On finishing the race
Weddings seem to be a reunion event these days. Whenever one of the ol' college Christian Fellowship gang gets married, almost all of the rest will be there... taking the opportunity to catch up on what's been happening in each others' lives.
So we were chatting last Sunday, at another wedding. And I suddenly realised that I've known these guys for almost 9 years already. After all, I began law school (and consequently, joined the Christian Fellowship) in 1997. How time flies!
It seems impossible that I've known them for so long. Wasn't it only yesterday that we were praying and worshipping God together in that little upstairs room, seeing God do marvellous things in our midst, and after that, having beefball noodles for lunch? (Staple diet, okay -- we had those noodles after almost every weekly meeting :P)
Nine years on, all of us are still journeying with God. We're all at different places now but when we meet up, it's kinda like old times again...
Tonight I went for a Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) presentation and bumped into someone I briefly met at a Scripture Union camp in Dec 1995. It's really encouraging to know that people like her, who were committed to walking with God 11 years ago, are still walking with Him today.
We hear stories of people who were "on fire" and gung-ho about God in their youth choosing not to believe in Him when they're older, or just becoming distracted & disinterested once work comes into the picture and life sorta takes over. One of my fears has always been that I'll be one of those people, that I'll forget God and all His goodness to me and that I'll want to go my own way, do my own thing, get caught up in chasing after my own dreams & ambitions without a thought for the One who loves me. It's so insiduously easy, you know, to get caught up in the other matters and issues that clamour for my attention.
There've been times when I've nearly given up, wanted to throw my hands in the air and forget that a God even exists, but somehow God has always gently, inexorably drawn me back. And that, I think, is the heart of it; God is so, so faithful. He hangs on to me even when I feel I can no longer hang on to Him, or when I try to extricate myself from His hold. On my own, I probably wouldn't last the journey. But I gave Him my life many years ago, asking Him to be my Lord, and I'm trusting Him to hold me to my promise -- to hold my life in the palm of His hands even when I occasionally foolishly try to take it back.