Keeping a Sense of Urgency

by Brad Mowry

“I urge you, Timothy, as we live in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus (whose coming in power will judge the living and the dead), to preach the Word of God. Never lose your sense of urgency, in season or out of season…” 2 Timothy 4:2 (PHILLIPS)

Sometimes I wonder why I am doing this: for over 20 years I have given my life to reaching teenagers. I have spent countless hours at schools, watching football games, playing video games, going to camp, and so on.

It gets hard sometimes, but by God’s grace he gives me clear reminders that what we are doing matters and how urgent the need is for kids to hear about Jesus. The latest glimpse of the urgency of our mission came while I was at Rockbridge – a Young Life camp.

I was at Rockbridge for our Capernaum camps; two weeks of camp with 373 campers with disabilities, 152 buddies, and 205 leaders would roll through camp in those 2 weeks.

With about 200 kids with disabilities in camp, a camper from my area was having issues with seizures near the end of our second week of camp. Michael (not his name) is being raised by his grandfather and was a classmate of my daughter, Hannah, when we first moved to Pennsylvania in 2009. We sent Michael to the hospital to be safe, and all turned out fine in the end.

At the same time we were dealing with Michael, my wife, Melissa, had been following the story of a young girl, Faith, who went to the school Hannah attended when we lived in Maryland. It is a school for kids with special needs and many of the kids have multiple disabilities. Faith’s mother posted updates about her declining health. Doctors had told her that Faith wouldn’t live to be 10 years old, but shortly after we put Michael in an ambulance - at midnight on August 16, Faith turned 10. At 12:21 she passed away.

My first thought is for her family and the loss and mourning they will endure. My second thought is that on the day that Faith passed away, I am glad that I was at Rockbridge, telling kids like her about Jesus.

At the close of a meeting the next morning someone prayed and said, “…someday we’ll see many of these kids in heaven…” I told the team Faith’s story, and agreed that we will see many of them in heaven, but they will likely get there before we do. This population can be fragile and life expectancy is shorter. It makes the urgency of what we are doing palpable.

It makes me want to continue as so many more kids need to hear the greatest news ever, and time is running out.

Paul told Timothy in the verse above to preach the gospel and never lose a sense of urgency. The Message translates it this way: “Challenge, warn, and urge your people. Don’t ever quit. Just keep it simple.”

Life is short and fragile. I don’t want to lose a sense of urgency about the need to get this message to our friends while we still can.
Don’t. Ever. Quit.