Thanksgiving - '08

There are lots to give thanks for in 2008. Family, school, friends, cell & ministry. I'll mention just these 5 main topics in summarized form.

Family

Thankful for the extended time of schooling to just spend time @ home even if words are not spoken @ times. On most occasions, the mere presence @ home is enough to make one's parents happy. And to them for providing whatever i ever needed. The lord has bless me lots through my parents, which I'm grateful for.

School
Sure glad it's over. Yet it been a special time in life, not entirely about learning what's been taught the past years books wise but life as a whole and what are the important things to chase after and maintain. Thank the Lord for the many friendships that grew especially with various groups of friends the past year. Learning to overcome failures and setbacks and moving on and persevering to reach the end goal has been good lessons to undergo. The lord has brought me through this phase of life, it's been an unique journey the last few years.

Friends

A great year indeed to maintain and move deeper into friendships with the usual gang, spending time together, encouraging and spurring one another onwards in our own individual lives. Despite the time and distance constraint @ times, the Lord has been blessing me lots through each unique person that I've known 8 yrs and counting now(and of course, some of you whom I've known for around 3-4 years already). And many thanks as well to the many new friendships God has helped me built upon, it's been a wonderful time of getting to know those I see week in week out a lot better other than the usual Hi's and Bye's procedure.

Cell
A learning experience filled with its own ups and downs. Thankfully, more ups with the occasional downs to keep oneself in check with reality. Throughout the year, it's been a excellent journey alongside everyone else. God has blessed me lots from the lives of those around me.

Ministry
A whole new ball game! Interesting year where one gets to know even more people better and across the generations as well. I thank the Lord for my class, that every Sunday spent with them have been a blessed time of knowing both the children and God as well. And the children camp itself, a fantastic experience of working with people from another church. A year where I learn to give to ministry 1st my time and energy before every other person/thing as well as been able to learn and grow despite the constant absence from services.

2008 - Life in a nutshell

Life

Under the sun:

> control will always slip out of our grasp
> relationships will always disappoint
> work will leave us frustrated
> pleasure is always fleeting
> wisdom is never an adequate guide
> spirituality usually give in to legalism
> life ends in decay and death

Above the sun:
> control leads to surrender to God's will
> relationships lead to trust in God's love
> work leads to labouring for God kingdom
> pleasure leads to a hunger for God's coming
> wisdom leads to a humble curiosity to know God
> spirituality leads to embracing God's wild heart
> life leads to a joyous celebration of death and resurrection.

Christ makes the difference. Our lives are far from meaningless, because he infuses our lives with meaning.

A new commandment I give unto you
That you love one another
As I have loved you
That you love one another
As i have loved you
By this shall all men know
You are my disciples
If you have love one for another

Stand in Awe of God

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.

Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.

When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.

It is better not to vow than to make a vow and not fulfill it.

Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, "My vow was a mistake." Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?

Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7

"Believe it or not"

Time sure flies, 5 months of planning and within a short span of 4 days, the camp has concluded. Through it all, it's been a great experience of seeing 1st hand how the Lord is building up a new generation of his people for his works, having a chance to work with people from another church who bring in their unique ways of doing things as well as knowing more people in the body of Christ within such a short space of time. Here's a short recap and thanksgiving for the camp.

Last min preparations

Immediately after my 1st paper on Monday, I was down in church to tie down loose ends and dropped by again on Wednesday till quite late to finish up things. With some help, managed to come up with the score board and putting it up. Haha, took almost 2hrs to do up everything.

Thursday - 1st day

Had a good start in the morning, explaining things to the children and though we didn't manage to play a mass ice-breaker, the kids seem to be warming up to one another as well as being in the mindset for the camp.

This is a very rare camp to witness in terms of food wise. Really have to give thanks for the very fact that we didn't waste food at all ! Imagine 2 full trays of white rice, all eaten up ! Yes, the children ate like monsters, going for 2nd and even 3rd helpings. That's what u call good food in the hands of kids growing up! It's great as well that we had enough to fill up every child. Can't say for the adults though, haha! Maybe u guys should join next year, i lost almost 2kg the past few days due to camp and exams, haha. Now where are all those people who mention they are tipping the scale :p ?

Games. Super stressed out due to so many limitations such as age, venues and stuff. In the end, everything fell into place nicely. Just enough games(5) and station masters. Thank the Lord for creative ppl who modified the games further to suit the younger ones. And yes ! A very big thank you to each one of you in M'kk who helped me brainstormed the games, each one of you have been a blessing to the children. And not forgetting the weather as well. The weather report said it was going to rain so we prayed for shine and wooo, it really was a shiny afternoon alright !

Kids love movement so yes, we did have a camp song which the children all enjoyed and thank the Lord for YCCA side who managed to come up with the actions for the song and bless the children through it.

Friday - 2nd day

To make sure the adults themselves didn't get lost in PP, had to walk around and take pictures so that there won't be lost sheep :p The lord bless us with good weather, enough people to help run the stations and the children all had fun @ the various stations

Saturday - 3rd day

Kite-making ! Praise the Lord for enabling the leaders to learn fast on how to make one and that the children all love their self-made kites. We even managed to fly them and the evening ended with a very nice rainbow just outside DCB.

Talent Night. Really thankful for 3 creative and happening MCs who came up with their own script to host the Talent Nite. The children too enjoyed themselves with their own performances as well as the mini-games segment. We played charades and the best combo was " The camp commandent is sleeping in church!"

Sunday - Last day

It was time to say bye bye. We had a good time and the children from COR side put up a good performance from the camp theme song.

This is to me a challenging and yet faith building week. Learning to trust that despite all the factors that i had to work with, God will put things together and provide the people to help out as well. It's great to have a prayer answered after a few years, the chance to work with another church doesn't happen often so yup, thankful for it. Sometimes, u do wonder are you alone in doing things and do people know what's happening in your life. Really thankful for the support and prayer from many of the adults who know i was going through exams, they've been great encouragements.

One thing which i know have to be improved on is faith itself. Learning to let others have their ways of running things, learning to depend on the Lord even in the midst of exams and many more isn't easy but each new experience hopefully will enable me to believe and trust that God will carry me through bigger things in life in the future. And yes, thanks as well to each one of you in M'kk for your prayers and support, it's wonderful to know that as you care for others, there are others out there who care for you.

A Crazy Group of camp leaders, haha. They've been a wonderful bunch to work with.

Hope

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope."

Hope is often misunderstood; it is not a "maybe so" word. Rather it means "a confident expectation."

When God first appeared to Abraham, He promised, "I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward" (Gen 15:1). Abraham had no natural hope of having children with a barren wife so his answer was a bit despondent:

But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.” (Gen 15:2-3, NLT)

It was clear, this man had little or no hope, and God knew Abraham couldn't receive His promises unless he did. So the Lord took him outside that evening and told him to count the stars. I believed this is how it happened. Abraham eventually fell asleep while counting the innumerable stars. The next morning the Lord woke him with a question, "Did you count them all?" Abraham said, "No, there are too many!"

God has the answer He was looking for and followed it with, "Your descendants will be like that - too many to count!"(Gen15:5, NLT) God has placed within him divine hope - a clear picture of His promise to Abraham - multitudes of children. Whenever he looked at the stars he was reminded of God's promise and heard countless offspring cry, " Father Abraham, Father Abraham!" In reference to this the New testament says Abraham:

Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. (Rom 4:18 KJV)

What was spoken? "Your descendants will be like that - too many to count!" Without natural hope, the divine stepped in to overshadow the seen with the promise. Divine hope looked beyond the evident into God's realm of confident expectation. Abraham chose to override the obvious with the divine. In fact, Scripture tells he was "fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform" (Rom 4:21). He received the promise by faith empowered by hope. We are told,

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for. (Heb 11:1)

Our faith gives substance to the hope or promises of God. As we've seen in Abraham, divine hope is the vision or blueprint of God's will that we are yet unable to see with our natural eye. Divine hope is extremely important, for without hope, faith has nothing to give substance to. The Word of God not only places faith within our hearts, it also gives us hope, or vision, to the faith.

It could be compared to a collection of building materials, such as tile, windows, shingles, wood, cement, bricks, and so forth. We could have all resources, yet without a blueprint, the building process would be a disaster! You may think, I could build without a blueprint. Perhaps if there were a blueprint in your mind, but there would still need to be some sort of plan.

- Drawing Near

In what/who do you place your hopes in ?

Think About His LOVE

For God so loved the world that
he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life - John 3:16

Think about His love
Think about His goodness
Think about His grace
That's brought us through
For as high as the heavens above
So great is the measure of our father's love
Great is the measure of our Father's love

How could I forget His love
How could I forget His mercies
He satisfies, He satisfies
He satisfies my desires

Even when I've strayed away
His love has sought me out and found me
He satisfies, He satisfies
He satisfies my desires
Great is the measure of our Father's love