When there is prayer time on the second night of the retreat, I felt a strange sense of something burning on my chest. My heart is fill with joy, tears, and pain as these mixture of emotions prompt me to get up from my prayers and move me to other members in the room of the middle/high school group. As I went around the room, I see many of my brothers of Christ pray to the Lord, the Holy Father. It is ironic to see everyone pray hard with faith and devotion as many of the brothers as well as sisters of the group have underwent a transformation of strengthening their bond with God. Prior to the start of retreat, I have not expect a high level of devotion of prayer among the members of the group. However, I have soon been amaze of the high amount of devotion to prayer coming from my brothers and sisters including middle schoolers. They gave me a flashback of myself in middle school as I have never put much thought into prayer and attending church. It is only thanks to my elder peers who have help me to become the person I have become now. A person that is fill with the Holy Spirit, kindness, and faithfulness. These three principles have help me overcome despair and hardships I face multiple times in my short years as a middle and high school student. In today’s sectarianism society, my belief is that every Christian should never bow down to adversity in the face of the hardships they face. If you follow the path that has forgiven to you, you should never veer away from it, even if that path contains hard choices and situations. There is a parable I would like to note for everyone. If a person fall down one step of stairs, that person would get up and walk two steps of stairs. Moreover, if the same person fall down two steps of stairs, then he/she would get themselves up and walk 4 steps of stairs.
– 한대현 형제 / 청소년 목장