Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 1 Corinthians 15: 51—53 ESV

Everywhere in Italy on this trip, we have walked or driven past crumbled ruins of once vibrant homes nestled among beautiful, well-maintained stucco and tiled residences. When we visited Mike’s maternal grandmother’s birthplace in the village of Fara Filliiorum Petri in Chieti, Abruzzo, we encountered this reality.  The town’s archivist provided us with the address of the house where she was born and grew up.  But it was in ruins. 

When we moved on to a second Airbnb along the Adriatic Sea, we witnessed in greater detail this pattern. The hosts, Laura and Luigi, were just finishing up the reconstruction and restoration of the second in a row of attached houses.  All five structures had belonged to one family, that of Laura’s grandparents. Over recent years, she had bought out her siblings’ shares of the inheritance. 

Yesterday, as we drove away from Vasto, Italy, the first guests were due to arrive and enjoy two months in the finished home. Over the five days, we observed our Italian hosts hustling to finish setting out plants bordering the back patio and to sweep away dust from the newly constructed  outdoor brick fireplace.

As we chatted with Laura and Luigi each day, we learned more about this recent project–how they first had to tear down the ancient structure that multiple generations had lived in. From the cleared rubble, they reclaimed what stones and timber were useful.  They then spent the next six months painstakingly building a new house.

Both of them labored evenings and weekends, polishing stone, shopping for antique furniture, and restoring some of the grandparents’ furniture.  Contracting out a new kitchen, the electrical and other specialized skills, this rebuilt house is now a “new creation.”

Learning about the love and attention to detail they invested to make this future AirBnB a welcoming vacation spot, I thought of the new heavenly bodies we are promised—more than a factory reset to one’s possible prime.

Just as this renovation-restoration project brings with it a high-tech kitchen that Laura’s great grandparents never could have imagined, with running hot and cold water, a fancy washing machine, climate control, and a well-equipped bathroom, so too our new bodies will come with both enhanced spiritual and physical features that will thrill us.