DAY 5 | THE SENDING
The Road Home Is Not Backward
Joshua 3:5 | Isaiah 43:18–19 | Philippians 3:13–14
You’re going home today. MEH. : /
BUT – before you do, you need to hear this:
Going home is not going backward.
It is one of the oldest tricks after a week like this.
You have a real encounter with God in a specific place, at a specific moment, with specific people. And when you leave that place, … some quiet voice tells you that you’re leaving the encounter behind too.
- That God lives at 220.
- That the Holy Spirit has a zip code.
- That which was true at the altar somehow becomes less true in the car on the way home, and almost nostalgic by Monday.
That is a lie, and you need to know it before you get on the bus.
Joshua 3:5 says: “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
This was not spoken inside a sanctuary; it was spoken on the bank of the Jordan River to a people who had been wandering for forty years and were about to step into something they had only been promised.
The word tomorrow in this text is not vague.
It means next.
The very next step.
The wonders don’t stop at “the conference gate”
The wonders don’t stay on the campus of Texas Lutheran University … they follow you home.
Isaiah 43:18–19 says something that might feel counterintuitive on the last day of a week like this: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
THIS IS GREAT NEWS!
- This means that the new thing is NOT behind you—
It is in front of you. - This week was not the destination—
This week was the runway. - The altar is not the finish line—
It is the starting block.
Paul says in Philippians 3:13–14: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal.”
The word straining is athletic language. It describes a runner at full extension, leaning toward the finish line with everything they have. It is not passive. It is not wistful. You don’t drift into the life God has for you.
You press toward it with intention.
What God did this week was real.
- The declaration you wrote.
- The thing you surrendered.
- The gift that was named over you.
- The moment on Wednesday night.
- The word that found you in worship when you weren’t expecting it.
All of it is real, and all of it is going home with you. Because the Holy Spirit does not stay at camp. He lives in you—and He is going home.
This is not the end of a good week; this is the beginning of a different life. And the road home is not backward — it is the first step of everything that comes next.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- What is the one thing God said to you this week that you absolutely cannot leave behind? Say it out loud or write it down before this day goes any further.
- What is the most common reason people leave a conference changed and come home the same? What is your specific plan to resist that in your own life this week?
- Isaiah 43:19 says God is doing a new thing — and then asks, “Do you not perceive it?” What new thing do you sense God doing in your life that you haven’t fully recognized yet?
- Joshua 3:5 connects consecration with what God is about to do. What does it look like to live a consecrated life when you’re back in your normal environment — at school, at home, in your relationships?
- Who are you going to tell about this week before Sunday? Not the whole story — just one thing God did. And when, specifically, are you going to tell them?
