If you have not heard of it before, the Last Call is a ceremonial dispatch or call broadcasted through the digital radios from the station dispatcher to all of the departments. It can also be referred to as End of Watch or Last Alarm. This honoring tradition grabbed my attention and gripped my heartstrings as I stood at the graveside.
The area dispatcher loudly broadcasted a steady and final message over the radio that publicly announced the final retirement of the deceased along with their badge number.
She called out this firefighter’s name and badge number three times with long pauses between each call. The silence was deafening. With no response from the now deceased, she officially announced his faithful years of service and pronounced him clear of duty saying, “We will take it from here,” as she signed off the radio. Bagpipers played and a 21-gun salute was underway.
This was more than a call, or a last call for me. It was a wake-up call.
As we walked slowly on the pea-gravel path back to our car in the scorching heat of the day, I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to read a verse in Ecclesiastes about it being better to spend time at funerals than parties. I couldn’t remember the exact verse the Lord was nudging me to read. I did some digging on my phone and found the verse.
The wisdom of Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 says, “A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume. And the day you die is better than the day you are born. Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies—so the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for sadness has a refining influence on us. A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time,” (NLT).
Funerals more than weddings or parties help us reflect and contemplate. The Word of God says it’s better for us to spend our time at funerals than parties because the sadness has a refining influence on us. The sobering reality is we will all one day have a Last Call, when Jesus finally calls us home, and the Bible encourages us to take this to heart.
You may not have a 21-gun salute, bagpipers, or a Last Call over the radio at your funeral, but what will your welcome home party look like in Heaven? Have you thought about the legacy you desire to leave behind here on earth and the words you long to hear when you meet the Savior of the World? Do you long to hear the words from Matthew 25:21, “…‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master’” (ESV)?
You do not have to wait to attend a funeral to have a repentant heart or contemplate Godly things. We are to live our lives in a continually sober-minded state. While you still have time and breath in your lungs today, what would God have you reflect on? Have you asked Him? Pause, and take a moment now. Ask God to reveal to you more of Himself and His Truth. Don’t wait for your Last Call.
How can you make Monumental Moments and live to Multiply His Movement today?
