“What other type of friend would you have in heaven,” Kim asked herself.

There was a shelf in the corner of the room that held what looked like some sort of musical instrument that was sort of shiny, glossy and elegant. It was not like any sort of instrument Kim had ever seen so there was nothing with which to compare it. She wanted to ask Rahm about it, but something else grabbed her attention before she could ask, and the thought was forgotten. Kim was surprised to see another shelf in the middle of the wall parallel to the sort of sofa.

On the other side of the room was a table with all sorts of fruit, some of which looked familiar. But these fruits looked so much better and bigger than any fruit she had seen anywhere at any time on earth. The color scheme of the house was gold, white, green and blue, all tastefully partitioned on various walls or in patterns on the floor and on the ceiling which had a skylight. Looking around the room, some of the pictures were paintings and Kim realized that Rahm must have painted a few of them. They were like Rembrandt or Picasso, but much more engrossing and uplifting. One of the pictures was of a girl who looked like she was in her mid-teens and her hair style was like nothing Kim had ever seen. As Kim tipped her head upwards to get a better look at the girl in the picture, the skylight at the top of Kim's field of vision, caught her attention.

            “This is going to take some time to process. Where are we now?”

            “We are in my home in the city which you saw from a distance. And not the crowded and sometimes dirty types of cities you knew on earth, but a clean beautiful city. The city of Zion. You can sit down if you want to.”

            “Thank you, Rahm.”

The couch was large, and Kim managed to hop and pull herself up until she was sitting on the edge of the couch. She looked like a toddler sitting on the edge of a very large couch that would have been just right for adults. She looked around the room once more before her eyes returned to Rahm.

            “I saw a bench in the garden park, and I have a hunch that people do not get tired here. On earth, anyone would say that such an idea was absurd, but with everything else I have seen thus far, it seems believable."

            "You are right Kim. People do not get tired or sleepy here."

            "If people do not get tired here, which is what I suspected, then what are the benches for.”

            “Well, it is more convenient for eating and some people prefer to sit down when they talk or when they have visitors.”

While he was replying, he took a table out and put it directly in front of the sofa to where it came up to Kim's elbows.

            “Are you hungry Kim?”

            “Uh, well, I was hungry when I saw that fruit near the fountain.”

            “Would you like to share a meal with me before we head out?”

            “Well yes, very much so!”

            “I thought as much. I will set the table and get some food.”

At this Kim was very curious. In her own home, she would sit at the table and think about how to prepare anything that was made whether it was soups, breads, pastas, cereals or whatever it was. Soups would involve chopping up various vegetables, putting in seasonings and spices. Making a sandwich would of course involve bread, mayonnaise, perhaps cheese, more vegetables and in the case of her friends who preferred it, different types of sandwich meat. But with how different everything had been so far, Kim could not even begin to guess how, whatever it was, was prepared, what it could be or how it would be served. The continual string of surprises had almost left her without any ability to guess anything. Such wonder and delightful unpredictability was enough to awaken her appetite. She was hungry and the aromas coming from where Rahm was getting the food made her hungrier. And this thought reminded her of what she had thought of earlier. She did not need to find a restroom now, but surely Rahm had one somewhere.

            “Rahm, could you tell me where the restroom is?”

            Rahm came back into the room, and he had a tray of food which he placed on the table. On the tray were two plates with food on them, and Kim completely forgot about her question. On the plate Rahm placed in front of her was a little bowl, and there were some small white pieces of something in the bowl. It looked similar to some sort of snack she might find in a plastic bag in a convenience store. She had no idea what it was. “What is it,” she asked herself. Next to the little bowel on the plate was what looked like a quarter of an avocado, only it was the size of a medium zucchini. There was also half of a baseball sized cherry on her plate, with several on Rahm's plate which had the same fare but in a larger proportion. Next to the avocado was what looked like some sort of bread. The meal was simple but looked delicious. On the tray were two glasses filled with what might have been grape juice, and a small bowl of some kind of savory, delicious dip which must have been to dip the bread in. Rahm then took a low chair and sat next to the table.

            “Sorry Kim, but there is no restroom in my humble home.”

            “You don't have a restroom! Where can I find one!”

            “Well, actually, there are no restrooms at all in all this country.”

            “You have got to be kidding me! You are sure that this is heaven and not hell, right?”

            “Kim, remember what I said about travel being more or less complicated here? complicated here?”

            “Yes.”

            “Well, this is going to take some time to explain.”