Out-of-the-box Speaking 2

It was thesis term, moments away from graduation. It was time to build a product or craft a service or write a thing or two that would be beneficial and meaningful to certain industries or society. What I did was a mix of the first two. I made toys - educational toys teaching math and english - for kids. There were boardgames that taught mathematics, blocks of letters that taught english such that when you put them together they could create a whole new train. There were all sorts of fun games that I wished had existed when I was younger.

Now come the service part. Ladies who had a heart for teaching were invited. Mothers who had children, sisters who had younger siblings, women whose hearts melt for children in deprived situations (i.e. street children, sick kids, orphans) were welcome to learn and share their creative thoughts on teaching. These ladies gathered together in monthly meetings and sometimes they went out, brought the toys with them and taught kids unrelated to them (ala Peñaflorida).

In one of our meetings, my cousin Shanda jumped up from her seat (imagine a Eureka moment with a yellow bulb above the head). She said why not share bible stories as well, spread the gospel through toys for kids!

Then I woke up.

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As I was preparing for my much-awaited graduation day, David and Elaine were waiting for me in a room at a historical hall (like a Justice Hall of some sort). They were playing this board game that looked like monopoly or game of life, but with much realistic buildings, houses and cars. It even had an island where you could build a resort in. What they felt when playing was that the more they played, the more they earned, the more they became greedy.

When it got to Elaine's turn, she held on to the dice, and said "Before I throw them, let me share with you something." In her funny and quirky way, she enlightened the group with the gospel and told them about her God. All the players suddenly woke up from a trance and the board game dissolved and slowly turned to sands. Everyone got up from their seats, went outside the hall with an expression of longing, unquenchable thirst for God. They started sharing the joy with people they met.

The brightness of the sun pierced into the room and David saw an odd thing outside the window. The justice hall turned into a big, colorful playground. Afterwards, two large doors across the hall opened and we finally graduated. He then told me everything that I missed.

Then David woke up.

~ 0 ~

Our dreams were completely different yet somehow intertwined. Both showed the importance of gospel. Both had toys. Both had something related to business/money. I realized from the dreams that the gospel is our mission, and all the others that we value now (i.e. 8-5jobs, profession, business, studies, extracurricular activities) are nothing but avenues to spread it.

I remember one of the points in the Harvard Negotiation Process about interests. Interest will bring us to that position where we desire... not the other way around. If we were given the position first, we won't be assured that our interests would be taken cared of or our desires would be fully met.

All of us have interests and each of us having probably different ones because God made us that way. When we live for God, He doesn't necessarily flush out all our other interests in life. He is Wise enough to use His unique design in us for the advancement of His kingdom.