“Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.”
All was quiet in the big country house. Even the grown-ups had all gone to bed. Outside, not the slightest breeze rustled through the leaves of the tall maples and oaks around the house. No sound of any kind could be heard anywhere, except the steady “tick, tock, tick, tock” of the old grandfather clock downstairs.
Eddie sat up in bed and looked around him. I don’t like this quiet, he thought. It feels like there is no one else in the whole world but me. From his bed he could see their backyard in the bright moonlight.
Suddenly Eddie heard a little different noise downstairs.
What’s that? he wondered.
“Tick, tock,” then more slowly, “tick—tock,” then “tick-tick ... tick.” This was followed by a “whirrrrr,” a “thud,” and then .. . silence!
For a few moments Eddie did not move a muscle. He could not believe his ears. What had happened? He could feel the silence. That friendly “tick, tock” of the grandfather clock which he had heard his whole life had stopped!
Through the stillness there seemed to come to Eddie another sound—regularly it beat, “tick, tick, tick, tick.” This held his attention and he strained his ears to listen. Then he felt a curious little thump going on inside himself, and he put his hand over his chest.
“It’s in my chest!” he said out loud. “It’s my own heart beating, and it sounds just like a clock!” Eddie lay down again and he began to think.
Has that grandfather clock got a heart, too? I wonder. It ticks just like I do, only louder, because it is bigger I suppose. It has ticked for seven years . . . Daddy told me . . . and now it has stopped. I must have ticked for seven years, too. Will I stop? Will my heart stop ticking? What will happen if it does? I guess I’ll die. What will happen then?
Quite suddenly, Eddie began to think about sin. He knew that he had never let the Lord Jesus wash his heart clean from sin and make it white as snow. He knew that sometimes he disobeyed and did things that were wrong. And he also knew that the Lord Jesus had said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37). He seemed to hear a still, small voice saying, “Eddie, if you want to know that some day when your heart stops beating you will come to live with Me in heaven, you must come to Me now and confess your sin. I will forgive you and wash your sins away.”
Without waiting another moment, Eddie got out of bed, and in the quiet stillness of the night, kneeling beside his bed, he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour.
From that happy moment he never doubted that when his heart stopped beating he would enter heaven, which the Lord Jesus has prepared for all who trust in Him.
What will happen to you when your heart stops beating?
ML 09/16/1990