I am so eager for my reunion with Jud.  I regularly enjoy one particular vision of our reuniting.

I imagine myself surrounded by nature in its state of perfection, the most intense beauty comprehendible to the finite mind.  As I am enjoying the incredible scenery, suddenly, from around a corner, Jud comes running, as fast as he can, with outstretched arms and a huge smile, into my embrace.  He runs to me like I have never seen him run before, and I begin weeping loudly for joy.

Jud is whole.  He is perfect.  Our love is complete, and our relationship no longer hindered by earthly death.  It is as though time stood still until the moment of my homecoming.

Then I see Jesus, who is smiling at me and delighting in my reunion with Jud-our intense embrace, the laughter, the smiles, the joy!  Together, Jud and I kneel before our Redeemer in worship.  If not for His blood, shed on the cross, there would be no reunion for us-only separation and death.

I don’ know how closely my imagination resembles heaven, but I do know that God has promised those who are His children the hope of life in eternity.  And Jud’s current absence from his body means he is present with the Lord.  Furthermore, I too, someday, will experience the wholeness of heaven alongside Jud.

This is hope.  This is true hope.