Victory In Jesus

The room was cold and I was extremely bored. As I sat shoulder to shoulder with my parents and grandparents..... I thought that I was going to lose my mind. I was cold because my mom forced me to wear frilly dresses.... either my legs were bare or I had on tights..... either way..... I'd rather wear jeans and a sweatshirt. I was bored because I had sat in that pew for what seemed to be hours.... I stared at my grandma's watch..... which wasn't moving.

I counted beams in the ceiling.... started at the red floor...... and bit my fingernails. The pastor yelled as he preached..... the more he yelled..... the faster his arms waved in the air.

Then finally, I hear Bibles closing.... papers shuffling.... it's time for closing prayer..... again my grandma's watch hasn't moved.....

As prayer concludes, I hear music and the congregation rises to their feet. As excited I was that service was ending... I was even more excited to see that the people surrounding us had come to life..... I had sat in that pew, again for what seemed like hours, and watched those sitting around me. I wondered if some of them were still alive. I had noticed many nodding off.... so I knew that they were still "with" us.... but I had serious questions about some others.......

Suddenly, the church was alive..... there were people tapping (YES! Tapping!) their feet and clapping to the beat of the music... as we sang an old, familiar hymn.

Several months ago we sang the same song in church..... as the words flowed out of my mouth, I smiled as I revisited my elementary days..... I am proud to say that I am, slightly, more patient as I now attend church services.....

As we sang, I thought about ALL of the times that I have heard and sung that hymn..... church camps, mission trips.... my bum had sat in so many different pews..... benches..... and rows as that song was played......

Then, towards the end of the song, I came to these words.......

"I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I'll sing up there
The song of victory."
(http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis2/victory.html)

Of course those words always made me visualize heaven. I'm sure that many picture heaven and what it is going to be like while singing this verse....

All of the sudden it hit me.... all of the sudden I realized..... all of the sudden I was amazed. See, while I was standing at a pew, singing about a mansion on streets of gold.... I realized that my friend Jon was there.....

Jon was already in that mansion.... he was walking on streets of gold...... he was listening to angels sing......

To be continued.....

All Things Are Possible,
Stephanie Miller