It was 1975 when 426 high school seniors were assembled and lined up on the side parking lot of their school.
The huge stands had been assembled earlier; even so, it took a while to get them all in just the right place.
Mostly girls stood in the front and the taller guys were behind with the very tallest in the very back on the highest stand.
The class officers and school officials sat in the very front. Once everyone was in place a panoramic photograph was taken of the 1975 Senior Graduating Class of Ross S. Sterling High School. I was there.
My closest friends were there.
And recently I came upon that panoramic photograph; aged and creased but still offering a view of the way we were.
We are faces frozen for an instant in time.
Though that picture stopped time for that moment, time has not stopped for any of us since.
Each life has diversified since that day; each going his or her separate way.
Some are no longer with us; others have failing health due to the years, though we are all only in our fifties.
I accepted Jesus as my Savior earlier that same year; January 15th to be exact.
I wasn’t much of a churchgoer or evangelist for Jesus back then and have often wondered about the souls of those I once stood in the photograph with.
Since Facebook, I have become reacquainted with many of those young faces.
I have discovered how many of them have a faith, hope, and love in Christ.
The word of God gives us another picture of a greater crowd that has been gathered. I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number , of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” Rev 7:9-10
I am pleased to know that so many of my friends and family have already been seen by John standing before the throne.
And he has already seen me; I was there!
Often I’ve thought of all the faces I’ll see going past me into a dark eternity. So, when I meet a stranger I talk to them about Christ. Guilt wont be apart of me as those walk by. I have had no contact with school mates (except one) but I do pray for heir Salvation. Even growth in Christ. Jesus showed me once that there are people praying for me that I’ve never met, in places I’ve never been. So I do the same.
I just read your verse, Revelation 7:9-10. Today, it is Sunday and March 7th, and I see a huge panaromic photograph in my mind of those who have been in my life. My photograph is much larger than 426 students but thousands of classmates, friends, relatives, neighbors, employees, acquaintances, customers, people I have had just a casual conversation, the many children I have seen on mission trips, etc…. Just yesterday I read an obituary of another friend that passed away. It makes me look at my life of almost 58 years to see if I have been the witness that I needed to be to all that I came in contact with. Whoever I meet or pass becomes another face in that panaromic photograph that I am carrying in my mind. As the years creep up and I realize that I am getting older, soon it may be my obituary that others are reading. The task is at hand and the need is greater than it was yesterday.
Morning Thought with Pastor Tim 
Often I’ve thought of all the faces I’ll see going past me into a dark eternity. So, when I meet a stranger I talk to them about Christ. Guilt wont be apart of me as those walk by. I have had no contact with school mates (except one) but I do pray for heir Salvation. Even growth in Christ. Jesus showed me once that there are people praying for me that I’ve never met, in places I’ve never been. So I do the same.
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I just read your verse, Revelation 7:9-10. Today, it is Sunday and March 7th, and I see a huge panaromic photograph in my mind of those who have been in my life. My photograph is much larger than 426 students but thousands of classmates, friends, relatives, neighbors, employees, acquaintances, customers, people I have had just a casual conversation, the many children I have seen on mission trips, etc…. Just yesterday I read an obituary of another friend that passed away. It makes me look at my life of almost 58 years to see if I have been the witness that I needed to be to all that I came in contact with. Whoever I meet or pass becomes another face in that panaromic photograph that I am carrying in my mind. As the years creep up and I realize that I am getting older, soon it may be my obituary that others are reading. The task is at hand and the need is greater than it was yesterday.
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