WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER
TRUE STORY:
A pastor’s wife was sitting in her living room visiting with
her husband and asked him a question: “James,
do you ever get tired and just want to go to heaven?” She followed the
question up with a statement that still burns in that pastor’s mind: I
am ready to go to heaven. If
God decided to take me today, I am ready. The only thing I would be sad about is leaving you and our
daughter, so, I want y’all to come with me.
For the next year, she
became consumed with reaching the lost. She wanted to reach as many people as
she could, and pull them out of the grips of hell. She wanted desperately to
show them the way to heaven. Even
though she gave birth that year, she reached out to the lost. She had a full time job, but she
found time to sit at Jesus’ feet and to reach out to people who were steadily marching to
hell. When she lost her
job, she went out and knocked doors in her city, because she was consumed with
getting someone to haven with her.
At the
end of that year, she died. However, her death was not in vain because her life
was not wasted! She was
ready to go to heaven, but she wanted others to go there with her, and she
succeeded in her efforts of giving them the best possible opportunity to go.
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go to heaven, and I want to bring somebody with me! I can
only imagine what it will be like! I can only imagine the joy I will feel when
I hear the words, “Well done...” I can only imagine what it will be like when I
see those who have gone on before me...I
can’t wait to see them,
but I want y’all to come with me! I want my family and friends to come with me. I want people I’ve known all my life and
people I’ve yet to meet to come with me.
In fact, I want people I’ve never met to come with me!
I
wonder, is there anybody else that wants to go to heaven and bring as many
others as possible with you?
J. M. Black penned the
words to one of the old-time favorite hymns we used to sing pretty regularly in
the Church...
When the trumpet of the Lord shall
sound,
and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright
and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather
over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there!
On that bright and cloudless morning
when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen shall gather to their
home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there.
Let us labor for the Master
From the dawn till setting sun,
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and
care;
Then when all of life is over, and our
work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there!
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there!
How about it – is your
name there? Are you ready to go to heaven? Are you willing to say that you will do your best for the
rest of 2014 to help someone else make it to heaven?
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there, and I want to see you there, too!
