What you are about to read is the journal of Eric Lum. His story involves a reluctant stay with his cousins that ended up changing his life, a good friend, and a slowly dying CYC. His journal reveals a severe change of character and attitude towards the things of God and also his attempts to help the young people of this CYC as they are falling slowly away from God.
July 3rd, 2009
Ah, Florida! The ocean! The golden beaches! The girls! NOT. I’m stuck here staying with my cousins, and from what I’ve heard, my aunt is pretty strict, so scratch any fun I was going to have. I haven’t even met these people and I have to stay with them for two months until my mother gets back from a business trip in Chicago. And as for Florida?! As a hardcore British Columbian as myself Florida is pretty much hell itself. Its basically all flat and I’ve seen the little lumps in the ground they call mountains. Sure, they have surfing but I’m a snowboarder at heart, man! And the heat! Florida gets SO hot over the summer that it’s not even funny! Why couldn’t my eighteenth birthday be two weeks earlier? I could’ve stayed home in Whistler by myself!
July 4th, 2009
Well, my cousins are alright, I guess. Sydney is my age and he likes to actually do stuff, and my aunt’s not as strict as my mom always said. The other two (the twins) are ten, but they aren’t annoying or anything like most kids their age. I wonder why that is? Good parenting, I guess.
July 6th, 2009
Scratch that. They’re Christadelphians. That’s like Christian but with much stricter rules. So there goes my whole summer. No fun in the sun for me!
July 9th, 2009
I can’t believe this. These people are making me go to church with them tomorrow. Except it gets worse. I have to wear a tie. SOMEONE GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!
July 10th, 2009
That was surprisingly interesting. I always thought church sermons were so boring, but this speaker actually had me captivated. Oh, and they don’t call their church a “church”. They call it an “ecclesia”, which is made from two Greek words that mean “called out ones”. They call it this because they believe that they are called out to be part of God’s Kingdom. They believe God will set up his Kingdom sometime in the near future and they will live forever in a perfect world serving God.
July 25th, 2009
It’s been a while since my first time learning about the Christadelphians, and I’ve learned a lot more. I’ve been attending meeting in the ecclesia, went to Wednesday Night Bible Class, and been to CYC with Sydney. All Christadelphians seem to be really nice! And I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned about the sinful nature we have that is trying to kill us. I’ve learned about Christ’s life and ministry. I’ve learned that heaven and hell are not places your soul goes and that your soul is not immortal. I’ve learned lots of stuff!
July 30th, 2009
I can’t believe it’s almost been a month. I’ve already really bonded with Sydney and my aunt and uncle and made many new friends in the ecclesia. I especially like CYC. It helps me to rejuvenate my spiritual side after a long hard week in the world. I like the talks a lot! I’ve been to Catholic church sermons before and they’re really boring. These Christadelphian speakers can prove anything and do prove everything they say straight out of the Bible! It’s great!
August 4th, 2009
I really liked the Wednesday Night class tonight. It was called “Iron Sharpeneth Iron” and it was about strengthening your friends in the Truth and choosing friends that will help you on your way to the Kingdom. It was very good. You could see the speakers enthusiasm in his eyes... he got really into it! The class reminded me of CYC. The CYC around Sydney’s place was really strong with many good teens strengthening each other in the
things of God. Oh, Sydney and I are going to an out of town CYC this week. It’s apparently not doing so well...
August 6th, 2009
It’s worse than we thought. The teens their don’t even seem to care about God, their conversations were purely worldly, and I’m pretty sure some of them smelt pretty smokey. Me and Sydney were appalled. Especially when we heard the talk. It only had the slightest thing to do with God! Obviously this CYC is dying, and its the ecclesia baptized brethren (who were SUPPOSED to be helping this CYC) fault for their lack of support and leadership.
August 12th, 2009
We’re going back to that CYC. We have to help them. We have sharpen each other in the ways of the Spirit.
August 30th, 2009
It turns out that the people in that CYC were just lacking good leadership. When Sydney and I took charge of making sure that the CYC functioned properly, they proved themselves eager to learn. We spoke to the older people in the CYC. They said if we could fix the CYC then we would have to do it ourselves. So we did. Sydney is going to go out there and speak until the CYC gets back on their feet. As for me, I’m going to find Christadelphians in BC and get myself baptized. This reminds me of a story I’ve heard somewhere in the Bible. Can’t remember where though...
*-*-* A short story I did for a project. Sorry that it's not very good, I'm a fantasy writer, I never do this kind of work. Anyway, if anyone's wondering, I am Christadelphian, but my name is NOT Eric. This is a made up story. It never really happened. But the subject matter is true. Wow, what a long footnote!*-*-*
