Stand Up for Jesus

More than five hundred kids sang to Psalty’s words, 

“I’m gonna stand up! Stand up and live for Jesus…Oooo! I’m gonna stand up! Stand up and live for Him.” 

I stood there still blown away by the things God does to me. That small stage I was standing on became my sanctuary.

Last week, I spent three days with the kids at Trinity Christian School. It was my second time to be their Bible Week preacher. The first time was in 2009 when I was still teaching there.Speaking to them always give me that New Testament feel. You know, that time when Jesus was speaking to multitudes. There were more than 500 of them divided into 2 sessions

First Day Storytelling and Interviewing the kids

 I had a great time sharing about how we should live for Jesus. The first day, I talked about how Jesus gave it all for us. On the second day, I talked about how we should love our ‘neighbors’ too the way Jesus loved us. And on the third day, I talked about standing up for God the way Daniel and his friends did in the old testament.

I got carried away when I was telling the story of Jesus hanging on the cross and how, at that moment while He was writhing in pain, he looked at His mockers and in His mind He’s saying ‘I’m doing this for you!’ I looked at the kids’ eyes and they were welling up.

It was also awesome watching the kids write down their commitments on their notebooks. They wrote how they were to show their love to their parents over the weekend (e.g. washing the car, cleaning their parents’ closet).

The kids raising their hands and writing down their commitments

Making the STAND UP FOR JESUS posters

But what drew me to tears was how easily their hearts were drawn to compassion. These are kids who live very comfortable lives but when I showed them photos of kids in desperate situations -  a poor kid feeding his armless mother, a little kid who had no arms feeding his younger brother with his feet, a young kid who had deformed limbs dropping money in the donation box – the hall fell silent. You could hear a pin drop.

THE Looks of compassion. Aaaawwww!

PRECIOUS!!!

A seven yr old girl met me at the lobby and said “Teacher Jabez, you made me cry yesterday. And today, you made me cry again!” I hope it wasn’t because of my acting skills. I pray it was because God was stirring something inside her that would change her life forever. Afterall, I was 7 when I said I wanted to be a missionary.

The kids praying the prayer of dedication.

On Saturday, I had another divine appointment. I spoke to a bunch of young people about Public Speaking. This year was my third time to be invited at the Leadership Camp sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bacolod North. It is wonderful to know that I can leave an imprint in these young people’s lives.

Louie Gonzaga of RI Presenting the certificate to me after the talk.
Right: The young leaders from public schools.

And oh, I must mention too that I spent my nights (at the same time) at the hospital. My grandmother suffered from a minor blood clot in her brain. I get a different kind of high when God sets me up like this.

Our pastor was on leave for 2 weeks. I preached in church last Sunday.

Didn’t Paul talk about God’s grace being sufficient for us? 

IT IS SO TRUE! This week was proof!