A Heavenly Honeymoon
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“Why, you do not even know what will
happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for
a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14 (NIV)
My name is John. I became a
Sunday school teacher over 30 years ago in a small East Texas town. I
have used James 4:14 many times in class to encourage young people to make the
most of their lives. I stress to them that none of us know how many days
we have on this earth. I used this verse along with the following object
lesson just last Sunday in church.
You can think of your life as if it
were a bag of precious gold coins. Each day you must spend one. You
can spend it on anything you wish. There are only a couple of
catches. Once you spend a coin, you can never get it back, and none of us
knows exactly how many coins we have in our bag.
This story is about a young lady in
my life who realized the importance and significance of each day of life.
She inspired me to become a Sunday school teacher long ago and continues to
inspire me to live a Christian life today. She is my youngest sister,
Janecia.
We grew up without a Father at home,
and our Mother did a wonderful job of raising us in the church. Janecia
was saved and joined the church one Sunday morning in the 60’s when she was
seven. She came home all excited telling our sister, Joyce, and me about
her experience. The church was having a revival that week and she invited
my sister and I to attend. We attended all week and ask Christ into our
heart's at church the next Wednesday. All three of us were baptized in
the church a few Sunday’s later.
Janecia was a great Sunday school
student. I can remember her bringing home and working on the handouts
each Sunday from the teacher. Whether it was a class contest, promotion,
or Vacation Bible school, she was always actively involved in getting new kids
to come to church and inviting others to come learn about Jesus. As she
grew up, God was getting her ready to become a teacher herself.
It wasn’t long after she started
teaching, that she recruited me as a teacher at the church. It was one of
the best things I have ever done. We taught together for years. We
would go visiting each week and try to find new kids to bring to church.
As time progressed, she became committed to get into the bus ministry.
She saw a need of reaching out to kids whose parents did not go to
church. She wanted to bring in the “troubled” kids. The kids that
had difficult home situations. The kids that had only one parent at
home. The kids with the old dirty hand-me-down clothes and uncut
hair. She wanted to reach out to kids that the world was ignoring.
The church had four or five
buses. Each bus had a driver and a bus captain. Janecia was a bus
captain, and one Sunday her driver did not show up. She needed a new
driver and a young man in the church, David, volunteered. He was looking
for a job to do at the church, and he liked driving the bus and picking up the
kids. So, he decided to drive the bus on a permanent basis. It
wasn’t long until they were “an item”. They visited the kids together
every week, started dating, and attended some Christian college classes
together. Everyone could see that they had found their soulmates.
It was obvious that God had made these two special people to be together.
And sure enough, David proposed, and they set a date for a July wedding.
The wedding plans got off to a grand
start. She found a small house for them to rent not too far from
church. She got the house ready to move into by the time of the
wedding. Honeymoon plans were made to stay in a bed and breakfast in
Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The newlyweds were planning to attend the
“Great Passion Play” during their honeymoon. They had a dune buggy lined
up to leave from the church after the wedding reception. Their friends
had plans to do the traditional “decorating” of the vehicle.
The wedding day finally
arrived. Many of her “bus kids” wanted to attend the wedding. Most
of them had never been to a wedding. Since a lot of them did not have
transportation to get to the church, she had a friend borrow a church van to
bring them to the ceremony. Some kids lived close by and walked to the
church. Needless to say, the audience was filled with kids, relatives,
co-workers, church family, and people that she had touched during her
life. Everyone who mattered most to her was there except our
father. She had asked him to attend and give her away. Although he
had called a few days before telling us that he would be unable to attend, she
still hoped until the last minute that he would show up and walk her down the
aisle. I was the back-up plan.
The hour had come. Dad did not
show up. It was my honor to walk my little sister down the aisle.
We were standing at the back of the church waiting for the big moment.
Arm-in-arm, I turned to her and ask, “Are you disappointed that he didn’t show
up?” She turned to me and smiled. “This is the happiest day of my
life. God knows what he is doing and he will take care of us.”
The soloist started singing as we
waited. The song that she sang was entitled “The Wedding Day.”
During the rehearsal, several members of the wedding party had asked her why
she picked this song. I had never heard it before, and I have never heard
it sung since that day. In spite of its title, it was not a wedding
song. It was not about an earthly wedding.
We waited at the back of the church
as the soloist began to sing:
Lately
I’ve been thinking, as I look all around me.
I see by the signs that we are soon
gonna be leaving.
The bridegroom is coming, to take us all away.
Maybe tomorrow, but I pray that it’s today.
And we will fly away, in the twinkling of an eye.
Leaving all our heartaches, telling them all good-bye.
Yes we will fly away, when we hear the Father say,
Jesus go and get your bride, today’s your wedding day.
Now when we see the bridegroom in the clouds in the sky,
Will you be telling him hello, or telling him goodbye?
O be sure and be ready, to meet him face to face,
You’ve got to fight a good fight; you’ve got to keep your faith.
And
we will fly away, in the twinkling of an eye.
Leaving all our heartaches, telling them all good-bye.
Yes we will fly away, when we hear the Father say,
Jesus go and get your bride, today’s your wedding day.
The organist began to play the
bridal march. The doors in the back of the church opened and the wedding
party began to walk down the aisle. Finally, as everyone stood up, my
little sister and I began the walk. I remembered thinking – this is a sad
day. I am loosing my sister. I won’t have anyone to go visiting
with any more. I won’t get to see her first thing every morning.
Then I realized that these were selfish thoughts. She was not moving out
of town. I could pick up the telephone and call her any time. I
would still see her at every church service.
I reached the end of the aisle, and
turned over my sister to David, the man that God had chosen for her.
After the short ceremony, they were pronounced man and wife. He lifted
the veil and kissed the bride. The “bus kids” cheered from the
audience.
Everyone proceeded across the
parking lot to the family center, where the reception was being held. As
we entered the door to the family center, we passed lots of kids looking at the
decorated dune buggy by the door. This was to be the “get-away” vehicle
after the reception was over.
When the one-hour reception ended,
David and Janecia got into the dune buggy to begin their new life together as
man and wife. Janecia left her wedding dress on for the departure “to get
better pictures”.
When she got up that morning, she
reached into that “bag of gold coins”. She pulled out a coin. This
coin was to be spent on her wedding day activities. She had not left God
out of this day. He was in all of the music during the wedding. He
was in the smiles and tears of the “bus kids”, friends, and family in the
crowd. When she reached in at the start of the day, she did not realize
that this was her last coin.
The parking lot was full of people
touched by their lives. The couple, still clad in their tux and wedding
dress, waved from the dune buggy as it sped off from the crowd. With
cameras flashing and the crowd waving, David lost control of the dune buggy and
crashed into a telephone pole on the street in front of the church.
Janecia had her bags packed for a
trip to Eureka Springs. She did not need them where she was going.
She would be spending her honeymoon in heaven.
Her funeral was held a few days later.
I got the privilege to speak at the funeral. As I sat on the pew on the
stage waiting for my turn to give the eulogy, I couldn’t help but stare at the
white casket placed in front of the podium. Flowers used at the wedding
were nicely placed around the casket. Wedding pictures were placed on top
of the closed casket. My sister’s body, dressed in her wedding attire,
lay inside just in front of me where she stood just days earlier saying “I do”
to her new husband. I can remember thinking the same thoughts as I did
when I walked her down the aisle. My sister is gone. I’m not going
to be able to go visiting with her any more. I won’t be able to see her
the first thing every morning. I won’t be seeing her at church.
Then, just as before, I realized that I was wrong. I reminded myself that
she is not here in this closed casket; instead she is present with the
Lord. She is not in my past, but in my future. I will see her
again. She will be with me in spirit every time I go visiting, and every
time I’m at church. Some of the songs that were sung at the wedding were
sung again at the funeral. This time they had a different meaning.
The church was filled with family, friends, and “bus kids” that had been
touched by her life and testimony. It was a beautiful service.
Although this was a tragedy by human
standards, it was an event that glorified God. A few weeks later, we
found Janecia’s prayer diary. At the top of the list was Joyce’s
husband. She was praying for his salvation. He was on the wrong
path, involved in alcohol and drugs. When he read his name in the prayer
journal, Jesus answered that prayer. He was saved and joined the church
and still teaches youth to this day.
I have no way of knowing how many
people have been touched by her during her twenty-three years on earth or by
this story since her wedding in July, 1985. I do know that she made a
difference. She made a difference in our family, our church, and our
town.
I share this story with you to
encourage you to make a difference. Make a difference in your family,
church, workplace, school, or town. The world will be won for Christ one
soul at a time. Start today, before your “bag of coins” is empty.
The question to ask yourself is not “How many days do I have to
live?” The question I leave you with is “How will I spend the days that I
have serving the Lord?” May God bless you on your journey through life as
you spend your days.
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