Two bags…

12 years ago, I purchased the bag on the left. I’ve always carried some sort of bag to take all of the necessary items that a youth minister might need on any given trip. If I started the list, you wouldn’t have time to read everything that was carried in this bag.

12 years.

Countless miles, various computers, only one Bible has been in there, and it’s been recovered since then. Snacks, cameras, medical supplies, yes, it’s all been in there.

12 years.

Other than my Bible being the constant item in this bag, there has been one other thing That I have carried each year.

The parental forms of each youth group member, and guest that have been on the various trips has been in that bag. Yes, hundreds maybe even 1000 different names forms have been in this bag. They have traveled from Mexico to Arizona to all over Central America to the south eastern portion of the United States. Hundreds of thousands of miles this bag has been and those names have been in this bag.

Each one of those names have been and are precious to me even to this day.

The new bag on the right

Doesn’t look much different than the other one other than the fact that it’s not battered in worn out like the one on the left. It’s new! It’s ready! It’s now ready for its journeys in this life. Yes, I will carry the names of the precious souls in this bag. I will carry my word of God in this bag. I will make it work harder than the bag on the left.

So yes, I’ve got a new bag I hope this bag gets the hundreds of thousands of miles serving the Lord, like the bag on the left.

When I die, let me die in the service of my Lord as the old song says.