After having a holy encounter with the living God, with I Am, Moses strapped on his sandals once more. He grabbed his brother, along with everything he could carry and trod all the way back to Egypt. Right to where all the problems he left behind were still waiting for him, and right back to the throne that he once sat under. He went back to where his life started, following his footsteps all the way through the desert.
It is now your time to put your shoes back on. You have changed, but the problems and circumstances you left behind are still there waiting for you when you go home. The same family situations, the same relationships, the same job and the same obstacles are still there. I hope that you have had a holy encounter with God and that you can now face these situations with a new perspective. I hope that you can cover the world in your new footsteps.
As Romans 10 says:
11 The Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
So go – preach the good news.
And with this, another week of camp comes to close. Another youth group returns to its church and the community from which they came.
I’ve come to a realization throughout this summer: there is something about departure that makes our message more persistent. Sometimes, my weeks don’t go so well. I get tired, my voice fails me, or the message doesn’t click with the youth I’m teaching. But no matter how that week has gone, when that last day arrives I make the most of my last chance to impart some gospel.There is something that compels me, more than any other time, to hope that I say something that gets through, to ensure that they actually take something home with them, and to change something about their lives.
I think Jesus faced the same problem. He made the disciples breakfast and then he sat right across from Peter. He looked Peter in the eye and asks, “Do you love me?” It’s almost as if Jesus was asking, “Are you really going to do everything you said you would do for me?” He asked again and again and again. Finally Jesus said, “Then go do it. Take care of my followers.”
Or the time right before he was going to die, Christ didn’t think his words would be enough. So he got down on his knees and tried to show the disciples what love meant through one simple act. Jesus loved them so much, and Luke’s Gospel says that he loved them to end. So he knelt down and began washing their feet.
Something about departure makes our message more urgent.
I realize through this experience that the best part of our lives is the crossing of our paths. The best thing we do for each other is come into each others’ lives. We share our experiences. We share our differences and our commonalities. But the worst thing we do is leave each other. As James said our lives are but a vapor. And I realize that in camp. We are a vapor in the lives of youth and adults for five days out of the entire year. We are a vapor in the lives of fellow staffers for seven weeks out of the year. We are vapors in the lives of friends and family for an uncertain amount of time and we hope that our vapor is something good and genuine.
Jesus was on earth for around 33 years and he ministered for a short three years of his life. And his vapor is still something good and genuine.
May we realize that our lives are but a vapor. But may we realize that our vapor is good and genuine. May we realize that our vapor is the best part of life. May we flow in and out of each others’ lives, and impact one another through our coming and through our going. And may we use our vapor to create something lasting, something of the Kingdom that Jesus spoke of.
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