Where it All Stemmed From

The inspiration for this blog comes from a simple phrase - 'Thank you'.

Well, as I've written what is now around 6 blogs on this site (either I have, or haven't, or don't feel like counting the amount written!), I think it's finally time for me to give (part of) my testimony. It's taken me some time to actually get down to writing this, but I think that it should now be out in the open, once and for all.

In my previous blog, I wrote a few 'character profiles' for a select group of people who come to Y4J. As I mentioned, or more like as she mentioned(!!), I was requested to do this by Bettina and, over and above that, well, an angry mob of people who threatened to kill me if I didn't do so! (I joke). However, what I didn't mention was the fact that I placed my best friend Mark at the top of the list for a reason. It wasn't a case of favouritism - those who know me well know that I don't give preferential treatment to practically anyone (though I'm sure that it has happened in the past and will happen again, in some form, in the future). It wasn't a case of further proclaiming that Mark is my best friend. Indeed, that would be taking the easy way out, wouldn't it?

Of course, the latter is invariably linked to what I'm going to say, but I believe that he is someone who has managed to change my life for the better. I'm saying this because Mark was the person who brought me, and hence introduced me, to Y4J. Unfortunately, I tried finding the message that he sent me, which was around two days prior to the Lenten talks, to no avail, as otherwise I would have quoted it here. However, it roughly stated that it was an invitation - directly to me - to attend these talks as they might be good for myself. At first, I was extremely dismissive of the message, and in fact I remember asking Mark why on earth he had bothered sending it to me, stating that he knew I wouldn't come because I wasn't into these things and that it was a waste of 5 Euro cents. He responded in a similar fashion to "We [at Y4J] were told to send this message to people who don't attend and maybe don't believe... Cu there" (loosely quoted).

To cut a long story short, I had nothing to do the following Monday evening, and decided to head off to these Lenten talks, simply to see what they were about. However, I first checked whether any of my friends were going - to be honest, I wouldn't have dared to go had I been alone. Initially, like everyone else, I'm presuming, I needed that support and that encouragement to keep on going to the talks and indeed, later on, even Y4J meetings. Now, 8 months down the road, I obviously don't need this assistance any longer as I'm confident that I'm doing the right thing, but primarily, I'm now confident in my faith. Such a confidence and such a belief was lacking back in February; I can't say that it's lacking now.

So as the first line of this blog states - The inspiration for this blog comes from a simple phrase - 'Thank you'. Yes, thank you to everyone for being by my side when I needed it the most; but more specifically, thank you to Mark for making me believe once again. Without that SMS that he sent, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I may have already told him this a few nights ago when online, in a rather random statement, but I felt that it needed to be made public.

To conclude, I chose two quotes - one from Romans and one from the great philosopher St. Augustine - to show us how even though we might drift away from the Lord, He is always willing to welcome us back with open arms.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8

"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." - St. Augustine

God Bless You All & Take Care,
Matti