Whatever Happened to, "I want to re-dedicate my life."?

I LOVE summer.  I cannot begin to list all the things I like about summer.  But, one of those is that I am always reminded of a ton of childhood memories.  At the very center or peak of summer childhood memories is "Church Camp".  That was in the days before there was Piano Camp, Computer Camp, and all the myriad sports camps.  There was just church camp and everybody went...not just those that went to church....every kid went to somebody's church camp.  Our church always took up an offering for those who could not afford to go or their parents might not be willing to pay for them to go.

One of the things that happened at Church Camp was an invitation each night.  A main component of those invitations was often the exhortation that we needed to re-dedicate our lives.  I and friends of mine have laughed and joked about some of those invitations that were along the lines of, "If you love your mama and don't hate your daddy, you need to come forward."  I don't hear those type invitations any more....but I am sure they are still being offered somewhere.  After we had re-dedicated our lives at camp, we were told at the end of the week that we needed to make our decision public when we got home.  So, on the first Sunday night after camp, our youth group would go forward and "re-dedicate our lives".  I even remember the pastor saying one night after we had done that, "Now, I know you think why do they do this every year, but it is important to them."

One year when I was in about the eighth grade the invitation was to come forward and promise to read the Bible every day.  I went forward.  A junior high boy promised to read his Bible every day.  No big deal.  Except, I have never forgotten that.  Oh, I have missed lots of days in these many, many years following.  I even missed one day this week when I left the house way earlier than usual.  If I am honest, some days I don't get much out of my reading...it's just part of what I do every day.  But, some days there is a verse that God must have just put in there the night before for me to read that day.  Wow!

Some years later in my adult days, I was speaking for the morning Bible study at our state wide camp.  Students had been responding to the morning study especially well and the camp director asked for the invitation that night if I would stand at the head of the center aisle and receive students coming forward.  The first student who came forward said, "I want to re-dedicate my life." I said, "Great, what do you want to change or do?"  He said, "I just want to re-dedicate."  I clogged up the line that night asking students making re-dedications to indicate a specific area of change or commitment.  Many did.

For a variety of reasons good and bad, we don't talk much about "re-dedicating" these days.  I hope we find some new expression of this.  I am glad a young boy went forward at a little dinky church camp (that probably should have been condemned by the health department) and re-dedicated his life with the promise to read the Bible every day.  Let's never take lightly the decisions and re-dedications that children, youth and college students make. Maybe we need to start talking about "re-dedicating" again.

I probably could use a good "re-dedication" in my life today!