“…if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
“I do not know what lies ahead, the way I cannot see…I do not know how many days of life are mine to spend…I do not know the course ahead, what joys and griefs are there…[but] I know who holds the future and He’ll guide me with his hand.” (Alfred B. Smith & Eugene Clarke)
The end of term is upon us. Indeed, the end of an academic session. What next? Where next? When? How? In my Church we have moved beyond our 128th Anniversary and now contemplate what our 129th year might bring. As Joshua and his people stood on the cusp of a whole new venture, they could not know all that lay ahead. The trials of learning lay behind them and the call of God impelled them to unknown adventures ahead. Wisely, Joshua steadies them and reminds them of the crucial first step beyond the familiar. They cannot “know what lies ahead…how many days…the course ahead what joys and griefs are there.” But they can “know who holds the future.” What next? Where next? When? How? Let us choose this day to take God’s hand as we move into what lies ahead.