Amazing Race

Yesterday, for our cluster gathering, our great and illustrious cluster leader, SK, and his son Jared, organised an Amazing Race style event for us. Now, in the event that you have no idea what an Amazing Race event is, it is essentially a race between groups of people who get clues which lead them to a certain location, spend some time there doing the challenges that have been set up, and then get more clues that will lead them to the next location.

Now, such events are not new to the church. We've been doing similar events in the youth ministry for years, and it is usually quite fun... for a while, before the fatigue sets in and we start wishing that it wasn't so long.

But one thing that happened during yesterday's race made it seem a lot more valuable. You see, in most of the past iterations of the game, it would be held around church area, and so every place was accessible by foot. A new twist (which I personally found more entertaining), was instead of it being merely around Woodlands, the area of play was expanded to encompass all of Singapore. But even that wasn't as worthy as what happened yesterday.

SK had gotten in contact with WSC (the social welfare arm of our church) and asked them if it was possible to get the names of some of the families who needed financial assistance. He then went to these families, and asked them if they would be willing to be part of a game. And one of our tasks, as participants, was to go and purchase the food hampers and deliver them to the families.

It wasn't powerful, or moving, or even touching. My group bought the stuff, managed to find our way to the house, smiled, and handed over the stuff. The mistress of the house was a very quiet lady, who invited us in to sit down, but we didn't really want to impose on them, and told her it was ok. And just like that, the task was over.

What was important though, was that this time, instead of merely focusing on our own fun and games, we were reminded to also be mindful of those who are less fortunate than us, and who could use a little help. It's not like we're so superior or whatever, but as Christians, we're not just supposed to focus on our own personal fulfillment, or only on our Bible study, or any one of the countless other church things we like to fill our lives with. We are also called to be the body of Christ to the people, and even though it was only a small token of it, I'm glad it was included in our game.

So thank you SK, for making our game so much more meaningful than just an afternoon of fun.