Every time I hear the song, “For the Sake of the Call”
by Steven Curtis Chapman, my memory goes back to the first time I attended a
CFC YFC* Conference. It was a conference for all YFCs based in campuses held in
a former leprosarium community. The theme was “Extreme” based on the verse from
Philippians 1:21, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.”
My memory is still very vivid, probably because first
time is always memorable. It was my first time to lead worship. I could never
forget how I stop and smile while exhorting because I forgot what to say. It
was my first time also to meet other community members from other places and
universities in a bigger scale. I was amazed that there are so many crazy young
people like me who can raise there hands and close there eyes while singing and
dancing for the Lord. They are very excited in sharing how Christ affected and
changed their lives. They cry and laugh and as I observed they have this oozing
passion for Christ. It contaminated me!
It was indeed not just memorable for me, but life
changing in terms of my perspective in life. We had a series of activities that
are in line with the theme. We go all the way by building houses for the poor
in the area, sleep over for two nights and listen to talks and sharings all in
one weekend. I was opened to the idea
that I can have real fun while at the same time making a difference by serving
God through others. Life has to be lived out in Christ, with Christ and for
Christ! Others probably thought already how crazy these young people were, for
all of us were in our university years then.
Living life to the full is living to the extreme and
challenging the limits of what society defines as good. It is not enough to pray and disregard the
needs of our brothers and sisters. A true Christian is not just a praying
person but a loving person, loving that compels him to act and affect change
for others. The world needs true Christians!
I remember when we were having the closing praisefest
for the conference, we were singing, “We will abandon it all for the sake of
the call, no other reason at all…” I never thought that in that conference, it
was also meant to be literal in my life. When I went back to our sleeping
quarter, my bag was no longer there. An outsider stole it. All my school
materials were in my bag. I went back to my place with just the ID of the
conference with me. It was very true to the theme, “Extreme” and very true to
the last song we sung, “…abandon it all…” I took it as a message from the Lord.
It was His way of telling me, no matter how I will worship, if I will not do
something to the society, there will always be people who will steal other
things because they have nothing to eat.
It was a conference that opened wide my eyes to the
mission and fueled my passion to serve. Going fulltime then was something
extreme for me that even just a thought of it scares me. But from then on, the
fire started burning and now, it is burning still.
Thank you Lord for the gift of mission and the
privilege of serving You. Amen.
*CFC YFC –
CFC Youth For Christ is a youth ministry of Couples For Christ.
by aats
reading this one parts made me reminisce a lot of wonderful memories. Slowly, I am seeing how each pieces of the puzzle are coming together. It may take a while to surrender the piece you are holding but God has it's ways of making you do it - joyfully & peaceful. Thank you parts for being part of those memories. We had our difference in how we understand things (haha!) but we grew in faith & friendship.
ReplyDeleteWish you well Parts! Always be your prayer warrior & blog fan! God Bless you more and hang in there! So proud of you & so does Tito Ernie & Tita Tata (you are always present in our every conversation)
haha, bitaw parts sa? dugaya na diay ato... hehehe... I thank God for the gift of mission and through it the friendship, brotherhood and sisterhood that were made... blessed be God forever! thanks pirme parts...
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