Another Camp Sermon - 2012

Stephanie told me that you all just finished a sermon series about stewardship, and that this week’s lectionary reading was the Parable of the Talents, which Naomi just read. Stewardship and the Parable of the Talents are always thought to be about money. Money, money, money, something that we never have enough of, people always need it, and if you get a little of it you always want more.  There is another word that comes to mind that fits this same description. That word is love. Love is something that there is never enough of, people always need it, and once you get a little of it you want more. This morning I want you to think about this parable not as a lesson on money but a lesson on love.

I would like to introduce to you today a young lady who has taught me what it means to love. For the sake of this sermon I will call her Keziah. The name Keziah comes from the book of Job. Keziah was Job’s daughter at the end of the book. After all of the turmoil of Job’s life God blessed Job with a new family. Keziah was a new ray of sunshine in Job’s life. Well the young lady I’m going to tell you about is a ray sunshine in my life and to everyone who meets her.

I met Keziah during my third summer as a camp counselor at Camp Horizon. She was participating in canoe camp. We spent two full days canoeing the Arkansas River from Oxford back to Ark City. During this time I learned a lot about her life. Let’s just say that this young lady has experienced more in her almost eighteen years of life that I can even fathom in my twenty two. She is in foster care and she has definitely been dealt a hand of cards that no one deserves. I specifically remember a conversation we had on the last day while we were waiting for her to be picked up. She was telling me about how hard it was to live for Christ when she was back home. She wanted to be a youth worker or a case manager or someone who works with kids when she grew up, especially kids who are in the system just like she is.

She was feeling a call but struggling with how to keep the passion she knew and was currently experiencing alive when she got home, and she was really worried about her younger brother. I remember feeling crushed when she left because once again I was given the opportunity to meet a camper that was going to change my life and I just wanted to be able to take her pain away and give her the life that I was blessed with.

Keziah and I became pen pals that school year. We had developed a connection that was far too great not to continue. She would tell me about all of the crazy things going on in her high school world and oddly they weren’t too far off from my college world. We talked about everything from God to boys, work to family. By the end of the school year she was really struggling because she lived in a foster home of mixed religions where she was looked down on for her passionate feelings toward God. She was very involved in school and every single club that had to with a cause she was on it and she was also a dancer and had a job. It was becoming obvious that this home situation was causing some pressure on her soul.

We managed to work it out where she could come and stay with me for two weeks during the summer because I needed her help with Performing Arts Camp that year. In those two weeks of crazy dress up nights, ice cream runs, and choreographing skits for the camp I learned just how far this young lady’s love really went. On the last day of her junior year of high school she shaved her head. She became a shavee for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. She had raised money and donated it to kids with cancer, and part of this foundation is that you then shave your head to show your support. By the time that I finally saw her in June she had about an inch of hair and boy could she rock it. She taught me how to crochet which she did in her free time, which I’m not sure how she had any, she would crochet blankets and donate them to the Wichita Children’s home so that when children arrive there from their broken homes they had something nice waiting for them like someone did for her. She is that girl with the spunky spirit that does not care what the world thinks of her but moves to her own groove and the love of God just flows from her in a way that I have never experienced. She may tell you that I am her mentor but honestly she is my hero because she is conquering the world in the name of Christ on a daily basis and it is definitely a battle.

I have a song for you all today, anytime I preach at St. Paul I share one of my favorite songs with the congregation so this song I chose it to share with you. I want you to listen to the words and think about Keziah and about the difference she is making in her young life and what it really means to love.

This song is called “It Just Takes One” by Addison Road (a popular Christian band)

What if we moved 
What if we wandered
Took a reckless ride to the other side 
Of the tracks

What if we knew somebody's story
Would we write them off like a number
On a check

Or could we be the only souls
Who take the time to love and find
The beauty in a nameless face

(CHORUS)
One, it just takes one
To step out from the crowd, and show
What love is all about
One, it just takes one
To change a life forever, 
Touch the world and make it better

So what if we moved with no hesitations
And learn to love the least of these without reserve
Let's spark a change in this generation
And let our actions speak louder than our words

And what if there's a world in need of hope
That only we can bring
Brighter then the midday sun

(CHORUS)
One, it just takes one
To step out from the crowd, and show
What love is all about
One, it just takes one
To change a life forever, 
Touch the world and make it better

It just takes one
It just takes one
It just takes one

(CHORUS)
One, it just takes one
To step out from the crowd, and show
What love is all about
One, it just takes one
To change a life forever, 
Touch the world and make it better

(CHORUS)
One, it just takes one
To step out from the crowd, and show
What love is all about
One, it just takes one
To change a life forever, 
Touch the world and make it better 

God has given each of us more than enough love to last us our entire lives and some day He will return and will be ready to inspect what we have done with that love. We have the choice, we can deny His love and walk away, we can accept His love and keep for ourselves or we can accept His love and share it with other people. I would have to say that the last option there is the perfect way to be a steward for God. So my challenge to each of you today is to decide how are you going to use the love or the talents that God has blessed you with are you going to be the one that steps out and reaches out to change a life forever? It just takes one, are you ready?