Will the Circle be Unbroken?

by James Ray

It was a Sunday morning church service I shall never forget.

My dad had resisted trusting Jesus Christ as his personal Savior for decades. His family had been faithfully praying for his salvation all this time. Both facts collided with wonderful fruition—the result on a February morning in the year 2000.

My parents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Dad was 75 years of age. My mother was one of the finest faithful Christian ladies I ever knew. She taught Sunday school, taught Vacation Bible School, sang in the choir, sang solos, and went on weekly visitation. My mother was a submissive wife in always asking her husband if she could participate in church, and even asked her husband if she could give offerings to the church each week. Although my dad never attended church other than perhaps on a Christmas or Easter service, he had agreed to attend church that anniversary Sunday before their 50th wedding celebration party that afternoon in a hotel ballroom.

Earlier that morning, dad and I were having coffee together when I asked him again if he would trust Christ as his Savior. He nodded no. I asked him if he had ever trusted Christ but had not revealed his decision. He nodded no. I asked him if he would attend church with the family that morning and he agreed. In fact, he stated that the day would not be a celebration without all his family members present. I agreed with him and also reminded him that heaven would not be the same celebration without him with his family in heaven for all eternity.

We finished our coffee and headed to a little country church my mother had been a member of as a child when she lived in that area. We all sat together with me beside my dad. The congregation probably was 150 in attendance that day with almost every pew being packed. Just prior to the sermon, the country preacher asked those attending if anyone had a testimony or song they wanted to share. Immediately, the face of the pastor somewhat contorted as a woman’s voice in the rear loudly spoke out, “I have a song to sing.” I could tell that her request caught the pastor off guard as he hesitantly asked if she needed the piano to accompany her. She stated, “No.” She approached the platform, stood behind the pulpit, and started to sing. I later was informed by the pastor that he had never seen the woman before, nobody in church knew who she was, and she never returned for another service after that Sunday.  

After she had sung her song, the pastor preached a Gospel message, but my dad was not persuaded to move. He stood stoically silent, staring straight forward. Some members of the family wept along with me as the invitation concluded. After the prayer of dismissal, my dad left his pew and headed toward the foyer as I started conversing with others when suddenly a man rushed up to me. He urgently yelled for me to come to the foyer. “It’s your dad!” I immediately thought he had had a heart attack or some other medical emergency. When I reached him, he was crying uncontrollably. I hugged him and asked him if the time had come to be saved? He said, “Yes, I need to be saved.” We both walked to the front of the church and knelt at the altar. I told dad that I could not pray for him for he himself had to ask God to save him. He immediately blurted out, “Oh God, I am a sinner.” By that time, the pastor had joined us at the altar as dad was gloriously saved. When we stood up and turned around, we saw people who had already been in the parking lot going to their cars. They were returning for they had heard that my dad was at the altar getting saved. Folks were crying and some were shouting. All were rejoicing in a man who had been on their prayer list for decades and who had been redeemed!  

What a 50th wedding anniversary celebration we had that afternoon! There had been a new name written down in heaven and it was my dad’s name. 

The following Saturday after my parents had returned to their home in Florida, I was talking to my mom on the phone. After a lengthy conversation, I told my mom to get dad on the phone because I wanted to talk to him also. She then told me she hated to interrupt my dad for he was reading the Bible I had sent to him a few days prior. Praise God! Dad never missed a church service after that on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, or Wednesday night. Fast forward five years later after he went to heaven in March of that year. As executor of his estate, I was going through his records and found that he had written nine checks thus far that year. Seven of them went to the church or Christian organizations. Yes, my dad got saved and our prayers had been answered miraculously.

One last footnote you may be interested in knowing...the song sung by that woman whom nobody at church knew or had ever seen before or after was “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”

I submit Hebrews 13:2 is real regarding this statement: thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Yes—a Divine appointment!