WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER

WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER

Here we go again! Grandchild number 16 had an awards day today at the Bleckley Primary School here in Cochran. They called it the ‘Best of the Best’, with children winning everything from reading awards to attendance awards.

Our little five year-old Graycen Elizabeth Phinazee got the art award in her Kindergarten class. Since her dad Robert is an artist, the old saying is confirmed, “The fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.”


It looked like hundreds of kids were present in the school’s gymnasium and I was told by Mrs. White, Graycen’s teacher, that children from all the other grades would be coming throughout the day for their awards as well.


I had to laugh when one little boy’s name was called for his class’s ‘Perfect Attendance’ award. The little boy, whom I won’t name, was absent. How ironic is that?

Last summer when attending a Little League ballgame and watching Eli, grandchild number 14 out of 19 total, I remarked to Charlie, “When the Lord comes we may have to ask him to wait until the game is over before we take our final flight!”


It seems there’s always another ballgame, awards banquet, school play, band festival or something else going on that Grandma and Grandpa are required to attend. All kidding aside, we love every minute of our crazy lives when it comes to those grandchildren of ours.

I wish you could have seen the eagerness in the faces of all those kindergarten children today. Winning their special award, whether it was an art pencil or a colorful document to frame, was an exciting event for each winner. As proud parents and grandparents snapped pictures with cameras and cell phones, the children holding awards in front of the crowd were just beaming with pride.


I couldn’t help wondering what had happened to the little boy who missed out on publicly receiving his attendance award. Was he sick or out of town? Was there a family emergency? Did he forget that today was the big day? I’ll probably never know.

Someday the roll will be called up yonder and I sure want to be there, don’t you? Since I’m now securely forging ahead in my seventies, I think more and more of that day when I will stand before a holy and awesome God.


Recently I took a plane trip to California and had a very interesting conversation with a fellow passenger about ‘just making it to heaven’. I know some folks say they will be happy to ‘just make it’ to heaven, however I believe God wants us to aim toward a higher goal.

Sometime during our discussion about the things of the Lord the young man told me that he had experienced a dramatic encounter with God ten years prior. In the ensuing years and he had grown cold to the things of the Lord. Working, going to school and life in general had crowded in. He wasn’t even sure if God listened to anything he had to say anymore.

An hour and half into the flight the lights were darkened and people started going to sleep. As I was adjusting a pillow under my head I heard him sniffling. Thinking he was fighting a sinus problem I started to offer him an allergy tablet. However, he was quietly weeping and so I just turned toward the window and let God do His thing.

When the plane started to land I asked him what had happened. “I don’t know. God just came down like He did 10 years ago and I couldn’t quit crying.” We were both rejoicing over this display of God’s grace in his life.

I told him that he had a choice now. He could either be a thirty-fold, sixty-fold or one hundred-fold Christian. Sure, anyone can ‘just make it’ to heaven. With Jesus in your heart you’ve got your fire insurance policy, but isn’t there more to the Christian life than that?

On Awards Day at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will be glad that we haven’t settled for less than the best. The commendation of Jesus, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant’ will be the best award ever. Be sure you’re not like that little boy who completely missed out on getting his reward. When the roll is called up yonder, will your name be called?