Journey to Heaven. A.W. Trenholm

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      I realized how much I liked this place. It was so free of all those earthly attitudes and oddities that only left people envious and discontent. Wealth and power and riches really didn’t seem to have any meaning or significance at all here. Everyone seemed about the same, and to have about the same-which was a lot, really! There was enough, and no one took too much. It was wonderful. I hadn’t seen anything like money in this place; it just didn’t seem to exist or be needed in this great, loving, and cooperative society. How wonderfully strange and different this world was from Earth! I peered down into the crystal water of the sparkling stream a moment longer. Zaapha turned to go. It was hard to pull myself away from each new object of interest; there was always so much more to be learned. I was like a brand-new baby reaching out to experience everything in reach.

      “Wait for me,” I said, calling after her, and ran to catch up. “So how do I get a new name?” I asked, when I was beside her again.

      “Well, you could pray and ask the Lord to give you one.”

      “But isn’t that quite a small matter to bother the Lord about?” I asked.

      “Oh no, not at all,” she said. “He doesn’t mind. In fact, He likes us to talk to Him very often.”

      By now we were passing under a large, shady tree. “Here, let’s pray.” She took my hand and pulled me off the path, and we plopped down under the tree. She didn’t close her eyes, but was smiling and looking off as though she were actually seeing and talking to Jesus right there at that moment. “Jesus, please help us find a new name for this traveler in the Spirit who has come to visit us.”

      I was about to speak, but she signaled me to remain still. “Listen,” she said, “and the Lord will speak to you.”

      I closed my eyes and began to listen. At first I heard nothing more than the sounds around me and the hum of my own thoughts, but then as I began to relax and reach out to Jesus, I began to hear a still, gentle voice speaking within me, saying, “Well, what names do you like?”

      I replied to Him, “Well, I am a traveler here. I kind of like the sound of ‘Traveler,’ or maybe something like ‘Travis.’”

      “That’s quite nice,” the Lord said. “Why don’t you go with whichever one of those you like best for now. Then when you return here to stay, I’ll give you a new and special name.”

      “Okay, Travis it is!” I said out loud.

      “Travis!” Zaapha repeated. “That’s a good name. It sort of sounds like ‘travels to us’-and that’s what you are, a spirit traveler. Travis it is then!”