First Haunting
Sowing a Seed.
I met her at a tricycle station one night. It’s been around 3 years since we started this whole thing… Life Groups.
Every week my church friends and I would wake up early in the morning to meet up with high school students, sophomores. I had just graduated from college, living the bum life. And here I was, back to school yet again. Our purpose was to share the word of God, listen to every of the students’ concerns regarding their studies/family/life, and to pray. We had a decent venue, snacks, games, teachers, financial support. Question is, were we able to sow a seed in any of the students?
What first motivated me to get up in the morning was, “better to do something than to do nothing”. The bored yet sad mentality of a bum. Then it became, “my friends are there, gotta have some fun”. Until it reached to: “I’d love to help”. There was just something about those students, Life Groups. In the end I combined all reasons. What kept me going was that I knew I had a purpose in life. Not only was I helping out but I was also learning and enjoying as well. It was like a mutual thing; everyone benefited by the relationship and sometimes unable to exist without it.
She was snapping her fingers as I was squinting my eyes. We were both trying to recall each others name, at the same time apologizing for the awkwardness that it had brought.
“I remember now, Richie!” She smiled and pointed to me.
“Yeah! Umm… Joy, right?” Wrong. Haha. That was her friend’s name.
“It’s Aireen.”
It’s nice to know that someone still remembers you somehow, and embarrassing to know that you yourself is able to forget so easily. I remember faces though. Names, not so. She speaks good English. Well, she always had. That made me smile. She asked me what happened to Life Groups and I gave her a pathetic yet honest answer: “Well, it’s gone.” It was a quick and unexpected conversation. She shook my hand once more, gave a warm smile, and said, “It was nice to meet you again.” It truly was.
Aireen is now an incoming freshmen, a college student. That night, I asked myself, were we able to sow a seed? Honestly, I don’t know. But I do hope so. Life Groups lasted a year. I thought it would be one of those “on-going pass it on to the next generation” kind of thing. We lost track; new cell phone numbers, friendster accounts being replaced by facebook, school, work, even a plane flight. We were so busy with our own lives that we lost in touch with the other lives we were supposed to look after.
Sometimes my friend and I would reminisce about Life Groups. I guess we are of what’s left of the whole group. If I had a chance to return to that time, to be able to learn, live, and enjoy such an experience once more, I would. I’d do it all over again.
Maybe it was the other way around. They sowed a seed in me.
