“Do you think about where he might be?”

  “I assume that he will be raised and will have to face up to what he did. I know that Jesus will have designed a process that will help him and ultimately save him. I am sure that he will experience both the chastisement and the loving kindness of Papa God. The two are really the same, but it takes time to see it, doesn’t it?”

  “It does,” Adilah nodded in agreement. “Throughout these jubilee periods, I have been challenged to think of myself as more than just a victim. My body no longer bears the scars of the Previous Age, but it took me a long time to understand how those experiences had scarred my identity.”

  Adilah became quiet as she stared into the fire. She reached up a hand and ran it over her hair, where once she had been burned.

  “And I know what I must do to finally defeat my victim mindset.”

  The man searched Adilah’s face, willing her to take the next vital step.

  “So right now, I choose to forgive.”

  Adilah’s head dropped to her chest and she closed her eyes tight.

  “I forgive all those who hurt me and my sister,” she sobbed. “I recognise they were people just like me.”

  The man bowed his head, recognising the power of this moment, as Adilah allowed her tears to flow. She called to mind the faces of her captors, one by one, and visualised herself telling them that they were forgiven. As she did so, she felt an energy welling up within her, like a volcano on the point of erupting.

  “Thank you, friend,” she cried through her tears. Ruach had been with her from childhood and throughout everything she had experienced – her death, her resurrection and this process – leading her all the way to this moment.

  *

  “Weeks and months went by from that evening around the fire,” said Harmony. “Adilah sometimes felt flashes of her previous anger and resentment towards those who had caused so much suffering in the Previous Age, but she consistently focused her mind on her decision to forgive. Sometimes she felt disappointed, because it didn’t feel easy, but at other times she experienced a deep joy and freedom like never before.”

  “Ruach saw her determination to keep actively choosing forgiveness, and that’s how we knew that this day had come,” said Jesus with delight. “Come on, let’s go to her!”

  *

  Adilah was singing to herself as she sat on her small veranda polishing a saucepan. The sound of birdsong in the evening never failed to elevate her spirits, and she loved to sit outside as the colours changed around her. Hearing footsteps on the path, she looked up and gasped as she recognised Jesus walking toward her with Anne and Harmony.

  Jesus held out his arms and Adilah ran towards him. He wrapped her in a long embrace with her head nestled under his chin. Anne and Harmony both beamed with anticipation.

  “Adilah,” said Jesus, holding her gently by the shoulders and looking deep into her eyes. “Ruach, Harmony and Anne have seen your heart. You have chosen to clothe yourself in agape love and have decided to love those who hurt you. You have come to see yourself as you truly are – a cherished daughter of Papa God. You are ready to enter the Eternal City.”

  Adilah covered her face with her hands for a few seconds and then opened them to reveal her radiant smile. She heard Jesus’ words but was unsure what they fully meant.

  “Come with us,” beckoned Jesus. “You remember Cynthia?”

  The seraph turned and bowed low. The four friends climbed onto her broad back and were soon soaring over the meadows of Beulah toward the Eternal City.

  They landed in a square where tables and chairs were set out, like an Italian piazza. Sliding to the ground, Adilah looked around, overwhelmed by the many things she’d never seen before. The piazza lay at the foot of mountainous crags, the tops of which were hidden in rosy-hued clouds. Dwellings of various colours were built into the rock faces with flowers blooming on the balconies and on the thick outcrops between the buildings. Adilah turned around slowly, trying to take it all in.

  Jesus, Harmony and Anne stood back, enjoying the look of wonder on Adilah’s face. Jesus reached out and took her hand. She looked up at him and silently mouthed the word “Thank you.”

  Jesus motioned for her to turn around. Standing a few feet away were a man and a woman, arm in arm.

  Adilah’s hands returned to her face for a few seconds before she lowered them, looked again, and then ran towards the couple crying “Mama, Papa!”

  Adilah’s parents held her tight, and they wept together in a moment that seemed to be suspended in time. Adilah knew that she was finally home and that all her suffering, her resilience and her patience had been leading to this.

  Soon they were sitting in the comfortable living room of one of Jesus’ homes. The breeze gently moved the curtains as the reunited family told each other of their journeys through the Previous Age and the New Earth. As they laughed and cried together, Jesus took great pleasure in serving them food and drinks.

  “What of Eshe?” Adilah looked up and asked Jesus.

  “Everyone has their own day for entering the Eternal City,” he replied, “much as when you were raised to the New Earth. Today is about you. You can trust me with your sister, and all the others that you love.”

  “And not just those I love,” replied Adilah, with a directness and confidence that made Jesus put down the tray of drinks.

  “No,” he said gently. “Not just those you love.”

  “When?” asked Adilah.

  Jesus sat down with the family and turned to Adilah.

  “You must remember that you have the strength to meet anyone here in the City. And by the same token, anyone here in the City is ready to meet you. Will it be easy? Not necessarily. Will it be awkward? Yes, possibly. But you have clothed yourself in agape love, and you can be confident that you will know how to interact with anyone you meet here. Some people deliberately ask for a reconciliation meeting. If that is what you wish, we will arrange it. Others prefer to leave it to happenstance, trusting that the timing and the circumstances will flow naturally, which of course they will. Your spirit is one with Ruach, your friend. You are mature in our everlasting love.”

  “What would you like to do, my daughter?” asked Adilah’s mother.

  “I think… I would like this to happen… as and when,” said Adilah. “Jesus, I trust you and I trust myself.”

  “Right, that is how it will be. And now,” said Jesus breaking out into a broad smile, “you are free to explore and experience the wonders of the City in your own time. Your time for rest has come.”

  *

  “Can we join in?”

  Adilah turned around and lowered her bat. “For sure,” she smiled. “You two, do you want to join the fielding team, and…”

  She stopped. Her hand fell to her side as she looked hard at one of the two men who had approached them on the baseball pitch.

  He looked back with the same sense of recognition on his face. Sensing what was happening, the others made space for them and moved quietly aside.

  “Adilah?” asked the man.

  “Yes,” she replied. She felt her stomach tense with nerves but at the same time a calm clarity of mind.

  “Come,” said Adilah, “Let’s walk together.”

  The man nodded and the pair walked off the field in silence, watched by those remaining, who sent love and support in their hearts to both individuals. They understood that these moments could arise, often with no introduction.

  “I know a place nearby where we can talk,” said the man.

  “Okay. What is your name?” she asked.

  “My name is Bem, but you knew me as ‘Knife’.” His voice wavered and he cleared his throat.

  They sat on a bench overlooking a neighbourhood in a suburban district of the City.

  “Adilah, I know you have come here because you are ready in your heart, but I still need to say this to you.”

  Bem knelt before Adilah and looked up at her.

  “I am sorry for what I did to you and so many others in the Previous Age. I acknowledge the pain and suffering you endured. I know what I did, and I understand why I did those things.”

  Adilah looked down at him and her forehead furrowed slightly. She could still remember the screams as he sliced the flesh of her sister to mark her as the property of the militia. But she could also see the humanity that she shared with him in his eyes. “Bem,” she said, “sit with me and tell me about your life in the Previous Age.” She leaned down and took his face in her hands. “Tell me about your journey on the New Earth and how you came into the City. I want to know, I want to understand everything.”

  Adilah and Bem sat together on the bench for a long time, and then they moved on to a quiet restaurant. They talked with no concept of time. As they explained their stories, their hearts made room to accommodate each other.

  Listening became learning; learning became understanding; understanding became empathy, and empathy became total acceptance that they were brother and sister within God’s family.

  Johan Enters the Eternal City

  “Johan continued to be thirsty for facts and context throughout the fourth jubilee and the start of this one too,” Yvonne reported as Team Thomas gathered once again with Jesus to review the past jubilee period. “The angelic records describe much that is destructive and ugly, but they also note many accounts of agape love breaking through the sufferings of the Previous Age. Johan ignored these at first, but the more he read, the more he became inspired by the stories recording human kindness and empathy.”

  “Inspiration is one of my favourite influences on the human heart,” said Jesus. “I felt so glad when my words inspired the people I met in my Previous Age. It’s a wonderful thing when inspiration becomes motivation.”

  “It was early in his fifth jubilee when Johan’s reading inspired him to desire relationships,” said Yan. “He became convinced that the point of existence is agape love, and eventually he found the perfect opportunity to rejoin the community and put that into practice.”

  *

  Johan looked out of the window with a furrowed brow. It was unusual to hear any activity outside of his dwelling, let alone the clinking of metal spades. He placed the bookmark in the page he had been reading and closed the book. As he opened his door, a man approached him, smiling.

  “Hello!” he said cheerfully, holding out a hand. Johan hadn’t spoken to anyone for a long while, and so he blinked at the man a couple of times before accepting the handshake.

  “Hello,” said Johan quietly.

  “Sorry friend, did we disturb you?”

  “It’s ok,” replied Johan.

  “We’re digging an irrigation channel. I’m Frazer, by the way.”

  “Hello, I’m Johan.”

  “I haven’t seen you around much,” said Frazer.

  Johan cleared his throat self-consciously and looked at the ground. “No. I haven’t been out much.”

  “We could do with some help. Would you be willing to join us?”

  Johan felt a knot of anxiety forming in his stomach at the thought of being around new people.

  “Once we get the channel to the top of the hill it will connect to a spring, and water will flow down to a new vegetable garden we’ve created over there.”

  Johan felt a little guilty that he enjoyed the benefit of freshly grown food at the market each week but did so little to contribute to its production.

  “Yes, I am willing to help,” he replied.

  “That’s great! If you put on your oldest work clothes, I’ll introduce you to the rest of the group.”

  Frazer led Johan over to where the men were digging. The sound of spades slicing through soil triggered a rush of memories of digging foxholes with his comrades in the Previous Age. Johan felt himself overcome with a sadness that he hadn’t experienced for a long time. One of the men looked up at Johan.

  “Hey, mate, are you alright?” he asked.

  Frazer looked at Johan’s troubled face and put an arm around his shoulder. Johan was deeply touched by the concern shown by these men he’d only just met.

  The whole team put down their spades, and before he knew it, Johan was seated on the grass surrounded by six new friends.

  “I haven’t been in company for so long,” he said in a small voice.

  “I was nervous of meeting people, too,” said one of men. “When this jubilee began, I decided that I just wanted to paint in my garden. Didn’t feel I wanted to get to know new people after I was parted from my friends in the last jubilee. Didn’t see the point of making new friends if we kept getting split up.”

  Johan nodded. “I miss my sister, and my friends – not to mention those I haven’t seen since the Previous Age. I just want to read all the time and not talk to anyone.”

  “Many of us have been on the same journey,” said another, kindly. “We’re all here together because we’re all learning how to heal from our wounds. Were you a soldier in the Previous?”

  “How did you guess?” laughed Johan, though tears were now quietly flowing as he made himself vulnerable.

  “I somehow felt that the sound of digging might have triggered memories from army life,” the man replied.

  “But… how?” asked Johan.

  “You remember Ruach? Well, we sit and allow her to meet with us,” said Frazer. The other men nodded.

  “We make time to be still and listen to her each day,” said one of the men. “You would be welcome to join us.”

  “I find it easier to read,” replied Johan, feeling a little uncomfortable at the idea. But seeing the friendly faces that surrounded him, he continued, “But I am interested. Maybe I could join you tomorrow and at least give it a go? And for now, let me help you.”

  “I’ll fetch you a spade,” grinned Frazer. “Many hands make light work!”

  As he settled into the rhythm of digging, Johan felt a wave of satisfaction. For the first time in many years, he felt connected to people again.

  The men talked as they worked, cracking jokes and reminiscing about their lives in the Previous Age and the jubilee periods they’d experienced so far. The atmosphere was more friendly and jovial than Johan had ever known with other men. As the hours went by, swift progress was made forming a channel down to the level ground where the new vegetable beds had been prepared.

  “Johan, you should be the one to break the barrier at the top of the hill,” suggested one of the men.

  “But I joined the work last,” Johan protested. “It shouldn’t be me.”

  “You’re the newest member of the team, and this is your welcome,” said Frazer.

  “Why don’t we all break the barrier together?” suggested Johan, smiling at his companions. “Come on, let’s go up, all of us.”

  The seven men walked back up the hill, following the line of the irrigation channel until they reached the place where a short span of earth kept the spring pool from flowing freely down the new waterway. The men each began to remove the earth, a spadeful at a time.

  “Here it goes!” shouted Johan as the last slithers of earth fell away.

  The men cheered and laughed as the crystalline water cascaded down the channel. Some began to run, trying to keep pace with the water, and the others followed suit, until they were all at the vegetable beds, joyfully watching the water flow.

  *

  Johan had found a way back to community and connection with other people. He was delighted to learn from Frazer that there were women and children living in the village, as well as entire families who had died together in various wars. Using his experience with Gerty from his first jubilee, he threw himself into volunteering at the village school, showing the children the basics of thatching and roof repair.

  As the days, weeks and months went by, Johan developed a teaching method that was firm but fair and showed that he expected each child to do their best. Teaching enabled him to practise the skills of patience and empathy that he had read so much about in the angelic records.

  He quietly resolved to spend quality one-to-one time with every young child at the school to learn more about their interests. Slowly but surely, Johan came to be liked and trusted by each child in the village, as they realised that this man cared for them deeply. Johan also got to know each of their families and their different stories. He saw the beauty in their journeys and helped them process some of what they had experienced.

  One warm evening Johan was putting his thatching tools away when he noticed a man and a woman standing behind a low stone wall looking in his direction. As Johan looked more carefully, he saw that the woman was wiping tears from her cheeks.

  “Gerty!” he gasped, rushing towards her and vaulting over the wall. As he enveloped her in his arms, he realised that the man standing next to her with a beaming smile was Jesus. Johan’s eyes widened in surprise, and then he reached out an arm and brought him into the embrace.

  “Johan, we have come with some news,” Jesus told him, as Johan stood back, quite breathless from the surprise.

  “We are here to invite you to the Eternal City. Your heart is ready. You have learnt how to give and receive agape love and have overcome the temptation to isolate yourself from other people. Ruach has told me how you have been meditating with your friends and letting go of the resentment and bitterness that held you back in the past. You have allowed agape love to become your compass and your source of inspiration.”

  “Come to the City!” said Gerty. “I live there now, and so do Mum and Dad.”

  Johan hadn’t thought about his parents for some time. Life had become sweet in the village, and he realised he had no longer been thinking of the past, nor of the future, but had truly learned to inhabit the present.

  Gerty took his arm. “Come and see?”

  Johan nodded. “Yes, of course. Mother, Father…”

  “And so many friends!” added Gerty with a giggle.

  Johan took a deep breath. There was so much to take in, and he could only begin to imagine how he would feel seeing his family reunited again. But at the same time, he knew it meant leaving the people in the village he had come to love and care for so deeply.