The phrase “Here I am” appears 24 times throughout scripture. All but one occurrence takes place in the Old Testament. Eight times it appears in Genesis in the story of the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Five of its appearances are found in the story of Samuel’s calling in the temple in I Samuel 3.
This statement, by nature, is a response.
But it is also, by nature, an unnecessary statement.
Let me explain.
When someone asks you where you are or says something to you and your response is, “Here I am”, you are not telling anyone anything they couldn’t have said themselves. To say, “Here I am”, is to say, “I am here”, but of course you cannot be anywhere other than where you are. So you see, the answer itself is not useful in giving your location. Furthermore, in most of these stories the speaker was responding to God. God did not need help finding them. So why is this response significant?
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We live in a culture that does everything it can to change the statement from “Here I am” to “There I am”. Whether it is our compulsive need to live inside the world wide web or simply our desire to know what is next and be there, we struggle to be present.
I see this in almost every conversation I have with students. We have created a culture that forces our students to constantly focus on what is next. Where are you going to college? Where are you going to work? Who are you going to marry? Are you going to live here or there? High School has essentially become a launching pad to the future, focused solely on getting students to the next stage.
Please don’t hear what I’m not saying. It is obvious that High School should prepare us for the rest of our lives, but what I want to suggest is that we have created a system that is willing to sacrifice experiences now for what you will be doing then.
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One of the more difficult stories involving “Here I Am” takes place in Genesis 22. The story starts with God calling to Abraham, and Abraham responds by saying, “Here I am”. God was not asking where Abraham was, he simply called his name. Yet Abraham felt it necessary to respond by stating his location.
Here is the significance of Abraham’s response. Abraham was present. Abraham was “here”.
He was not throwing on his coat, preparing for God to send him somewhere else.
He wasn’t getting his passport so he could go to another country.
He wasn’t waiting until he received his education or “grew up” a little more.
Abraham was present, ready for the task God had for him in that very really moment and in that very real location.
What if we responded to God right now? What if we served God right here? What does it look like for God to use me as I am and where I am, instead of assuming he needs to fix me and my circumstances before He could find a use for me.
Forgive me if this has gotten long, but this is the fuel behind our “trip” this summer.
At the end of our trip to Nicaragua we as a team shared the same thought: “This is great and we love being here, but how can we do this at home?” I fully believe that God is stirring the hearts of our ministry to love and heal the city we call home. We are creating partnerships with people who are way ahead of us in this work. We are building relationships that we hope will last beyond a single week of ministry work. We hope these relationships can allow us to continue to spread the Kingdom of God here in Dayton.
So this year’s experience is not so much about “there”, although “there” is good too. But this year we want to focus on “here”, because “here” is, after all, where we are.
I truly feel the Spirit of God calling our ministry and our church, let our response be “Here I am”.
2017 New Heights Go Trip Details:
Location: Dayton
Dates: July 14-22
Price: $500
Applications are available at Washington Heights and are due February 1 with a $50 deposit.
Please feel free to contact Josh Tuttle with questions.
