It will always amaze me how being able to talk to and see a family member only increase my homesickness. I still jump at the opportunity to skype with a close friend or family member from back home. I enjoy the conversations and much prefer them to phone calls. So its not the experience itself that makes me want to be home. It's that I know there is more to experience with these people than a simply seeing & hearing them through a computer. It's better than nothing at all, but when I compare it to being home with them analyzing the simplicity out of movies, playing a game of Risk while we binge on homemade cookies, getting "powned" by my brother at video games, or sitting down to eat my mom's Shepherd's pie it makes me both grateful for the call and eager to be in the same room physically with the people I love again. 1,000 miles is instantly bridged by a picture or sound, but such a thing pales in comparison to the idea of physically with them the next time I visit Oregon (which is where most of those I'm talking about live). I've experienced something more than what I have now that tells me there will be a joy surpassing today's. I imagine that the return of Christ is something similar I've never been in the physical presence of God, but I have in my life been in situations where I know I was in his presence, in the spiritual sense at least. Sometimes it was while I was praying, reading something, or even just writing. One time that sticks out is when a friend and I were caught near the top of a mountain as a thunderstorm hit. There. I we were at almost 11,000ft with lightning flashes surrounding us and thunder booms that shook my entire being. At the time I was terrified, we both actually were but neither of us said a thing about it. Towards the end of the storm I starting to attempt to capture a mental image of what was surrounding me, at one point I realized that the experience was in the same moment both one of the most dangerous & wondrous things I had ever experienced. On the trip back down we talked about how being caught in that storm had to be somewhat similar to being in the presence of God. At some point in my life (or death) I will know for sure how close thunder comes to the real thing. I imagine that what I've experienced with God in this life is less than what I will later. Not just when I die though. I suspect as His kingdom progressively invades the earth through the hearts of his followers we will see and understand more and more about what its like to stand in His throne room. I look forward to being part of that.