I'm not maggie, but if I may.....
The bible teaches that when you die, you are dead. You do not immediately go to heaven. You are not "separated from God", floating around in heaven waiting for your new body. You are dead. You know nothing.
Ecc 9:5 ...but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Ps 115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
Ecc 9:4 ...for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
The dead will not be raised until either the rapture or one of the two upcoming resurrections. Then the dead will get up. They will not simply get new clothes, but they will get up from the dead.
In the bible, death is sometimes referred to as sleep. The analogy is good. When you go to sleep at night, the next thing you're aware of is morning. You are (usually) not aware that 6-8 hours have passed. Go to sleep, and the next thing you know, poof, it's time to get up.
I think this is how it will be with death. When I die, the next conscious thought I will have will be Christ returning. Whether only minutes have passed, or centuries, it doesn't matter.
I believe that is what Paul was referring to.
I believe that everyone who has died is still dead, for now. Death is an enemy, not the fast train to heaven.
God bless.