Without a Word_ How a Boy's Unspoken Love Changed Everything - Jill Kelly [60]
A little later, when I got to the top of my parents’ driveway, my mother was standing there to greet me. I was happy to see her. “Did you stop at the cemetery?” she asked.
I responded yes and just looked at her. It was obvious that I had been crying. As we hugged, she whispered in my ear, “We’ll take care of Hunter’s spot, Jill. It will eventually look better than it does right now.”
“I know, Mom. I know,” I responded with a heavy sigh.
I walked over to a lounge chair by the pool and my mom went inside to prepare some lunch. After I got situated, I opened Heaven to where I had left off months before: page fifty-five—“Does ‘paradise’ suggest a physical place?” The more I read, the more excited and encouraged I became.
A fundamental article of the Christian faith is that the resurrected Christ now dwells in heaven. We are told that his resurrected body on Earth was physical, and that this same, physical Jesus ascended to Heaven, from which he will one day return to Earth (Acts 1:11). It seems indisputable, then, to say that there is at least one physical body in the present Heaven. If Christ’s body in the intermediate Heaven has physical properties, it would stand to reason that others in Heaven might have physical forms as well, even if only temporary ones.1
My heart started to race as I thought to myself, Maybe Hunter does have a physical body right now. What if God’s actually revealing what my heart longs to understand?
The more I read, the more convinced I was that God was speaking to the questions on my mourning heart.
Hebrews 12:1 tells us to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” creating the mental picture of the Greek competitions, which were watched intently by throngs of engrossed fans sitting high up in the ancient stadiums. The “great cloud of witnesses” refers to the saints who’ve gone before us, whose accomplishments on the playing field of life are now part of our rich history. The imagery seems to suggest that those saints, the spiritual “athletes” of old, are now watching us and cheering us on from the great stadium of Heaven that looks down on the field of Earth. (The witnesses are said to “surround” us, not merely to have preceded us.)2
Picturing Hunter as an athlete watching us from the great stadium of heaven was uplifting and exciting. I thought of Jim and the thousands of fans that had cheered him on for years, and now our son was cheering us on. While we continue to press on here in the game of life, our little athlete is suited up in heaven’s finest, watching and waiting. As the sun continued to warm my face that gorgeous afternoon, I thought about Hunter wearing a number 12 jersey and playing football now for the winning team—the only team that matters.
I laid my copy of Heaven down on my lap, closed my eyes, and started to pray: “Lord, can Hunter see us right now? Is he watching and cheering us on as we struggle to live without him? My heart overflows with questions. But knowing You is more important than having answers. Lord, help me to love You more than I miss Hunter. Thank You for—”
“Jill, lunch is ready,” my mother called. I got up from my chair and headed over to help her. Then she stopped abruptly, looked up to the sky, and exclaimed, “Turn around, Jill. You’re not going to believe this.” When I turned and looked up, there, in the middle of the beautiful blue sky, was the letter H in the clouds.
“I’ve got to get my camera,” my mother said as she handed me the lunch tray and ran back into the house.
I stared at the sky, speechless. An H for Hunter, an H for heaven, I said to myself as I walked