I was talking this morning with the man who took my place in the campus ministry I led for 17 years. He asked me how I was feeling with the new school year starting. I admitted to him it was a little surreal after spending the last 38 Augusts gearing up for a new school year of ministry. We talked about the possibilities of me speaking to the students at a few of the large group meeting. I told him that very few would even know who I am.

In college ministry, your relevance to new students is determined if you are there when they arrive. I briefly spoke to our campus ministers’ association this afternoon and there were so many new faces. Even though I had been a part of this group for many years and led it for a couple, to those just starting out, I was just a guy with gray hair who was a stranger. I spoke briefly about what was next for me and then I left. Only a few will miss me and most had no idea who I was or what I did all these years.

As I was thinking about this, these verses in Psalm 103 came to mind: “The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” (vss. 15-16) This is the reality of life, isn’t it? Except for those closest to us, when we are gone, life moves on and few really think about us much. And, if they do, it won’t be for that long. Think of all the cemeteries filled with the remains of people who lived before us. Eventually, almost all of them are forgotten. They are only names on a headstone. Indeed we mortals are much like the grass and flowers. We are planted for a season, flourish for a time, and then the wind of death blows over us and we’re gone. Our memory will remain for a period, but then it will eventually fade away as well. 

If this sounds hopeless, it is not. What is hopeless is to place all our value on our earthly lives, and spend our energy and time trying to create some permanence to them. Often former professional athletes speak this way upon being inducted into their sport’s Hall of Fame, that they will be remembered forever. Not likely. 

If our hope is merely to be recognized and remembered in this life, the rewards of that will be short-lived. A better goal is to be remembered and honored by our Creator. He holds the keys to Eternity and would like nothing better than to welcome each of us into his glorious Kingdom. That is what I am aiming for. 

Though my campus ministry days have come to an end, I still have more to do for my Lord. Though I may not be remembered by the new class of students, I know I will never be forgotten by the One who created me. That is enough to carry me through the remainder of my life, whatever he has for me to do.

© Jim Musser 2021 All Scripture references are from the New International Version, 2011.