6 years in the so-called real world

From: maria rita ilya mariano <ilya_kaboom@ yahoo.com>
To: Kawayan Camp 2003 <kc_2k3@yahoogroups . com>
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 18:46:58
Subject: [KC_2k3] 6 years in the so-called real world

It’s been 6 years since KC… no, I’m not afflicted with KC fever anymore, although I have acquired a permanent addiction to camps and youth ministry and mountaintop experiences.

After another camp last holy week, one of my fellow counselors said, “bukas back to the real world na tayo.” It made me think. Is THIS the real world? Is it all about career and work and 15/30 paydays and nightshifts and gimiks and family and friends and studies and work and stress and traffic and busyness? I don’t think so. For again and again, we are reminded that this too shall pass, that nothing in this “real” world really satisfies. And then what do we have left once the temporary and seemingly important matters have burnt to ashes?

I choose to believe that what we experienced in KC and other camps offered us a glimpse of a world that is more real and lasting. A REALIZATION that yes, this was what I was designed for. To know God and enjoy him forever, as He created me to do.

So do we choose to stay forever in the mountains? No. We were called to share that glimpse in the valleys, so that others may climb out of the shadows and see that there is more to life than this. We were called to follow our one passion of loving God and express it in the wonderfully unique way He has set out for us. As Oswald Chambers wrote in his devotional study bible guide, our passion is not to win souls, it is a passion for Christ.

Our calling is not just to be a pastor or missionary or fulltime churchworker. God can’t be boxed in a church building or organization slogan or a popular book, nor can serving Him be limited to those job descriptions. As Lidell said, “God has made me fast, and I feel his pleasure when I run.” So too can we please God, by excelling and revelling and offering up every moment of our being students and singers and teachers and callcenter agents and freelancers and doctors and nurses and bloggers and employees and writers and bums; our being housewives and fathers and mothers and sons and daughters and friends, all these relationships can be our spiritual act of worship as well.

I don’t know how to end this … It’s just a spur of the moment thing inspired by Cherry and Boe… but one song does echo in my head right now that captures what I’m trying to say:

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call

Nobody stood and applauded them
So they knew from the start
This road would not lead to fame
All they really knew for sure
Was Jesus had called to them
He said “come follow Me” and they came
With reckless abandon, they came

Empty nets lying there at the water’s edge
Told a story that few could believe
And none could explain
How some crazy fisherman agreed to go where Jesus went
With no thought to what they would gain
For Jesus had called them by name
And they answered…

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call
The sake of the call

Drawn like the rivers are drawn to the sea
There’s no turning back, for the water cannot help but flow
Once we hear the Savior’s call, we’ll follow wherever He leads
Because of the love He has shown
And because He has called us to go
We will answer…

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die

Not for the sake of a creed or a cause
Not for a dream or a promise
Simply because it is Jesus who called
And if we believe we’ll obey

In Him,
tarits