Goodbye 2006

In 2006 we said goodbye an awful lot. To my Dad, to Gail Jupp, to little Joseph Patterson, to Graham Price, to my Uncle Ike and Aunty Mary, to Morag Wilson. Last year more than ever we've been made conscious of the brevity of life and the importance of eternal things. This old hymn comes to mind when I refkect on the year that has just gone:

Life at best is very brief,
Like the falling of a leaf,
Like the binding of a sheaf:
Be in time.
Fleeting days are telling fast
That the die will soon be cast,
And the fatal line be passed:

Be in time. Be in time, be in time;
While the voice of Jesus calls you,
Be in time.
If in sin you longer wait,
You may find no open gate,
And your cry be just too late:
Be in time.

Fairest flowers soon decay,
Youth and beauty pass away;
O you have not long to stay:
Be in time.
While God's Spirit bids you come,
Sinner, do no longer roam,
Lest you seal your hopeless doom:
Be in time.

Sinner, heed the warning voice,
Make the Lord your final choice;
Then all heaven will rejoice:
Be in time.
Come from darkness into light;
Come, let Jesus make you right;
Come, and start for heaven tonight:
Be in time.

(Author unknown 19th century)