Camp Stories: Stand Out
In this episode, I share two stories that connect to one thing: Standing out. Not for personal gain or pleasure, but because we have a priceless message to share and people out there need it.
Hi guys. So welcome back to the Rated
podcast. And I don't know, I have
interesting stories to share with you today.
Of course, one day camp story. But before that, my church has
this thing that we call streetlights.
So it's basically us preaching the gospel.
We take the light of the gospel to the streets, hence the name.
So we usually go in twos. Sometimes we're being gross, but
generally when we're like trying to evangelise, we're going twos,
you know, Bible disciple kind of style.
Hey, so I went with a friend of mine and we're just like, oh,
let's go around. If we see anyone that we just
feel like let's share the gospel with them, go ahead and share
the gospel with them. So we made these 4 ladies.
I mean, they're all Christians, I think different beliefs and
whatnot, but nevertheless, preach the gospel to them,
spoke, ask them some questions, things like that and moved on.
So the more interesting case was with this guy we met, we're on
our way back to church like, oh, let's start going back.
And I saw this guy. I'm like, oh, how about that
guy, Let's go meet him. So apparently he walks at the
shop and when we go to the shop, like when I asked him, oh, can
we talk for like family, like oh, sure, come beckons on us and
we go to the shop. We go to stand directly in the
shop. There's another lady who is also
in shops. Apparently they both walk there.
The guy and lady walk at the shop.
So then I didn't know, but I later found out that he's
actually a Muslim. So while I was speaking with
him, my friend, she went to speak with the other lady in the
shop. So I didn't know how their
conversation was when I was just speaking with guy and he had
never heard anything about Christianity before.
He did not like he didn't know what the word gospel was.
He he didn't know about Jesus Christ, did not know about Jesus
Christ provision for sin. He like he didn't know anything.
I mean, he knew that, oh, there's a person in Islam that's
called Jesus just as a prophet, but he didn't know anything.
He'd never know. Some of the things that Muslims
usually have an issue when it comes to Christianity.
One primary example is maybe with the Trinity.
A lot of Muslims usually that are cool.
How does the Trinity work, things like that.
Let me just drop this here. Next episode I'm actually going
to drop is going to be an eternity.
So look out for that. I think it's such an interesting
theme or topic. So yeah.
And spits anyway, he didn't know any of that.
He basically did not know anything.
I can or has anybody ever come to preach the gospel to you
before? Has any Christian ever come to
do that? And he said no.
And I was just wild. This person is definitely in his
20s, maybe late 20s. I'm not sure, but he's not
young. He wasn't young.
I was just wow, like I know, oh, he's a Muslim man of that.
But I never actually met a Muslim that had not heard
anything about Christianity before.
I had spoken with other Muslims, but none of them had been so
oblivious or not aware of anything patent Christianity as
his case was. But in my heart, I was, I was
happy like, OK, you know what? This is a chance.
This is this is God's goodness to you.
This is a chance for you to hear the gospel.
And I let everything in me out. I think I could, I could kind of
relate to him because my dad actually was once a Muslim, so
he converted to Christianity. So of course, in converse with
my dad, there are some things I got to understand.
And so I could release one of these things to him.
Like, oh, I know that being in this situation might be delicate
because he's quite open to the whole thing of Christianity and
like, oh, hearing it out and of that ball at the same time, a
part of him is still like, but in Islam, things like that.
But only I was just so happy that I got to share the gospel
with him, explaining that, OK, you know what, there's the same
problem that we all have and none of us can meet up to it.
And so we were all deserving of death, but then Jesus Christ
pays the price on our behalf. And whoever believes in him is
not just safe from sin, but also has eternal life.
I also got to talk about the joy that comes with being with God,
how that, for example, some of my friends that might have known
me pray if you've listened to the beauty from the actual
story, right? It's like that knew me before
the whole event and miss me now. They're like, Oh, there's such a
big thing. I'm like, this is one of the
things that God can do. There's such a joy that's
knowing God brings and all this things.
I was just so happy to share the gospel with him, you know, and
I'm of course I'm still following up with him.
Like must be dogged about this, right.
So maybe I'll give you guys updates on that every now and
then if you know you're hearing this.
I would also love you to say a word of prayer for him.
I don't know. I, I can't reveal his name for
privacy issues or privacy reasons, but I just have to just
say a word of prayer for him. Pray that the light of the
gospel really shines in his hearts and that the Lord draws
him closer. Yeah.
So anyway, here's another interesting thing.
So after when we were going back, I was speaking with my
friend and she was like the other lady that she spoke to
said she had been a Christian all her life.
So right from birth she grew up in a Christian home.
And I mean, there was there was some some red flags with that.
We're not Christians because we are born into a Christian family
of Christians because we choose to believe the work of Jesus
Christ. And in receiving the Spirit of
God, he helps us to be more Christ like.
But that aside, that was not even my main issue.
OK, You've been a Christian all along.
So in speaking to the guy who worked at the shop, he had been
working there for two years. I'm not sure how long Lydia had
been working there for, but I want to be that it wasn't a
short period, at least months because she seemed very
comfortable with that. They seemed like they haven't
should have for so long. And it was just I was telling my
friend how it's amazing or it's interesting how you've been in
the same space with someone who has never had the gospel, who
has never had anything Christian all his life, yet you've been a
Christian all your life. I don't know if you get the
irony to it. My friend was telling me how
it's like so many times. I mean, we tried to compact
mentalize Christianity. So it's like for a particular
setting, Christianity works here and this other settings will
just turn it off. So a very good example maybe in
the workspace. I do want to put a disclaimer.
I mean, there's a bit of tact I need to handle this.
I think this one works more because we were speaking to
people who, you know, helped run a shop where salespeople kind of
in some corporate spaces and that there are rules and things
like that. So you have to be a bit more
wise in your approach, but nevertheless, it's still
possible to engage your colleagues in some of these
meaningful conversations. But it's like, oh, wine
workspace. We're all about achieving our
KPIs, our targets, and I just want to get out of this
environment. It's like you don't see the
urgency of the gospel. You don't see the need to share
the gospel. And it's like, imagine you had a
ticket that would get you $5,000,000 and someone tells you
that, oh, as I'm giving you this ticket now you can also tell
another person that is around to also come and get their own
tickets. You definitely, even if you
didn't know a person, that bro, they are sharing this cyst.
They are sharing that you can go and get yours.
And that's with something like money.
How much more the gospel that saves our lives eternally.
Maybe a part of you even wants to share the gospel.
There's just a lack of urgency because I don't know how.
How is it that you've been with someone for so long, yet they
know nothing about your faith? It shouldn't be the case and
doubling me, today's episode stand out.
So back when I was in camp, NYC camp, I think one of the
beautiful things about camp, one of the interesting parts of camp
is how you can meet someone you don't know from anywhere.
A random person. You've never met them.
In fact, even in camp, you've never seen them before.
And maybe after that day, you might never see them again.
And you guys have a conversation just because circumstance puts
you together. So a very good example is maybe
platoons. You're groups into platoons.
So in your platoon, maybe you guys are marching together or
you guys get punished together. So my platoon actually got
punished a lot of the time. So like because of the shared
experiences, you just have to bond.
There's a way how I don't, I don't want to call it trauma
Bunny, but there's a way how you go through Shaggy and to cause
you guys to just bond, you know, and all of a sudden you guys
just start talking. And I think one of the different
things was how throughout so many of these conversations, I
forgot to actually ask this before getting like, it won't
even come to mind. You'll just be talking with
them. And it's maybe after you spoke
with them 1234 times, like, Oh, it's true.
What's your name? Let me get your number, things
like that. But anyway, there was a
particular morning. I promise you this was a very,
very, every time I think about this conversation, I'm like
really? So this morning, usually in the
morning there are lectures, maybe like one person comes and
speaks for 5 minutes, maybe 3 different people.
So we have lectures. So that particular morning, I
can't remember what exactly the person was speaking on board.
It was something pertaining to sex and related issues and
things like that. So a lady in front of me, I
can't remember what exactly she was saying, but I know she was
saying something about men and women and sexual related issues.
And So what she was saying then led me to say that, oh, you
know, that if a man and a woman like, and when I see man woman,
I was referring to a husband and a wife in a marriage have sex
related issues, they can go and see specialist like they are
professionals who can actually give sound counsel.
You can grant me professionals for these things.
No need for you to keep silent about it or resort to unhealthy
habits. You know, there are so many lies
I've been told like, oh, you need to watch porn.
You need to explore to find out whether you'll be good at it or
not, things like that. So I was telling her that then
she was not saying something in return.
Say something about her boyfriend or maybe somebody
else's boyfriend. And instinctively, I didn't post
the thing that, oh, if I wish you're out in the open with
thousands of people, you don't know what their views might be.
Different people, different views.
But I just instinctively said about, you know, you're not
supposed to have sex with someone that you're not married
to. Like it was after I said it was
after I came as a matter of like everybody actually agreed.
It's like I said it So matter of factly, maybe because before
getting scamped, everybody around me is more or less in
that same wavelength, thinks the same way.
I forgot that I'm not in the same place.
I'm not in the same atmosphere, in the same group of people.
We're having people from all over the country converge in one
place. So of course, difference of
views, difference of opinions. And then she says like, hey, you
know, she's so like, who's this guy?
Not in the offended kind of like, what does this guy think
he's saying? Like I'm thinking all of a
sudden she taps the lady in front of her.
I don't think she knew the lady in front of her.
So like I said, different platform, different people, She
just taps. They like hear what this guy is
saying. No say that he cannot have sex
with someone until he my eyes them, things like that.
And instinctively, the lady that she tapped is obviously like
that she has a friend and that friend is suffering because of
this thing now, but they're having issues with your
sexuality just because she did not check before they got
married. I was out before then.
They had always told me, oh, that there are people that
believe that, you know, there are people that say that in that
before he gets married, they have to test it out whether they
would be compatible. And I mean, I heard when they
said, oh, there are people like that, but it always seemed like
folklore. It didn't seem realistic, but
then it became real, like all these people actually exist.
I was so surprised. I was so surprised.
Like they didn't front the lady that she tapped called me
mommy's boy. She called me mommy's boy.
This was the first time I was ever happy to be called the
mommy's boy. In my mind I was like, yes, from
that day on decided calling me pastor, right?
I just remember she remembered called me pastor, things like
that. But she basically said that, oh,
she cannot depend that she used was lash even that team.
I didn't know that it was a team like that until I got to camp.
All of a sudden I heard different movies like you all
know this thing like it's not a thing indigenous to a particular
black. You all know this term.
So she's like, oh, she cannot Cortana go lash anybody or no,
she cannot my anybody that she has not lashed right.
And I'm just like, I really hope that it's not too descriptive.
I just trust that you get the main point of all that I'm
saying. So it was just a big surprise
for me. I was like, how I you all really
believe this. And it just reminded me that
because for a long time, a lot of things that I knew or that I
knew, I just don't bother seeing them.
Not because I don't think they're not valuable.
I'm like, I think all of us should know this by now.
There's just that as I'm trying to back of my mind that I mean,
isn't everybody on the same page with this?
I know that some people might not be Christians, but I just
assume that even though you're not a Christian, you should
still, of course, why would you want to test out with every
single person before you know that you want to get married to
them? That was my thinking, right?
It just made sense to me. But being out there, being at
the NYC and being exposed to different kind of people mean
realize that what you know, other people might not know.
And it's not just something specified to just, you know,
sexual related issues. I'm talking generally in the
faith now, right? First things first, starting
from the gospel, so many people might have heard of Christianity
but do not actually know what the gospel is.
And so you might think, oh, everyone should know the gospel.
Now, by the way, we need to appreciate 2 reasons.
One, it's a message that saves lives.
You have the chance to save a person's life.
You have a chance to usher them or help usher them into the path
of eternal life like God can use it to do such an awesome work.
And second of all is that they might actually not know.
They might actually not know the gospel.
And so you might be that chance for them to know the gospel.
So it was just, it was just running through my head how
there are probably a lot of things that in my mind that I
probably should speak out more about.
I should probably talk more about them.
Do not assume that people know them, right?
Let people know what you believe about your faith.
Be more vocal about. And I think this really helped
because later on I represented my platon for this and I will
call money devotion. And so we had different themes
for our platoons. My platoon was loyalty.
So we're supposed to, you know, come up with a presentation of
some sort. He doesn't necessarily have to
be religious symbol. I decided to go that route.
So we're supposed to do something as regards loyalty.
So what I did was I used the story of Hosea and Goma.
That's his wife, you know, about how Hosea still remained loyal
to her as a depiction of God's loyalty to Israel, things like
that. But it was just so beautiful.
I remember before going, I was scared.
I was scared because I kept praying to God, like God be
glorified because I'm like God. I'm indirectly talking about
your gospel. And I remember while I was
speaking, there were so many people who resonated with it.
And it just reminded me how deep down a lot of people are
actually yearning for lights. A lot of people are are are
looking for the truths, but because they've never actually
gotten access to it of the of they've not been an environment
that helped them to properly pursue it or to continually
pursue it. They give up like being in camp,
being around people at different times.
There was this other time where I was watching a reel on my
phone was a reel of a pastor preaching and this lady beside
me all of a sudden like, Oh, I love this pastor so much.
Every time I see he's real, I just automatically like it.
I'd heard I have some I'd had some conversations with her
before I'd heard her say something.
So I need a Oh, she might not necessarily be the strongest
believable. That alone was proved that one
something in her wants to grow closer to God.
So for a lot of people that's probably the case.
It's now a thing of oh, do they have the avenue or do they have
the people around them to actually see these things.
And so it just reminded me that the things that you know, the
things that you know about the faith, the things that you've
learned from the word of God from your walk with God.
I know things that supposed to just stay with you.
You have to actually stand out as lights.
You have to shine. That's not so little light of
yours. The light of the gospel that you
have received from Christ is supposed to shine forth.
It's not supposed to be put under a bushel, all right.
It's supposed to be put in a place where everyone can seed
and glorify God. I think it was just such a
beautiful experience for me. I think it was such an eye
opener. I remember there were different
times when I would randomly be walking and I would hear someone
play a gospel song and then there's a joy that would rise
within me just from a person simply playing a gospel song.
So one thing that really stood out him was how I should be
vocal about my faith. Bring out your Christian book,
bring out your Bible. Another person is going to see
you doing that and it's going to encourage them like you know
what, they're here as well. They're Christians, say I also
can do this. I think it's just such a
beautiful thing. So I think that's pretty much
the apart from the fact that I wanted to tell you guys some
interesting things that were happening in my life.
I think the message here is stand out.
Stand out, Be loud about your faith, be loud about your feet,
shine faults, stand out every phrase or term you can think of.
That alliance with this right light should not be put under a
bushel. It's supposed to shine so that
all who seed, who glorify God be the reason why someone can draw
closer to God, be the reason why someone can continue in their
pursuit of God. Bida Ave. what I means preaching
the gospel practically what I means being loud about your
feet, you know, not keeping quiet about your views.
Like sometimes they're probably not going to agree with you.
They're probably going to call you a mummy's boy or daddy's
girl and it's fine. But best be assured that even
deep down I know you're part of them was like, oh, OK, maybe
this is actually not the right way.
And a lot of them, it's not even the thing where they actually
don't agree with what you're saying, but because for so long
they've tried and they've not made progress, you know, maybe
because they've been trying by their own efforts.
Of course, we can't do things by our efforts.
That's why I rely on the strength of God.
But maybe some people don't know that.
And so they're trying their own efforts.
They can't make any progress, and then they give up.
So, so many people. It's not even that they do want
to do better, but then they just give up because they've tried in
their own strength. So there's so many things to it.
And it's why we need to shine forth this light of the gospel.
I love this particular verse in Second Corinthians.
I can't remember which chapter or the verse particularly, but
it says that we may be the ones through whom the knowledge of
God is dispersed into the world. So in every and any possible
way, whether it's preaching the gospel directly, whether it's
talking about other things pertaining to the word of God,
whether it's being loud about your convictions, just sharing
the fact that you're a Christian out there in the songs that you
play in the movies that you watch, like normalize saying
things like, Oh, I didn't watch this movie because I didn't like
the content that was displayed in the trailer.
I do that sometimes like I watch and I'm like, no, this is not
for me. I know where I'm at and I'm
like, I'm not going to push myself through this temptation
or through this torture, that kind of thing, right?
Just be loud, be unapologetically loud.
And that's a wrap. So I really hope that you like
this episode. I really hope that you got
something from it. And I just hope that you enjoyed
listening to listening to it. Really.
I enjoyed talking about this episode actually, I really love
if you can share this with someone again, please, if you
listen to it, so like you can always like just text me.
Oh, I listen to this and I enjoy this and some of you did that
last weekend. I love you guys so much.
Thank you. Even those of you that not text
me, I still love you. All right, I love you all.
I pray that you have an awesome week ahead.
I pray that God helps you to shine his light forth and I pray
that maybe wherever, I don't know, I feel the sense to pray
this, but wherever maybe there might be a struggle, I pray that
good. Granted strength to live or to
come out on top in that struggle and to remain obedient to him.
Yeah. So take care of yourself.
Stay with it. Bye.
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