Welcome to the week of hope. My name is joy and I will be leading our programs right here in blank, during our days together in blank. An exciting week is ahead and it will be a thrilling ride. Our prayer is that you're ready to dive in, be bold, and step out of your comfort zone as we work together to serve the people of this community. If this is your first time at a group mission trip, you may be feeling all the emotions, excited, scared, nervous, you name it. But as I look back on my own life when I have taken on a new challenge, that is when I have grown the most as a person, as well as in my faith. So this week can transform you in many ways. I can't wait to see what God has in store for all of us. Our camp theme this year is forged. It is such a cool theme because it will take us on a circular journey from hope to hope with lots of twists and turns along the way. We'll be talking a lot about how God is always working in and through us to shape us into the people he created us to be. Just as a metalworkers forges a piece of metal, God uses heat- the suffering we experience in our lives- to soften us, shape us, and mold us. But I don't want to get ahead of myself. We have several days to unpack what it means to be forged by God. Trust me this is a week you'll never forget. Later tonight you will learn all about your crews and the projects you've been assigned to. But I want to remind you of another way we will be helping this community. At the end of the week we will have built relationships with our partner organizations and performed hours of community service. But we'll be leaving something else behind too. Before you all arrived here in blank. We asked out local coordinator what resources the residents of this community desperately needed. Canned food? diapers? cleaning supplies? Based on their feedback we're collecting blank for blank. I can see we've already gotten started. You will have until Thursday evening to add your gifts to the pile that will be growing in blank. Feel free to add donations to the pile anytime. I will keep you posted on more specific requests as the week goes on. That is what this week is all about, working together to serve. This community gift represents love from different parts of the country, different churches, different faith traditions. But this week isn't about what makes us different. It's about how Jesus unites us to serve all God's people. Not only at our project sites, but here at the lodging facility and throughout this community. We hope the spirit of serving becomes a way of life and a attitude you take home with you at week's end.

The hope we just talked about in that activity is what I like to call a cross your fingers kind of hope. It represents dreams and wishes that we have about the coming days. The hope I want to talk about tonight though is the Hope of God. The hope of God isn't a wish or a dream, its confidence in who God is and what God and can do. Its knowing we can trust God and that he wants our lives to be filled with goodness. It's important that you understand what the Hope of God is because that is what we'll be talking about tonight. This week you'll be sharing your own life story. and although we will be looking at the rough times we've experienced, our journey will begin and end with hope. I guess you could call it a circular journey from hope to hope. But buckle up because this journey isn't smooth. Along the way we'll experience how God uses the difficult times to shape us into the people he created us to be. Our suffering activates a process that make us stronger, softens our edges, deepens our capacity to love others, and stirs a sense of gratitude for God's goodness. Throughout the week I'll be sharing a story of my own with you. It's about a time in my life when I have suffered. Each morning I'll share a little bit more about what I went through. But tonight, I want to tell you what my life was like before my suffering started. During that time in my life I was filled with hope, but I didn't know what was coming. I'll tell you more about my journey throughout the week. As I said, the journey wasn't smooth. I don't want to give away the ending of my story before I even start, but know this. It starts and ends with the hope of God. ..... The concept of forging seems a little backwards. Usually when you think of strength, you don't think of something being softened. But when metal is heated and shaped, it actually becomes stronger. Something about heating the metal changes it in a fundamental way and makes it possible for the metalworker to create something new and stronger than the original raw material. That's the same way God works on us. God forges us in faith when we face difficult times in our life. When things heat up, we feel like we're facing fire. That is when God steps in and uses that heat to transform us. That's what we'll be talking about all week. It's what we'll learn by sharing our stories each day. And through it all, we will discover what paul means when he says we will glory in our suffering. It's a message of hope and I am so grateful of what God will do through us this week.

Last night, right before you met with your crews, I shared about a time in my life when things were going really well. Sometimes those are the moments when life tends to go from really good to really bad. You're probably thinking why are we starting off the week of hope like this. Well we have a reason. This story that I am sharing is all about how I learned my own suffering has meaning. God saw me through the toughest moments in my life and forged something lasting in me. That's a bit of a spoiler. But I hope you come each morning expecting to hear what God did for me and can do for you. ...... Our suffering can sometimes feel so intense that we can't stand the heat, just like that metal almost fell apart. We too get pushed to the edge. So lets define suffering before we move on. Think of a few times when you, your family, or your friends had to suffer through something. It may be a long term illness, the loss of a home in a natural disaster, like a tornado or hurricane, the death of a loved one, or even a divorce. Suffering can also be personal to the point where no one else knows except you... the aftermath of a breakup, not getting the part in a play, getting passed over for a spot on the team. Disappointments, frustrations, and the agony of feeling alone are all types of suffering as well. Suffering takes all forms. It can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. I know what you're thinking, how can you compare the loss of a loved one to not getting picked? But that's the thing. We won't compare our experiences, we will share them. Because we all have something to learn from one another. During the next few moments, think of several incidents that have caused suffering in your life. Then turn to page blank in your mission handbook and write down two or three of them. You won't have the space to write down the whole story, but a few words or sentence will do. Make sure to give a rough estimate of how long ago this incident occurred. I know this is a rough way to start camp, but i want to remind you of my words a few minutes ago, our suffering has meaning. ..... In at least one of those moments of suffering that you experienced, I hope you'll realize that God is turning what was a rough moment into an experience that brought you hope in him. God has a way of doing that. God does incredible and unexpected things, usually when we least expect them. I can't wait to see what God shows all of us this week.

Yesterday we talked a lot about hope. The hope that your brought with you to camp. The hope that you'll make friends, have a great project to work on, and have a fantastic week. Most of our lives we exist in that kind of state, looking forward and anticipating good things. But sometimes life throws us a curveball, sweeping us out of a season of hope into a season of suffering. Keep that in mind tonight as you hear the scripture reading. Invite someone up The passage we just heard from describes an encounter Jesus had with a man who had leprosy. I want to talk to you about the significance of this brief episode. First, you need to understand what leprosy is and why it was so frightening for people who lived when this event took place. Leprosy is an infectious skin disease that causes severe nerve damage. People with leprosy have arms and legs covered in horrible disfiguring sores and scabs. In the time of Jesus, Lepers- what people with leprosy were called- were required to isolate from the rest of the community. By law they had to wear torn clothes, hang their hair loose and messy, and cover the lower part of their faces. As lepers approached people they had to shout unclean to let the others know they were infected. That's why people steered clear of lepers. People fear them, avoided them, and I'm sure judged them. Back then, everyone thought leprosy was a result of people's evil thoughts and actions- a physical representation of sin. The suffering that lepers experienced went way beyond physical. They were stripped of their humanity and dignity. Understand that when Jesus reacts with compassion to the lepers request for healing, that is a bold move. I'm not sure if Jesus was breaking the law exactly, but he for sure was breaking convention. By simply touching the man, Jesus challenges the stigma surrounding people with leprosy. He makes it clear to everyone around him that a diseased person is a child of God. The people had never seen that kind fearless acceptance and validation. Jesus doesn't condemn the leper for his sickness or pain. He doesn't turn away or judge him. And Jesus doesn't tell the leper to just tough it out. Instead, Jesus reaches out in the presence of the Leper's greatest suffering and touches him. He remains with him and with compassion heals him. ..... Just as Jesus recognizes and validates the leper's suffering in our scripture passage, Jesus- the wonderful Counselor in our drama- doesn't judge or condemn the students who come to him with their suffering, He doesn't tell them to just hang in there or to get over it. Jesus sits, listens, and suffers right along with each person. Imagine the leper before he contracted the disease. I'm sure he was a contributing member of his community. We don't know his details, but let's imagine he was preparing to get married and start a family. He was a living in a state of hope. And then he got sick, and everything changed. The students in our drama were all in states of suffering; however, it's easy to imagine them feeling hopeful before things took a bad turn. Before the team roster was announced, before the student became overwhelmed with worry, before life was so painful no words could describe it. Nobody gets through life without difficulty. And when you're going through a really tough time, it feels like you're being torn down. The hope you previously felt can seem so far away. When your life moves from Hope to Suffering, that can be a dark time. This morning you did some journaling about a time in your life when you suffered. And you'll continue to write about that throughout the week. But remember: Our journey begins and ends with hope. Suffering is a stop along your circular journey... but it's not where it ends. We have a savior who understand our pain. Jesus knows about every wound and scar we carry, and he reaches out to us with compassion and hope. I promise you: God doesn't want us to remain in a state of suffering. But God will never waste our difficult experiences. God uses our suffering to Forge us and prepare us for whatever we face. When we come out the other side of a season of suffering, God fills us with purpose and new energy to help others. God sees to it that our suffering transforms us. You'll talk more about that in your youth group devotions later. but for now, I want to make sure you understand a couple of things. You suffering doesn't define you, and it doesn't lesson your value as a child of God. God will use the heat of suffering to soften your heat and make you more compassionate and Christlike. Your suffering is valid. Whatever you're going through, if you're hurting, God cares. If something matters to you, it matters to God. I'm so grateful for how God works.

And that's what our theme is today: Suffering produces Perseverance. Yesterday we watched the first step in the forging process, which was heating and melting, this represented our suffering. Now, let's watch this clip to see how shaping and hammering requires persistence to create the final project. Wow! That looks like a lot of work. I think that is where the phrase- strike while the iron is hot comes from. You have to be ready while the metal is hot and you have to be willing to stay at it until the metal starts to take shape. Sometimes people confuse patience with perseverance. But there's a difference. Patience is greatly quality. It requires tolerance and an ability to stay calm as you wait for something to happen. Patience involves waiting. And truly patient person will face the wait with grace. Perseverance, on the other hand, is more than waiting; it requires Work. You need determination and diligence to persevere through something. You must be willing to continue working even though things get rough. Open your mission handbook to the journal section and continue exploring your own story. Prompts are there to help you. Write about your experience with suffering and you may start to see God building a spirit of perseverance in you. Go ahead and write for a couple minutes. You may be familiar with our scripture this morning. Some people hear that Jesus is visiting their town. They're determined to take their paralyzed friend to see Jesus to be healed. The group runs into some difficulty but perseveres. The people from our scripture today- the people who lowered their paralyzed friend through the roof- are great examples of perseverance. Think about it. They have to carry a paralyzed friend. That's no small thing. When they arrive at the house, they find a crowd that's unwilling to let them through. And I get that. Cutting in line isn't cool. Even when the friends figure out the best way in, busting through that roof couldn't have been easy. If the roof was strong enough to support them all, then it was solid. And I wonder... How did they get the paralyzed person up on the roof? How did they lower the person down without dropping them? When you think about everything it took for those friends to be successful, it's easy yo understand how important perseverance is. When you struggle to find your way through an extra challenging problem, you can't give in or give up. The friends from our scripture story had perseverance. But where did that strength and determination come from? Each of those friends brought with them strength and compassion built from suffering. God used their life experiences to prepare them for that day. The same is true for you and me. When we face tough times, God uses those experiences and makes us stronger for the next time we suffer. God forges us and shapes us while we're softened so that when we come through the suffering, we're ready to persevere. Physical, mental, and emotional strengths are gifts that God provides. And as we saw the friends, we achieve more when we combine our efforts. God wants you to roll up your sleeves and face whatever problem is in front of you. And remember, God designed us to be together as we grow in perseverance.

Today we are talking all about character. How in the world does character relate to the forging process. I'm not sure but let's take a look. Our piece of metal has been heated, shaped, and now cooled so it can be prepared to be useful. It's not the most glamorous part of the process but the quenching and cooling process reveals the true character or shape of what we have created. What comes to mind when you think about character? Don't get this confused with your favorite Super-hero, HGTV Personality, or Heroine in that book series you follow with every new release. We are talking about who you are when no one is watching. That is your character. First, maybe we should define what character is. Character traits reflect who you are deep in your core. Character isn't determined by how other people see you. It's the truth of who you are, and it's the result of the choices you make. Good character isn't about what you look like or how other people might perceive you. It's who you are. Inside. When I experienced blank, at times I thought I'd never feel happy or at peace again. Some of those days felt so long. But the more I kept working toward my goal of holding onto the hope of God, the more I felt God at work in me. Going through blank changed me. I could feel myself becoming more patient, more compassionate, stronger. I know firsthand that God uses perseverance to build good character in us. Sometimes it takes a while to really see it or feel it, but it does happen. ..... That game was a great example of how hard it can be to tell what's real. And that applies to much more than just cake. It can be tough to figure out people, too. Have you ever misjudged somebody's character... only to realize you were all wrong about them? I know I have. In this morning's scripture passage, we encounter Peter and the disciples in a boat. Jesus has gone off to pray and sent them ahead. A storm is brewing, and the disciples became afraid. Jesus comes to them, walking on the water, and they think it's a ghost. Jesus tells them not to fear- and Peter responds. People often use the Bible passage as an example of what happens when you don't have enough faith. You sink like peter when he looked away from Jesus. When Peter loses his focus on Jesus as he walks on the water toward him, it's a rough moment. Peter sinks. I'm sure he felt like he disappointed Jesus. But that single moment when Peter looks away doesn't determine the quality of his character. You see, our character is the product of much more than a single moment in time. Let's not focus on the moment Peter sinks. Instead, let's celebrate the moment when Peter steps out of the boat. Talk about courage and faith. Those are qualities that truly define Peter's character: courage and faith. Consider this: What else do we know about Peter besides his momentary failure? We know that one day Peter was out fishing... and the next he gave up his while life to follow and serve Jesus. After Peter accepted Jesus' invitation to be a disciple, he worked to support Jesus and grow the Christian church. Those are character-defining moments. Like Peter, you've probably had missteps in your faith journey. I know I have. But you're here now, being the hands and feet of Jesus. You chose to spend a week of your summer vacation living outside your comfort zone in this place away from home. You weren't discouraged by the fact that you'd be sleeping on the floor, eating in a cafeteria, and working hard all day in the summer sun. The quality of your character is reflected in everything you're doing here. That's the truth. Following Jesus doesn't require you to be perfect. We all make bad moves sometimes. We fail and fall... and God sees it all and loves us through it. You can't fool God. You can't hide your true character from the one who created you. Clever cakemakers may be able to fake us out sometimes, but we can't trick God into believing we're someone we're not. Isn't that incredible? God knows you- the real you. And God loves the real, imperfect, amazing person you are. What a gift! Before you head off to your project sites, take a look at your washer. See how it has changed since you first received it. Much like you, your washer shows signs of wear from our time here. It's still the same raw material, but it continues to be transformed. Today, add something to your washer. Tie something to it. Attach something. Use your imagination. Maybe you'll add a rubber band, a sticker, a paper clip, or a piece of string. Your devo kit has a few items you can use. Or maybe you have an even better idea. It's up to you. Use this as an opportunity to express who you are. You can attach something you brought with you or something you find here at camp. Get creative, and help each other if anyone's struggling to find something to attach.

It's been such a privilege to hear so many of your stories this week. You've shared your struggles and suffering with me and with one another as we learn the details of your personal journey. Thank you so much for being open to what God is doing in your life here at camp. Thank you for listening to my story. Just telling it to all of you has helped me realize how important it is to share your story. Even though it's difficult to revisit a time when I suffered, I can see how God used my struggles to help others. I recognize that who I am today is built on what I learned when facing the fire. I'm more... And knowing that suffering is just a season, not a destination? That fills me with hope. I can see how God uses me to help others as they face pain and suffering. But I can be helpful only if I'm willing to share what I went through. Think of it this way: Suffering- it happens. perseverance- the plan to get through it. Character- how god shapes us in it. Hope- what we know God will do from the experience of it. The blacksmith knew what he wanted to create before he started but he had to take the metal through each stage of the process including the finishing details. There is no shortcut to forging a piece of metal and there is no shortcut to you becoming everything God created you to be. When you have confidence in God, your outlook, your conversations, and your actions change. It's in that moment that the pain, frustration, hurt, disappointment, struggle... ultimately your suffering reveals its purpose in your life: To be able to Help someone else going through suffering. ...... Today is about how Character produces hope. Remember back on Sunday, I told you we were going on a circular journey- one that starts and ends with hope. Tonight we're coming full circle. much like the sisters in the drama we just watched. The story of Mary and Martha- the sisters of Lazarus- shows what can happen when you go through suffering but don't lose faith. The three siblings had been very close friends of Jesus. Imagine how good life was for them as they grew closer to Jesus through the years. I imagine them hanging out together, sharing meals and conversations. I picture them laughing and crying together, sharing meals and conversations. I picture them laughing and crying together. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus witnessed Jesus healing people and performing miracles. They had seen firsthand how Jesus impacted the people all around him. Then Lazarus became sick. And the family felt afraid and helpless. But they knew Jesus and trusted him. And that gave them hope. So even during a dark and difficult time, we see the strength of their character and the depth of their faith: First, when Lazarus becomes sick. Their initial response is to turn TO Jesus. They believe he will come help them. They choose to believe. Second, when Martha tells Mary that Jesus has arrived. Mary chooses to run TO Jesus. She doesn’t turn her back on Jesus or get lost in her anger. Her faith is strong enough that she feels hopeful even though Lazarus has died. Third, in the way both sisters tell Jesus the truth about how they feel. They express their honest confusion and disappointment about how long Jesus took to come see them in their suffering. They don’t pretend. The way they confront Jesus about his lateness shows us the kind of honesty Jesus wants from all of us. Imagine the joy they felt as Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are transformed by what happens. They are already faithful believers, but they discover there’s always room for even deeper faith. You see, while they waited for Jesus to arrive and heal Lazarus, they assumed that Jesus’ absence meant he wasn’t DOING anything to help them. We’re all guilty of that at times. We want God to work according to OUR timeline. Come. Help me NOW. Right NOW. I’m scared right NOW. I need you right NOW. I promise you: God hears your cries for help. God knows when your heart is breaking. God is already there. And wherever you are in your season of suffering, have hope that God is at work in and through you. Tonight, we invite you to share your whole story with your youth leaders and friends in your youth group. In a minute, I’ll invite you down to the floor/front (whatever works in your space). Find a space where you can sit together as a youth group. If you’re a large group, split into smaller groups. Make sure an adult leader is in each group. One at a time, tell your story. It might be the story you’ve been sharing all week in your journal. Or it might be a different story you feel like telling. Share a time you suffered…and explain where you are on the journey. Are you still suffering? Or do you feel like you’ve moved into a time of perseverance? Is God providing time for you to make important choices that you can say are strengthening your character? Or have you returned to a season of hope? Be honest. If you’re not sure where you are on the journey, let your group and adult leaders help you figure it out. You can share as much as you’re comfortable sharing. Or step beyond your comfort zone and open up even more than you usually would. Maybe you’ll decide you want to share more later with a friend or one of your leaders. It’s up to you. But above all, know that God is on the journey with you. You’re never alone. And your suffering matters to God. After everyone has shared, hold your washers in your hands and pray. Pray for your stories, your journeys, and your constant pursuit of peace and hope. And thank God for always working on us. Thank God for using our struggles to build us into the people he created us to be.

This week we’ve come full circle. Literally. You’ve seen it on the screen. But more importantly, you’ve experienced it by writing in your Mission Handbooks, by sharing in your crew and youth group devotions. Through it all, we hope you realize that God can take the worst SUFFERING in our lives and turn it into a beautiful life experience for us to share with others. Today’s theme is FORGE AHEAD. It’s a little bit of a play on words. This is where we have focused our teaching this week on the process of Forging, creating something useful out of raw material. Let’s take one final look at the forging process. This object was created for a specific purpose-just like you. God has created you for a specific purpose that only you have been designed to fulfill. So now what? God is in the process of doing the first as we do the second. We’re in a constant state of FORGING AHEAD. Our lives aren’t a sprint but a marathon. Life is a race for sure, but it’s one with distance. So when SUFFERING happens, we must PERSEVERE through it, allowing God to use it to shape our CHARACTER, so we can have HOPE when we or someone else close to us faces their own SUFFERING. As you can see, the process is ongoing for our entire lives. Today’s moment to journal is a little different. As you look back to everything you’ve written down this week, which journal entry stands out the most and why? For me it’s… Now it's time for you to answer in your Mission Handbook. First, look over what you’ve written. Take time to examine and write about the ONE that has shaped you the most. Seeing and knowing what God has done in our past helps us FORGE AHEAD. I want to share what might be a familiar Bible verse with you this morning. I hope you understand that you’ve been living God’s word in your life, maybe even without knowing it. The WE, THOSE, and WHO—that’s us. God is working in EVERYTHING for our good. Hopefully you’re realizing that this week. Or, if you already knew that, it’s been reinforced like concrete! God is always at work in us. Sometimes we just need to pause a bit to recognize what he’s doing. And that’s when we find more courage to FORGE AHEAD.

And you’ve done more than that. You’ve built relationships, too. I’ve seen so much of God’s love in the way you’ve connected with the people you served, with your crews, and with your youth groups. I have seen Jesus in all of you. It really has been a great week. Our theme was FORGED, and we’ve spent lots of time exploring how God shapes us throughout our lives. We saw how, like a metalworker uses a forging process to shape metal, God uses the heat of our suffering to soften us so we can be transformed. And through the stages of being forged in faith, we change. Today as we prepare to head home, our theme is FORGE AHEAD. We pray that you are: Prepared for whatever difficulties you’ll encounter in the future, knowing that God walks with you. Ready to persevere through whatever challenges you face. Confident that your strength of character will guide you in making good choices. Equipped with your own story to help others who suffer. Filled with hope, knowing that God will never give up on you. More is coming! So get ready to FORGE AHEAD. Tonight’s Scripture passage is known as the Woman at the Well. It’s perfect for tonight because it’s all about SHARING HOPE. Take a look at this video… At the beginning of the story, the Samaritan woman is hopeless. She feels judged, scorned, and unaccepted in the community. She feels shame because of her past and assumes that nothing better is in her future. But by the end of the passage, the woman is overjoyed. She overflows with hope. I love picturing her running down the road, arms in the air, rushing to tell everyone she met the Messiah. What exactly happened to the woman at the well? Just meeting Jesus is enough to fill a person with joy. But she is transformed when she realizes that Jesus truly KNOWS her. He tells her everything she’s ever done. And Jesus approaches her without judgment. Jesus is there to give the woman hope. He wants her to know that he’s the Messiah. And his plan is to have her shout the news everywhere she goes. The Bible passage about the woman at the well ends this way: The woman FORGES AHEAD with the truth of what she experienced. And many people heard her testimony and believed. I’m sure anybody who knew the Samaritan woman before her encounter with Jesus noticed her undeniable transformation. Her joy. Her hope. Her willingness to say what she’d experienced opened the hearts of many people. It was a first step in them believing that Jesus was the Messiah. Because the people heard about what happened to the woman at the well, they were ready to receive what Jesus had to say. What will it mean for you to FORGE AHEAD with the same kind of enthusiasm the woman had as she left the well? Are you prepared to share the truth of what you experienced this week? When you go home tomorrow, will you be running, filled with joy, eager to share what happened here? Maybe FORGING AHEAD with that kind of energy would feel strange to you. Sharing your faith journey might feel outside your comfort zone. Remember that your story is yours, and God is with you as you FORGE AHEAD. I encourage you: Find a way to share your experience. Maybe you’ll tell one friend. Maybe you’ll sit down and tell your family about the circular journey from hope to hope, and how God uses our suffering to shape us and make us more like Christ. Or maybe as a group you’ll stand in front of your church family and let them know you had an experience here that challenged and changed you. Whatever you do, I pray that you don’t tuck away this whole experience, keep it to yourself, and return to your regular routine. Share your story. It can be a source of God’s hope for the people you tell. Maybe your story will prepare somebody else to receive the truth about Jesus. Speaking of stories, we’ve been sharing specific stories with each other all week. I’ve told you my story about blank. You’ve been writing about your own experiences with suffering, perseverance, character, and hope in your journal every day. And now, I’d like to invite the following campers to come down and share their stories with us. Each of these individuals volunteered to share their stories. I want to thank them for having the faith and courage to share their personal stories from their journals. Open your hearts to what they’ll share. Something you hear tonight may very well be a source of hope for somebody in this room. It may be a source of hope for you. The end of camp week always brings a mix of emotions. Excitement that we finished our projects. Sadness as we say goodbye to new friends. We smile because we know we’ll be heading home to our comfy beds and hot showers. But we feel sad because this adventure is nearly over. However you’re feeling tonight, tomorrow morning you’ll FORGE AHEAD. And before you leave, we want you and your crew to have one final time together. You and your crew have been through a lot. So in a minute, I’ll invite you and your crew to find space to circle up and talk. Spend one minute focusing on each member of your crew, one at a time. When the crew focuses on you, just sit quietly while the rest of the crew affirms you, using the questions on the screen. With any time that remains, chat and enjoy being together one last time as a crew. You’ll have minutes to reminisce, laugh, hug, and celebrate what God has done. Thanks for taking time to encourage each other. Please take the hands of the people beside you. You may have noticed that our cross on the stage has been transformed since last night. At the end of last night’s program, you left your washer hanging on the cross. Those worn, scuffed washers have been replaced by shiny new ones. On your way back to your seat, stop by the cross and take a new washer. Put it around your neck and then take a seat back in the stands. I want to tell you about the washer around your neck. All week we’ve been talking about a circular journey—one that starts with hope and ends with hope. When we all arrived Sunday, one of the first things I talked to you about was the hope we all felt. Hope for a great week, hope for new friendships, and hope for growing in faith. I don’t know what this week’s journey has been like for you. But we want to send you home with hope. That’s why we’re giving you a shiny new washer. After we go through difficult times, God always provides a new start. When you get home, put your new washer somewhere you’ll see it often. Add it to your keychain. Attach it to your backpack. Slip it onto a chain. Or just keep it the way it is now and wear it every day. Whenever you see the new washer, remember that God is with you through every challenge in life. When you face a season of suffering, know that hope and healing will come. God will use that time to shape you, transform you, and make you stronger. And every time you journey around that circle, it prepares you for whatever comes next. That is the promise and goodness of God.