Jesus In My Fortune Cookie
By Marcy Stenstrom
My husband and I were volunteer chaperones at the “Live 4 Him” youth rally on May 9th. Among games and music, snacks and freebies, there were two keynote speakers who brought real world teen dilemmas to light with creative and energetic antics. One of the speakers was Rich Curran of Appleton whose talk not only inspired many of the teens at the rally but the adults as well, including me.
Curran spoke about the things that God does NOT want for us. He does not want us to hurt ourselves, hurt our bodies or hurt others. God specifically tells us all these things but we make the choice for ourselves. It’s our free will. God only wants good things for us but we are heavily influenced by our culture and the outside world. Because of this we often reject God’s goodness.
Curran also spoke about tragedies and pain and suffering in our lives. God doesn’t make this happen, He only allows it because “when we’re stripped of everything, something happens”, Curran said referring to an injury he sustained that kept him from ever playing hockey again. He also compared this testing to the instructions Abraham had to sacrifice his son. Curran pointed out “God didn’t want Abraham to do it, He just wanted to know, Would you have done it for Me? Would you sacrifice everything for Me?”
This point also leads us to God’s grace. Curran talked about our abilities and “capacity to change another person’s life”. Our paths cross at various intersections and sometimes we may not even realize the impact we might have on another person. For this reason we should not be afraid to do things like singing, painting, music or whatever else because we think we’re not good enough. Curran said that it’s not about feeling inadequate. It’s about giving back to God; giving back a gift.
After the rally, my husband and I went out to eat at the Chang Gardens restaurant in Weston. At the end of our meal, we cracked open our fortune cookies. My fortune made me do a double take with eyes buggy because it had Jesus “written” all over it: “Your talents will be recognized and suitably rewarded.” This was exactly the message of “Live 4 Him” and what we should all strive to do everyday for God and our neighbors. But somehow I don’t think God will always speak to me so clearly in a little piece of paper stuffed inside a crunchy cookie.
*Most text is paraphrased from Rich Curran’s talk at the “Live 4 Him” Youth Rally on Saturday May 9, 2009.