Heaven according to Julia.

One of my favorite parts of traveling is the people I get to meet along the way. I am not a huge fan of air travel (the taking off, being in the air, and landing part get me), but plane conversation makes up for the majority of my airbound phobias.

Most of my travel over the past year has been on Southwest, and as all of you frequent flyers know, this lovely airline offers open seating. Open seating offers many perks. It offers the opportunity for those traveling in groups to find seats together and the chance to snag that coveted window seat.

Open seating also leaves much to be questioned. Most of my travel over the past year has been alone, and I usually forget to check in early enough online. By the time I get on the plane, I am left with a choice of countless middle seats on the plane and get to scan my options of pairs of people to be sandwiched between for the duration of the trip.

My luck has varied in airplane seating, with the best involving a grandmother sharing her ginger snaps  and the worst involving a sniffling middle aged man and me holding my breath half of the flight to avoid contracting the flu.

This time, I walked onto the plane and took the first open seat I saw. Three rows from the front. Between and older lady and a ten year old girl. Quick and easy exit after landing. Prime real-estate in the air travel world.

I quickly found out the lady to my right wanted her privacy and kept her nose buried in her Better Homes and Garden Magazine. To my left, however, was Julia.

A few minutes into the flight, I learned that Julia was ten years old and traveling back home alone after visiting her dad and her step-mom, and step siblings for a month in Dallas. Julia and I quickly bonded over her love for Lizzie McGuire and the pink flower stickers on her portable cd player. I knew I was in when she introduced me to her oversized stuffed penguin who she affectionately calls "Mr. Popper's Penguins" (yes, that is his whole name).

Throughout the flight, Julia told me all about her dogs, showed me each of her 15 scars, and told me her 18 favorite colors (some of which I had never heard of).

About halfway through the flight, I looked over and Julia was staring out the window. She tapped on my arm, and told me to look out the window at the clouds. The clouds were beautiful, but I was more awestruck by the conversation that followed with this bright-eyed ten year old.

As Bill Cosby says, kids say the darndest things. But really, I think they say some of the most profound, too.

Julia looked straight at me and said, "How far do you think you have to go up above the clouds to get to heaven?"

I paused to think about my answer and not knowing exactly what to say, I told her I wasn't sure and then asked her what she thought heaven would be like.

She smiled a big smile looking out the window and said, "I think its going to be really big, really beautiful, and all golden. Everyone there will be SO happy because there will be no darkness at all. If anyone is unhappy, God will take them with him so they can learn to be like an angel."

Julia then asked me if her stuffed penguin would get to go to heaven with her. I told her I didn't know, but she assured me she was going to ask God and Jesus to let Mr. Popper's Penguins in because it would make her happy.

Julia got me thinking. What will heaven really be like? When I looked it up, there were too many verses to post, but so many that mirrored what my new friend Julia said.

• Revelation 21: 18  ^"The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass"
• Revelation 21:^{21 "}The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass."
• Revelation 21: 11  ^"It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal."
• Revelation 21: 4 "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
• Revelation 7:17 "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

I asked Julia where she learned about heaven. Judging by some of the things she told me, I wasn't sure she had been brought up in church. She looked out the window at the clouds and told me that she just knew. 


I think heaven will be all the things Julia said and more. Looking around at God's creation here on earth takes my breath away. I can't imagine the magnitude of beauty and glory that will surround us one day in heaven. I'm sure its one of those "you have to be there to get it" kind of things. The thing is though, we don't have to get it now. Like little Julia said, we can just know.

One day, we will get to stand in the glory of the Lord in heaven. And I can only hope little Julia will be standing right there beside me. (maybe a certain stuffed penguin too).

The Terminal.

Right now, I am sitting in an airport terminal, a place I have become quite familiar with over the past year of my life. I have been on 14 flights in the past ten months. 14 boarding passes, and 14 times getting patted down in airport security (you think I would be flagged in the system by now. I look so threatening ha!).

I love people watching. Some places merit better results than others. State Fairs and Walmart are at the top of my list, but airports come in easily 3rd on my list, but for completely different reasons. I affirm, and will continue to, that there is a certain group of people (at least in the south) that only come out of their homes to got to two places: the State Fair, and Walmart.

The airport on the other hand holds a slightly less diverse group of individuals, but one that in some ways enthralls me even more.

I always have been a rule follower, and as a result, arrive at the airport promptly 2 hours before my flight. Whoever made this "rule" probably lives in a big city like NYC or Chicago. They probably have never heard of Tulsa, and therefore didn't make an exception to the rule (which is often needed). Today as always, I walked straight to the Southwest counter with no wait, got my boarding pass, and walked straight to airport security where I once again made it my goal to make the TSA workers smile (There's something satisfying about watching someone's face turn from a grimace to a smirk).

I checked each of those off my list in less than 15 minutes and find myself sitting in the terminal with an hour and a half and nothing to do but watch.

Every few minutes, a large group of people walks by from their incoming flight, rushing off to their destination. Where are they going? Are they visiting? Are they going home? Are they getting on another flight? Are they on business? Have they been on more than 14 flights this year?

Each passenger has a different story and different destination. I would give anything to know what that is. I am sitting with a group of give or take 75 people who I will spend two hours in an enclosed space with, most of whom I won't speak to, and two who I will share an armrest with.

Two people in particular caught my eye on the way into the airport today. When I was walking in, a couple was standing by the car, saying their goodbyes. The boy was still wiping tears from his eyes as he picked up his boarding pass inside. It broke a little piece of my heart even though I had no idea what his story was. I don't know where he was going or why he was leaving and probably never will.

He too is probably sitting in a terminal waiting for his flight.

Coming and going. Getting there quickly. Less hastle. That's what air travel is all about right? So many times we look at life the same way. We make our to do lists and seek the most efficient way to check everything off of our lists. The less interaction the better.

We hardly ever stop to see the stories that are happening all around us. Between all the coming and going, what are we missing out on? Maybe nothing. Maybe something.

I read a quote earlier this week that said this:

“Stop and take your time to notice things and make those things you notice matter.” 

Boarding number A 59. Its just a number and a letter, a seat on a plane. A list of to do's. Just words and numbers. While those letters, numbers, and words help us accomplish the things we "need to", maybe looking in between the words, letters, and numbers are the moments that will truly make a difference.