Common People for Extraordinary Things

"God uses common people to do uncommon things."

This above sentence really struck me as yesterday was the final discussion session for Outlive Your Life in Campus Connect CG. It is true that God uses common people to achieve extraordinary things. From the video shown last night, God uses two commoners to change the lives of the other. One is Patricia who donated one of kidneys to another woman named Marla. Another is Brian, a basketball coach who helps and inspire his players to play well.

One very fine example from the Bible is David. He was just a small shepherd boy. He volunteered himself to fight the 9-foot tall giant Goliath when no one dared to approach the giant. And he defeated the giant with just a sling and a stone. He even used Goliath's sword and cut his head off.

Another example that I can think of is Firestar from Warriors novel series by Erin Hunter. From an ordinary cat, Rusty was transformed into Firestar, a leader of ThunderClan. He has been serving his Clan well as a warrior and then took over the leadership from Bluestar.

"Rusty was originally a kittypet (house cat) who has been wondered what's beyond his garden. So one fine day, he had the boldness to step into the woods. He got into a fight with another cat Graypaw who was an apprentice.

Soon, a few more cats appeared and it turned out to be ThunderClan leader Bluestar and Graypaw's mentor Lionheart. Bluestar was amazed by Rusty's skills and praised Rusty for his brave deeds. She even invited him to join her Clan as ThunderClan was desperate of needing more warriors to fend the Clan from other Clans - RiverClan, ShadowClan and WindClan.

Rusty agreed and the next day Lionheart and Runningwind came to escort him back to the Clan. But as soon as the other cats discovered that Rusty was of kittypet origin, some of them tormented him. Longtail was one of them who fought with Rusty but the kittypet managed to give him a good fight.

And Rusty's collar broke during the fight, signalling approval from StarClan that Rusty can join ThunderClan. Bluestar gave him his apprentice name Firepaw in honour of his glowing pelt when sunlight shone on him.

Firepaw became close friends with Graypaw and they were always together. But two other apprentices, Dustpaw and Sandpaw, disliked Firepaw because of his origin. And Firepaw was involved in romance when he fell in love with the Clan medicine cat Spottedleaf, a slender tortoiseshell she-cat.

And before Firepaw's arrival, Spottedleaf has received a message from StarClan: "Fire will save the Clan". But Bluestar doubted the prophecy by saying that all the Clans were afraid of fire and how fire can save ThunderClan. Spottedleaf was unsure but she said that it was the message StarClan chose to share with her.

But unfortunately, Spottedleaf encountered an untimely death. She was killed by ShadowClan warrior Clawface while defending the apprentice den. And Frostfur's kits and Yellowfang went missing at the same time. Firepaw and Graypaw went and managed to find Yellowfang who went to find the kits once she noticed they were missing and didn't know Spottedleaf was slain.

Soon, Firepaw, Graypaw and Yellowfang returned and Yellowfang replaced Spottedleaf as the medicine cat. Firepaw and Graypaw fought well in a battle and received their warrior names, Fireheart and Graystripe, at the end of Into the Wild.

The duo was assigned their first mission as warriors--to find WindClan and bring the Clan back into the forest. They succeeded in their mission and Fireheart became friends with Onewhisker. Fireheart was appointed as ThunderClan deputy after the death of Lionheart and Redtail. Fireheart himself was surprised by Bluestar's choice of her deputy and pledged to serve her and the Clan well. He was of great assistance to her, carrying out his duties as the deputy.

Fireheart didn't realise that Sandstorm (previously Sandpaw) fell in love with her until his former apprentice Cinderpelt told him. Sandstorm was thankful that Fireheart has saved her from falling off a cliff and developed a romantic interest on the former kittypet.

When Bluestar discovered that WindClan has been stealing prey from ThunderClan territories, she lost faith in her own Clan and treated them as traitors. And she only trusted her deputy. Furthermore, she even declared war with StarClan which she claimed that StarClan has abandoned her Clan. She even prepared to launch an attack on WindClan. But Fireheart realised that this was a fight which was not supposed to happen. Without her knowledge, he went to see WindClan leader Tallstar, asking him to persuade Bluestar. Tallstar did what he requested and the fight was called off.

Bluestar was furious that her deputy intervened with her plans. And she's further livid that Tigerclaw has been plotting to kill her so that he could take over. Tigerclaw sent a dog pack to destroy ThunderClan, but Fireheart was aware about his plans when he noticed a trail of killed rabbits lying in the way leading to ThunderClan. Fireheart brought along a few warriors to divert the dog pack. And out of the sudden, Bluestar appeared and led the pack into a gorge. She sacrificed herself in the process. Bluestar managed to see the truth that Fireheart was the fire that will save ThunderClan and has confidence that Fireheart will lead the Clan well.

Soon after Bluestar's death, Fireheart made a trip to the Moonstone to receive his nine lives and leader's name. He was accompanied by ThunderClan medicine cat during the journey. His old life was stripped away and nine chosen cats came to give him his nine lives, namely Lionheart, Redtail, Sliverstream, Runningwind, Brindleface, Swiftpaw, Yellowfang, Spottedleaf and Bluestar. And Bluestar gave him his new name, Firestar. He was officially a leader.

After he became leader, Firestar has been leading the Clan well and not only that, he even brought all the four Clans to another new place as the forest was being destroyed. They moved to the area surrounding a large lake. And it was Leafpool whom spotted the lake, indicating that the Clans would be residing in the area around the lake."

Impressive, eh? But that's the truth: God can use any commoners to fulfill/achieve extraordinary things. Nick Vujicic was born without limbs and yet he has been inspiring others. I am just an ordinary person too. I'm not sure whether God would use me to achieve greater things in life, but I believe He will.