Laughter is the Best Medicine

Up to now, I still get fascinated by how God uses circumstances to change it for His good. Some are downright relieving (especially when we are brought out of sticky situations in the nick of time), some bringing a person on the brink of tears, and some are just downright funny. Seriously. The way I was brought to Christ is a testament of that (or maybe I just have a twisted sense of humor -- I only see it as such even if it wasn't the least bit amusing). Not every moment of my spiritual walk brings me rolling on the floor, gasping for breath because of laughter, however. A lot of times, I would come to Him angry, depressed, and just have a see-saw of emotions just about everytime I go to Him. Yet, looking back, I have to admit that they really are amusing (I guess it might just be my twisted sense of humor after all). One of the quotes I love the most came from Prince Kheldar of Drasnia, one of the many characters of David Eddings' Belgariad and Malloreon series. When accused of never taking things seriously and just laughing at any and every situation, his reply was something like, "Because if I don't laugh at the world, I'll end up crying because of everything that is happening in it." I guess tha just about summarizes the reason why I appear to be happy-go-lucky and everything when people see me. Anyway, this is such a huge direction from what I want to talk about, so before this entry gets skewed any further, I will go back to the original trail of thought.
Looking back, I see now just how many opportunities God has been giving me to know Him, but until my sophomore year in college, I never took my faith seriously. Sure, I could honestly say that there was never a time that I doubted God's existence. Sure, I could go and say that I never did anything blatantly going against His Word. Sure, I always attended Sunday Mass and all the other Masses of obligation. For all intents and purposes, at least where appearance is considered anyway, I was the stereotypical good Catholic girl -- something that would work for those who can be called the "outsiders" of my life, but not to everyone else's. At that time, faith for me was just something necessary, an obligation I have to fulfill without even looking at the ratio for my beliefs. It's just something that had to be done, an item of a checklist of activities that need to be fulfilled -- or else. I went through all the motions and activities of a typical Catholic without understanding why I was doing it (I am not pointing fingers, put honestly, I think most Catholics have gone through the same experience as I do - seeing Church, prayer, God, and whatever else related to that as an obligation more of something done out of love).
As I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of moments when God would really seek me, but I was too stubborn, too idiotic (for lack of a better term) to listen to Him. When I was in sixth grade, I became involved in a Church choir with my classmates. I sang the psalms and all these other Church songs without understanding what they meant. It was just something for school, not for the Church, not for the service.
Enter high school. In my second year, some teachers invited us to some event in a classroom of one of the buildings where the college students held their classes. Having nothing better to do, my best friends and I went to the event, which turned out to be the Youth of Fire movement of the Victory Christian Fellowship (VCF) Church. Pretty soon, we were attending their events regularly, at least those that were held within the campus. We'd invite some of our other friends to go with us. However, the reason for attending was far from noble, at least for me (it would be unfair if I spoke for the other people who I went with). I went there so that I would have an activity, and of course, it didn't hurt that I was labelled as one of the "good girls." Another reason for attendance and for inviting other people is that we were given free food (we were in high school! Cut us some slack.) Given a short time, we became part of a cell group, us as disciples, and someone from the Guidance Office who is part of VCF as our discipler. To be fair with my actions then, I wasn't superficial with her (for the record, I hate superficiality) or to the other people who we became quite close to. Au contraire. In fact, we knew of her marriage, as we know the guy anyway, we'd occasionally drop by their house to play with their babies, and they'd even go and celebrate our birthdays for us, cooking up food to share with each other during discipleship. The problem lay in the fact that I didn't take the discipleship sessions seriously. They were just lectures that I had to listen to, but it didn't really significantly change my life (oh, the stupidity of youth).
Time brought us apart from each other, and I was again left with nothing to disturb my so-called spirituality.
Enter college, where I began actively searching for something that I initially did not know what it was for. Early part of it, I joined a Catholic youth organization. I was turned off with them after just a few meetings, however, because instead of talking about God, spirituality, and faith (the reason why I joined them, although I may or may not have known it at that time), they were more concerned about holding parties and other social events.
Then in my second year college, just when I really was down and everything, something came in my life that changed it forever, and the change initally came in the form of basketball. Yes, you read correctly, your eyesight is not deceiving you. I did indeed say basketball, you know, where two teams of five players each try to go and chase after a rubber ball and try to shoot it with precision into a metal hoop that is just above their heads. I am a basketball person: even though I can't play it for long without contracting asthma, I can understand the nuances and the twists and turns of the game. I could go and analyze a basketball game and predict with a fair degree of accuracy on what would happen during the game. Why is basketball suddenly of great import, you ask. Could it be that I am digressing again? For once, I am not, because basketball plays a very important role in the story. It was that time that my school emerged as the winner in the inter-collegiate league. Basketball fever was at an all-time high. A friend mentioned that the players attend this Bible study. Because Lani is an idiot (which turns out to be a good thing), she attends the Bible study to check out whether the story is true, which was proven. Along with some friends, I eventually attended regularly these Bible studies (sounds ominously familiar, doesn't it?), which turned out to be facilitated by another Evangelical Church, Christ's Commission Fellowship (CCF). As in my (disastrous) experience in high school, I was eventually part of a cell group, with two disciplers. Instead of reverting to what happened before, however, there was a change. I took the teachings seriously, learned of God's loving sacrifice and Grace. February 2003, I truly accepted Christ as my King and Savior. Up to the present, the cell group that was formed at that time is still existing up to the present, although schedule and other things keep us from meeting as a whole group now.
Senior year, both of our disciplers have graduated already. Just when we (of the cell group, or D12, as the group is called) were beginning to feel lost, God again granted another opportunity, this time to a Catholic youth group -- a sort of going back to the roots, if you will. From there, we attended their prayer meetings, Bible studies, other events not only of the youth group, but eventually some of the other activities of the actual community itself.
19 March 2005: We graduated from college. Where are we now, you might ask, aside from our academic/professional standing. Well, let's just say that the story hasn't ended yet, and I am as eager to see the next page as you.