"What was that?" The sound of music awakened Cindy and she looked around.

"It is the trumpet of the Lord, Cindy. Do not fear." Beside her was an immense glowing person but the voice was amazingly soft and musical.

"You know my name." The young girl looked at the strangely familiar figure. "Who are you?" She had seen him before, she couldn't remember when or where but she knew that he was kind and good.

"I am an angel Cindy. We have met before." He touched her hand tenderly. His voice was soothing.

"Now I remember," Cindy said. "You saved my life the day that car almost hit me. I never got to thank you. I looked for you and you were gone. No one had seen you but me."

The angel smiled. "I have been with you for many years, Cindy. My name is Joyful. It is time to begin our journey." To her astonishment he took her hand. As Cindy found herself floating upward she looked down and saw that she was wearing a soft, white dress. Was this a dream?

Joyful seemed to read her mind. "No, it's not a dream." When he smiled his face lit up. "This is the beginning of a new life, the beginning of forever."

"Where are we going?" Cindy asked. As if it weren't there they drifted through the ceiling of the bedroom and emerged into a star spangled night.

"We're going to Heaven. Look." The Angel pointed to a graveyard far below them. Golden streaks flashed through the black of the Heavens.

"My Grandma and Grandpa are buried there," Cindy told her comrade.

"The graves have opened up, and the dead in Jesus have gone home."

As Cindy gazed into the skies she could see for miles into the broad expanse of space. "Look at the sky-- it's filled with people," she said. "They're all flying, just like us. Oh, -- oh, there's my brothers, David and Ricky."

"Hey, Cindy," David shouted as he soared through the starlit sky. "I can fly." Beside him was a light figure with wings.

Ricky's voice rang out in the night air. "Isn't this fun? We must be going 1,000 miles an hour."

The dark mountains that surrounded the city of Jerusalem looked like miniature hills as they sailed upward through the firmament.

Cindy looked around. The rest of her family was missing. "Where is Joseph?" Cindy asked her angel companion.

"Joseph has to stay on earth," Joyful said.

"And my Mother and Dad?" Cindy asked as she looked back toward the disappearing city.

"They have to stay here too," the angel responded. "You will soon get acquainted with Jesus and Heaven and He will answer all of your questions."

Cindy was puzzled, because she was Jewish and had never had the opportunity to learn about Jesus. "Why is He taking us and not them?"

"It isn't for me to answer that question," her companion said. "We will soon be with Christ and He will tell you. This is a night for which the heavenly spirits have hoped for many years."

The immense space passed with amazing swiftness as earth below, now only a small round ball, vanished in the distance. The moon was larger and the stars like silvery peaks drew near.

They entered an area of bright clouds surrounded by glowing light and landed on a snow-white platform with thousands of other people

"Look, it bounces." Ricky jumped up and down. "Hey, this is better than a mattress." The angel beside him laughed.

"Maybe it's a cloud." Cindy knelt and felt the soft white platform.

"Yes, it is a cloud," Joyful said.

"Look, there's Grandma and Grandpa." David pointed to a couple who was hurrying toward them.

"But it can't be them, David, they're too young." Cindy remembered the day long ago, before they had moved from America to Israel, when the policeman had come to the house to tell them that Grandma and Grandpa Kahn had been killed in an accident.

"It is them," David shouted as he ran happily to their side. "Grandma, Grandpa."

"David." The man hugged him.

"It is you." Cindy and Ricky joined them.

"Of course." Grandmother put her arm around them.

"Hi, little one." Grandfather picked her up and swung her on his shoulder just as he had when she was a little girl, before he had got sick.

"Oh, Grandpa," she laughed. "I'd forgotten how strong you were."

"Only since I got up here, Cindy," he said.

"How did you get here?" Cindy asked.

"Our spirits have been with Jesus since we left earth, Cindy," Grandfather explained. "But our bodies only joined our souls just before you came."

"Oh, look, look, there's R.J.," David hollered. "R.J." He waved to the boy who stood beside his parents. "R.J."

"Hi David." R.J. came running over to meet his friends.

"Grandpa," David said. "This is R.J. Woods, he was our next door neighbor in Jerusalem."

"How do you do, R.J.," Grandfather Kahn said as hugged the young man.

"He tried to tell us about Jesus," Cindy added. "I wish I'd have listened."

"Yes," David said. "Maybe then I wouldn't be so confused."

"Things will clear up for you," Joyful Angel said.

"Welcome my children." A soft lyrical voice came from a golden figure surrounded by angels.

"It's Jesus," Cindy whispered and she fell to her knees. Suddenly she realized she knew Him, but she had never met Him. How could she instantly love Him?

"I have come to take my people home." Jesus seemed to be speaking to Cindy. "My children we are going home. Follow me." Jesus began to fly to the north. The great crowd followed behind Him, and filled the Heavens. Thousands of sparkling colored lights flashed in front of them.

"We're flying into a rainbow," Cindy cried as soft vapors of colors surrounded them.

"The Northern Lights," Grandmother said. "Aren't they beautiful?"

Everything shone with a luster and glow. A soft spray of brightness of reds, yellows and greens enveloped them. The new inhabitants sang for joy as they entered the colored planet. Music filled the heavens.