In Taiwan almost all of the brothers who graduate from college are required to render two years of military service. Thus, if they want to join the training upon graduating, they would have to simultaneously remain in school for another year. Then they would have to prepare for examinations while attending the training and would be unable to focus on the training. Therefore, after graduating from college, many of them do not know whether they should first join the Full-Time Training and then serve in the military or first serve in the military and then join the Full-Time Training. For those of you who are in this situation, this is a practical matter that you must thoroughly consider before the Lord. First, you need to consider whether you will still have the opportunity to be trained after serving in the military for two years. Since the present training in the church is a special training, once you miss this opportunity, you may not have such an opportunity again. If this is the case, then it would be worthwhile to consider deferring the military service to join the training for one year. Otherwise, you should join the military service right after your graduation from college. Nonetheless, this is a personal affair that you yourself must clearly consider. I would suggest that unless there is a special reason, you should do first things first. You should first join the military service to fulfill your obligation and afterward devote yourself wholeheartedly to be trained. Nevertheless, if you feel that your present need is to be trained, then you should grasp this opportunity and consider attending the training for one year.
Some of the trainees have said that in the training there are too many things to do. They are required to have small groups, to equip themselves with the truth, to pursue life, to preach the gospel, and to learn languages. They also have to go to the campuses to contact, nourish, and take care of people. Therefore, they have asked how they are supposed to manage their time with only twenty-four hours in a day. Furthermore, the training requires them to offer two years to be trained. Afterward, depending on the trainers’ observations of them, they may go on to serve full time if they are qualified, or if they are not qualified to serve, they may find a job. Some feel very anxious, not knowing how to make use of the two short years in a serious way that will decide the path that they will take. You may say that the training has too many requirements, but according to my observation, there are actually not that many. It is true that we have only twenty-four hours in a day and that no matter how we use them, we still have only twenty-four hours of time each day. You may feel that the class curriculum is very full and has many requirements, but in my opinion it is not that full. Do not think that only those who are being trained are required to exercise; those who are not being trained also have to exercise in the matters of pursuing to know the truth and growing in life. Concerning the matter of carrying out the group meetings, you do not need to purposely spend time to practice this. Simply devote your whole heart to the meeting when you are there, and endeavor to learn something while doing it. The same principle applies to the campus work. As long as you abide by the schedule, there should not be any problems.
You may feel that the schedule is too busy because you are not used to it. Therefore, you must make a schedule according to the practical situation and abide by it. If you do not make a schedule, time will not wait for you and will pass by very quickly. If you stop to take a few breaths and a rest, your time will be gone. Therefore, you have to learn to grasp the time. While you are still the master of your time, do your best to learn and practice.
Let me use myself as an example. You are all younger and stronger than I am, yet I do more than you each day. Not only do I have to lead the meetings and visit the churches, I also have to help the literature work. The Living Stream Ministry prints almost two hundred pages of messages per month in English alone, and I am the one who finalizes the manuscripts. Our literature work consists of four lines, one of which is the life-study messages. There are other books for publication that I also need to finalize. In addition, I still have to prepare all the messages for the conferences and trainings, write the truth lessons, and be responsible for the finalization of the Chinese books. If I gave these tasks to someone else, I do not think anyone would be able to do them all. The reason I can do all this is because I have a schedule, and I work according to this schedule.
Hence, you must learn to manage your time and to do things in a logical order. Then you will not feel that the schedule is too full or that you are tired. We human beings are living beings and therefore have a certain degree of flexibility. We can be either too loose or too rigid. Once you set your schedule, even when you relax, you will not be fully relaxed because you will know what step to take next, and you will naturally be ready. However, if you do not have a schedule, you may waste two hours just by being a little bit loose, or you may use up half of your day chatting with people. In the past six months, what has been the result of your pursuit of the truth every morning? How many books have you studied carefully? If you value this matter and set a definite time for your pursuit of the truth, the result will be better than it is at present.