Chapter Fifteen: Welcome Home

Beckah sat on a blanket among the trees, listening to the breeze roll through them gently, listening to the birds call to each other as they flew with the rising dawn. It was going to be a nice day.

Alec came over, and she patted the blanket. He sat beside her, and stretched out with a smile. "I had a feeling I'd find you here."

"I like this spot." Beckah smiled. "The tree is so comfortable. Just fits my spine perfectly. The shade is dense enough that I can stay here for hours and never get the sun in my eyes; and it's far enough from the path that I don't get too many people coming by. It's a great picnic spot, and a great study spot."

"I know." Alec said gently. "How many times have we done both together, right here under this tree?"

"Many, many times in the last fifty years." She nodded. "In fact, this is where we were sitting the first time you told me you loved me."

"First time I'd ever said it to anyone." Alec nodded. "I always wanted to do the whole ‘romantic movie' bit where I carve your initials into the tree… For some reason, I never did. Can't really guess why."

"I can. It's because of today." Beckah sighed. "One last lunch? Or breakfast, I suppose. I can go get something..."

"Well, it's not much, but…" Alec reached into his jacket and pulled out two spoons and a small jar, filled with homemade peanut butter. "For old times sake?"

Beckah smiled and kissed his hand as she took the spoon. "It was a good spot."

"There'll be others." Alec promised. "We made this one, almost by accident. We'll make a better one together."

Beckah smiled and took a bite. "We will."

The two of them ate, without a further word, until the jar was empty. And then Alec stood up, and the two walked back to the camp. "Fifty years." Alec sighed.

"Fifty years." Beckah squeezed his fingers. "We've come a long way, and we've only just gotten started. I admit, I would easily forget that time is passing at all, if it weren't for the trees we planted getting taller every year." She opened the nearest toolshed, and pulled out a saw. "I should have kept one aside. Just one of the seeds, or something. Wherever we live together, I would plant it for us."

"When we started this, I said that these trees live for eight thousand years. Well, the first ones planted in the Restoration won't be cut down. They've decided that. Can you imagine how outright enormous those redwoods will be?"

"I'd like to see that one day." She actually laughed at the ridiculousness of the thought. "Make a note, eight thousand years from now, we take a trip to the Forest Sanctuary."

He laughed too. "We could live here." Alec offered. "We're cutting down the trees, but leaving the roots. They'll grow back on their own in another fifty years… If we cut the tree on ‘our spot' high enough, you even keep the bit that fits nicely when you sit against it."

Beckah chuckled. "Nice, but… I wonder if we're doing ourselves a disservice. Time keeps moving, and we're barely aware of it any more. I'm not so sure that's a good thing."

"Mm." Alec sighed. "Well, we'll work it out. There's no hurry."

The two of them hugged as the rest of their crew headed over to the trees, armed with their lumber tools. The forest they had planted themselves would be homes for Returned ones soon. The roots would re-grow into new trees; and there were still teams planting new trees everywhere. For once, the world was putting back everything it was taking out.

~~/*\~~

Roland was waving excitedly as they made their way back with the cargo of lumber. Roland had been Alec's marker of time passing once the A-Day kids had grown up, and before the trees became visible from the community. Roland's face had been growing younger gently, in a reverse of the aging process, almost at the same speed. On the surface, they could have been the same age now; and in another few centuries, neither of them would care about the difference.

"Have you heard the news?" Roland asked in excitement.

"We've been on a lumber run all morning, Roland; we haven't heard anything since last night." Beckah shook her head. "Something good?"

"As if there was anything else anymore." Alec said dryly as Roland shoved a piece of paper at him. Alec read it, and his jaw dropped. "Is this confirmed?"

"Why would someone lie about it?"

"I don't believe they would, but you know how rumors spring up from nothing."

"It's confirmed." Roland insisted.

Beckah finally gave up trying to be subtle and took the page out of his hand. "John the Baptist? Is back? For real?"

"You know what this means?!" Roland could hardly contain himself.

"We're finally going to get a straight answer about what Jesus actually looked like?"

"No! Well, yes; but what I meant was that it means the Returning has reached the Pre-Christian Era!" Roland was awed. "That fast!"

"It means that we're going to be getting a lot of Bible characters filling up the world soon." Alec thought aloud. "As well as all those Tribes that we keep reading about. All the Kings, the Prophets, the… Everyone."

"Not everyone." Roland said quietly. "Just everyone who put their faith in Jehovah. The fact that we're all on that list is comforting. The thought that we'll all be in the world together; let alone the only ones in the world, is… awe inspiring."

~~/*\~~

There was no other topic of conversation that night.

"What about Ruth?" Someone asked suddenly. "She was a widow when her story in the Bible happened. Does she stay with Boaz, or will she go back to the first guy? What was his name again?"

"Solomon will be back, right?" Someone else asked, just as suddenly. "Because he went off the rails at the end, but he died, so that clears his record, right? Can you imagine having him as an Elder? And what about his wives? I mean, do they come back too? At some point? How do you pick the one you stay with?"

"Is David still a King? I mean, technically there isn't any need for it, but however we treat the Bible Kings is sort of a preview of how we treat all the other Kings. There was always at least one, somewhere in the world, right up to A-Day…"

"Will they be Overseers?" Someone asked. "They won't even know what century it is; so… Who exactly is going to sit Solomon down and teach him Scripture?"

"Or teach Moses what a modern day ‘tablet' is." Someone quipped.

The laughter was excited, but tinged with worry.

The worry was actually growing. What would these men, these great and powerful men, these famous giants of the ancient world, think of mere mortals like them? Were they going to take over? Would anyone have a problem with that?

Something else growing was expectation. Everyone had a list of questions to ask the famous characters of the Bible. Everyone on the planet probably had a list.

Alec finally put his foot down. "Look, back in OS; the leaders of our modern day faith warned about building a form of celebrity around them. These Bible characters were Kings and Prophets, but a lot of them started out as shepherd boys and fishermen. Their story isn't all that different from us. We consider them to be Holy Men because of the times they lived in and the work they did, but just remember that what we're seeing is a million times the miracles they lived with. Hezekiah saw the armies around Jerusalem suddenly eliminated. We saw it happen to every army, everywhere. Moses was delivered from the slaughter of an entire generation of babies in one nation. We saw generations of babies come back to life across the world!" He let that sink in. "We've all been surround by Returned ones, always with the same question: ‘What was it like?' If anyone can empathize with people who have to tell the story a thousand times, it's us."

It was working. Nobody had considered their own position, compared to the ‘famous faces'.

"Job saw tribulation become reward, John the Baptist saw the Messiah begin his work; Solomon built a temple." He couldn't help the smile. "We saw the fulfilment of all those things. Those Bible stories that we all grew up with were the tiniest taste of what we've been feasting on for seventy years. Time to share the feast. We've been doing that for most of our lives. Some need a little help acclimating to the century, some need a lot. But we all know that none of us turned out exactly as we were in the Old Days. We can say the same about all the people yet to arrive."

There was a rumble of agreement at that.

"And don't forget, the most important thing hasn't changed a bit." Alec summed up. "The men and women who are coming to meet us soon? They are here for the same reason we are: Their friendship with Jehovah God. The world changed while they were gone, but he hasn't. Not even a little bit. In a sense, He is arranging an introduction between us and some old friends of his; because he thinks we'd get on well with each other. Remember that, because they sure will."

~~/*\~~

"You handled that well." Roland told Alec later. "And you were right. With the exception of Christ himself, the famous faces out of the Bible were all just like us."

"I spoke with Rachel, before." Alec said quietly. "She says the Conference is reconvening briefly, sorting out how to handle the next hundred years. They say the Resurrection is accelerating dramatically."

"To be expected. From the days of Abraham to the birth of Christ, God's Pre-Christian people never stopped multiplying." Roland reasoned. "If we're right about the order of the Returning, we'll have everyone back to Abel back and trained before the rest of the human race starts to join us. That's a lot of people, even over a thousand years."

"Nine hundred and thirty years." Alec corrected him absently. "And there's actually an interesting development on that."

"How so?"

"John The Baptist is out of sequence." Alec told him. "At least, according to Professor Bagley. So far, the Returned ones have been brought back in chronological sequence, counting backwards to Genesis, but our first Pre-Christian Celebrity is early."

Roland blinked. "What does that mean?"

~~/*\~~

"So, what does that mean?" Kevin asked, curious.

Benedict, who had been travelling for the better part of two days, ate hungrily as he spoke. "The rest of the Committee have been praying on it, and we think the reason is leadership."

Kevin twitched, and opened his Bible to a bookmarked scripture. "Psalms 45:16. ‘Your sons will take the place of your forefathers. You will appoint them as princes in all the earth'." He read. "There are rumors that God would install them as leaders now."

"That's one interpretation, but we don't think that's automatically so; from a purely practical standpoint." Benedict shook his head. "They can't be expected to lead a world they haven't seen in thousands of years. But God has vowed that all his loyal servants get rewarded in a large way. For all we know, they'll be happy to retire from leadership roles and settle down. But in the meantime, there are whole nations of people who followed these men. If Moses tells them they can be busy on the Sabbath, they'll believe him. If Solomon tells them that it's okay to call themselves Christians, they're going to listen. But that only works if…"

"If they have the answers, before they get millions of people with questions." Kevin nodded, understanding swiftly. "So you think that they're going to arrive early, in preparation for their role as natural authority figures."

"Who better to teach people about the Truth than the Prophets they've looked to all their lives?" Benedict reasoned. "That alone is fulfilment of Psalms 45."

"I suppose so."

~~/*\~~

Thirty years passed, and the Returning began to approach the end of its first stage. The world was filling up with people, and a lot of the questions lost to history were being sorted out. Most of the Biblical figures were stunned to learn how long the Kingdom had taken to return, and were full of questions.

Almost every aspect of the ancient world had a resurgence. Clothing, architecture, food, art; everything that had fallen into history was suddenly relevant again. The modern world had no idea how to produce things that were commonplace in the pre-Iron Age, but it didn't matter, because the people that did were all back and ready to pick up their trades.

~~/*\~~

"What do you think?" Beckah did a twirl. "It's what the fashionable Ancient Roman Lady is wearing this year."

"You look beautiful." Alec told his wife dutifully. "It's really true, isn't it? You wait long enough, everything comes back into fashion eventually."

They both laughed, loud and long.

~~/*\~~

The ‘famous faces' did come back before the rest of their respective generations, and most of them were pretty excited to meet their own predecessors. The earliest figures in the Bible story were the ones who least expected the fame. An instruction went around quietly that nobody should take pictures of the most well known figures. Not yet. For all the gravity that their names carried, nobody knew what they looked like.

After they had time to settle in, interviews were done without limit, questions asked and answered. Rachel noticed her bookshelf filling up with more and more reference material as the Academics learned more about the ancient world than centuries of archeology could hope to unearth.

Kevin Bagley had only met one of the Biblical figures, and he was far more interested in the future than the past. The idea of international travel was science fiction to them, to say nothing of the devices.

"When European explorers met some obscure tribes, they acted like gods, to take advantage of superstitions." Rachel told Kevin over the phone as he related the experience. "The people we've had returned to us so far? They're like us. When they don't understand something, they don't try to invent a supernatural excuse."

"It's because they know all about real supernatural power. In particular the good kind, and the bad kind. It's been the heart of their cultures for generations. At least for the ones that are back already." Kevin figured. "They know how to spot something wrong, but the unknown is a source of curiosity. I remember once, how the unknown was the biggest fear people had. But for people who make faith the centre of their universe, the unknown isn't quite so scary. I think this qualifies."

"What kind of questions did he have for you, KB?" Rachel was curious.

"All he wanted to know about was A-Day. How it started, how I found out… I had to explain to him what CNN was, but…" He hesitated. "You know, I hardly even think about how it started. How it ended comes back to me now and then, but…"

"I know." Rachel admitted.

Silence. He was waiting for her to say something.

Finally, she did so. "What I remember most, is… How normal the day was." Beckah said slowly. "There was no sense of lightning about to strike, no hushed silence in the streets… There were hurricanes and unrest non-stop at that point, but where I was, it was just another day. I was binge-watching Netflix when Amelia sent me a text, and told me to turn on the news." She smiled a bit. "How about you?"

"I was asleep at the time." He recalled. "I came out of the bedroom and had fifteen messages on my phone. I thought it was work; and ignored them. I wasn't due in for hours. It took me two cups of coffee to face the morning news." He chuckled. "I didn't need much coffee after that."

"No." Rachel chuckled. "Which is good, because it was a while before we got the coffee shipments back up to scratch afterward." She got back on topic. "I'm getting questions about how much of this will go onto the Broadcast."

"Well, it's not just a question of filling in the blanks. They're free and private citizens again. If they don't want to talk about it, there's nothing to force them to." Kevin reminded her. "And I wouldn't blame them for wanting to let it go. We've been deconstructing their lives for two centuries now. Some of them, for thousands of years before that; and not all those moments are ones to be proud of. They get that having it recorded means they don't have to talk about it again, but it also means that everyone on the planet will get the whole story at some point."

"I wonder." Rachel commented. "Right now, we talk about the imperfections of the Ancient Believers because we need to see ourselves in them too. But after a few centuries, how much will we be able to relate to those past lives? How much will they, come to think of it?"

"Good question, but we take these things one century at a time." Kevin joshed her.

Rachel flushed. "I'm not good at that."

"I noticed. Ingaret has been good for you, Rach. As far as I can remember, taking her on has been the only project that didn't require you to think two centuries ahead."

"I like to keep my Eyes on the Prize."

"Rachel, this is the prize. We've been here for Decades." He joshed, and she could hear him rolling his eyes. It wasn't the first time the two of them had this conversation.

Rachel was about to respond, when she heard the ship's horn blow. "They're here." She reported to Kevin. "I'd better get to the dock. You know how crowded they are."

"Give your friends my best." Kevin signed off. "Tell them I look forward to seeing them again."

~~/*\~~

The docks were always crowded. Transports arriving had become common enough that it wasn't an event that brought out a crowd anymore, but for every ship that docked, there were two waiting to leave, or three on the way.

It was still polite and unhurried. Loud, but not harsh. People deferred to each other, felt it safe to leave their bags or cargo behind. There were people on hand to help with the passenger ships, directing new arrivals to where they needed to go, or the people they were trying to find.

Rachel was on hand when Alec and Beckah came down the gangplank. It was the first time they had seen each other since the wedding.

~~/*\~~

"What do you think Jesus did for fun?" Rachel asked suddenly.

"Where did that come from?" Beckah laughed as she set up the picnic.

"Kevin met a man from the Bible era recently, and he wanted to know all about our experiences with A-Day. Not a surprise, but it got me thinking. What did Jesus do for fun? Did he tell jokes to his Apostles? Did he have a favorite game? Did he have a favorite food? If people knew what Jesus snacked on, it would have been a basic food group by our day."

"Well, maybe we'll find out." Alec suggested. "The people who might have had an answer to those questions are all coming back now. If not, they will soon." He pulled out a wine bottle. "Rachel, you have the glasses?"

"Best crystal we've got." She produced a travel case with the wineglasses. "And I brought cheese. It's not quite the vintage we ate last time, but I tried to get something appropriately aged."

Alec smiled secretly. The three of them had this forever now. Once was simple expediency, twice was honoring the memory, three times was a tradition. "Only three bottles left in the case. I've been wondering about adding a wine cellar to our place."

"Of course you have." Beckah said dryly. "The paint's been dry for a whole ten minutes."

Alec chuckled and poured for them. "Salut."

They all smiled at each other, enjoying the memories as they sipped… before spitting it out as fast as they could. "Ugh!"

"Yucky!" Rachel declared profoundly, and poured the rest of her glass out. "Alec, where'd you keep that case?"

Alec sniffed the bottle. "It's possible I may not be an expert on aging wine just yet." He confessed, and both women swatted him immediately. "Is the cheese any better?"

Rachel was already munching. "Mm. Almost good enough to get the taste of vinegar out of my mouth."

"So much for thinking ahead." Alec sighed and poured the rest of the bottle out on the grass.

"Keep the rest of the case." Beckah suggested. "The last Bordeaux before A-Day will be worth something one day, if we ever have antique auctions again."

"There's an industry that will be crowded in another hundred years." Rachel observed. "Wait. It's been almost a century. How long has it been since you opened one of these bottles?"

"Well, we only drink this particular vintage when it's all three of us."

Beckah had said it as though it should be obvious; but Rachel felt a pang. "I'm sorry it's been so long between visits."

"It goes both ways, Rachel. You've been busy with your work, so have we." Beckah smiled at her. "One thing I've noticed, my memories aren't fading. They're all still there. I think it's improving, too." She took a bite of the crackers she'd brought. "Back in High School, I promised my bestie that we'd always stay close. We met once after school, and I never talked to her again. In this world, if it takes a century, I can still remember all the good times. I can remember all the funny things you said, or what wine we were drinking when it was just the three of us on a road trip."

Rachel smiled too. "In a world that won't stop filling up with new people, we can finally find time for everyone." She laughed. "You were right, Beckah. The most important miracles are the ones that don't seem miraculous at all."

~~/*\~~

More years passed. Eventually, the world filled with all ‘the Righteous'. All the way back to Abel himself.

"When he was met, he nearly passed out." Ingaret related the story she had heard. "Abel had never met a new person before. Fortunately, his welcoming committee was the same people who met Noah. Similar situation. Small groups were what they knew. The idea of millions of people was the hardest part to get across to them. Finding out that thousands of years had passed was actually a relief."

Kevin chuckled. "So. Six thousand years of Righteous, god-fearing people, all brought back in less than a century."

"It makes sense, doesn't it? We're always hearing about how much Jehovah has been looking forward to this. I miss my family, but… If God loves us more than we do, imagine how much he has to hold himself back from giving his faithful ones an eternal paradise right away. He could have brought them all back at once on Day One. Giving them nine-tenths of the same reward that everyone from A-Day got…"

"A balance between respecting our work to prepare for them, and his need to reward people who have been ‘asleep' for thousands of years, waiting for this." Kevin agreed. "Respect, Restraint and Reward in one timetable." He hesitated. "Can I tell you something, without you telling Rachel? Not lie to her, just be discreet?"

"Of course."

"Rachel asked me once what the Bible era people I met wanted to talk about. Once I explained how things were… He felt so sorry for me and Rachel; but he was in awe too."

"How so?"

"Everyone from their era will get a do over. Witnesses who came through A-Day all had people who… We don't know for sure, if those people get a Resurrection. If they do, we get a do over with everyone we've ever met, in a far better world. If they don't, then everyone, yourself included, will have something that Rachel and I won't have."

(Author's Note: The Bible refers to two states for the Dead. The first is Sheol (or Hades), which is the grave; where people await a Resurrection. The other is Gehenna; which is referred to as a permanent state of destruction, from which there will be no Returning. Concerning Armageddon, Jesus spoke of two groups in Matthew 24, described as the sheep and the goats.

Quote: "These (the goats) will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones into everlasting life."

But as to the question of whether or not this includes all people destroyed directly by God, such as during the Flood of Noah's Day or the 10 Plagues of Egypt, the record is less clear; but the Insight Book, on the topic of ‘Destruction' (Volume One, Page 616-617) says:

Quote: "When speaking of the destruction of the rebels Dathan and Abiram, Moses wrote that they went down "alive into Sheol." (Nu 16:31, 33) Since Sheol in the Bible denotes the common grave of mankind from which there will be a resurrection, it is evident that not all destruction—not even all destruction at the hand of God—is necessarily eternal."

Once again, this is only my own research, not necessarily the position of the Society; for purposes of this story.)

Ingaret winced. "I'm sorry for the people you lost, Kevin."

"Thank you, but… It wasn't just me. God lost them too. Maybe long before I did." He sighed hard. "Rachel hates this topic. She hates what it does to me, and she hates that it happened to her too."

"Rachel's been holed up with her calculator for a week, trying to determine if the same pace will happen with everyone else." Ingaret reported. "Apparently there are a lot of variables to consider."

Kevin snorted. "Tell her that according to Benedict, there is to be a pause between the Promised Reward and The General Resurrection. Apparently we're to embrace the world for a while, stock up on some materials again, and generally celebrate the fact that everyone who has ever walked the Straight and Narrow Road is here together in eternal utopia." He heard what he'd just said and laughed at himself. "You know, if we can find something about that to celebrate."

Ingaret laughed. "I still can't believe I'm on that list. Do you think it'll be like this with Everyone Else?"

"I hope so, but I was there, and I can't imagine everyone will be as eager to come into the fold as you were."

"You should meet my sister." Ingaret agreed. "Though, I notice the calendar. We're approaching a century since The Day. Internationals are set for every twenty-five years. Anything in particular planned for the Anniversary Convention?"

"Well, I'm not in the loop with Benedict anymore, since The Conference wound down, but I would be amazed if they didn't have something."

~~/*\~~

Alec let out a deep breath. His wife kissed his cheek. "You'll be great." She promised him.

"First time giving a talk at a convention, and I get one for an audience of, literally, the entire human race." Alec drawled. "It was bad giving student talks for the CO's visit. I get to give one with every good guy in the Bible there."

Beckah chuckled. "As I recall, Moses had issues with Public Speaking."

"Yeah, and he got someone else to do it for him." Alec pointed out.

"It's not a perfect example, I admit." Beckah scoffed. "But you've got a softer audience than Pharaoh's Court."

~~/*\~~

The Screens showed clips from every Convention Site. All around the world, millions and millions of people. They'd had a similar arrangement for the last two International Conventions, at twenty-five year intervals, and the crowds just kept growing.

There were three screens for the Centennial, and only one of them focused on the stage. The other two were showing a live montage of other Convention Sites. It took Beckah a moment to realize that every Convention Site around the world had the same arrangement; and she leaned over to Alec. "That section at the front, down close to the stage… I'm looking on the Screens, and I think all the Convention Sites have them. Look at the people in those sections, Alec. Notice anything?"

"The clothes they're wearing." Alec nodded. "Those are the Returned ones. Going back a fair way, too; from the look of it."

"Think any of them will dress in more modern clothes?" She wondered.

"The way they dressed was the fashion for a thousand years, Beckah. Fashion trends from our day accelerated so much that they lasted less than a decade before looking wildly out of place." Alec pointed out. "Do they need to acclimate, or do we?"

"This, from the man who gleefully lit his neckties on fire when we got the revised Dress Codes." Beckah teased.

~~/*\~~

"Brothers and Sisters!" Benedict declared to the crowd. "On behalf of all the Tribulation Survivors, let me just say this right away: Welcome Back!"

His words set off a roar that lasted a long time. The Returnees had been part of the world for fifty years; which was long enough for them to realize why everyone wanted to know them.

"For those of you who are fairly new here; we'd also like to say this: Thank You!" Benedict said, addressing the large section of seats right in front of him. "We know that you didn't expect anything like the Reception you got when you arrived, but know that we're thrilled to see you here. In no small part, a lot of us are here today thanks to all of you! You set examples and precedents that resonated with the Faithful for centuries after even your deaths; so that we can all share in the long-promised reward! That's something that no other eras can truly say, and we thank you for it!"

There was a strong round of applause, which quickly grew into a standing ovation. It was the perfect way to address the matter of the near-celebrity status that the Bible-Era Returnees had. Thanking them for their lives, and assuring them that even their bad moments have positive outcomes; while reminding everyone listening that they were all in the same position now.

Those in the front section came to their feet, looking around at the world. By simple matter of population growth, the Returned Ones from the Bible Times were a minority; and the screen flashed up images of other Conventions, where the applause continued as every modern believer took part in honoring the early ones.

Alec leaned back over to talk to his wife. "I remember one of the last Conventions, before A-Day, they had all the Special Pioneers and International Delegates take a lap of the stadium, just like this." He told her. "We don't do what we do for the reward, but it's good to know…"

Beckah nodded, eyes shining. "And I get the feeling it won't stop. All the talk about how they were private citizens, just looking to make their way… Have you seen the Program for this year? Five days, with Symposium talks by Moses, Elijah, Solomon, David, Josiah, Samson; even Job… Alec, all the Prophets, all the Kings; maybe they're more than just our stories, but they know the power of having the stories to tell. How many times did Elijah use Abraham as an example in his teachings, do you think?"

"It's going to be quite a Convention." Alec agreed.

"We know this won't be how it stays forever!" Benedict continued from the stage as the applause wound down at last. "God's word is sure, and his promise is that everyone gets a second chance. In a century of wonders, we ask you to remember this above all other things: When Jehovah God first created the world, his intention was a world where everyone would be healthy, safe, free. Forever young, forever happy. Bad judgement delayed the fulfilment of that dream, but now we're seeing it finally come to pass. This isn't some brave new world, it's a return to the sanity that we were always meant to have!"

The crowd roared again, thrilled at the prospect.

"Loving Jehovah God is the only thing that requires us to love each other." Benedict continued. "But if you're new here, believe me, you'll come to see what we all have: It's not about the world we left behind. We've come home. This is where the human race was always meant to be, with people who were meant to be here. The future will bring millions upon millions who need education, explanation, and friendship. But for now, before the world fills up, look around and know that every person who loves God as you do, who has lived and died through trial and trouble with the same hope in their hearts that you had? They are all here, listening to this program, gathered together in Paradise; just as they were always meant to!" Benedict wiped a tear away from his own eye. "So, with that in mind… Welcome Home!"

The whole world came to its feet, all at once, cheering ecstatically. It wasn't the first time the whole human race sent up a joyful cry at the same time, and they all knew it wouldn't be the last.