A Higher Calling

It has been almost six months since my graduation. Being-a-total-freshman-college-student days are over. I have made new friends. I have met new people in my life that I talk with on a regular basis. My interpreters are wonderful. I have a very supportive family who cares deeply about me and provides me with nourishment, clothing and shelter above my head. Whenever I need some help, I always have somebody to talk with. Overall, I have no complaints about the life after high school so far.

Except one.

Oh, rest your minds at ease... what I said earlier is still true. The only discrepancy I'm talking about here is one thing that you do not expect me to bring up. It is not about anything major. It is not life threatening. It does not concern the matter of national security. It's more on a personal level.

In my schooling days, I was one of the most well respected kids because of the various things that I have done. Teachers respect me because I'm a hard-working student who strives to do his best in EVERY aspect of academic education. Kids respect me because I treat them just as I want them to treat me. Administrators likes me because I always carry a bright smile on my face and represent MSD well through various competitions such as Academic Bowl and Baseball tournaments. On my graduation day, many people came to me to bid their farewell because a new chapter of my life has begun on that day and they wanted to remind me how much they appreciate everything I've done for them.

I was honored and humbled by what people told me that day and will always cherish the comments. Is it because of all of my work done throughout the years? Perhaps. Was it because of my easygoing personality? Possibly. But was it the reason why I act that way? For pride and attention? For publicity? No. My action is for a higher calling, a purpose more noble than anything in my life.

I love to help people. I want to make their lives a bit happier and better. I've always been that kind of person. I want to bring a smile on their face because I believe that smile is an effective remedy to negative feelings. What brings a smile on our faces? We smile when other people smile at us. That is what I did to my friends until I graduated from high school. I wanted to show them the light within myself and give them a glimpse of Jesus. Yes, I failed at times, but I always have room to improve myself and become a more brilliant light in the world. My high school is a very dark place and the majority of the students there don't even know who God is. They even don't know a man named Jesus and the reason for his death 2,000 years ago. That breaks my heart. That is why my soul is heavy with burden. I feel great burden for all people who currently wander in the pitch-black darkness devoid of any hope or joy, searching for empty things to fill their void temporarily. I can feel my soul crying out from the deepest abyss of my body, "Go! Tell them about the hope you have in your life! Go and tell them before it is too late!"

I'm writing today to reaffirm my vow to follow the highest calling of my life. During one hot august night, few days after I recommitted my life to Christ, I received a vision. In that particular vision, Jesus came to me and recited the Great Commission from Matthew 28,

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

I know that God afflicted upon me a disease called spinal meningitis that almost killed me (thus for the cause of my deafness) because it was His will for me to go into the world to spread the good news, no matter the cost. I know that I am called in my life to evangelize specifically to the deaf population about the saving Grace of Jesus Christ and to forcefully expand the Gospel to every corner of the world. I'm doing this for the sake of my friends. I hate to see them perish and suffer the judgment of God. This is something that will require my entire life to, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice. I don't fear death because I know where I am going when I die and look forward to that day.

Go ahead and laugh at me. Call me a fool. Call me stupid. A fanatic. That's fine with me. If the entire world hates me... that's fine. I strongly believe that everything in the world (money, pride, power, publicity... you name it) is but "a chasing after the wind" (as King Solomon puts it beautifully in Ecclessians). I am not going to waste my time pursuing empty wealth where I know that there is treasure stored for me in heaven alone where moth cannot get it.

What good will it serve to gain the whole world only to forfeit my soul? It is far better to lose everything in the world only to gain life in the eternity.

Why should I ignore this higher calling in my life?