Yesterday, Koinonia freshmen and sophomores went to Sierra Lodge for a snow trip. I was part of the early crew to prepare the place for others to come. Our car stopped by Davis to pick up some supplies for Sierra Lodge, but there was SO much traffic. Usually, it would take at most 3 hours to get to Sierra Lodge, but it took us maybe 4-5 hours total...But, It was actually pretty exciting going early and just shoveling snow and making pathways for people. It was hard work, but it was fun at the same time. Others all came around 10 or 11pm, and we just played different games and hung out with freshmen. Then, we had a campfire at night, and I think we all went to sleep around 230 or 3 in the morning. The next day, we went on a hike and played some games in the snow. I think my favorite part was just getting a lot of snow in my arms and just throwing little by little to one person, sort of like a machine gun. I don't want to go too in depth about what happened. I mean this blog is for me to write my feelings after all.
I think this trip was really good in the sense that I got to meet a lot of new people. Last semester, I didn't get to meet a lot of freshmen because of how the structure worked out and different factors. I think this trip was the first time where the sophomores and the freshmen actually did something together WITHOUT the juniors. Surprisingly, I knew a lot of freshmen already. I thought my interactions with the freshmen were nonexistent, but I guess all those times spent at Durant Loft paid off. However, there were a lot of people that I didn't know. It was amazing getting to know them, and knowing that I was once at their shoes makes me want to help them grow. Even though I didn't get to talk for a long time or get deeper in our relationship, this still was a step in growing closer together. Just looking at the relationship that our staffs have right now, I can't wait until I have those relationships with younger/older brothers and sisters and my peers. From the snow trip, I saw the different interactions that the older staff was having with the younger staff and just having fun while ministering together. The relationship that Nathan Chung and Sean's class has with Mike Kim and Albert Kim is like the relationship I'll have with my peers and the freshmen class. Even though we are not at that same level, I believe that this was a step, and I really look forward to this semester.
There's something else I want to talk about, but I guess it's too late right now. I'll write it later.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
College Retreat
What an amazing weekend. After I came back from the SD mission trip, I left to the college retreat with Gracepoint this past weekend. I don't know what to say other than to say that it was spiritually refreshing. We had total of 7 different session throughout the 3 days that we were there. Each session consisted of couple testimonies and a sermon dealing with the topics that were mentioned in the testimonies. One session was a break out session, where there were many different talks going on at the same time and we had to choose one to go to. I, along with many of the sophomore brothers, chose to go to Science and Faith. I wanted to go because the speaker was going to be Richard Tijhen, a freshmen staff at our church who is very intellectual in the science field. In the seminar, we addressed a central issue, are science and faith complementary or contradictory? Something interesting that he said was that science and faith are not contradictory, but the world views are contradictory. Science seeks to understand the physical world, and theology seeks to understand the spiritual world. However, Naturalism says that scientific truth is the ONLY truth....EVEN though this is a belief itself can't be proven with scientific truth. This also requires faith and doesn't give explanation. A lot of the evidences that he provided was the things I already studied before, but it was a good reminder and good teaching of the different strategies.
I loved the testimonies. Each of the testimony shared by our own staffs in Gracepoint talked about how they were immature in different ways. There were so many aspects that I never thought were immaturities before. Some of them include giving into your emotional anger, escaping from reality through running away and even watching disney movies, or lying about grades. As usual, some testimonies talked about the blessings of keeping boundaries in relationships and their views on the nuclear family. One testimony that I related to really well (not that I didn't relate to some of them) was the one on lordship decision that Jon Chou gave. Basically, if I were to cut out the first half of his testimony, I could put it into mine. The only thing different about it would have been that I didn't have that realization of my pride. He talked about how he understood God and Christianity intellectually, but never went further to examine his life and never went further than acknowledgement of the messages. Even though he was one of the very respected individual in his youth group and never did anything bad in his life, he threw away his pride and made his decision to follow Christ. Then, Pastor Ed talked about what it really means to make a Lordship decision and what it really means to follow Christ. One thing that really stuck out to me was the pie chart he created describing different aspects of our lives. The question he asked was, "Does he occupy every aspect of my life?" Is God who he is in my life? Another thing he did was that he drew an inner circle inside the pie chart and shaded the circle, and he said that this is where we are now. We will never be perfect in giving up everything in our lives because we are not perfect. It will take time to give everything to God. This is when the message became real to me, and I was contemplating more than usual. This is when I realized that I was like the Pharisees as Jon Chou said. I was relating to the messages in an intellectual way and not too much deeper.
Some background story I guess. I wasn't born in a Christian family, but I started to go to church regularly at the end of 8th grade. So there was a time when I wasn't a Christian. If I looked at my life before that retreat, I would have said I was living a Christian life. I had realized that I was a sinner in need of Jesus Christ and I had been wanting to serve God. However, what really confused me was that middle part. There wasn't a clear point in my life when I became a Christian and made my decision. In my freshmen year, there were many times that I pondered whether or not I was a christian because I never had a point in which I committed my life to Christ. What I had were many significant points in my life that I realized different aspects of God and christianity and had many signification dedications to follow Christ starting my senior year.
As I was saying, I had many doubts afterwards if I was even a christian. Can I even call myself a Christian? "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" -Matthew 7:21-23. I wondered if that person would be me. I calmed my wandering mind by settling that I am living a life for God, but that thought came back again and again, multiple times in my freshmen year.
After the message and the testimony, I was talking to one of my leaders, and that thought came back to me. I told my leader that I didn't know if I was a Christian because there wasn't a clear point when I made that decision. When I shared what I thought about the message and the testimony, he told me some profound words. He said that if I were to die right now, he's pretty sure that I will go to heaven. This doubt that I had was the exact reason why people make decisions public and clearly mark the point when you make the decision. He shared about a passage in Joshua how God told Joshua to put stones after crossing the Jordan river in memorial so that when people ask what that stone is, they can remember all the things God provided for them. In the same way, it is important to make that spiritual marker so that when I look back, I can say, with certainty, that this is when I decided and this is when I made that commitment. It will help me grow in my faith. One more thing he said that struck me was that the only thing that is stopping me is pride.
That one statement pierced my heart. That one statement made me realize the pride that was in my heart. Although I knew that I was prideful, there was another side of my pride that I hadn't realized before. The pride that was stopping me. The pride that Jon Chou talked about in his testimony how he was keeping an image as a good christian and how he valued other people's opinions over his own being. I was just like that. I wanted to keep an image of being a christian and I wanted people to know that I was a christian. By submitting to these declaration of lordship decisions, I was afraid of what that would make me. I was constantly confused whether or not I was a Christian, but my pride stopped me from thinking harder and from making that decision public. After talking with my leader, I prayed that I can make that decision and I prayed before making that decision to ask for God's assistance in throwing away my pride. That night, I made my Lordship decision public. I have publicly announced that I am going to give up every aspect of my life to God and I wasn't ashamed about it.
After the message, we shared by our life groups. My other leader shared that this public announcement is very important. He gave an analogy to marriage. Imagine a couple that love each other and is going to get married. Why do they have a wedding ceremony and a ring ceremony? They know that they love each other and they want to live with each other. Why spend so much money and time to publicly announce that they are married? He said that it is to look back in memorial to say that this was when we finally devoted our lives to each other. In the same way, this public announcement and this spiritual marker is like a memorial to look back to say that this was when I finally devoted my life to Christ. This heavy burden of doubts and pride got lifted up that night, and I am so glad that I made my decision public. Many people were confused that night, but I was finally not confused. People came up to me to congratulate me, and at first I didn't know what to say because I thought people congratulate you for making a salvation decision for the first time, and that didn't apply to me. However, I soon realized that this is also another celebration, and this is also a big recommitment to God. So I said thank you.
Thank God for the great things that happened at the retreat. There were numerous salvation and lordship decisions and significant recommitment. Most sophomores made lordship decisions and made significant recommitments. I was really happy and excited about that. Also, one more thing I heard is that majority of the freshmen who went to retreat made their salvation decision! Praise the Lord!
I had some good sharing time with my sophomore brothers that night and it is a night that I can recall with great clarity. We definitely got even closer through this retreat.
The passage that I will remember forever.
Joshua 4:1-7
"When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twleve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight." So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever"
I loved the testimonies. Each of the testimony shared by our own staffs in Gracepoint talked about how they were immature in different ways. There were so many aspects that I never thought were immaturities before. Some of them include giving into your emotional anger, escaping from reality through running away and even watching disney movies, or lying about grades. As usual, some testimonies talked about the blessings of keeping boundaries in relationships and their views on the nuclear family. One testimony that I related to really well (not that I didn't relate to some of them) was the one on lordship decision that Jon Chou gave. Basically, if I were to cut out the first half of his testimony, I could put it into mine. The only thing different about it would have been that I didn't have that realization of my pride. He talked about how he understood God and Christianity intellectually, but never went further to examine his life and never went further than acknowledgement of the messages. Even though he was one of the very respected individual in his youth group and never did anything bad in his life, he threw away his pride and made his decision to follow Christ. Then, Pastor Ed talked about what it really means to make a Lordship decision and what it really means to follow Christ. One thing that really stuck out to me was the pie chart he created describing different aspects of our lives. The question he asked was, "Does he occupy every aspect of my life?" Is God who he is in my life? Another thing he did was that he drew an inner circle inside the pie chart and shaded the circle, and he said that this is where we are now. We will never be perfect in giving up everything in our lives because we are not perfect. It will take time to give everything to God. This is when the message became real to me, and I was contemplating more than usual. This is when I realized that I was like the Pharisees as Jon Chou said. I was relating to the messages in an intellectual way and not too much deeper.
Some background story I guess. I wasn't born in a Christian family, but I started to go to church regularly at the end of 8th grade. So there was a time when I wasn't a Christian. If I looked at my life before that retreat, I would have said I was living a Christian life. I had realized that I was a sinner in need of Jesus Christ and I had been wanting to serve God. However, what really confused me was that middle part. There wasn't a clear point in my life when I became a Christian and made my decision. In my freshmen year, there were many times that I pondered whether or not I was a christian because I never had a point in which I committed my life to Christ. What I had were many significant points in my life that I realized different aspects of God and christianity and had many signification dedications to follow Christ starting my senior year.
As I was saying, I had many doubts afterwards if I was even a christian. Can I even call myself a Christian? "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" -Matthew 7:21-23. I wondered if that person would be me. I calmed my wandering mind by settling that I am living a life for God, but that thought came back again and again, multiple times in my freshmen year.
After the message and the testimony, I was talking to one of my leaders, and that thought came back to me. I told my leader that I didn't know if I was a Christian because there wasn't a clear point when I made that decision. When I shared what I thought about the message and the testimony, he told me some profound words. He said that if I were to die right now, he's pretty sure that I will go to heaven. This doubt that I had was the exact reason why people make decisions public and clearly mark the point when you make the decision. He shared about a passage in Joshua how God told Joshua to put stones after crossing the Jordan river in memorial so that when people ask what that stone is, they can remember all the things God provided for them. In the same way, it is important to make that spiritual marker so that when I look back, I can say, with certainty, that this is when I decided and this is when I made that commitment. It will help me grow in my faith. One more thing he said that struck me was that the only thing that is stopping me is pride.
That one statement pierced my heart. That one statement made me realize the pride that was in my heart. Although I knew that I was prideful, there was another side of my pride that I hadn't realized before. The pride that was stopping me. The pride that Jon Chou talked about in his testimony how he was keeping an image as a good christian and how he valued other people's opinions over his own being. I was just like that. I wanted to keep an image of being a christian and I wanted people to know that I was a christian. By submitting to these declaration of lordship decisions, I was afraid of what that would make me. I was constantly confused whether or not I was a Christian, but my pride stopped me from thinking harder and from making that decision public. After talking with my leader, I prayed that I can make that decision and I prayed before making that decision to ask for God's assistance in throwing away my pride. That night, I made my Lordship decision public. I have publicly announced that I am going to give up every aspect of my life to God and I wasn't ashamed about it.
After the message, we shared by our life groups. My other leader shared that this public announcement is very important. He gave an analogy to marriage. Imagine a couple that love each other and is going to get married. Why do they have a wedding ceremony and a ring ceremony? They know that they love each other and they want to live with each other. Why spend so much money and time to publicly announce that they are married? He said that it is to look back in memorial to say that this was when we finally devoted our lives to each other. In the same way, this public announcement and this spiritual marker is like a memorial to look back to say that this was when I finally devoted my life to Christ. This heavy burden of doubts and pride got lifted up that night, and I am so glad that I made my decision public. Many people were confused that night, but I was finally not confused. People came up to me to congratulate me, and at first I didn't know what to say because I thought people congratulate you for making a salvation decision for the first time, and that didn't apply to me. However, I soon realized that this is also another celebration, and this is also a big recommitment to God. So I said thank you.
Thank God for the great things that happened at the retreat. There were numerous salvation and lordship decisions and significant recommitment. Most sophomores made lordship decisions and made significant recommitments. I was really happy and excited about that. Also, one more thing I heard is that majority of the freshmen who went to retreat made their salvation decision! Praise the Lord!
I had some good sharing time with my sophomore brothers that night and it is a night that I can recall with great clarity. We definitely got even closer through this retreat.
The passage that I will remember forever.
Joshua 4:1-7
"When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twleve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight." So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever"
Friday, January 13, 2012
SD Mission Trip
So this past week, I experienced something that I'll never forget. I got a chance to go to UCSD with my church to help out with the welcome week over there. There were over 100 people from Berkeley, SF, and Austin all at the UCSD campus. I got picked up on Friday to go to SD, and on Saturday, it was an all day training at UC Riverside. It was nice seeing all the people that we were going to serve with and just learning the skills needed for the mission trip. Everything that I experienced in San Diego was a blessing. As I am reflecting on what happened, I can confidently say that I have grown a lot.
I don't want to write everything and all the encounters that I had at SD because that will take forever and this post will become really really long; however, what I want to say that is God works great things with sinners like us. I learned that anything is possible with God. Not that I didn’t know this before, but I was reminded again how powerful God is. By praying for the campus, the students, and the event daily and devoting my time to inviting new students, God was backing me up with powerful words and strength. Before the mission trip, I had the fear of rejection and fear of starting conversations, but after I got through those fears and after reminding myself that what I fear doesn’t matter with God, everything went smoothly. I eventually overcame those fears. Now I can flyer confidently and go outreaching at the dining commons. God provided me with numerous windows of opportunity, and it was my responsibility to take those. In this mission trip, there were numerous instances where God gave me either that opening to go into a spiritual conversation or someone who is sitting by himself. When I took those chances, I know that God used me in different ways. I can see myself being used by God for his Kingdom, and this is a lifestyle that I would like to have: working for God along with others.
One thing that I really experienced at this retreat is the community that I have at Gracepoint. There were times when I had bad encounters or bad conversations with strangers, and even if my day didn't go as well as I expected, hearing successful stories of fellow workers energized me and made me excited. Each night, we had a team time, a time when we can share encouraging stories that happened throughout the day. All the stories that I heard, even though they didn't involve me, it made me happy and excited at the same time. The fact that more than hundred of us are reaching out to numerous people on this campus is an amazing site to see. Everywhere I went, there was someone from my church reaching out to someone random that they have never met. Along with that, each night, we had a Team Time, where we can share our experiences throughout the day and our wins and losses. Whatever the story was, we cheered each other up or praised the Lord for working through us. Jin's message and reference to the Incredibles truly came to life these moments. During the Middle School Retreat, he showed the final scene in the Incredibles when the family and Frozone is fighting off that big metal monster. Each has different roles in the fight and by working together, they are able to defeat the monster. In the same way, we are all different soldiers "attacking" (by spreading the Word) the people on the campus, and we come back together each night cheering each other on or congratulating on the success of the mission. I felt like I was on a secret mission or something.
I also experienced how powerful God is and how he can use anyone, even a sinner like me, to bring people a step closer to Christ. One thing I will cherish and constantly remember from this trip is the parable of the sower. A lot of times, I can be caught up in the result of the conversation, whether it turned into a spiritual conversation or the person came out to the event. A lot of times, I found myself not being satisfied with some conversations. However, that is not the case. Maybe, God has been working in that person's life, but he's not ready yet. Maybe, God has been working and he is ready. Whatever his state might be, if I trusted God, I probably made some kind of an impact on that person's life whether or not the conversation didn't turn into a spiritual one. I am just scattering the seed.
Mark 4:3-8
"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times"
I really enjoyed this trip, and I am excited to go back to Berkeley. Because the experiences that I had in UCSD applies directly to UC Berkeley. I can use the same tactics and strategies on our own campus. Thank you God for this awesome opportunity.
I don't want to write everything and all the encounters that I had at SD because that will take forever and this post will become really really long; however, what I want to say that is God works great things with sinners like us. I learned that anything is possible with God. Not that I didn’t know this before, but I was reminded again how powerful God is. By praying for the campus, the students, and the event daily and devoting my time to inviting new students, God was backing me up with powerful words and strength. Before the mission trip, I had the fear of rejection and fear of starting conversations, but after I got through those fears and after reminding myself that what I fear doesn’t matter with God, everything went smoothly. I eventually overcame those fears. Now I can flyer confidently and go outreaching at the dining commons. God provided me with numerous windows of opportunity, and it was my responsibility to take those. In this mission trip, there were numerous instances where God gave me either that opening to go into a spiritual conversation or someone who is sitting by himself. When I took those chances, I know that God used me in different ways. I can see myself being used by God for his Kingdom, and this is a lifestyle that I would like to have: working for God along with others.
One thing that I really experienced at this retreat is the community that I have at Gracepoint. There were times when I had bad encounters or bad conversations with strangers, and even if my day didn't go as well as I expected, hearing successful stories of fellow workers energized me and made me excited. Each night, we had a team time, a time when we can share encouraging stories that happened throughout the day. All the stories that I heard, even though they didn't involve me, it made me happy and excited at the same time. The fact that more than hundred of us are reaching out to numerous people on this campus is an amazing site to see. Everywhere I went, there was someone from my church reaching out to someone random that they have never met. Along with that, each night, we had a Team Time, where we can share our experiences throughout the day and our wins and losses. Whatever the story was, we cheered each other up or praised the Lord for working through us. Jin's message and reference to the Incredibles truly came to life these moments. During the Middle School Retreat, he showed the final scene in the Incredibles when the family and Frozone is fighting off that big metal monster. Each has different roles in the fight and by working together, they are able to defeat the monster. In the same way, we are all different soldiers "attacking" (by spreading the Word) the people on the campus, and we come back together each night cheering each other on or congratulating on the success of the mission. I felt like I was on a secret mission or something.
I also experienced how powerful God is and how he can use anyone, even a sinner like me, to bring people a step closer to Christ. One thing I will cherish and constantly remember from this trip is the parable of the sower. A lot of times, I can be caught up in the result of the conversation, whether it turned into a spiritual conversation or the person came out to the event. A lot of times, I found myself not being satisfied with some conversations. However, that is not the case. Maybe, God has been working in that person's life, but he's not ready yet. Maybe, God has been working and he is ready. Whatever his state might be, if I trusted God, I probably made some kind of an impact on that person's life whether or not the conversation didn't turn into a spiritual one. I am just scattering the seed.
Mark 4:3-8
"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times"
I really enjoyed this trip, and I am excited to go back to Berkeley. Because the experiences that I had in UCSD applies directly to UC Berkeley. I can use the same tactics and strategies on our own campus. Thank you God for this awesome opportunity.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
First post....
I guess I am actually going to start a blog...looool i can't believe it myself yes.. i can't..But starting off the new year with this resolution. Going to update my blog at least once a week. I thought it would be better for me to just express my feelings more. If I don't know my feelings, who will?
So I'll start off with this post. I got the opportunity to serve in my home church's youth retreat this past week. The theme was "Dare," and the key passage for the retreat was Luke 9:23: "Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'" Basically, the pastors challenged and dared the students deny themselves to put Christ into their lives. I say pastors because it was a combined retreat with 6 different churches. We've been part of this Winter conference called Second Nature, and this year was the 4th annual Winter Conference. Our church had total of 30 people, with 24 of them being students from grades 7th to 12th. I was the small group leader for the 7th and 8th graders. Enough with the logistics...
It was amazing to see how God answered my prayers. When I usually help out with my home church retreats, I usually get put with the juniors/seniors for small groups because I already have a good relationship with them, but when I found that I was going to be leading the 7th and 8th graders, I was scared. Because I was gone for the most of the school year (i was at berkeley), I didn't have a relationship with the new 7th graders and the 8th graders. I just knew of them as little kids when I was still in youth group. It was good that I wasn't a total stranger, but I was still afraid of how I would lead them during small group time. I asked some people to pray that I will be able to connect with my small group and that they will open up to me even though it's not a long time that we're spending together. I was so thankful because they were warm towards me. They already had a great relationship with each other, so the problem of opening up to each other wasn't an issue. After couple discussion times after sermons, we got more personal with each other and eventually led to closer examination to each individual's lives. I thank God that my students were able to open up to me like that and I thank God for giving me the strength.
So I'll start off with this post. I got the opportunity to serve in my home church's youth retreat this past week. The theme was "Dare," and the key passage for the retreat was Luke 9:23: "Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'" Basically, the pastors challenged and dared the students deny themselves to put Christ into their lives. I say pastors because it was a combined retreat with 6 different churches. We've been part of this Winter conference called Second Nature, and this year was the 4th annual Winter Conference. Our church had total of 30 people, with 24 of them being students from grades 7th to 12th. I was the small group leader for the 7th and 8th graders. Enough with the logistics...
It was amazing to see how God answered my prayers. When I usually help out with my home church retreats, I usually get put with the juniors/seniors for small groups because I already have a good relationship with them, but when I found that I was going to be leading the 7th and 8th graders, I was scared. Because I was gone for the most of the school year (i was at berkeley), I didn't have a relationship with the new 7th graders and the 8th graders. I just knew of them as little kids when I was still in youth group. It was good that I wasn't a total stranger, but I was still afraid of how I would lead them during small group time. I asked some people to pray that I will be able to connect with my small group and that they will open up to me even though it's not a long time that we're spending together. I was so thankful because they were warm towards me. They already had a great relationship with each other, so the problem of opening up to each other wasn't an issue. After couple discussion times after sermons, we got more personal with each other and eventually led to closer examination to each individual's lives. I thank God that my students were able to open up to me like that and I thank God for giving me the strength.
Also, one thing I was thankful for was all the DT's that I managed to do this past year, especially the Revelation DT series. In a lot of the small group time, one student would ask a question, and that would start a rapid fire of many different questions. Surprisingly, the students had knowledge of variety of topics. Those topics included the end times/signs, free will vs. predestination, and a lot about Christian apologetics. I was so thankful for Course 101 and all the different books, and really again the DT's. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to answer their curios minds.
On the last night, there was an altar call, so the pastor asked if anyone would like to commit their lives to Jesus or recommit and rededicate their lives. The room had maybe around 200 people, and basically everyone except around 30 people went up to rededicate or accept Christ as their Lord. This sight was really amazing to see, and it reminded me again why I was serving at this retreat. Even though I was really tired from being alert and watching out for the students, staff meeting late at night, waking up early and being responsible, seeing the students really examine their hearts and recommit their lives energized me. Then, we got a chance to pray for each other and one another. Again, the sight of my small group praying for each other one by one, these little short middle schoolers experiencing God and trying to live out a Christian life energized me.
I learned to gain strength from God and through prayer God works great things, like Philippians 4:13 says "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Even though things may seem improbable or I might be scared, I just need to pray and ask for prayers from others.
I'll share a verse that summarizes my learning experience.
Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your request to God."
On the last night, there was an altar call, so the pastor asked if anyone would like to commit their lives to Jesus or recommit and rededicate their lives. The room had maybe around 200 people, and basically everyone except around 30 people went up to rededicate or accept Christ as their Lord. This sight was really amazing to see, and it reminded me again why I was serving at this retreat. Even though I was really tired from being alert and watching out for the students, staff meeting late at night, waking up early and being responsible, seeing the students really examine their hearts and recommit their lives energized me. Then, we got a chance to pray for each other and one another. Again, the sight of my small group praying for each other one by one, these little short middle schoolers experiencing God and trying to live out a Christian life energized me.
I learned to gain strength from God and through prayer God works great things, like Philippians 4:13 says "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Even though things may seem improbable or I might be scared, I just need to pray and ask for prayers from others.
I'll share a verse that summarizes my learning experience.
Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your request to God."
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