Catalyst

I went down to the Lake of The Ozarks, Missouri from Monday to Friday to attend Catalyst which is a leadership conference for all Intervarsity CF Leaders. In the beginning, I treated the conference as a short vacation away from the cramped house that I was going to be living at. However, I was totally blown away by the conference. It was awesome to see how many students have committed their life in serving others through leadership. Initially, I was hesitant about taking up the position because I felt so inadequate because of my weakness and brokenness. In the end, I realized that God wants us, despite of our brokenness; He wants us to be obedient to His calling. He can use us despite of our weaknesses because He makes us strong in Him when we are weak.

Other than the meetings, we had fun going about the whole area that we were at; Windermere. The facilities were awesome, they had almost everything! One night, we walked all the way up this hill to the Chapel on top of the hill at midnight. It was fun but kinda creepy as well because it was so dark. We spent time in prayer for our fellowship at Drake at the chapel before heading back down. I went for a high rope adventure and boy, it was a good adrenaline rush but at the same time, freaky! There was this obstacle which consisted of a single wooden pole about 25 feet from the ground called "The Leap of Faith". The objective of the obstacle course is to climb to the top of the pole and leap about 4 feet across and grab the rungs that hang from a wire about 30 feet high; all the while strapped into a harness. Climbing to the top of the pole was easy but when I had to balance myself and stand up on the pole, I was freaking out. I had to manipulate my both feet onto the end of the pole which has a circumference about the size of a dinner plate. Not only that, you had to stand up and all the while you're doing this, the pole is wobbling. I finally stood up but then, I had no guts to jump across. When I finally did, I was so terrified because you feel yourself falling momentarily into empty space before the harness jerks you to safety.

I had wobbly knees for a while after that. There was an important lesson I learnt about the obstacle course. Climbing up the pole is like going up the ladder in your walk with God. It is easy as you start to grow, but eventually, things get harder the higher you reach the top. Then, when you get the courage to stand up, God asks you to trust in Him and take that step forward in obedience to him. You are hesitant, because it is scary as you're afraid of missing the mark or falling down. But you do it anyway. If you miss, it is alright because the safety harness is there, catching you if you fall. The safety harness is like God's mercy and grace, He'll catch you if you fall. Kinda interesting insight from going through an obstacle course I think...

Other than that, there was a lot of crazy fun things going on with the other leaders from my chapter at Drake which is to be expected. All in all, it was an awesome experience, I came back boosted spiritually but physically tired. I am looking forward to a slow week ahead before my trial Capoeira lesson next week. Am definitely looking forward to that!