Taking everything I know about the Rapture of the Church into consideration, here’s my take on how I believe it will go down:
In the twinkling of an eye (one-ten-thousandth of a second), we will suddenly hear a simultaneous shout and a trumpet blast, then our friends and loved ones — who have gone on before — will leave their Paradise in Heaven, return to earth, reunite with their human bodies (even if they’ve been cremated), then we Believers on earth — after suddenly VANISHING from this world — will meet everyone “in the air”...and amazingly, all this happens before you can say ‘Jack Robinson’.
Interesting thing about our “snatching away”, our Rapture. We don't JUST disappear, but instead we are literally YANKED out of this life...which is why I love the Greek word used in the New Testament for Rapture: Harpazo; where we get our word Harpoon. Like a fish VIOLENTLY snatched, then IMMEDIATELY pulled out of the sea, Christ will soon YANK us out of this world...
...and this is how Earth-dwellers will likely describe it:
"Oh, no, dude...it wasn’t like that; it wasn’t like Parsons just disappeared. No, man, it was like some invisible hand just...scooped him up. It happened so fast, out of the corner of my eye, it was like a...a...a swoosh. And then he was just...gone...and I mean, totally disappeared. Didn’t even notice his clothes were still here. Weird thing, I kept stepping on something. Crunchy-like. You know what it was? It was the fillings from his teeth. Isn’t that weird. When he left, he didn’t even take those with him. Imagine seeing something like that? I’ve known this guy my whole life. What do you think happened to him, can you tell me? I mean, you're with some agency, right? You think it’s martians? CERN? You think this is the end of the world? Hey, my friend, Parlo...you think I’ll ever see him again?”
After we’re together and reunited with our family (Can you imagine THAT homecoming?) we all head skyward — I’m guessing we’ve all been Glorified by now, meaning we’ve already been changed into our new AWESOME, youthful Spirit bodies — to meet Jesus, before He ushers us into Heaven, first to get our rewards (crowns) at the Bema judgment seat (AKA biggest pep rally EVER), then our “marriage” to Jesus, followed by 7-years of “consummation” (Sorry, I won’t even speculate on how marvelous THAT will be!)...whereby we emerge as the glowing Bride of Christ. And we’re just getting started!!
Finally, after our “first week” in Heaven, we follow Jesus and His angels back to earth, to assist them in establishing Christ’s Millennial Kingdom...
...although, seriously, by that point? I may need a nap.