This week, we have a special series for our First Word Blog.
For Summers 2005 and 2006, Program Director Jessica “Shadow” Bordeleau created a series of first-person devotions sharing the perspective of different people from the Bible and their interactions with Jesus. Campers would go on a “Jesus Walk” one of their nights at camp and hear from different counselors acting out biblical characters who would tell “their” story to the campers. Here is how that night was introduced to campers:
Tonight is a special devotion. You will go on a journey to see Jesus. You will travel from fire to fire looking for Jesus. You will be led in songs the entire way. You will sing as you walk from fire to fire. One you get to a fire you will sit quietly on the benches and wait to see what will happen. Your journey begins now! Remember you are looking for Jesus.
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Jairus’ Daughter - Mark 5:21-43
What happens when you die? Where do you go? Maybe you never thought about dying, after all you’re young, most people don’t die until they are old, right? I used to think that – until I got sick.
It wasn’t very long ago, just after my twelfth birthday I got more sick than I had ever been before. You know what it’s like to get sick. You stay in bed for the day, wishing you could feel better. Your head hurts and your stomach turns over and over. There is nothing even your mom can do to help – you just have to wait for your body to get better. But I never got better. I was in bed for days and days. All I ever did was lay there and ache and hurt. The pain just wouldn’t go away. My parents started getting worried. The doctors came and left, but nothing they did helped.
I was so sick that everything is a jumble in my head. I remember being hot, burning with fever. Mom would sit by my bed and put cool rags on my forehead as I slipped in and out of consciousness… I kept praying that God would take away the pain. I felt so weak. I remember Mom and Dad talking about a teacher who had healed people, a rabbi named Jesus. Dad wanted to go get him, but mom didn’t want him to leave. She told him to send a servant so he could stay with me, but he said “No, I need to ask him myself, I need to go.”
What happened next I don’t remember, Mom told me that Dad ran into town. He searched until he found the teacher. Dad fell down at Jesus’ feet, and begged him to come to our house. I can’t imagine MY dad crying and pleading...but he did for me. He loved me so much that he put his face in the dirt in front of all those people. He told Jesus that I was going to die and that if only He would come to my house and just put His hands on me I would be all right.
Jesus began to follow Dad to my house, but the streets were so full of people coming to be healed and listen to Jesus that they couldn’t get through. People kept coming to Jesus and touching Him and trying to be near him. By the time my Dad found him it was too late. You see, right after Dad left the house… I died. I WAS DEAD....
Someone sent a neighbor to tell him to leave Jesus alone – that it was too late, that he was wasting Jesus’ time because I was already dead.
I can’t tell you what happened between that time and my next memory. I can only say that I heard a strong, yet gentle voice. I drifted back with the sound of that voice in my ears. “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” I opened my eyes to see a man looking at me. He looked at me as though He knew me.
As I held His hand, He helped me stand up. I had been in bed for so long that I forgot what it was like to stand and not feel dizzy. My Mother ran towards me and held me as she rocked back and forth, crying. She kept saying, “Thank you teacher, thank you.” Everyone in the room was amazed, some were crying with joy, others stared at me as if they didn’t believe it. I looked around for my Dad – he was kneeling down… at Jesus’ feet… sobbing.
How can I thank my father for bringing Jesus to me? He humbled himself to bring God near to me. Just like Jesus humbled Himself to bring God near to all of us. I can’t explain with words how I feel about Jesus, about what He gave me. My soul, which is all that I truly am inside, will never die because JESUS DIED FOR ME. He defeated death! We don’t need to fear it anymore. He has the power over death. Yes, our bodies will die...but by grace through faith in Jesus we will live again! We will live forever with Him!