The Price/Prize of Choice

Every Christmas sermon centers on the greatest gift of God to the world when the word of the prophets uttered some 400 years before the event came to pass with the birth of Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that He gave... whether or not man believes, whether or not man accepts or rejects the gift, Jesus Christ is given...to save man. I have to admit though, I think Christmas is sometimes "overdone"; we get  hung up on the little baby born in a manger, shepherds, angels and kings bearing gifts. We also get pretty hung up on bling-bling Christmas trees, feasting and opening presents. Nothing wrong with celebrating the birthday of the Savior of the world, for sure, though honestly I don't really see the connection between the historical fact and the latter activities. In fact, the truth is Jesus wasn't even born on Dec 25th.  And what's more important Jesus didn't remain a baby. The baby grew up into a Man of sorrows, lived rejected by His own, died a horrible death by crucifixion and rose from the grave in spectacular glory. In the midst of 33 years of life on earth, He stilled storms, multiplied food,  healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead.  That's the full miraculous story of the One who called Himself I AM - the answer God gave when Moses asked for His name. The implications are pretty obvious.

I attended an inter-faith community dinner with a group of non-Christian university students over the Christmas season. Some had never heard the real story of Jesus Christ. The common perception was more about Santa Claus and Jingle Bells, though they knew it was supposed to be the birthday of Jesus. How sad. Is that all Christmas has been reduced to in the eyes of a world exposed to inane pop-songs passing off as Christmas carols in shopping malls decorated with giant replica trees, which actually originated from a pagan festival?  But what's Christmas without the tree, presents, carols, nativity scenes? I can do without all that, since the birth of Christ is for me a personal time to remember, reflect and simply receive...

To remember there's a God who so loved me, who so loved the world that He gave Jesus Christ to us all... to reflect on how Jesus lived and died so that none may perish... to receive with thanksgiving and assurance the forgiveness of my sin and eternal life forevermore - which the Bible defines as "to know... the only true God and  Jesus Christ whom He has sent." (John 17:3)   The Christian (not just Christmas) message has always been about salvation. We like to say salvation is free, because Jesus paid the price at the cross, when He carried the world's sin on His shoulders and died for us all, so that we may live.  

I am also very used to mouthing that until the other day my dear son, full of his 24 years' wisdom, boldly stated that salvation is not free, because humans still have to do something to be saved from hell - We have to believe Jesus. So really , there is a price we have to pay. Our choice - to believe or not, to follow or not - is that price. For a moment I was pretty stumped by his observation.  Yet come to think of it, his logic is absolutely correct.
And I guess viewed from that perspective, Christmas isn't just about giving - as God gave His most precious - but it's as much, if not even more, about receiving the gift. Receiving Christ isn't about keeping the rules of a religion. Nor is it a social reform agenda of doing 'good' or being 'gooder' than the rest of humankind. It's about making a choice to follow a Person. And that costs. As one writer puts it, the Christian faith makes demands on those who profess it. It challenges the ones who dare to believe, it redefines the deepest concepts of who we are, what life should be all about  and what is really true. It has the power and right to change us and our world.  Sure, it is a personal thing but the implications go beyond personal because everything is now seen through the lens of a risen Savior.

Actually if God doesn't ask of me anything , then really he's just Santa Claus in disguise. When I chose to 'become' a Christian, it means I should no longer be what I was before. I am supposed to be what the Bible calls "a new creation...the old has passed away." (2 Corinthians 5:17)  That entails giving up "old things" - attitudes, mind-sets, perspectives, even rights - not out of a sense of obligation to obey religious regulations but out of love for the God who knows me best and wants the best for me. Love is what motivates me to follow what He says, not what I want. And that struggle  between my (human) desires - which are mostly to further my own comfort and convenience - versus His (divine) will - which are sometimes just plain incomprehensible -  is a price I pay willingly to be a follower of Christ.

The price goes even higher when we consider the reality that Christians are being persecuted all over the world everyday; Wikipedia quotes a source as high as 200 million in recent times. Imprisonment, torture, ostracization, rejection, some pay with their very lives. Just like Jesus. Actually why should it be any different ? Jesus Himself said,  " Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." (John 15:20)

But isn't Christianity all about a God who blesses? Indeed it is. That's where the prize comes in, even though the price may be high. It may cost me everything, but the rewards are beyond anything and everything I can ever ask, dream or pray for. When I look around at an all-messy, upside-down world,  I can rest in His peace and know that He is God. When my heart gets all battered up, and life gets a bit too much, as the Apostle Paul put it, I can still " be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (Romans 12:12) because I know my God who promised is not a liar.

We are ever so willing to pay the price of our time, energy, money, etc to get...an education, a job, spouse,  house, power, position...whatever . By the same token, many don't mind giving up personal comfort and convenience (that's a price to pay) to serve their own pet altruistic causes. Yet the ultimate price for every human soul has been paid by the One who was born to die at the cross of Calvary.  All so that we may obtain the best prize of all - the abundance of the  heavenly Father's love and power through Jesus Christ, in this life and a guaranteed hereafter, forever in His presence. This is the stuff that no money can buy, which no human can ever give. Christ is worth it all..  Now why would I not want to pay the price of believing and receiving such an unbeatable deal....

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ" - Philippians 3:8 

Most Meaningful Moments

People call it a bucket list - things that they want to experience or accomplish in a life-time. Well, I am not into lists. There are some things I have never thought about doing, which I have done, like climb a mountain at age 55. Or canyon-eering off the edge of a waterfall at 58.  It's one of those crazy unplanned  stuff that happens along the journey of life. I have never even heard of the term before

until now. I am acrophobic - that's fear of heights. I get jittery just looking down the balcony of a high-rise (for me, that means anything above 2 storeys) apartment. So my first impulse was to say no to the proposal to go jump off a cliff into unknown depths. My plan was to follow on the trek and wait for the gung-ho youngsters at the very safe bottom of the waterfall. That way I wouldn't miss the beauty of the famed Kawasan Falls of Cebu and still be in one piece. So we all got started off with a rickety ride, using old sputtering motor-cycles, 3 persons squeezed onto one machine, bumping over dirt tracks, convoy-style,  into the jungle.

However, things don't always work out as we intend. So it was,  watching tourists and my own family of 4 line up to take their turn dropping off into the beautiful waters, I thought what the heck, might as well go for it. After all, it's just a jump of 10 m.  Easier said than done, for  I stopped short right at the edge, and literally did a U-turn to 'pusing balik' not once but twice - what a comedy. And when I did jump, it was a classic flop.  In spite of  the guide having told us how to do it properly - go in feet first, keep your hands at your side, etc etc - I landed splat on my face and chest. They should circulate my video as a perfect example of how not to do canyon-eering.  The pain was very bad; I felt like my face and chest was exploding into pieces, even padded with a life-vest,  I was literally knocked out of breath. Thank God my guide was quick to react - straight away like a true hero, he jumped in to rescue the old aunty in distress.

Well, I survived; with my face and body still intact, albeit aching like crazy. Was it worth it? Of course not, all I got was extreme pain and it's not like I got rid of my fear of heights anyway. Which is why I refused the next jump of 15 m and resolutely stuck my two feet on solid ground. In fact I don't want to do any more canyon-eering - ever. My eldest princess was the exact opposite, she wanted to do a third jump, to get it 'perfect'.  My no. 2 got somewhat stuck at the highest level jump of 15 m. Whilst her other 2 siblings just leapt off, she took a long time, gathering up her courage. But she did it finally. There was another young man who looked so fit and yet took an even longer while to jump.

Later as  I watched and laughed at the video clips the guide took of our  adventure in the forest, it struck me actually it's ok to be afraid, to be 'chicken' about certain things. It's acceptable to 'miss it' in spite of all the teaching and reminding.  It's not a shame to be laughed at. Nor does my ignominious display mean I am a failure at anything else. I don't have to 'get it right' every time; I don't have to prove anything to myself, much less to anyone else. I am so glad my God doesn't require me to be 'perfect', so glad He's always there to sort out the messes I make in life.

The day before we had a literal whale of a time - a close encounter with alive whale-shark, the largest species of its kind in the ocean. Watching the huge fish underwater gliding past so close was surreal.

But it wasn't really all that great, not that it was the shark's fault. It was all the waiting around - 2 hours just to spend 20 minutes in the murky choppy sea, swallowing lots of salty water in the process. And the crowds just showed how commercialized it all was. Still it's a must-do thing in Cebu. Just like island-hopping, chasing spotty turtles and silvery sardines . Like visiting Magellan's Cross, the spot where the famed explorer Ferdinand Magellan apparently planted the first emblem of Christianity in Philippines. For good measure we arrived in time to witness a very public Catholic mass held outside the church with many standing, holding umbrellas in the hot sun.

Indeed Cebu was a great adventure. But my best moments were actually not about the action stuff. Rather it was on the penultimate day when the kids opted to go rock-climbing and I was left to my devices, as I didn't fancy more heights. The evening before I had seen the woman lying on the kerb, with her toddler, as we ventured to try out Jollibee - the Philippines version of McD, which was rather different and pretty good. Already my heart was stirred. But she wasn't there by the time we came out. The next morning, I packed the extra left-over hot-dog, a packet of cookies and 2 apples and walked to the place again. But they were no longer there. I walked on further and saw another dirty bed-raggled young boy sitting outside Jollibee, which was all I needed to act. It was priceless to watch his eyes grow so big as he opened up the bag I gave to him,  jabbering excitedly to himself. But that wasn't the end of my blessing. As I turned to walk back to the hotel, there she was - the 'street' lady with her kid - hidden behind a parked van. So I went back to Jollibee and for a mere RM8, got to bless a very hungry mother and child with burger and spaghetti.  That was the most meaningful moment of my holiday indeed.

But that's still not the end. Since I had time to kill, and I really didn't fancy walking around the jam-packed roads of Cebu city in the heat, I signed up for the hotel 2 1/2 hour massage service. My therapist was a  young woman, my name-sake - Cristina. I asked her if she knew the meaning of her name; she said it was given her because she was born near to Christmas day. And then out of nowhere, she spoke of her fear of Christ. When I probed, she confessed she was afraid of sinning. That was when I told her the real meaning of her (and my) name, which I found out only after some 25  years, when I first accepted Christ at age 40 - it means "follower of Christ". How inexplicable and unexpected are the ways of a God who cares so much for us. That He would send me, a total stranger, to explain to one who never quite knew the truth -  how Christ had come to remove all sin and all fear for those who believe enough to just follow Him, not follow a system of religion, a church denomination, political parties, human saints or leaders.  It was my privilege to see her face light up with such a beautiful smile as she said in parting, in perfect understanding, "I follow Christ."

That ultimately is what life - my life-  is all about. I could go through the most awesome adventures on holidays, see the most beautiful sun-sets, experience highest joy, deepest sorrow. I could understand nothing, I could fail at everything. But one thing surpasses all - to follow Christ , for that alone brings about the most meaningful moments of life.

"For me, to live is Christ..." - Philippians 1:21 

Fotos
Videos:
Chicken Dance
How Not To Do It