LAST NIGHT, I SAW A VISION OF WHAT HEAVEN IS GOING TO BE LIKE FOR ME

From my sweet hubby, Craig:

First, let me tell you the story.

I have NEVER met Ed McMann or anyone from the Reader’s Digest either.

I NEVER win anything! My Cracker Jacks are only nuts and corn. Always.

But God had a different idea.

God wanted me to be at the Gaither Vocal Band concert in

Huntsville, Alabama on January 29, 2009.

He planned on me being there to the point that He allowed me to win two sets of tickets to the

same concert from two different radio stations.

(Shared a set with friends.)

Way back in November I won the first set and saved the date on our calendar.

Then, last Thursday my day started like this:

I listen to Paul Finbaum, a sports radio talk show in the afternoons.

Then in the mornings, I am a die-hard Rick and Bubba listener.

Even a member of the Rick and Bubba Army and extreme fan club.

But that morning when I started up my Expedition to drive to work, the radio was on the same station from the night before. I immediately heard, “Call now and qualify to win” and they listed a whole bunch of prizes. The only one I really heard was the $50.00 (I thought they said 50 pounds) of Bar-b-que from one of my favorite restaurants ( Lawler’s.)

SO -- I immediately called in and answered this question to qualify.

“What do these three things have in common?”

A flat tire --- a deck of cards ---- and the movie Wolf?

Answer: A Jack

As in Car Jack, Jack of, and Jack Nicholson.

They took my name and then said IFFFFFFF you WIN,

we will call you this afternoon and let you know.

Late that afternoon I got a message (out of cell-phone coverage) that I was their

Grand Prize Winner

for the day and I had won ALL of the prizes.

I didn’t even know what prizes I had won until I went to the station the next day to pick them up.

[Lots of movie tickets - the BBQ - tickets to a Chines Spectacular - Gaither Tickets, etc. etc. ]

So I shared the extra Gaither tickets with friends -

At the concert it was like One PRAISE after another.

Have you ever been to a concert where each new song makes you say.

“Oh Yea, I really like this one. Oh Yea, I like this one better than that last one.

Oh Yea, this is my favorite”.

Well that went on for about three and a half hours! Then they called Jason Crabb of the Crabb family from the audience and he sang another favorite, and then Michael English sang

“I Bowed on my Knees and Cried Holy”. It was one of only three concerts in the tour where Ernie Haase and Signature Sound is with them. One concert of only two, in Alabama, and of only five in the whole Southeast.

Southern Gospel is a favorite of mine -

God had a plan all right!

He said to me, THIS IS WHAT HEAVEN WILL BE LIKE FOR ALL OF ETERNITY.

Just, one better song after another. Praising our Savior all the day!

[My take, written last night:
well it's 11:30 here and - we've just got in from
the kick off concert for the Bill Gaither Vocal Band Reunion Tour - and
my - oh my what a blessing it was! So wonderful to hear David Phelps
again and what a joy to see
Michael English get his footing again with the Gaither Vocal Band
[said he first sang with them when he was 25...]
He admitted he was like a nervous cat -
and his humility showed.
And while Southern Gospel isn't my favorite genre, the whole time I was listening to this group I was thinking - the Crabb family MUST be in this audience somewhere and, oh how I'd love to hear Jason sing to the Lord, and lo and behold toward the end of then night when they were just singing whatever came to mind
[or yelled from the audience] they called Jason up to the stage... and he sang a little number for us too -
and of course I loved -loved-loved the sprinkling throughout the night of all the great praise
songs
that Bill and Gloria wrote and we grew up singing in youth groups
and beyond. A blessed night for us - for sure...