22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me,” says the LORD, “So shall your descendants and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to an­other, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD. 1 “Let not your heart be trou­bled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; [a] if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. [b] 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and re­ceive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also’. John 14: 1-3 Thank God, I was able to rendezvous with my classmates in fourth year high school. We graduated in 1961 from Northern Luzon Academy, now Northern Luzon Adventist College located in Artacho, Sison, Pangasinan , and this would probably be the last time we would see each other in this life. It was the Golden An­niversary for our class. I got the call last month from one of them in California urging me, even pleading with me to attend the reunion. She said many will be coming and they would be very disappointed if I don’t show up. It didn’t take me long to decide attend but with some caveats. So as not to get her hopes too high, I said I’ll try very hard to attend. This is one reunion I would not miss for I don’t know how much longer I would be walking on this earth. Too bad, I was not able to take my darling wife with me, but we hope and pray that we will be there in the great rendezvous up in the sky.

Twelve out of the forty-eight strong Class 1961 were present, and although we were disappoint­ed to miss the others, we did not let it dampen our enthusiasm. We attended our church service where the pastor asked all of us to come to the front and he prayed that God will continue blessing all of us. We had lunch then in the evening went for dinner. There we continued our stories inter­spersed with laughter, all recorded in video. Those who were present were; Ben Sanidad, Ben Barboza, Ben Berto, Arthur Luna, Manuel Ojano, Pablo Rafanan, Fred Cay­abyab, Elena Andrada(Axibal), Fenina Andres(Garaza), Florence Eclar(Paulo), Shirley Guadiz(Israel), and Letecia Echave(Tungpalan).Married names in parenthesis) Gone from this life are; Reuel Paulino, Pru­dencio Valdez, Antonio Bulagsay, and Jaime Madelo.

Jesus said that He is coming very soon, and wants everybody to have the best rendezvous in the world. There all the people who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus will meet in that beautiful city New Jeru­salem. The will sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. But the best thing is to see Jesus our Re­deemer first and then look up for our friends. The thing is that they did not get to heaven ahead of us when they died. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15: 51-54, 51 “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality....”

We know that when a person dies, he is unconscious, and knows nothing. There is nothing in the Bible that says that a person has an immortal soul. The Bible says that when God formed man out of the dust, He blew into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7. God told Adam and Eve that if they eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they will surely die.

When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, God said that they will die and to prevent them from eating from the fruit of the Tree of Life and becoming immortals, God put a guard around the tree, a flaming sword which turned every way, and banished man out of the Garden of Eden. Gen 3:22 That was before He gave them the assurance of a Redeemer, who will crush the head of the serpent or Satan, who will perish in hellfire with those who refused the gift of salvation. But someday, Adam and Eve will again rendezvous with the Lord in the earth made new, Just as God said in Isaiah 66: 22, & 23, from one new moon to an­other and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come and worship before the Lord.

That will be a grand reunion for all the saved, fathers, moth­ers, and children together. There will be tears of sadness if one member of the family will not get to the pearly gates, but God will wipe away those tears and the missing one will be remem­bered no more.

One western gospel song says, “When they comb heavens plains, will they call your name, in that great round up in the sky.” Let us make sure we have the brand of God in our hearts, and our names written in the Book of Life. We called the roll at the Ren­dezvous of Class 61 and I was there to say, “Present” and when God calls the roll up yonder, I hope that you and I will say, “I am here, Lord.”

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