I was standing upon a mountain top, alone and confused.  The valleys below me stretched as far as the eye could see, and were green from the winter’s runoff.  Nothing made sense to me at the moment, as millions of questions swam through my mind.  Why am I here?  How did I get here? 

Panic began to sink in.  Due to the fact that I was clothed in just a t-shirt and pajamas, I began to shiver from the cold spring air.  I had no food, water, or shelter.  Worst of all, it seemed as if there was no way to get off the mountain peak.  I was trapped on a little platform in the sky, while deadly cliffs surrounded my every direction.  A tear rolled gently down my cheek, and landed on my leg.  At that point I felt as if I had no hope.  It was there that I should die.

Suddenly, I heard a voice tell me to “stand up.”  I obeyed the command and turn my body towards the voice.  As I repositioned myself on the peak, I saw a man standing before me.  His hair flowed in perfect waves, like the waters of a stream, until his light brown locks reached below the shoulder.  Upon each hand was a scar where two large objects had once pierced him.  But the most spectacular observation was his robe.  To say that it was white as snow would not even be one millionth of its splendor.  The robe of this man shown to a level of brightness that could not be known to man. 

The muscles in my body instantly siezed up, and I fell to the ground at his feet.  The only words of which I could speak were, “Praise to the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.”  I repeated this phrase multiple times before he lifted me up again.  I asked him, “Father, why have you brought me to this mountain top where I have been so scared and alone?”  “My Son,” He replied, “It is time to go home.  Just as I have tested and tried you throughout your life, in order to bring you closer to me, here I put you through the ultimate trial.  For the further you are away from the world, the closer you are to Me.” 

When Jesus finished his statements I soon felt my body floating in mid-air.  Rising more, and more, and more.  The earth grew smaller and smaller until it could not even be seen.  Then I felt myself burst through a cloudy threshold, into a place of ultimate beauty.  I stood outside the gate and waited for to hear my name.  “Come Joseph!”  At that command the magnificent gate of gold swung open and I was greeted by the sound of a choir singing praises to God Almighty.  On the other side of the gate stood a group of familiar faces.  It was family, friends, and old acquaintances that had passed on before I.  As a gaping smiled overtook my face, the group returned a smile and cried out, “Welcome home!”