Hereafter

Hereafter: Part I Crossing Over, Chapter 9

9

WE WERE ALL EXHAUSTED,not physically of course, because that doesn’t happen with a glorified body, but emotionally. We’d all just relived in every real detail, experiencing firsthand all the intense human drama connected to the parting of the Red Sea. Almost everyone else had already left, while Lydia and I were just sitting there, stunned and still processing.

“Well, was the ride everything you expected?” I asked Lydia, just trying to get our minds relating once again to the real world.

“Yah . . . everything . . . and a lot more than I bargained for. The ride certainly set a new standard for realism, I must say. It’s hard to believe, but things keep changing here . . . and always for the better,” Lydia said, shaking her head, still reeling from what we’d just been through.

“This is all new to me, but I’ll take your word for it. What do you want to do next?” I posed, now as excited as a Katniss Everdeen, hunting, bow drawn back, having spotted her first deer in a year and thinking about finally feeling full.

We left the auditorium and walked out of the ride complex back into the main walkway winding through the park. A block or so and I noticed a marvelous fountain.

“Hey, what’s that? It doesn’t look like a ride of any kind?”

“You’ve got that right . . . it’s actually a monument,” Lydia began to explain.

We sat down on a nearby bench to relax and take in the breathtaking majesty of the monument. While watching, a statue suddenly sprouted up out of the bubbling water, fusing seamlessly and proudly with the others already present.

“What the . . . Lydia, did I just see . . . ?”

“Oh, that’s rare . . . it’s not often anyone gets to see a monument grow while looking at it!”

“Please, tell me more? What’s going on?”

“Well, you see God loves to encourage people to not only believe, but put into practice the important spiritual principles connected simply to implementing Love in your life. In this part of heaven, there are monuments scattered all over recognizing souls still living in the flesh who are going above and beyond to set a good example for others to follow. For some, giving without expecting anything in return is recognized, for others, forgiveness under extreme circumstances, that kind of thing,” Lydia explained.

“I suppose you’d have to be someone like Ghandi or Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King to have a monument built here for you?” I suggested.

“Actually, these monuments are only for people who are still alive in the flesh. Those people you mentioned did have monuments, but when they died, the monuments disappeared and new ones took their place.”

I thought a moment, and something didn’t add up.

“Lydia, how would having a monument in heaven encourage people on Earth to practice their faith more fully? They wouldn’t know about it, would they?”

“Nothing gets past you, does it . . . many of us here will sooner or later sign up for an off-world mission and though we are born into that world with no clear memories from our time in heaven or past lives in other worlds, our souls retain the spiritual progress we’ve made and the monuments represent that progress in a concrete way. Also, the person’s guardian angel knows about the monument and passes on a sense of spiritual accomplishment.”

“When they get to heaven, will they get to see it at least once before it’s taken down?”

“No . . . that’s not how things work . . . . hey, you should have seen your monument . . . it was something, as befitting all of your accomplishments and sacrifices on God’s behalf during your struggles with the Guardian!”