It was an epiphany for me, I guess. I was only a little boy then but I remember that it was startling; it was alarming; and it was awakening. Whatever produced the moment, I became conscious that I am me! I am no one else and no one else is me—and when I am gone, I am gone.

            I seem to recall feeling blood rushing from my head at that moment and I was afraid. The only way I could combat the fear was to try to shove this whole idea into the deep dark storeroom of my mind, lock it up and not ever let it out again. But I was never able to really do that. I could never find a lock secure enough to keep that realization from revisiting me now and then.

            Finally peace came as I gained understanding of the error in my original belief—when I am gone, I am not gone. It took years to discover it, but there is a distinct difference between I am me and I am the body I live in. It took years for me to understand my body to be nothing more than the vehicle in which I reside during my time in this world. My body is to me as the space shuttle is to astronauts in space travel. It serves as a vessel that moves me about and provides the tools that God granted me during my time in this place; but when my ride is over, I will be born into a new vessel in a new world just as God planned before the world began.

            In that new world I will have a new Home that will be more secure, will provide total peace, and will endure forever for it will be God’s home too. I am not gifted enough to imagine much beyond my own earthly experience, but God’s home will exceed everything I have experienced in this world. Though my new home will be in a form that I can’t comprehend, there will be no wants so in some way the activities that I enjoy will still be satisfied, the gifts I have been given will continue to serve, and the people I love will still be near. Only there will be no hurt nor pain, nor hunger nor thirst. There will be no war, no terror, no evil—only peace and love.

And I will still be me.