The Only Difference

The Only Difference

By: Nina R. Hall

I had an appointment with death,

And without my permission, we met.

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It was time for me, before my judge, to stand.

I stood alone; no reassuring hand.

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I saw before me multitudes in line.

Each had come from different dates in time.

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Up ahead stood Pilate, Washington, Churchill, Beethoven, Hitler;

Muhammad, Pope Benedict, Monroe, Franklin, and Luther.

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There was Lincoln, Goliath, Keller, and Augustine;

Bunyan, Michael Jackson, Columbus, and Einstein.

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Together now the sands of time had fallen –

Stripped of all they had, and who they’d been.

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Though each had lived in different times and cultures,

We stood before our Creator complete equals.

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We had thought the moral standard of our generation,

Would surely justify our deeds; bring acceptation.

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Yet we stood this day judged by God’s one law.

No way to change the past; no escape we saw.

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I looked behind, the line continued on –

Pharaoh, Newton, Reagan, Poe, Saint John.

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Each had lived their life, and chosen their ways.

And I saw in their eyes reflections of their days:

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Some o’erwhelmed with shame, and many with fear;

Some still shrouded with evil; but some wiped guilty tears.

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Some stood bewildered, unwarned that this judgment would come.

Some swollen with pride – sure their good works had won.

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And yet there were some robed in peace.

Their sin was atoned; their life-long struggle ceased.

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These looked with anticipation to the One who would judge from the throne.

For it was He who had taken their place, and made heaven their home.

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But what makes the difference – each soul’s fate to tell,

Whether judgment would send them to heaven or hell?

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What each did with Jesus before their last breath was drawn,

When all’s stripped away…was the only thing left to stand on.