During the December break, I was asked if I was interested in attending the Youth Leadership Development Program (YLDP): a six day camp I knew nothing about. First off, I didn’t even know what YLDP stood for! I was reluctant, but after much persuasion from my parents,
I finally gave in.
This year, the camp is at the SUFES campsite, Tapah (for Pre-Level, Level 1, 2 & 3),
from 9 to 14 December 2008. Daniel(my church member) and I got to sleep in tents (I never looked forward to sleeping during the camp because of that). The place was horrible: the showers had no heaters, there were mosquitoes the size of your thumb, and there was dew on the top of the tent every morning.
Despite all that, I have been really touched by God during those six days. This was in fact, the only camp so far where I looked forward to the worship sessions. I found myself worshiping God on a whole new level and did things I never did before like raising my hands. And during worship I looked around me, I was just amazed at the sight of my generation just worshiping God and you could feel God’s grace upon us. It hit me so hard that I just knew that God was real.
Through the daily devotion, I learned that as a Christian, our spiritual journey is also long distance running, where we will also face tiredness, ”out of breath”, or even sometimes feeling like “Just let me die already!!” There is this phenomenon called “second wind”, which is a phenomenon whereby an athlete who is too out of breath suddenly finds strength to press on in his run. We have to find the source of our second wind to help us make it through our spiritual journey. This was what really got me thinking.
During the sessions, I learned that:
- Being a leader is not for fun
- A leader is someone called by God to influence a specific group of God’s people towards his purposes for them
- God develops leaders over a life time
- God is more interested in who we are than what we do
One of my new friends at the camp had family problems; her mom and dad always fought. She comes from a Buddhist family, and she’s the only Christian in her family. During worship, she always cried. On the last night, she got a call that her parents were going to split up. Together with her friend, she stayed in her tent and prayed while we were in the hall. A few minutes later, she got a call that her parents decided not to. How great is our God!
God really spoke to me throughout the entire camp and opened my eyes to a whole lot of new things and I now look at things at a different angle. My life has been transformed, and I don’t want to hold the good news inside!
Lord Jesus,
Thank You that the joy from You is my strength.
I put my trust and my hope in You.
Continue to give strength to the tired and weary.
I pray for those who are sick and hurting,
that they may be healed in Your gentle and caring touch.
Teach me to be the encouraging and listening friend to those who
have no one else to hear them. Open my eyes to my
own weaknesses and my need for Your grace;
and let this knowledge be the seed of faith which binds me to
You and gives me strength to go forward in Your service.
You didn’t send me to start the race,
but You sent me to finish it. Strengthen me, be my wind.
In all this, help me to realize that in the end,
it’s You I want.
Amen.“
Let all the world look to Me for salvation. For I am God. There is no other.”
Isaiah 45:22May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.- End Post -
IAN
