When I Wake Up There

When I wake up in the Land of Glory
and with the saints I will tell my story
there will be one name that I proclaim:
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, just that name!

— “The Only Name” by Big Daddy Weave

Mike Rose (where are you?!), a  friend from long ago, liked to change one word in a song: from When we all get to heaven to If we all get to heaven.

I think of him and that line almost every time we play “The Only Name” in The Rivers of Life Clergy Band. (Have I mentioned that we’re in our 11th year together? Have you booked us yet to come to your place?)

When we get to the part of the song that says, When I wake up in the Land of Glory, I flash from When to If, and a nanosecond of panic sets in: If I wake up in the Land of Glory.

Then another thing hits, quicker and stronger: You are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift. (Ephesians 2:8)

In this instance, the Giver is also the Gift: Christ.

Or, as the song says, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

We’ll know more about all of that When we all get to heaven.

And what a day of rejoicing that will be —-

When I wake up in the Land of Glory
and with the saints I will tell my story
there will be one name that I proclaim:
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, just that name!