For some, venturing into the realm of “death” sounds morbid, but for us who know our home is with God, we should be talking about the life that awaits us all the time. I want to write more about what I’ve learned on heaven and the new earth; in the mean time, I have to point you to Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven as life-changing. A lot of us don’t talk about heaven out of simple ignorance as to what it even entails, despite Scripture offering information. That’s not what this post is about, but do look into his book because he goes into all of it and makes so many fantastic points that affect the here and now.

But today I want to imagine and have fun with this. We will meet people on the new earth, since He makes all of what we know now new and perfect (Revelation 21:1-27). And we will have eternity to meet people! I’m going to share 10 people at the top of my list to meet, excluding God Himself, since He’s the whole point of heaven and the new earth and will be with us constantly and, I would assume, if you’ve invited Him in to your life, you’d of course be stoked to see Him, too.

1. My great-grandma Ruth

We carry a legacy of faith in my family, of women who were wholeheartedly devoted to God, that I am so thankful for. It started with my great-grandma Ruth (maybe even before her), who I never got to meet, but I’ve heard wonderful things about her and am told I would have loved her. She is my grandma Marjean’s mother, who is my mom’s mother. We’ve all adopted our mother’s faith and expanded on it more and more, which is amazing to see. I pray to have a daughter I will do the same for!

2. Paul

I’m pretty sure everyone puts Paul on their list under God, but how can you not? He was a faithful apostle, an amazing man of God, and so passionate about Him and doing His work. I’m reading His epistles right now and they’re beyond awesome (he wrote most of the New Testament, from Romans to Philemon). I’d love to talk with him about everything.

3. Peter

It used to be that Peter wasn’t one of the disciples I could relate to much because he’s known as such a hothead, but anymore, I’m really starting to like him. It’s frustrating watching injustice before your very eyes, and I can empathize with a lot more of his behavior. You can really see the humanity in him, and then when he became one of the great church leaders in Acts, seeing his transformation is so amazing. That did mellow him out; he sounds so much wiser if you read what he says in the Gospels and then what he says in Acts (and in his letters, 1 and 2 Peter). He doesn’t lose any of his zeal, but you can tell he learned the depth of what life is about and perspective, and when you do that, that rage goes away (it becomes controllable). I’d also love to talk to him about all of that.

4. David

Ah, David. I just read a book about him that wasn’t flattering at all, from the series I talked about here and about his season with Bathsheba. All that is in 2 Samuel where he took this woman, who was married to one of his soldiers, and he slept with her and got her pregnant. To cover up what he’d done, he had her husband sent to the front lines so he’d be killed. Despite that awful mess, he was a man after God’s heart and was devoted to Him; he later repented and was forgiven but not without facing the consequences for the rest of his life. It’s easy to look at that and think good grief, how did someone who was so close to God go that wrong, but it starts out little, and then all those compromises lead to irrational decision-making before you even know what’s happening.

Nonetheless, I think he’s another person where you really see his humanity. We have most of the Psalms because of him, where we can see what it means to come to God with literally everything. You have to think that when you meet people in heaven, all these people are going to be in their perfected forms, not just physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I’d love to talk with David about all his experiences and his heart for God, above all. At his core, I can really relate to him a lot, having these strong passions and dreams but wanting to please Him and be close to Him above all. Living as a sinner, though, makes it hard to reconcile the two at times, which he found out. Yet He couldn’t thwart God’s love and forgiveness and special relationship with Him (1 Samuel 13:14).

5. Adam

Adam really intrigues me as the first man. There are so many things that really only he and God know—what was it like to be the first person created, all alone but completely and totally known, loved, and at peace with God? What was paradise like initially? What was it like to see Eve for the first time and to realize God had made her for him? What was sex like, flawless? (I couldn’t resist.) How horrible did it feel to be separated from Him? (That is what hell is.) How did it feel to have to go on living, nonetheless? That’s all so amazing to ponder.

6. Abigail

I really fell in love with Abigail after reading a fictional book also from that series about King David’s wives, which she was one of. She sounds like someone who was very wise, gentle, and righteous, and I’d love to hear what it was like being married to David with all his wives (it sounds like she was special to him, though) and what her experiences would have been like.

7. Victims I’ve Read About

This is going to get dark quickly but hear me out. There are always those cases or stories you hear about that unfortunately don’t have happy endings. One thing I’ve told God repeatedly is that the innocent people who had to go through terrible things and often die to them are top of my list to meet in heaven, to see them revived and perfect. There’s this horrible case I read about in a book I read for one of my high school classes that has stayed with me ever since, and my heart just broke for this girl. She’s been dead a long time, and I believe she went to heaven because she was pretty young yet, but it was this terrible case of child abuse that actually happened and it never ended up getting resolved until she died in it. It’s just really hard reading things like that and knowing there have been and are so many people like that in the world. Only knowing that God is good despite it all and will make things right one day is what helps you not be overcome with despair. I still remember those cases, those people, and I hope to see them and interact with them a lot on the new earth where they can have the lives they deserved and more.

8. People I Would Have Loved to Meet from a Different Time

This is kind of cheating because it’s more than one particular person, but do you ever think about what things would have looked like decades, centuries, or even thousands of years ago? When I’m driving up to northwest Iowa to see my grandparents, for instance, I notice a lot of flat land that stretches for miles and abandoned farms dotted throughout, and it makes me think about those eras where family farms were the norm and life seemed simpler. Of course, it may have been in some ways, but it was also a lot harder in others; my family was binging 1883, and that was very eye-opening. It peeled away a lot of the romance Redeeming Love made that time look like. I wouldn’t want to be shot in an instant for one bad choice, and to say the amount of products and services we have right now is excessive is an understatement. I think all of that, particularly social media, is what has killed us socially. It’s interesting because I work in the media for a living yet I believe that’s what has done so much damage, but it’s only exacerbated and revealed the evil and narcissism already prevalent in people’s hearts. It’s given that a platform, but people are still responsible for their choices.

All this is to say, though, that I think maturity-wise, people had to be much more mature back then. Values did seem to be reinforced more, even if some were inconsistent or too far the other way (right now anything goes and that’s not cool, but I realize that in times past, morality may have been too stifling, i.e., like making us a slave to the law again). Still, nowadays, it seems you’re lucky if you meet someone who has a solid worldview. Society is constantly pushing against that, unless your moral worldview is doing whatever you want and letting others do the same. We’re taught to think that’s freedom, but it’s just another kind of slavery. I think of how many people there would have been throughout history that I could have bonded with, and I hope they’re some of the first people I get to meet, too.

9. C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis is one of my role models for a ton of reasons: for one, he was an outstanding writer who I actually can’t even understand completely despite how deep I like to think I am, but he also said the most profound things with such simple elegance and truth. He still remains a very influential leader in the faith, and that’s really what I’ve always aspired to be, too. I can also relate to him on a personal level with his deeper personality and way of thinking, and it both gives me hope and makes me sad that he found his wife, the one person who really understood him and thought like him, only to end up losing her somewhat quickly. At least if he can find his mate, I have some hope that I might, too, but then I told my mom it’ll be my luck he’ll end up dying on me, too. But in all seriousness, I have tremendous respect for him, and I think we are kind of kindred spirits, so I hope I get to know him well.

10. Billy Graham

I did a project on him in one of my history classes in high school, and he’s always been another leader I look up to. He has a very real, personable style that is very kindhearted, but his beliefs were solid, nonetheless. I like that; I don’t want to compromise my kindness or sweetness in delivering my beliefs and the truth, which he proved you don’t have to, but I also realize that people will still peg me as being evil just for my beliefs if they don’t agree with them. I know despite the amazing revivals he got to help lead, there were some wicked people who thought it was a good thing when he died. Of course, he and all the people God led to Himself through him are much better than those people will ever be.

He brings up this next concept I want to ponder: do you think people from heaven have any insight into who we are now or follow our lives at all? I’m not attempting to offer a concrete answer here; I want to open up a discussion about it because I’m genuinely curious and I’d like to look into that. I know this is something popular culture throws around, like our loved ones watching us all the time, but is that actually true, and if so, what of the other saints—people we haven’t met? I definitely think we do have evidence of them watching us or following the world’s ordeals to an extent. Of course, people have to realize that when they go to heaven, they’re most awed by God because He is the essence of heaven; He is what makes heaven heaven—not as a paradise we love just for us, but because heaven is where HE is. Because He’s there, it is paradise for us, and not the other way around. But there are verses in the Bible that suggest people in heaven still are involved in some way with following what’s going on here. I’m actually going to link this article I just skimmed because it has all the Bible verses I was going to include, as well as some great quotes by Billy Graham, John Piper, and Randy Alcorn, whom I trust and respect a lot, AND it also includes what I was saying about focusing on Jesus in heaven more than the saints.

(THIS IS THE LINK! Oh my gosh, praise God I found this article; I’m editing this post two months later from when I started it and my dumb self didn’t actually link it the first time, and I didn’t think I was going to be able to find it now…)

And that’s the point I want to end with. If we are in Him, He is watching EVERY single detail of our lives and interceding for us constantly (Romans 8:34)! We cannot become dull or numb to that one bit. Some people make jokes about God watching their every move, assuming He doesn’t possibly care or look at that, and it annoys me because they don’t realize or they take it for granted that He does. If we had that awareness, we might actually care about all the little decisions we’re making and how He thinks about them.

I think it’s cool to think of David knowing about my writing or to think of Paul cheering me on, but it’s the most sobering and amazing to think that if they can, how much more is God! I think it’s easier to imagine sinful human beings like ourselves and find that “cooler” because we’re not as numb or ignorant to them, since they’re just like us. But Jesus was also a human being—perfect, yes, and fully God, yes, but He can still empathize with us completely, and He also loves us more deeply and perfectly and intimately than any other fallible human being ever. God the Father, too, and the Spirit, know and love us with that exact same sort of love, too; after all, God created us for Him. Since He created us, He knows exactly how we are and how we’re turning out to be. I thank Him for that kind of extraordinary love and look so forward to meeting Him face-to-face and rejoicing in His glory with all the other saints I haven’t met yet.

Just think, we have eternity to meet everyone!!