Everyone here is alive because of them. I have to keep reminding myself this over and over again in my head as I slave away day in and day out at the hand of my maker. Literally. Jesus himself. Well, his minions.

It was a summer day, but it was raining…or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was just cloudy….doesn’t matter. I was sitting on my back deck just minding my own business and eating some Hawaiian Ice with my bulldog, George, and it happened. You read about it in the Bible specifically in Revelations, but it’s a lot different than what you could imagine.

The sky had lightning running through the clouds like veins pumping blood through the sky. I took George inside and threw away the remnants of my treat. My mom was at the grocery store and my dad was out of town for business. Janie was at cheer practice and wasn’t expected home until dinner time.

There was a loud yet silent bang that was more like a force than a sound. I thought it was just an airplane flying too low. Suddenly, everything got bright. Super bright. It’s like I was all of a sudden driving into the sunset. I was completely enveloped in the light. Then I was thrown into a line. All kinds of people in front of and behind me. All waiting outside, yes you guessed it, a giant pearly gate. Hundreds of us just hanging out.

I couldn’t talk; I couldn’t move. I stood there waiting for what seemed like forever. More people were thrown from nothing into the line. Finally, the gates opened. There was complete silence. A woman appeared and whispered in each of our ears:

“You are a child of God. You have been chosen to rebuild earth and restore hope. We love you.”

Then, BOOM!

I was back on earth, except it was completely barren. Nothing but soil. Behind me was two men dressed in all black guarding an enormous stack of wood. Next to that was all kinds of supplies like shovels, hammers, nails and power tools.

“It is time to build.” The one man said.

I couldn’t respond and I couldn’t control my movements. My body moved itself over to a 2X 4, then grabbed a hammer and nails. Me and another older man were partnered together by the force and were connecting our pieces. I looked around and saw no one else. Was this a special assignment? What was I building? Who were these people?

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!

I rolled over and turned my alarm clock off. As I pressed the off button, I noticed something strange about my hands. They were covered in dirt….