What Will It Be To Be There?

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When the short race of my life has been run

Author: Haldor Lillenas
Tune: [When the short race of my life has been run]
Published in 4 hymnals

Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 When the short race of my life has been run,
When all my labors on earth have been done,
When earth has vanished and heav’n is begun,—
What will it be to be there!

Refrain:
What will it be to be there!
What will it be to be there!
In that fair land where the day never dies,—
Oh, what will it be to be there!

2 There I shall meet those who passed on before,
Dwell in that home of the blest evermore;
There ev’ry sorrow and heartache is o’er,—
What will it be to be there! [Refrain]

3 There all the streets shall be paved with pure gold,
There shall be mansions of beauty untold,
When my Redeemer and King I behold,—
What will it be to be there! [Refrain]

4 When the bright walls of that city appear,
When the sweet songs of the ransomed I hear,
When my dear Savior shall dry ev’ry tear,—
What will it be to be there! [Refrain]

Source: The King of Glory #15

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Author: Haldor Lillenas

Rv Haldor Lillenas DMus Norway/USA 1885-1959. Born at Stord, near Bergen, Norway, his father sold their 15 acre farm in Norway and emigrated to the U.S., buying a farm in Colton, SD. After he built a sod house, the family (wife and three chldren) also came to SD in 1887. They moved to Astoria, Oregon in 1889, where Lillenas learned English and began writing song lyrics at an early age. In 1900 the family moved again to Roseville, MN, where he worked as a farm laborer and began attending a Lutheran high school at Hawick, MN. He sold a few songs at age 19. At age 21 he began writing more songs, encouraged by some earlier ones becoming popular (“He set me free” was one). His mother died in 1906 and his father returned to ND, but Li… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	When the short race of my life has been run
Title:	What Will It Be To Be There?
Author:	Haldor Lillenas
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	What will it be to be there
Copyright:	Public Domain