October 2006Today, I just came from the smelly, sweaty, noisy, crazy 26th anniversary of my community, Light of Jesus.
Yep, we’re 26 years old!
Just to explain: I started Light of Jesus as a scrawny 14-year-old kid. I never thought it would grow to an international organization that would give birth to three other dynamic orgs: (1) Anawim, a ministry for the poorest of the poor, (2) Shepherds Voice, a media ministry bringing people closer to God, and (3) the Light of Jesus Counselling Center to help the wounded and broken of society. (Impossible, right? That’s what I always tell myself. But God can use the weakest, dumbest, most insignificant creatures to further His glory. Look at me!)
And so how did we celebrate our birthday today?
Not in some fancy hotel with a humongous buffet and a gigantic chandelier over our heads. Not wearing Barong Tagalogs and embroidered gowns and high-heeled shoes.
Instead, we did it Light of Jesus style: with torn jeans and crummy tee-shirts, we dirtied our hands and served the poor. We went to Anawim, our home for the abandoned elderly, and cemented their pathways, repainted their chapel, cleaned their cemetery, landscaped their gardens and did a hundred other things for those that we love.
It was a beautiful, messy, hilarious celebration.
The men held shovels, the women held brooms, the young held paint brushes, the old danced for us, and we sang like there was no tomorrow.
By the way, did you know how we celebrated last year’s anniversary?
Exactly the same way: We built our Gawad Kalinga Village (90 houses) and the He Cares Foundation Village (50 houses).
Yep, it’s becoming a tradition.
Oh, everyone went home with so much joy today!
And as I drove back, I thought about the past 26 years.
After 26 years as community, we’ve already held 24,000+ prayer meetings. (That’s true! Because we’ve got lots of chapters in different places, each of them having their own prayer meetings.) And this is the fruit of those 24,000+ prayer meetings: We serve the poor today. Because the Jesus that we worship in a prayer meeting is the same Jesus that lives in the poorest of the poor. Any prayer meeting that doesn’t make us see that reality is essentially lacking.
In Anawim, we’ve already served 1,000,000 individual meals since we began.
One million!
For more inspirational articles by bestselling author Bo Sanchez, visit his website at www.bosanchez.ph, practical soulfood for successful people.
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