By John Grant
When we all get to Heaven, What a day of rejoicing that will be! When we all see Jesus, We’ll sing and shout the victory!
My friend George was still a teenager when World War II broke out and like many others of his generation, he joined the armed forces. After some abbreviated training, he was assigned to the Army Air Corps radio operator on a B-24 and set sail for the front lines of battle.
While on a mission over Sweden, the plane George shared with his eight fellow crew members was hit by enemy fire. George and three others managed to bail out, while the remaining five went down with the plane. They were burned beyond identification and all five were buried in a common grave in Ohio. When George and the three others hit the ground, they were immediately taken captive and until the war was over, they remained prisoners of war.
After the war was over, George returned home and went to college. While taking an English class, he wrote an essay about his experiences as a POW. His family asked that I read it at his funeral a few years ago. He told of first being held captive deep in the bowels of a rusting cargo ship that had been turned into a prison. Fresh air was almost non-existent and the temperature in the hull over a hundred degrees. When the men needed to relieve themselves, a bucket was lowered from above. Several times a day drinking water would be lowered in a bucket! – the same bucket.
By the time the floating prison reached Germany, the weather had turned cold and with limited clothing, George and his buddies were forced to march across the country to their POW camp. George was a big guy, built like a defensive lineman, but when he was liberated, he weighed a mere ninety pounds.
Over the years, George and his surviving fellow crew members stay in contact with each other. They visited often, but never all four at once, and none of them had ever visited the common grave of those who went down with the plane. It was George’s idea that they have a reunion with all nine at the cemetery in Ohio.
When George returned, he told me all about it. He stood by the grave and gave the eulogy. It was to the day, the fiftieth anniversary of when they were shot down. It was the first time in fifty years all nine had been together and they all knew it would be the last. A few months later, George was the first of the surviving four to go to glory.
As I gave the eulogy at his memorial service, I couldn’t help but think of that popular song “When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!” When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory!”
For those of us who have given out hearts to Christ, someday there will be a great reunion with all of the family of believers – ‘what a day of rejoicing that will be’.
(a Thought on Life from John Grant)
You can comment on this devotional online at:
http://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/2012/10/23/jg_when-we-all-get-together/
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
_________________________________________
follow us on Facebook
follow us on Twitter
For Mobile Devices – God-daily.com