Summertime is the season for family reunions and church homecomings. It’s the time when people faraway and near come together every year.

As the annual weekend approaches, I find myself counting the days until the family reunion. There’s a lot to do to get ready. We contact as many relatives as we can through Facebook, email, and phone calls to remind them of the upcoming reunion because we want everyone to be there.

Our family spends Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday together. One by one, as kinfolk arrive, hugs are exchanged usually with a pat on the back.

What I like the most about family reunions are the family stories. The same ones are told over and over, but they still bring laughter and tears. Some of those stories recall trying times and the faith to get through them. We share memories and make memories. This year we sang our favorite hymns.

One of the things our family is known for is our sweets. There will be no shortage of desserts to choose from at our reunion. Likewise, there are no sweeter memories than those created at family reunions. I think they are a taste of heaven. There will come a day when the grandest reunion of all will begin. I wonder if loved ones who have passed on are standing on the front porches of their mansions, looking down the golden streets watching for us to arrive.

At our family reunion, it seems like we just get together and all too soon it’s time for everyone to leave and go their separate ways until next year. But a “”glad reunion day” in heaven is coming and there’ll be “no more parting over there,” as the hymn writers describe it.

The Bible says “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4). According to Revelation 19, we will enjoy a great supper that the Bible tells us Christ Himself will serve. People from every nation will be there.

Someone has said that the only thing we can take with us to heaven is our family. Just as our bloodline connects us to one another, so the blood of Jesus must cover our sins. We join the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ, His son.

As much as I look forward to our annual family reunions, I long for the grandest family reunion of all. That’s when we’ll have eternity to spend together, not just my loved ones, but all my brothers and sisters in the family of God.

Some of Jesus’ final words while He walked on earth promise us that He was going back to heaven to “prepare a place” for His loved ones (John 14:2). Anne Graham Lotz describes heaven as a “prepared place for a prepared people.”

Have you made preparations to attend? Are you a member of the family of God? Is your name written down in glory for the day when the roll is called up yonder? Will the circle be unbroken? You don’t want to miss the grandest family reunion of all.

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Jan White is an award-winning religion columnist.  Her email address is jwhite@andycable.com.