On occasions my wife and I are able to take a camping trip in our motorhome. Most of the time it is with our children and grandchildren and the memories made are tremendous. These trips are always special because we not only have special family time but we meet others that we haven’t seen before and may never see again after we leave our campsite.
Recently we had the opportunity of spending an entire week in the Georgia Mountains. My oldest grandson had a ball tournament and not only did we make new acquaintances, we got to see some of our old friends we had made earlier at ball tournaments.
Being around people you know makes it easy to share your faith in Christ, however some of these people you have been around only a few days, maybe a few hours, is more difficult because you never know how they are going to receive the good news. Regardless of where we are or where we go, we are going to find the opportunity to tell someone about Jesus.
I have found out that most of the people that we come in contact with have a personal relationship with Christ and welcome the conversation that is brought up. On these camping trips I have found very few, if any, non-believers or outright atheists. There may have been some agnostics along the way, but none of them would challenge our conversation or shun us from being neighborly.
Spending seven days next to a couple from Pennsylvania but now lives in Georgia has been a real treat. These two have been very gracious, helpful, polite, and desirous of our friendship. My wife and I really hated to see the week end because of our new friends knowing that we may not cross paths again. They left a day earlier than we did and it was hard to look at the empty spot next to us.
This is the way life is. We have people come into our lives and then leave and for many of us it leaves a hole in our heart for a while. This creates a feeling of loneliness but we know in our heart that the Lord will provide for the future. We will make new friends when we go camping again and we will keep the fond memories of friends we made while camping in Georgia. So it is with our loved ones and friends that we are around most of our lives. When these leave it usually is through death and we know for sure that we will never be reunited while on earth.
However we as Christians know for sure that one day we will be reunited with all of those that have gone before us and now lives with Jesus in eternity. The loneliness of losing a friend or a family member may linger with us for a while but we need to remember what our Lord told us in Mark 16:15; “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
It is my hope that someday we will see our friends that we made during our week long camping trip again and if we do it will be a great joy. For those of us that have lost loved ones we know for sure we will see them again when we go home to be with the Lord also.
GARY ANDREWS' devotional appears each week on the Church Pages of your Clarksdale Press Register. You can contact him at GARY@gadevotionals.com
