Inspiring...CLAY

Yesterday was a kinda hectic for me as I was up for helping out in CLAY [ CLA Youth Ministry ] inaugral meeting, serving communion and running a Royal Rangers meeting all in the fine morning of Sunday right through the early evening of the day. Though I know that it was going to be a hectic day, I just prayed for strength and I know I would be in good hands. I just want to remain humble and give thanks to the Lord for His strength in me and my fellow leaders. Many times, I have heard preaching on the need for helping this ministry and that ministry or even give here and there but the fact is this , get up from the seat first before you are going to do anything. The problem with all of us is that we want to help and so on....bla..bla...bla....but we won't even raise out precious little butt off the chair to actually do anything. It is always nice to suggest this and that, say 1001 things but when it comes to actually taking the trouble to help out or do the work, mysteriously & mind bogglingly, they all seemed to be categorised as "missing persons". Heard of that phrase before? Well, something for you to ponder...... I leave it to your imagination,ok?

Anyway, helping out the Youth Ministry is a short term commitment but it is very real for the three of us [ Errol, Steven and myself ]. For me , especially, I really want to see the youths grow up knowing, trusting and serving God. I also believe very much that these youths are our future and investing in them the great values of Godliness is equally important. Coming back to the event, we were there for the support , to inpsire and to help out in whatever way we could for the ministry. It was certainly a marvelous feeling knowing that it started out on the right note and it was a glorious day for fun , fellowship and food. The youth leaders did very well to cordinate the entire event from the starting to the end. There was great cordination from the team but still a long way to go from a well-oiled organisation but overall, there was great potential and great hearts. What a day! For me, I had to dart out from one service to another and at the end of the day, I had carried out what I am supposed to do in the very best of my ability. By the time, I get to the RR Meeting, it was exhausting and I almost fell asleep while doing discussions with the leaders on camp details and plannings. You bet, it was tiring but I was very happy. Happy that at least, in a very small way, I had contributed or play a part in helping out. But the best present from God was when I drove home that evening with my children, JWee and SYuen in the car.

JWee said to me, " Dad, now I know why you are a leader." I was puzzled at first. Then he continued, " It gives me great satisfaction when the children learned something from me today. When they did the activity right, I was happy and they were happy. Then I remembered all that had been taught to me earlier by the commanders. It is a great feeling, dad. I am glad that I am able to teach the children." You can say that I was rather speechless but I was glad that he understood what it meant to be in leadership - to teach, reach out and inspire. For many years, I had humbly received plenty of accolades and thanks from children, parents and leaders whenever we had carried out camps , learning skills and Bible lessons but none beat the joy of hearing it from the mouths of your own children. Today, I am teary-eyed as I recalled what my son said to me. I thanked all the leaders and friends, past and present, who have invested their time, energy, love and support to my son and daugther. I want to say that their efforts of investing their lives, time and resources were well worth it!
It certainly drove away all the tiredness I had felt throughout the day and bring a lot of good cheer to this ol' heart of mine ~