I was yet again compelled to attend the yearly church camp.
Like last year, I rocked up for one day only.
at 7.15am, a few people have gathered in front of my house to carpool
no particular excitements as I was rather sleepy.
guilt. I didn't have that strong anticipation to hear from God.
"another camp"
as "active christians", thats what we do. Attend church camp.
What was in the sermon last year? Not a clue.
All i remembered was the lunch and dinner menu - which of course is the same in 2008.
oh hold on, I remember! Wasn't it Tim Goh who spoke last year? about the topic "IDEA"?
haha... I don't know if i actually applied any of that to my real life.
but hey i had fun. went on the giant swing and cannoeing with steph and all...
So, this year - my goal was to mingle with people, talk to my life group members, to learn a thing or two from the sermon AND to study with iRener and Stephers.
I was really happy so many life group members came! jane & rachel stayed for the whole time. tim mel irene tez jeremy chris - wow! what more to ask for? that has to be the biggest life group turn-out EVER! ^_^ Too bad i spent the free time studying indoor (was raining outside anyway - why would Mel and tim run in the rain at the beach? "undesirable")
met 2 nursing students. nice girls they are. we were basically forced to mingle and find ourselves a 'dates' for lunch. its a gd idea. otherwise we'd never break out of our niche. (btw, sadly, Maxine-lookalike didn't turn up this year)
Sermons.
1. when God is Hidden from us.
what a "different" message from the norm? no more of those cliched 'how christianity will benefit you', 'how you should be a good disciple', 'how you'll live happily ever after by following Christ'... The speaker read out a blog about an ex-minister who has lost faith in God, complaining that christianity is not working for him anymore. God often hides when we most need Him. LIFE IS UNFAIR. this has been proven true time and time again. even with two committed ministers as a couple - they can still divorce. Where's God in this? We all felt quite depressed afterwards. What i learnt was - never to judge someone's spiritual level superficially. Be prepared - being a Christian does not equal to a good life. Be prepared for a time when God will hide Himself. for a time when everything falls apart but you can still trust God.
but then she didn't explain *how* we can hold onto GOD. I know for sure - God is real in my life. Even right now, confronted by so many hurdles - I *WILL* hang onto Him.
2. Testify to people God's goodness, grace, kindness and compassion
The speaker chose a more positive topic tonight :p to cheer us up... GOD IS GOOD. She shared with us many stories of how God comes through and answers people's prayers, protects people from disasters, detrimental events etc... She handed over the microphone to *US* to come up and testify. A few had some amazing stories to tell - near death experiences, salvations at work etc etc... I was challenged to think of my own testimony too.
Once, I almost killed some cyclists (they were kids too) when i just pulled out from a drive-way. GOD WAS SO THERE. I can't imagine what would've happened if God wasn't there.
Once, I left a lignocaine (anaesthetic drug) on the trolley when I was meant to use normal Saline. (that was last year in O&G) thank God I didn't get the cannula in! The doctor picked up the fact that Lignocaine was on the table... and exchanged it with Saline. LOL. I might possibly have withdraw some lignocaine instead of Saline n inject into the patient's vein.... bye bye to a career in Medicine. haha...
Do you have stories to tell? Yes, you can call it a coincidence. But when coincidences are so frequent - I think I'll call it some high power above!
there're few men (& vans) outside my house the WHOLE day till now.. they're fixing something around my electricity box.
I never bothered asking what they're doing.
until now i received a call from my neighbour. she said that her house hasn't had electricity from morning till now... and same with her other neighbour...
Thats so strange! so my house was spared!
can't imagine what I'll do without electricity during this time......
can't go into details but just want to say i'm so deeply hurt is it my pride? i dun think i did anything wrong maybe ignorance is 'wrong' Maybe i was wrong. surely its not just me? i feel so undeserving of such maltreatment its like playing with a fragile fragile dragonfly thought its best if i haf nothing to do with it. to ignore it to keep a distance but no the dragonfly is still hurt i start to feel its out of my control totally out of my control now what do i do? move to a different continent altogether? Lord says if the enemy slaps you on your face, let the enemy slap you on the other side also Lord also says to reconcile, you must face the person and deal with it i can't even do that. not even permitted what a test life is never mundane is it Lord? Thanks for the challenge. Lord you see each tear that falls...
