Where am I? It’s early August and we just kicked off another semester of 605. This will be my last. 605 is our Wednesday night student-led (somewhat) worship service. Guess what time we start? 6:05 PM. Very good. It’s also a reference to Deut. 6:5 which is about us loving God with all that we are and all we possess. In consultation with my youthworkers I’ve decided that our theme for this semester will be “Famous Last Words”. There will be 2-3 threads that will weave in and out of all our messages this semester. 1) If I only know I have a short time left to communicate anything to my students, then I should make it count, I should say what is most important. So- I’ll be covering some doctrinal things and relational things I want to remind them of. We’re starting with 8 Doctrinal Statements that define who we are as Chrsitians.
2) Throughout history, when people knew their words were the last they would speak- for the most part- they spoke them well. We’ll look at some of those famous last words like Sir William Bruce’s “I have breakfasted with you and now I shall sup with my Lord Jesus Christ”.
3) I’ll spend time regularly reminding our students that in a short while I will no longer be “the man”. My role from here on out is to prepare the way for whoever comes after me as the Student Minister at Bayou View.
Well…that’s where I am. I’m excited about leaving. I am ready to leave. I’m ready to leave my cell phone behind. I am mostly ready to sell the house and a car and get rid of a lot of “stuff”. But I’m so sad that when it’s over (if it’s over next winter) that I still won’t be coming back here. I have loved being a part of so many students’ lives. I have loved watching them grow up. I see so many in the group now- in the church- in the community, in the schools- that I wish I could be around to see grow up… or at least to graduate high school. I am comforted in that- after 12 years of absence from Aberdeen- that I am still close to a few families and former students. I trust that will be the case with many students in Gulfport too.
