CLP: What I learned outside the modules

Grace and Surrender. That was the core message God has given me all throughout the CLP in Novena last year.

Do you know, God knocked three times before I answered the call? First two invitations came from friends when I was still back home, in the Philippines. Though I tried to join, there always seems to be a reason not to.

Third time came which, strangely enough, was something I sought out. I was lucky... no… blessed by His Grace... that at the time, there was going to be a CLP in Novena (Matthew 7:7-seek, and ye shall find). I later heard it through the grapevine that leaders were thinking about not pushing through with it but again, by Grace, the Lord called and many came to heed the call.

True or not and even then, I personally experienced the same temptations and obstacles that seem to hinder me to continue with the program, i.e. work, traffic, problems at home, rain. All these "invisible snags" reminded me now of this hilarious fiction novel called Good Omens*, a story about an angel and a demon trying to save life on earth from ending. Crowley, the demon talented in tempting, at one point, bragged about one of His Deeds of the Day....

"I tied up every portable telephone system in Central London for forty-five minutes at lunchtime... twenty thousand people got bloody furious... You could hear the arteries clanging shut all across the city... Then they went back and took it out on their secretaries or traffic wardens or whatever, and they took it out on other people... In all kinds of vindictive little ways which, and here was the good bit, they thought up themselves... The pass-along effects were incalculable. Thousands and thousands of souls all got a faint patina of tarnish."

The likes of Crawley seems to have their own creative ways when it comes to fulfilling their mission. I know there’s a risk of confusing fiction with reality here, but this somehow describes how I saw that the CLP didn't escape their attention. There were little hitches you just can't shake off. If I had to rely on myself, I would have done the same thing I did previously, which is to not continue with the program. But at the end of the day, when it's time to go and catch the train, God clears my way and leads my path. Who then am I to say no?

And though there appeared to be hindrances, I was able to complete the whole program, not missing any of the modules, the baptism and the graduation. I knew then that it was all not by me, since if it was, I wouldn't have finished that journey. God did have something to say, and I was called to hear it.

God works in many ways to renew our Christian life, as we respond differently, being unique in so many levels. Yet He only wants one true thing, and that is for us to have a stronger relationship with Him, growing through the Holy Spirit. He's bringing us out from all the muddle life brings, back to Him and to the life that He calls us out to.

Somehow, the Lord has taught me to take up that active faith, surrender everything to Him, not to lose control but give it up to Him. (Psalm 46:10-Be still, and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth!)

CLP has brought all this to my life, a lesson I'm still trying to learn everyday hence.

* Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman is a fantasy comedy book about an angel and a demon and their efforts on delaying the ends of the earth. First published in 1990, the book has since gone through several editions.