I’m Bound for That City

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2 ESV).

I’m on my annual study retreat this week and I’ve been working on a sermon series about heaven for Spring 2024. So when the New Testament reading from the One Year Bible yesterday was from Revelation 21, it turned my usual morning devotion into a day long meditation on God’s holy city, the New Jerusalem. I’ve always been drawn to John’s vision of this great heavenly city where all the saints of God will one day dwell, but yesterday was different. Because in addition to already having my mind on heaven, I received a text message yesterday morning from my sister telling me that my mother’s eldest sister, my dear aunt Jerri had graduated to heaven. She was 93.

My Aunt Jerri was a force to be reckoned with. She was beautiful, engaging, intelligent, and when it seemed called for, she could be a little intimidating. She was a second mom to me. When my father died, she insisted that we live with her until my mom was able to care for us. I still remember her sitting up late with me at her kitchen table in Wayne, Michigan. Just the two of us. She would patiently discuss my questions about my dad and heaven and what the Bible said about such things. I was only eight years old, but she didn’t talk down to me. She treated me like I was old enough to discuss such things as an adult would.

She would say, “Your dad made me promise that I would talk to you like an adult. He told me, ‘Jerri, I’ve always talked to Gary like he was a little man. He’s used to that. Please promise me that you’ll talk to him as I have when I’m gone.’ So, I promised him that I would.”

And she always did.

My last visit with my Aunt Jerri was to her bedside at a nursing home. She didn’t recognize me at first. She had declined mentally in her 90s. As she stared at me, wondering who I was. I reminded her, “I’m Gary. I’m your sister Wilda’s boy.”

“Gary, you’re Gary. Oh, I know you. You’re Wilda’s boy!” She said, pulling my face to hers, and smiling with tears in her eyes. “But where’s Wilda?” She asked. “And where’s mom and dad?”

Not knowing how to answer, I looked to her daughter, my cousin, Glenna, who answered, “Momma, Wilda’s in heaven. And so is your mom and dad. They’re all in heaven.”

“Ohh…” She groaned, as if hearing it for the first time, sadly covering her face. But then her demeanor suddenly changed. Dropping her hands to the bed, she looked sternly into my eyes and asked, “Then why am I still here?”

Why indeed. I didn’t know how to answer her that day. But today, she finally has the answer. She is not here. She is with the Lord.

My meditation on heaven and my thoughts of my Aunt Jerri led me to a remembrance of an old hymn, entitled, “I’m Bound for that City.” It was written and composed in 1954 by Albert E. Brumley and the Brumley brothers. I heard the song many times sung by the Willow Branch Quartet, of which my mother Wilda Dillon Combs was the lead singer. I don’t have a recording of her quartet doing it, but I’m happy to have a recording of my mother singing it solo on her 1975 album, “Wilda & Mom.” I’ve included the recording on this blog below, along with a montage of photos of my mother, her family, her childhood home and church. I’ve also included the lyrics below. May it bless your soul and may it turn your thoughts towards heaven!