The call came unexpectedly in the morning announcing that my dad had hours to live. I was shocked.
I had spoken to him on the phone the night before in the hospital. His voice was weak and somewhat strained due to a long battle with pancreatic cancer. But I had no sense that it was the last conversation I would ever have with him.
Rushing home from the office, I booked a flight out of Denver to try and reach him in Palm Springs, California. It was not to be.
Within an hour from the first call, another one came saying that he had passed on.
A week before, a package had arrived from him. My dad loved Dixieland Jazz and had told me about an album of hymns he had been listening to. One of the songs was called “Jesus on the Main Line.” He made a CD copy and xeroxed the cover with a note and arrow pointing to track 10 where the song could be found.
As I listened to the song the first line said “Jesus on the main line, why don’t you give him a call! If you ever have a need, why don’t you give him a call!” What a simple, yet profound statement.
Little did my dad know that the following week he’d step into eternity.
I guess that thought holds true for each of us. We don’t know when our turn will come to make that momentous trip. We might enjoy a long life like my dad who reached his 90th birthday or something unexpected could interrupt that much earlier.
Have we called out to Jesus and established a relationship with Him? Nothing is more important when eternity is in sight.
“There is one book in heaven that is supreme above all the others. It is called the Book of Life. Contained in its pages are the names of those who will receive the incomparable gift of eternal life with God and experience the exquisite joy of heaven. Above everything else, our name must be found written there.” (The Best Is Yet to Be, page 230)
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