In a few weeks I’m going to take a trip “back home.” I haven’t been there in a long time, and there are people there I would like to see, memories I want to recall, places I would like to visit again, and friendships to renew.
Gordon will be there, and Brian and Rosalyn. Don and Carol will come, and maybe Clyde and Gwen. I hope George and Pat and Katy, Ann and Eddie and Larry and— well, you get the idea. For the most part, it has been almost fifty years since I have heard from them. Fifty years since I saw them at our High School Graduation exercises. It will be my 50th High School Class Reunion in Fort Worth.
I may not be able to recognize all of them, for they will have changed. They may not recognize me for the same reason, for time can surely take its toll.
Some will not be there, for death has taken them—Jo Ann, Jack, Bill, Jimmy, Kenneth, JoiLue, Allen, Charlene, and others of whom I am not aware. Of course, not one of us can be sure we will be there, for who can know the future.
You may wonder why I would take the time to write to you about my High School Reunion, but I have an idea you already know. All of us have a reunion in our future. For some, it will be a happy one, filled with the joy of seeing loved ones who have gone on before.
At that reunion, some will be there that I never knew on this old earth. Abraham will be there, and Moses and Elijah and Jeremiah. How many times I have read about them, read their words, wondered about them and learned from their lives. I want to be there. I have looked forward to that reunion for many years.
I don’t know who all will be there, but I believe Simon Peter will be there, and Andrew and John and Timothy and Philip. I want to ask Thomas where he was when Jesus visited the rest of the Apostles that day. Of course, Jesus will be there, and I wonder how it will be to see Him face to face.
A reunion would not be complete without my father and my mother. I would hope to see my best friend from Junior High School, Charles, whom I have not seen since he died in eighth grade. Some of my family will not be there, for some never knew the Lord, never obeyed the Gospel.
For those of us here in Dripping Springs, there are those we would like to see again. We have lost some in the years I have been here that I want to visit with again. I should have made a greater effort to be with them more often. Some day that reunion will come.
There are those whose names I have heard many times, but never met. Paul Sorrell. Glenn Key, Sr. Jarrell Moore. John Hudson and others. Without realizing it, they have had an impact on my life, too.
I was invited to my High School reunion because I was in the class of 1954 at North Side High School. That great “family reunion” that awaits the saints in Christ has an invitation extended to all without regard to geography or time. Jesus has extended that invitation, and all men everywhere are invited to be in the family. In Matthew 11:28-30 we hear that great invitation:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Note that Jesus’ invitation is to “all..that labour and are heavy laden,” and that His yoke and His burden will be appropriate to our ability to serve. It is something like
“The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world,” Titus 2:11-12.
That reunion is for all, and to be included we must first accept the invitation, but we must not forsake the “right way,” 2 Peter 2:15. It will all be worth it, Romans 8:18.
I have been looking at pictures of High School days, talking to old friends, getting ready to enjoy that May day in Fort Worth. We will laugh, talk about old times, and enjoy each other’s company. I am looking forward to that day.
That heavenly reunion does not have a calendar date to anticipate. We must be ready, for “Of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only,” Matthew 24:36.
I want to be there, don’t you? But we must be ready. Will you be ready for that Great Reunion day?
