Chapel speech: On impending departure.

Originally presented at Luther Junior and Senior High School morning chapel, March 12, 2015.

Downtown Kumamoto, November 2014.

In two weeks, I will leave Kumamoto. In three weeks, I will leave Japan. I have spent 29 months in this country, not once returning to the United States, where I was born.

Leaving your home country is always a scary thing. It was for me, even though I wanted to come to Japan, and I was excited to start teaching at Luther and serve in a Japanese church. But I didn't know anyone in Japan. I had no friends here, and certainly no family.

Happily, in the two years I've been here, that fact has changed. At Luther, God has blessed me with kind fellow teachers, wonderful students, and even some new friends. In many ways, the people in Kumamoto have become my family, and that makes me sad to leave.

One of the most wonderful qualities of God is omnipresence, which means that God is "present everywhere." God promises to never leave us, and to always be close when we call on Him. In the Psalms, the author writes about how amazing God's love is: "If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast," the author says (Psalm 139:8-10).

Why is it wonderful that God is with us everywhere? Because God loves us. That is an unshakable truth. He is our Creator and Heavenly Father; we belong to him and he longs for us to be with him. Unfortunately, we humans don't always believe that this is the case. Have you ever felt unlovable? Have you ever done something or said something that you were so ashamed of, or just felt so ashamed of who you are, that you just wanted to crawl into a big, deep, dark hole and never come out? I have—many times.

Here's the wonderful truth, though: even in those times, when we're so ashamed of what we've done or of who we are, God is right there next to us. He longs for us to be near Him, to show us compassion and love us, and for us to love Him, too. And no amount of shame can erase that love for us. Rather, God's love is more than enough to erase all our shame, no matter how much.

I'm going to try to keep that truth in my heart as I journey back over the Pacific in a few weeks. I pray that you will know and receive God's love in your hearts as well. Thank you for these two years.

Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you that you never stop loving us. Help us to know your love for us, and to respond to it by loving You.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)