Bluegrass and Golden Gates

I love bluegrass, gospel, and old country music. I've had people laugh at me when they realize I am listening to Marty Robins on my iPod - and thats my new stuff! Anyway, a pastor I know often (occasionally) rags on those types of music. He says they are all about "when we all get to heaven" and not about living out our faith here on earth or some such drivel - as if having an awareness of the next life has no impact on living this one! Personally, I find that songs like Peace in the Valley, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, and When King Jesus Calls His Children Home give me hope and make it easier to live this life now, knowing it will not last forever and that it is not all that is. I need reminding sometimes that the petty squabbles and annoyances of daily life aren't the most important things, that THE most important things are God and eternity - and where I and those around me will spend eternity. One of my favorite songs is A Conversation With Death. The words to the song go something like this:

"O what is this I cannot see, with icy hands gets a hold on me?

O I am death, none can excel. I open the doors of heaven and hell.

O death oh death how can it be, that I must come and go with thee?
O death oh death how can it be? I'm unprepared for eternity!

Yes I have come for to get yer soul, to leave your body and leave it cold. I'll drop the flesh from off your frame. The earth and worm both have their claim.

O death oh death please let me see, if Christ is turned his back on me.

When you were called and asked to bow, you wouldn't take heed and it's too late now.

O death oh death please give me time, to fix my heart and change my mind!

Your heart is thick, your mind is bound, I have the shackles to drag you down ...

Too late! Too late! To all farewell...

Your soul is doomed. You're summoned to hell. As long as god in heaven shall dwell, your soul, your soul, shall scream in hell."

This song always reminds me of the seriousness of the choices we make in life. While for Christians death brings reunions with with loved ones and will finally bring us home, for non-Christians it brings only sorrow, pain, and separation from all that is good. We're not just playing for matchsticks here.

When I hear that song, I can't help but envision a friend of mine suddenly coming to the end of her merry life and saying, "wait a minute....give me a chance to get everything in order - I'm not ready yet!" She, like most people, has enjoyed living her life for her, as if it has no end or consequences. What will she do when it runs out? What will I do, knowing that I know the secret for living happily ever-after?
There is an evangelistic tract called The Big Question, and the big question is this: if you were to die the second you started reading this, where would you go? Its a big question isn't it? Me - I settled that question twenty some odd years ago when I decided I wasn't really perfect and realized that I was a sinner. I knew that I myself couldn't fix what was wrong with me, but I knew Someone who could - Jesus Christ, Son of the living God. He had chosen to die on a cross some two-thousand years ago for the express purpose of paying for my sin-debt - well, I suppose He was also paying for the sins of the whole world.* Anyhow, now death isn't as scary to me now. I mean, I'm not exactly thrilled about the prospect of dieing, (I kind of like being alive) but I also know that death is just a door that opens on eternity, for me an eternity with the God I love.
But still, the last words of that song haunt me: "O death oh death please let me see, if Christ is turned his back on me. When you were called and asked to bow, you wouldn't take heed and it's too late now... Your soul is doomed. You're summoned to hell. As long as god in heaven shall dwell, your soul, your soul, shall scream in hell." The thought of someone I love hearing those words someday sends shivers up mt spine. If that thought doesn't impact the way you live your life now, I don't know what will. I still think what that pastor says about "when we all get to heaven" songs is drivel!

*1st John 2:2