Today I joined with a team from a local church to visit a high school and put on an event for their juniors and seniors. A weeks ago, we were able to host this event for the high school in town and over 800 students were in attendance. After that, schools wanted something similar to happen on their campus. When we pulled onto the basketball court, there were only around 100 plus students there, but numbers were never our focus for doing this. We just want high school seniors to hear the Gospel and a little on how to make wise choices.
We kept pretty much the same schedule as last time, but since the group was smaller and we didn’t have 30 World Racers helping us lead small group, we had to tweak things a little. Before our first break out session, we did a Gospel presentation and I was able to share my testimony. These are the two things I can never shut up about, so I welcomed the chance to share with these students. Our whole point was about a relationship with God through Jesus and not a religion attempting to win His affection. With an extremely “by the book” Catholic background, many of these students grow up in homes where moral standards and rituals make you worry of heaven, so there were some interesting questions to come.
By now, I’m getting used to sitting down with a group of students and being the only one to talk. Part of it is because I’m American and they just want to listen, the other part is the shyness in the culture. So today, I told them to answer me in Visayan, and if I needed any help, surely someone could translate. After a few minutes the discussion was rolling, and so was my head as I tried to pick out the few words I could understand. Surprisingly, by God’s provision, I was able to keep up. Ai, one of the students, was questioning one of her teachers about what really gets you into heaven. Finally, when her teacher kept talking about relationship, Ai said, “That can’t be it, that’s too easy.”
This comment took me off guard a little. It wasn’t because I wasn’t expecting it, but the word “easy” was what hit me hard. As I thought about my life and the things I had going before, it wasn’t easy for me to make this choice. Before, I was living for me, and sure I had some issues, but I suppressed them enough to enjoy the moment. Now with God in the picture, I felt more fulfilled and naturally joyful, but it was far from easy. To do this, it’s still not easy. I could have a good job at home. I could have a decent savings for my future. I could be in a place where there’s easy access to running water and hot showers. But I’m not. In fact, I sold everything to get here. And I wouldn’t change that decision for anything.
As I told this to Ai and the rest of the students, I could tell most of them were drifting off. However, when she came to ask more questions after our session, I could tell something was stirring in her. She told me she still didn’t think it could be that easy, but that she was willing to listen if it really was. I just pray she listens well enough to hear God confirm. He’s pretty good at that…
