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Verse:Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. —Philippians 1:6, KJV
It happened a long time ago, but it is something that has never been forgotten. My husband, Ted, was a ministerial intern and served as assistant pastor of the large Southern Missionary College church in Collegedale, Tennessee, USA.
Back in the 1950s, a ten-day camp meeting was held each year on campus. Much preparation was required, including pitching tents for the campers.
A ministerial intern was kept very busy from morning until night—before, during, and after the meetings—until the last chair was folded and the campus was put back to normal. One of Ted’s duties was to ring the rising bell in time for the campers to be ready for the early morning meeting. After ringing the bell he would go to the far end of the campus to assist in the youth meeting. One morning the unthinkable happened.
We both overslept, waking just in time for him to ring the bell. Frantic, knowing that our conference president, Elder N., was well known for his opinion that unless you were at least five minutes early, you were late, Ted wanted me to put on a robe and go ring the bell while he got dressed. I protested that I did not even know where the bell was! He made it to the youth meeting but overheard two of the campers talking.
One said, “The bell never did ring!” Fortunately for Ted, Elder N. happened to be away from the campus that morning. Years later Ted confessed to that very fine gentleman what had happened. With a straight face and a twinkle in his eye, Elder N. said, “Ted, if I had known, you wouldn’t be in the ministry today!” Fortunately for us, the bell incident did not end Ted’s years of ministry, youth work, teaching, and counseling. For many of those years, the two of us enjoyed working side by side. Now both he and Elder N. are peacefully sleeping, awaiting the next rising bell, which will be when “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, KJV). Now that is a real rising bell, and there will be no oversleeping when it rings!
Mary Jane Graves