September, 2010
Ensemble 2010
Rev. 3:3, “…Therefore, if you will
not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not
know what hour I will come upon you.”
The Master of Ceremonies gave his
final announcement urging guests to find their seats, while
the first group of students nervously held their folders.
As the lights went down, a beautifully surreal stage setting
was revealed. Colorful lights pointed to the grand pianos,
filmy curtains and flowers. In the hush a light swish was
heard and suddenly students appeared on stage from
everywhere as they hurried to their assigned place with
their assigned partner at their assigned piano. How
exciting! Thirteen beautiful new, shiny black, Steinway
Grand pianos stood on stage. The girls dressed in
performance black dresses, the boys in white shirts with
black slacks and ties. The conductor then hurried on stage
and the program began; the 58th annual Ensemble
of the Phoenix Music and Teachers Association.
Not a sound in the huge auditorium
as parents, grandparents and guests were caught up in eager
anticipation of seeing and hearing from their special
performer for the evening, awaiting their turn to
demonstrate their hard work and preparation for this
evening’s presentation while 26 piano students at a time,
rushed on and off stage to play their well rehearsed song
together, two on each piano. From age seven to adults over
eighty, 454 students and teachers in all, flawlessly
executed their presentations…they were ready! And so were
the guests.
As we were caught up in the
excitement of that evening, I couldn’t help but think of
another exciting event Christians eagerly await that will
occur as described in the song Bill Gaither wrote in the
1970’s, and we all loved and loved to sing, titled:
“The King is Coming”
Happy faces line the hallways, those
whose lives have been redeemed,
Broken homes that He has mended,
those from prison He has freed,
Little children and the aged, hand
in hand stand all aglow,
Those whose lives are broken,
ruined, clad in garments white as snow.
I can hear the chariots rumble, I
can see the marching throng,
And the flurry of God’s trumpet,
spells the end of sin and wrong,
Regal robes are now unfolding,
Heaven’s grandstands are in place,
Heaven’s choir is now assembled,
start to sing “Amazing Grace.”
The King is coming, the King is
coming,
I just heard the trumpet sounding
and now His face I see,
Oh, the King is coming, the King is
coming,
Praise God He’s coming for me.
The day is not far off when we will
see the King of glory coming for us in the air. There will
be no warning, there will be no time for an announcement
from an MC, there will be no more time to familiarize
ourselves with these events described in the Bible in the
book of Revelation. The rapture is going to catch us all by
surprise. No one knows the day or the hour. As prepared as
we are at that moment is how much we will know about what is
occurring. Time as we know it is over, King Jesus will have
come back for His own. I John 3:3, “And all who have this
eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as He is
pure.” Live for the Lord because you love the Lord!
The Ensemble students were not
caught unaware but were well prepared for their special
event, but “in a twinkling of an eye,” ready or not we will
all be gone…The King is coming…Praise God He’s coming for
me. Every man, woman and child who are ready to go, will be
caught up with Him in the air.
We are now in preparation time, will
we be ready when the trumpet sounds and it’s our time to
go?
Written by Carol Cooper
Talhat@cox.net