Love by Eric

Before the camp started, I was struck with ambivalent emotions and anticipation. It’s my first ever church camp and posts from Arlene and Zhong Fa were building up the hunger and desire for me to go through this experience first hand. Yet, I wasn’t sure if I could fit in well. I knew very few people and wasn’t particularly close to anyone. Moreover, from past camp experiences, cliques often form naturally and once you’re excluded from that circle, the entire journey would be a dull, unexcitable and dissatisfying one.

My uncertainties were quickly reversed once the camp got underway. Everyone seemed willing and ready to mix around even though we might be seeing or speaking to one another for the very first time. Getting involved wasn’t too tough and I was blessed with a group of nice people from Peter Pan… yay! Above all these, God was slowing revealing His purposes for me in this camp, answering my prayers in the process.

Recently I’ve been asking God for the meaning of Love. A week ago, Brother Jin Hang guided me to a passage on Love in 1 Corinthians 13. My understanding of the passage was very technical in the beginning and Love became a word I associated with certain actions and attitudes, but still, I know not how Love feels. On the first night, I went through the passage again and I was beginning to address it in a different fashion. That night, I learned that Love should be a source of motivation if you’re truly and willing to serve God and others with a genuine heart.

On the morning of the second day, I received a surprise message from Tina and on the card, it says:
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:7

This message really warmed my heart. I’ve hardly spoken to Tina till then and given that she was busy carrying out her committee duties, I felt really welcomed into this camp, into Youth Fusion. Thanks Tina! Really appreciated it.

During devotion time, I was surprised to find out that the message on that day was about our Love relationship with God. It emphasized on The Greatest Commandment that God has called us to obey:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Mark 12:30

That night when I addressed that passage once more, I began to perceive it from a different light once more. The importance of love cannot be overemphasized. God desires us to have Love as the virtue that rests upon other virtues, Love as the attitude that forms the base of all purposes, Love as the sincere craving when we seek to serve and know Him and Love as the resolution to all our sorrows, pain and hurt.

On the third day, God showed me how basic and simple Love is. I saw people like Jun Hoong helping others without self-glorifying or reward seeking in any sense; they did it just because they could and wanted to. That just a simple ‘Hi’ or a ‘Are you fine?’ is too, a sign of Love. There was no need for fanciful gifts or sweet nothings. This is because Love is not a pre-rehearsed action but a natural reflex. Love is not only what has been done, but also the emotion that is felt after what is done, from both the giver and the receiver.
“Love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
1 Corinthians 13:4

God went one-step further and showed me the vastness and greatness of Love. During my course of study, I’ve learned that regardless of what approach you apply to get a distressed client out of his or her depression or trauma, the key ingredient for success is for the client and therapist to have a close and sincere relationship with one another. During Patrick’s sermon, he shared the power of God’s Love with the story on the Vietnamese boy who was a victim of racism. If the Love of a human being can slowly guide a person out of pain and suffering, just how much more can the Love from God heal. How much more can the Love of God restore? How much more can the Love of God do? For Love is undying and “Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:8)

Indeed, God has shown me the truest meaning of Love and blessed me with the opportunity to experience the Love from Him and all fellow brothers and sisters during the camp. I did not feel a tinge of loneliness during the camp, for the warmness of Love was delighting entirely. I thank God for bringing me through such an amazing journey of discovering Love. He has allowed me to ‘taste’ of His Love and to ‘see’ His Love in action from the stories that were shared and the wonderful things that many people did during the camp.

God has answered my prayers, shown me the lighted path, and filled me with Love that overflows. I believe that from the new strength and wisdom that God has blessed me with during the camp, I’m ready to bring my intimate relationship with God to a higher level.

Just as Si-er said, Youth Fusion will be One, United, a fabric that is closely knitted, intricate joints that cannot be dismantled in the coming year. I believe that Love is the virtue the will bind Youth Fusion together as we embrace God’s purposes for us in year 2007.