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ER2013 theme: RISE UP! (Luke 7:14)
In this year's ER, it did not feel like ER at all; not even close to the pass ER's that I've been to; serving or participating. Definitely, this year's ER was extremely tiring. But overall, it was a success made. Praise the Lord!
When I took my first step in the Archdiocesan Curia and Cathedral Pastoral Centre(ACCPC), I was amazed at almost everything - even the elevator(sakai bah)! The building appeared to be so much more bigger than what I had imagined all these while. However, when we went there to set up the place and clean it, I thought to myself, "Nay.. even if this building is big, I don't think there would be that much cleaning to do." As soon as I reach the doors of the main@multi-purpose hall, I was dumbfounded. The hall was so big I could not believe what I saw; I thought I was dreaming but I was not.
Then, as we started cleaning the hall and the foyer of the 3rd floor, there was just so much dust that I have swept I could not believe my eyes! Sweeping the foyer alone made me so hungry and tired I wish I could just lay in bed and sleep or take a nice cold shower. But when it came to sweeping the hall, it was disastrous because the dust in the hall is two times more than that of the foyer! I wanted to complain to God just then till something reminded me that there was going to be 600 over people coming to see God working in their lives and in others.
As I was reminded of that, I instead told God that if there were really that many people coming for this year's ER, let it be that I can count their hair that falls onto this ground, this floor that I will be sweeping throughout ER2013. Thus, when each day of ER ended, and as we clean and sweep the foyer and hall, YES, there were many hair that fell onto the floor; countless indeed! I was amazed, yet I was annoyed because the hair kept flying from one end to another as I swept.
Besides that, during the whole week of ER, I had very few hours of sleep and most of my days were cranky. Despite being cranky, I did all I can to even put a smile on my face as I served God. Honestly, I did not get much from the sessions throughout the Youth Conference that I was in. Most likely because I was tired or was being bothered by so many things in my head. I guess its also because there were so many things going on in my family right now.
Despite all those worries that were going on in my head, God never stopped showing me how marvellous He is. I believe it was during the worship night itself that I broke down real bad. I broke down because there is this current issue that has been going on in my family for almost a year now and it has gone from bad to worse. We 'lost' one of our dearly relative in a 'war' but the fight is still on. From there, I had this urge to call all of my family members to RISE UP and pray as a community. God had told me that He will bring our dearly relative back to us for nothing is impossible for Him. All we have got to do is to continue to pray and to seek God. Although nothing has happen yet, God says that He will eventually give him back to us one day.
Besides that, God has shown me many wonders during the concert night itself. For a moment, I thought that there won't be many people who were going to turn up for the concert night due to the gloomy day. But in just an hour difference, I saw many people coming in and the whole place was getting sardine pack! Since the day was all gloomy, I prayed and prayed non-stop to God for good weather. Upon seeing a rainbow appearing, I know that He is here with us. After standing up for more than an hour, my energy was drained, like a phone battery that was dying. I had a backache so bad I needed to sit down; even though my backache was so painful, I still continued my worship that night.
I did not care about the people around me - what they thought of me in mind; I just continued praising God while sitting down as I know what is best for me. I also prayed to God that I can last till I reached home and I did. Surprisingly, towards the end of the concert night, I regained about 25% of my energy(I think..). Not wanting to waste that spare energy, I used it to the fullest, especially on the Rise Up flashmob dance. I danced with all my heart that moment and I did not care about the people around me.
Upon seeing strangers who were clueless about this dance just randomly joined in and dance what they see, I felt so blessed and touch. People who did not know anything and just dance with all their hearts for the Lord has shown me that God has indeed touched their lives that night in many different ways. I recall praying to the Lord to send revival in ER2013, especially the concert night and by seeing over 3000 people dancing spontaneously has truly showed me that God listens and answers to our prayers for He is a God of revival.
Then on the last day of ER, I was practically like a zombie due to lack of sleep. As soon as I got to ACCPC that morning, I headed straight for the servants lounge and went to get more sleep. I could not help it but I was just too tired. But praise God, I did not feel sleepy any more for the rest of the day. However, I felt so pressured for no reason; I felt so lonely and depressed. Most likely it was because I had not made any new friends yet. I got so caught up with this emotion that people would stare and me and wondered why I look so down. Deep down, I told God, "Why am I getting this sort of emotion at a time like this? Why do I feel so miserable? If you are trying to tell me something, then say it!"
Thus, during Jude's session, we used up his whole session on intense worship and that was when the message came to me. He was trying to tell me all along that I must rise up from my depressing past. Yes, I have a past; a lonely, depressing and miserable one that caused me to cry only in my heart, almost everyday. Back in the past, I did not have many friends and most of them come and go as they like. I was despised by many; I was rejected, teased, gossiped, etc. I did not have any true or even any real friends back then. I remembered the time when I was being betrayed by one person(in whom I thought I could rely and trust on)till it caught me to a point of being very antisocial and vengeful.
But what reflected in mind was to remind me that Jesus, too have experienced what I have experienced back in the days; He has been in my shoes before. Like me, Jesus was rejected, gossiped, teased and betrayed. He was also once considered a weirdo. What I have gone through, He too has gone through it, before I did. The only thing left right now is to put the pieces of puzzles that forms the full message of what God is really trying to tell me. Although I have yet to understand His message, I'm very sure one day I will.
In conclusion, this year's ER was truly and eye-opener to me because I have learned that in small little things we tend to keep in heart can be very much visible to the eye in the future. Thus, we must RISE UP from whatever that stand our way from growing in faith, or perhaps in anything. I have also learned that humility is everything; we must always humble ourselves not only to God but to others as well. As long as we are humble, people will want to know more about us and why we are that humble. In the end, when they see Jesus in us, they too will start to follow His ways and start praising and glorifying His name.As of our ER2013 theme: RISE UP!, when people start following the way of Christ, they are in real fact rising up.
When I took my first step in the Archdiocesan Curia and Cathedral Pastoral Centre(ACCPC), I was amazed at almost everything - even the elevator(sakai bah)! The building appeared to be so much more bigger than what I had imagined all these while. However, when we went there to set up the place and clean it, I thought to myself, "Nay.. even if this building is big, I don't think there would be that much cleaning to do." As soon as I reach the doors of the main@multi-purpose hall, I was dumbfounded. The hall was so big I could not believe what I saw; I thought I was dreaming but I was not.
Then, as we started cleaning the hall and the foyer of the 3rd floor, there was just so much dust that I have swept I could not believe my eyes! Sweeping the foyer alone made me so hungry and tired I wish I could just lay in bed and sleep or take a nice cold shower. But when it came to sweeping the hall, it was disastrous because the dust in the hall is two times more than that of the foyer! I wanted to complain to God just then till something reminded me that there was going to be 600 over people coming to see God working in their lives and in others.
As I was reminded of that, I instead told God that if there were really that many people coming for this year's ER, let it be that I can count their hair that falls onto this ground, this floor that I will be sweeping throughout ER2013. Thus, when each day of ER ended, and as we clean and sweep the foyer and hall, YES, there were many hair that fell onto the floor; countless indeed! I was amazed, yet I was annoyed because the hair kept flying from one end to another as I swept.
Besides that, during the whole week of ER, I had very few hours of sleep and most of my days were cranky. Despite being cranky, I did all I can to even put a smile on my face as I served God. Honestly, I did not get much from the sessions throughout the Youth Conference that I was in. Most likely because I was tired or was being bothered by so many things in my head. I guess its also because there were so many things going on in my family right now.
Despite all those worries that were going on in my head, God never stopped showing me how marvellous He is. I believe it was during the worship night itself that I broke down real bad. I broke down because there is this current issue that has been going on in my family for almost a year now and it has gone from bad to worse. We 'lost' one of our dearly relative in a 'war' but the fight is still on. From there, I had this urge to call all of my family members to RISE UP and pray as a community. God had told me that He will bring our dearly relative back to us for nothing is impossible for Him. All we have got to do is to continue to pray and to seek God. Although nothing has happen yet, God says that He will eventually give him back to us one day.
Besides that, God has shown me many wonders during the concert night itself. For a moment, I thought that there won't be many people who were going to turn up for the concert night due to the gloomy day. But in just an hour difference, I saw many people coming in and the whole place was getting sardine pack! Since the day was all gloomy, I prayed and prayed non-stop to God for good weather. Upon seeing a rainbow appearing, I know that He is here with us. After standing up for more than an hour, my energy was drained, like a phone battery that was dying. I had a backache so bad I needed to sit down; even though my backache was so painful, I still continued my worship that night.
I did not care about the people around me - what they thought of me in mind; I just continued praising God while sitting down as I know what is best for me. I also prayed to God that I can last till I reached home and I did. Surprisingly, towards the end of the concert night, I regained about 25% of my energy(I think..). Not wanting to waste that spare energy, I used it to the fullest, especially on the Rise Up flashmob dance. I danced with all my heart that moment and I did not care about the people around me.
Upon seeing strangers who were clueless about this dance just randomly joined in and dance what they see, I felt so blessed and touch. People who did not know anything and just dance with all their hearts for the Lord has shown me that God has indeed touched their lives that night in many different ways. I recall praying to the Lord to send revival in ER2013, especially the concert night and by seeing over 3000 people dancing spontaneously has truly showed me that God listens and answers to our prayers for He is a God of revival.
Then on the last day of ER, I was practically like a zombie due to lack of sleep. As soon as I got to ACCPC that morning, I headed straight for the servants lounge and went to get more sleep. I could not help it but I was just too tired. But praise God, I did not feel sleepy any more for the rest of the day. However, I felt so pressured for no reason; I felt so lonely and depressed. Most likely it was because I had not made any new friends yet. I got so caught up with this emotion that people would stare and me and wondered why I look so down. Deep down, I told God, "Why am I getting this sort of emotion at a time like this? Why do I feel so miserable? If you are trying to tell me something, then say it!"
Thus, during Jude's session, we used up his whole session on intense worship and that was when the message came to me. He was trying to tell me all along that I must rise up from my depressing past. Yes, I have a past; a lonely, depressing and miserable one that caused me to cry only in my heart, almost everyday. Back in the past, I did not have many friends and most of them come and go as they like. I was despised by many; I was rejected, teased, gossiped, etc. I did not have any true or even any real friends back then. I remembered the time when I was being betrayed by one person(in whom I thought I could rely and trust on)till it caught me to a point of being very antisocial and vengeful.
But what reflected in mind was to remind me that Jesus, too have experienced what I have experienced back in the days; He has been in my shoes before. Like me, Jesus was rejected, gossiped, teased and betrayed. He was also once considered a weirdo. What I have gone through, He too has gone through it, before I did. The only thing left right now is to put the pieces of puzzles that forms the full message of what God is really trying to tell me. Although I have yet to understand His message, I'm very sure one day I will.
In conclusion, this year's ER was truly and eye-opener to me because I have learned that in small little things we tend to keep in heart can be very much visible to the eye in the future. Thus, we must RISE UP from whatever that stand our way from growing in faith, or perhaps in anything. I have also learned that humility is everything; we must always humble ourselves not only to God but to others as well. As long as we are humble, people will want to know more about us and why we are that humble. In the end, when they see Jesus in us, they too will start to follow His ways and start praising and glorifying His name.As of our ER2013 theme: RISE UP!, when people start following the way of Christ, they are in real fact rising up.
Therefore I say to you young man, RISE UP! (Luke 7:14)
