Making A CHOICE Commitment

I attended a training session for the CHOICE weekend yesterday. As some may recall, I went for the recent April weekend. Even though I was not as enriched as the rest since I am already at a relatively satisfactory stage of my life, there were quite a few troubled people around. So at the end of the session when the organizers were asking for volunteers for subsequent weekends, I signed up for it. Hence the training session.

I have not been told exactly what I would be doing though. I would not mind presenting, sharing my experiences with the rest, with regards to some of the themes. Apparently, not everyone can be a presenter, and one must be comfortable sharing certain aspects of your life. Some of the presenters actually broke down while sharing.

For me, I hope my words and experiences will inspire others. Okay, inspire is too strong a word, but at least I hope they can be a source of comfort that they are not the only ones going through certain things, that I, too, have gone through certain things in life, that I do understand and able to relate to a certain extent how they feel.

In any case, I am already living an “open” life, so there is no difference blogging about my life to friends and strangers, and whoever who reads (most of whom I have no idea too), and sharing certain aspects with people of the same faith who are going through the same things, especially on how God and my family have helped me in certain ways.

I would also not mind helping out with housekeeping, cooking the food and cleaning the place after that. All in the name of service. The housekeeping crew made my stay at the retreat house relatively comfortable, so the least I can do is to contribute the same way to others and make their time nice and comfortable too.

After the session, we went to a neighbourhood food centre and indulged in a steamboat and crab meal! Delicious! After that, one of the organisers asked if I would mind writing letters for the others, so I said yes. If I can write and help others, that is a great combination! There will also be a Choice Asian Conference next year, held here, so the one in charge was asking for volunteers to help in some way or another.

It seems to be a biennial event. The one last year was held in Kuching, for those who attended Choice from all over Asia, like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Macau. It was in August 2008. The next one will be Octoer 2010. I was rather hesitant about helping out in this, because if all turns out well and my prayers do come true, I will be heavily committed in October 2010, and may not even have the time to do anything else! However, since this is for God, I figured it will be best to help out.

I need to contribute some ways back to religion. Save for praying and attending church, I never really contributed a lot where religion is concerned. Of course, there was the stint with the church choir, but that is only serving a small community per se. It is not reaching out to fellow Catholics or Christians along the way. Whereas to be part of CHOICE takes a lot of commitment, but it reaches out to a bigger spectrum of people.

Religion is essentially a commitment after all. One does not get baptized then just sit around and not do anything and expect everything to come true. Just like one does not say get involved in a relationship then sit around not doing anything and expect the other party to keep the relationship going.

A relationship with God is a lifelong process, just like how I like God to answer my prayers, I ought to be more committed in my path with Him. Now I only hope there is the chance to go on a mission trip somewhere. Not to preach or evangelise, but just to help build houses or schools, help the poor and outreach to the under priviledged. If only I can find things like that, it will be really great!