Jesus is the winner man!!
So many doubts, so much tension and so little time!! This was the scenario for Quest 2010, the annual youth fest by the RYF family of fellowship members. Things always roll into place only during the eve of the big day every year but this year, it was taking it haphazardly close! The Redeemer youth fellowship can boast of strength of about 35 believers but things were not just getting done!! Ego clashes, misunderstandings, standoffs, & shying away from responsibilities all reared their ugly head during the planning & practice sessions. We were going to paths unknown and we knew it. The fellowship had a new secretary at the helm who had good motives but lacked the courage & proactiveness to get things done. Equally indifferent were the senior members of the RYF who were looking at the larger picture i.e., the future of the fellowship & had decided in unison that no matter what, it’s the youngsters who are going to shape the outcome of this youth fest so that it will be a great learning curve for them , be it a success or failure. We stuck to our decision.
Let me be honest. Little did we think of the link in the chain, our savior Jesus. He has always been the winner man for us, our guiding light!! Each year, the planning for the youth fest starts around the month of September when we first decide to block a date for the event suitably on a weekend. This year, it was not to be as we were too late to block a date. But little did we know about God’s amazing plan then! As time rolled on, week after week, we would argue over & be disapproving of plans, ideas that emerged for the youth fest. People were missing at crucial stages, citing silly reasons for not being able to come to the fellowship, but things went on because of his amazing grace!
December came, the month of joy, when we sing carols & get into the spirit of Christmas season & the day was nearing so fast with little progress! We had a fasting prayer on the first Sunday of November & December to pray for the success of the youth fest to be held on the 28th of December, and we prayed earnestly to the Lord that there should be no obstacles. The Lord granted our prayers with the first hurdle easily crossed that was the finances; the church was gracious enough to sanction the full amount of funding that we had asked for with no questions asked! Things were slowly beginning to gain momentum and the stage , invitations , light ,sound arrangements were getting done by the grace of Jesus. He gave us a wonderful man of God, Professor Kingsley who agreed to share the word of God that evening.
Finally, it was just 2 days to go, Everything was in a shambles, we were never this under prepared before! People were just scrambling around & the program events were still not on paper. There were frenetic practice sessions for the programs planned & props were made at the last minute, but I dare say that at the back of all our minds, we were fairly confident that everything will be all right because Jesus never fails & everything usually falls into place on the eve of the youth fest. But this time, things were a whole lot different.
On December 28, I woke up & saw that the skies were gray threatening of rain. Now, it has never rained on a youth fest before, not in 12 years! God has always been amazing with the weather! So I had little doubt on my mind then hoping that the skies would clear. We had our last minute practice sessions, the stage, backdrop, & sound systems were finally ready to go, but the music team of the RYF was still feeling very jittery, testing their equipment & doing sound checks, last minute details. Evening came & we were eagerly looking forward to the crowd to start coming in. And, then the rain came…. Out of the grey sky, came little drops of splatter slowly at first but steadily, threatening to turn into a downpour. We were so confident that it would not rain that we had not made any alternate arrangements in case the weather spoils the evening. IT HAS INDEED NEVER RAINED ON A YOUTH FEST BEFORE! We were struck with panic! So much would be lost if the event is rained out! We could not even fathom the youth fest being rained out! We knew we could only do one thing.. WE all knelt down & prayed earnestly to the lord to make the rain disappear! I will never forget Godson’s plea to Jesus to stop the rain & pour his blessing! We started the program while it was still drizzling & slowly grew in confidence as the rain showed signs of letting up. The crowd also was amazing not minding the rain one bit with their eyes glued to the stage. In the end, it turned out to be one of the best youth fests ever, with the short film being the stand out!
This was a real test of faith for me personally, as I feared the rain would certainly spoil everything, God showed us yet again who’s in control & that we are just clay in his hands & we need to allow ourselves to be molded in the shape that he wants. I will never fear again, I thank God for renewing his faith in me through this wonderful experience, he is truly amazing! Im sure that the Redeemer Youth fellowship will only go from strength to strength as the years go by & will be a light that never goes out!! Praise God!! Amen ..
-Steven Emmanuel
