All of us place landmarks in our lives whether we do it intentionally or not. In my life as a Christian, despite the problems and trials that I had faced, there are glorious moments that make the journey exciting and fun. One of them is going through Victory Weekend. Victory Weekend is a two-day retreat designed to establish Jesus-followers with biblical foundations. It aims to make our relationship with God deeper and it prepares us to face the challenges of life depending on the Gospel.

And that is exactly what I needed. Prior to joining This two-day retreat, I was bombarded with things to do. As a student council officer of the whole university, I spear headed various committees in the school and in the community, joined and organized seminars left and right, attended meetings and on top of that, juggled my time for my girl friend and ultimately, prepared for our thesis, finals and board exams. If there is someone busy, that’s me!!! And that is exactly my reason. I’m too busy for that right now (a.k.a-it’s not just my priority), I have other things to do (a.k.a- Jesus is not important) and I feel I’m not ready yet (a.k.a- I’m trying to prove myself as the Savior and Lord of my Life). So I declined the first schedule of Victory Weekend.

But as the months went by, I was faced with problems on top of my already full academic concerns. I have family problems, financial dilemmas, health concerns, that overwhelming sense of anxiety (fear of the unknown) and dread for the future. I was forced to contemplate if what I’m standing on is strong enough to get me through life. It was then that I realized that I had been a hypocrite. I call Jesus as Lord (I say I’m a ‘Christian’) but do not do what he says. I have the option to either: a)continue in my hypocrisy, b)shrug it off and cover it by vices (as if this would help) or c)accept his claim as Lord and Master of my life. Sadly I chose option a and b….and it tore me to pieces.

But God has been so good to me!!! He pursued me in a way that it is only divine love that can do that. He made me see how great and awesome He is, He made me realize that I’m important to Him, that He loves me though I am still a sinner and had been accepted in His love and grace. He is completely unashamed to say that he loves me and proved it on the cross. The only reasonable response is to surrender my life to his Lordship and accept, believe and apply what His Word says. I deliberately freed my schedule, scrapped some activities I thought were important and made a way to join the next schedule for Victory Weekend (as they say:pag may gusto may paraan/if there’s a will, there’s a way).

Victory Weekend was memorable for me because that is the first time that I really felt the gravity of my sins and the generational curses it had on me yet at the same time, the overwhelming victory, freedom and joy I have in Christ. It made me see that Jesus is more than that man who hung on the cross, but God, destroying the very thing that causes problems in life:SIN. It allowed me to be vulnerable about my weaknesses and yet still be accepted by people. Victory Weekend was also like a welcoming party for me, as I join a spiritual family.

Victory Weekend was also an opportunity to publicly declare my faith in Jesus by water baptism. This biblical symbol means a lot to me as it symbolizes my dry,old life being dead in sin and the wet, fresh, me being alive with Christ.

It is,however, NOT a one day thing but rather an ongoing PROCESS. I still have trials and challenges and temptations in my life (sometimes even more). I still fall into sin and I’m far from perfect, but Victory Weekend is still a landmark in my Christian adventure of how this loving God pursued me to make my life storm proof rather than storm free. This is one of those important moments I look back to of how God accepted me by His grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Now it’s a joy and privilege to see friends, my mom and students be transformed and being public with the faith we believe in. It is such a joy now of being part of these people’s spiritual journey.

I highly encourage everyone who went through One2One to go through Victory Weekend.