To be honest, I never expected to have any desire to be a radical Christian until Urbana 09. I thought I would be living a fairly regular life, earning paychecks, taking care of family, donating to some charity, and doing some volunteer work when I retired.

However, listening to the speakers at Urbana really changed my view of what God’s mission is for his followers on earth. God’s purpose for us is not only for us to go to paradise when we die, but to recreate paradise when we are living. Perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention, but this message never really struck me until now.

I was skeptical at first, writing off these people as radicals whose message was only for those select few who didn’t have a plan and were free to do something like this. But as we studied bible passages throughout the week, I began to question my choices for the future.

Why was my agenda filled while others could devote their lives to this?

What is my ultimate goal in life? To be rich? To be comfortable?

As I continued to mull this over, I became aware that neither of these things would make me happy, and neither of these paths led to serving the God who sent his only Son to suffer on earth and in hell to wash away our sins.

How dare I use the life given to me for my own use?
On commitment day, I visited the prayer ministry room where I sat and asked God to speak to me through my thoughts.

I began thinking about my mother who had recently fallen away from God because of hypocrisy and sin in the church, and the band played a song about surrendering my life and my ambitions to God.

Perhaps what God was trying to tell me was that He wanted me to show my mother through my example what Christians should really be like. Perhaps, through me, God would be able to touch her heart, my family’s heart, and then the rest of the world.

I would really like to thank you for making Urbana’09 possible for me because through this eye opening experience, I was awakened from society’s reality to God’s reality.