Matthew 24:31
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
When I was little I remember our Preacher reading Matthew 24:31, the verse in the Bible about God coming back to take his children home. I listened to it, took it to heart, and moved on. It seemed pretty important, so I kept that verse in the back of my mind.
Fast forward a little ways, I’m still a child sitting in church beside my mom.
My favorite part about coming to church was listening to the choir. I thought the sound was wonderful, the songs were great, and I loved just sitting there reading the lyrics.
It was a typical Sunday morning. We had our regular members mixed with a few guests and everyone now stood while the choir began to sing their songs. In our church we had a piano, two guitars, and the occasional tambourine. Like my grandmother use to say, ‘Back in my day’ we didn’t have CD’s or tape players in church. Members played instruments and that was it. (Oh and no cell phones either. Does that date me?)
So there I was, standing there reading the lyrics of the song. I don’t particularly remember the song they were singing- but I remember holding the hymnal and reading along. And then I heard it, out of nowhere this trumpet sounded. Instantly, that verse popped into my head. My heart jumped into my throat! I almost dropped the hymnal as I jerked my head straight up. I stood there staring at the ceiling- waiting.
The thing is, yes I heard the verse where he comes back with the sound of trumpet and gets his children. HOW he did it and what happened after that was beyond me. I was a child-so I was half listening. That being said, at that moment I was wishing I had paid more attention. I wasn’t sure what happened next. I guess I was looking up preparing myself for God to rip the roof right off the church and grab me up?
I inched closer to my mother, which even then I thought, ‘She can’t do anything.’
After a minute of staring straight up, I looked around confused. He hadn’t come through the roof, so was He coming in the door? Where were all the angels He was supposed to have with him? I honestly thought it would be bigger than that, a big explosion or lightning and thunder- something. (I remembered something about a shout in the Bible.) At one point I thought, is He waiting outside for me in the parking lot? Did I miss it? It’s supposed to be in the blink of an eye but if I heard it, shouldn’t I have seen it?
It was then I noticed, no one else was looking up or around. They didn’t even seem to hear it. Everyone kept singing along like nothing was happening. Was I the only one hearing it? Because at this point the trumpet is still going, it hadn’t stopped this whole time.
I glanced back at the door one more time to make sure He wasn’t standing there and then scanned the crowd again. Every person I looked at seemed so relaxed. None of their facial expressions matched my heart beat. They couldn’t possibly be hearing what I’m hearing. Some are singing, some are digging through their purses for a cough drop. I glanced back to the back row where normally all the guests sat (why I don’t know) and it was then I saw him. One of our guests, whom I had notice walk in earlier with a weird looking suit case; stood there on the back row playing a trumpet.
As I listened to it closer, the man was playing along with the tune of the hymn.
I plopped down in my seat and sat there for a minute, exhausted.
My mom looked down at me with a ‘are you alright?’ stare.
“Yeah mom, I’m great. Just went through the most terrifying 2 minutes of my life but it’s all good now..”
Fast forward a little ways, I’m still a child sitting in church beside my mom.
My favorite part about coming to church was listening to the choir. I thought the sound was wonderful, the songs were great, and I loved just sitting there reading the lyrics.
It was a typical Sunday morning. We had our regular members mixed with a few guests and everyone now stood while the choir began to sing their songs. In our church we had a piano, two guitars, and the occasional tambourine. Like my grandmother use to say, ‘Back in my day’ we didn’t have CD’s or tape players in church. Members played instruments and that was it. (Oh and no cell phones either. Does that date me?)
So there I was, standing there reading the lyrics of the song. I don’t particularly remember the song they were singing- but I remember holding the hymnal and reading along. And then I heard it, out of nowhere this trumpet sounded. Instantly, that verse popped into my head. My heart jumped into my throat! I almost dropped the hymnal as I jerked my head straight up. I stood there staring at the ceiling- waiting.
The thing is, yes I heard the verse where he comes back with the sound of trumpet and gets his children. HOW he did it and what happened after that was beyond me. I was a child-so I was half listening. That being said, at that moment I was wishing I had paid more attention. I wasn’t sure what happened next. I guess I was looking up preparing myself for God to rip the roof right off the church and grab me up?
I inched closer to my mother, which even then I thought, ‘She can’t do anything.’
After a minute of staring straight up, I looked around confused. He hadn’t come through the roof, so was He coming in the door? Where were all the angels He was supposed to have with him? I honestly thought it would be bigger than that, a big explosion or lightning and thunder- something. (I remembered something about a shout in the Bible.) At one point I thought, is He waiting outside for me in the parking lot? Did I miss it? It’s supposed to be in the blink of an eye but if I heard it, shouldn’t I have seen it?
It was then I noticed, no one else was looking up or around. They didn’t even seem to hear it. Everyone kept singing along like nothing was happening. Was I the only one hearing it? Because at this point the trumpet is still going, it hadn’t stopped this whole time.
I glanced back at the door one more time to make sure He wasn’t standing there and then scanned the crowd again. Every person I looked at seemed so relaxed. None of their facial expressions matched my heart beat. They couldn’t possibly be hearing what I’m hearing. Some are singing, some are digging through their purses for a cough drop. I glanced back to the back row where normally all the guests sat (why I don’t know) and it was then I saw him. One of our guests, whom I had notice walk in earlier with a weird looking suit case; stood there on the back row playing a trumpet.
As I listened to it closer, the man was playing along with the tune of the hymn.
I plopped down in my seat and sat there for a minute, exhausted.
My mom looked down at me with a ‘are you alright?’ stare.
“Yeah mom, I’m great. Just went through the most terrifying 2 minutes of my life but it’s all good now..”
I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of my life during childhood. It is in fact a true story that I wanted to share, I felt it would give everyone a good laugh. On a more serious note however, as a Christian I do believe that God will come back one day. My advice would be not to do what I did, wait until it all goes down to figure out what to do. Pick up that Bible and read it. All the instructions are in there. Be ready children.
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