Desert.
The far side of the desert makes me thirsty.
Thirsty for shelter.
Thirsty for refuge.
Thirsty for hope.
See, “the far side of the desert” is language early in the story of Moses and let-my-people-go in the Old Testament book of Exodus.
It’s a fascinating story fundamental to two major world religions, Judaism and Christianity.
But out of everything that could possibly strike me about the story of Moses and let-my-people-go, the part that jumps out to me is the language in the third chapter of Exodus simply translated as “the far side of the desert.” (NIV)
Not Moses in the baby basket and the crocodile infested Nile that kids are taught in Sunday School, and not the preceding politically motivated massacre that is most certainly absent in those same abridged lessons.
Not the princess and the Pharaoh and Moses’ miraculous escape and his royal life, and not brave Mariam or the steely birth mother who was featured as Moses’ wet nurse.
Not Moses the murderer, not Moses the fugitive, not Moses of the plagues, and not Moses as Charlton Heston and the famous Red Sea parting.
Just “the far side of the desert” Moses, the burning bush part of Moses’ biography and the plot twist between his royal life, his life on the lam and, ultimately, a long-suffering journey with God in whom Moses mostly - sometimes begrudgingly - places his faith.
The far side of the desert speaks to me.
Maybe it speaks to you, too.
Maybe you’re experiencing a major plot twist in your own life right now.
Maybe the plot twist in your life is a relationship.
Maybe it’s a legal mess or a financial situation.
Maybe your plot twist is a medical diagnosis, or maybe it's an addiction, or a loss, or a grief that threatens to consume you.
I don’t know what your plot twist is, but I’m willing to bet my lunch money that you can name it without blinking.
And that your trip to the far side of the desert makes you thirsty, too.
Thirsty for shelter.
Thirsty for refuge.
Thirsty for hope.
Friends, there are some things of which I am certain.
Plot twists are real, and so is God.
Plot twists will keep happening, and God will keep pursuing us, all the way to the far side of the desert.
And the God of Moses, the God of the burning bush and all the rest of the Exodus high-drama, is still the same God who leads us each through our own exodus today to spaces of shelter, refuge and hope.
My beloved midlifers, it’s okay to be on the far side of the desert.
And it’s good to be thirsty.
Because we belong to a God who has a lot of practice - and a great, big head start - meeting all of us right in the middle of all of our individual and collective plot twists, forever and ever, amen.