I ♥ Jesus!

♥ Sunday, December 14, 2008

I'M BACCKK!!! I KNOW YOU MISS ME CAUSE I MISS YOU!!! :D

Well, I must say that I learnt alot alot from this camp. And if you can take time off to read, feel free. After all, this is a free world!

First day of camp, reach there half and hour early. Ah well, it is good to be early! After that, got to know who my team members are. Two are from my cell group and the rest are people I see in church but dont know. We are an all girls team unlike the rest which is mix but that is okay. Girls rule after all!!! One girl is sec 1 and she is really funny. She said 'HIIIIII....' when she was first introduced to me. She is super cute as well, atleast small and cute. Sometimes I dont understand what she is saying but that is okay, I have come to like her. Our team must be the second smallest cause there were only 7 of us. So we played the first game and the concept of it was like monopoly. Except that the board was the whole area we were camped at. So we are suppose to like conquer lands and earn alot of money.

Guess what. In the end of the game, my team has $0! Aren't you proud of us?! We actually bought a land and in the end when we got the ' chance' It say an earthquake happened and our building was destroyed!!! We were like ' NOOOO!!! This cant happen to us!' And that plot of land was our only land. Since we were the losers, we had to do a punishment and that was to clean the canteen after lunch the next day. The sec 1 girl whose name is Wai teng, she was really positive. She was like, ' I love to clean up!!!' I like her optimism. So after lunch, I actually had fun cleaning the tables!! Believe it or not. We had to like tie up the rubbish and it was a disgusting thing to do. But still we had to do it whether we like it or not. Then came wiping the tables. The first clothes we use is to clean up the mess people left on their tables. It was quite gross, I had to like touch the rice left over. I know it is just rice but...still...anyway, the next cloth had soap on it and after I wipe the table my friend cleaned it with soap after me. After the soapy cloth comes the cloth that is just rinse with water to wipe away the soap.

So this other friend of mine, was the one with the water cloth. While we were doing, she suddenly shouted, "Faster!!!" And so we rushed through all the tables! I dont know why but it was actually very fun!! We received encouragement from another team as well so that is good. But!! No gentlemen came up to render their service!!! I think we need to teach them how to be gentlemen's!! lol

You know, actually, when I heard we had to do the cleaning up I was like 'Hah....why our team so sway' But I learnt from it. I learnt that if you make something that you dont like to do and make it fun, it is really fun!!!

After the games on the first day and after dinner and bathing, we had worship. I really enjoy worship cause it is like you can hear everyone singing and it just gives you a warm feeling. After that, one of our pastors, pastor William, what he talked about really touched my heart. He said that it is okay to be confuse. To not know which direction to turn. Just trust in God and lean not on your own understanding cause God will guide you and make your path straight. And one leader actually shared the story of her life. She was at the crossroads of life, and she was just so confused, so lost. But you know what, God is Good, he showed her the next steps through ways like an advertising poster! Imagine that!

Pastor was telling us a story from the bible about a man and I have heard and read the story before but yet once again, the story seem different from the last I read it. Actually it is not a story, I believe it actually happened. It is about this nation who is always being attacked by other countries and God allowed it to happen cause they were sinning against him as they were worshipping other Gods. But after being attacked for a long time, they finally ask God to save them from their enemies. And God chose this man Gideon to save them. An angel came to Gideon and told him God's plans but he was uncertain and asked God to make the wool that he will place on the floor wet with dew but the surrounding floor is dry and the next morning, it happened just as Gideon ask. But Gideon still was unsure so he asked God to make the wool dry and the surrounding floor wet with dew. The next morning, it happened just as he asked. And finally he believed.

Another thing pastor said that really reach deep into my heart was that he said, " God can use me no matter how small or weak I am. God can use anyone. God use people just the way they are and that you should not look down on yourself just because you are a nobody. As a child of God, you are not a nobody! You are princes and princesses of God!"

I tell you. I felt my heart melting right there and then. Many a times, I really felt like a nobody. I felt the lease in my family, even among my friends. Everytime I compare my results with my friends and I am like, why am I so stupid? Why am I so dumb. I just feel so depressed like an idiot. And I felt like I dont truely belong anywhere cause I dont fit in cause I am a nobody. But you know what. I am not a nobody! I am a princess!!! How dare I look down on myself?! I am a child of God!!

Just like Gideon, he was also the least in the family in the smallest clan, but God used him to save his nation!!! If God can use him, then why cant he use me?

Gideon too had a servant who is named Purah. He is a servant yet he plays an important role. To be Gideon's motivator and supporter. Gideon was afraid to spy on the enemy camp alone so God told him to bring his servant along.

That is why I do thank God for my friend Aaron cause he is quite optimistic. Cause he always seems to be happy and he just encourages me with his enthusiasm. Not only him but my other friends have encourage me as well in their own way. All this are small little acts but I remember them. I believe myself optimistic as well but it get tiring when no one is encouraging you. And I asked my dad this question before. Who motivates the motivator? But my Dad gave me a crap answer while I was being serious. Hmph! Now I know, it is the people around you. Just like Purah going together with Gideon to the enemy camp. Your friends and your family and of course, my brothers and sisters in Christ

On the second day, we are suppose to build a structure from the ice cream sticks we collected from yesterdays game. We were building a nice little house and we were almost done when we so just happen to hit a wrong 'chance' button and our house was swept away in a hurricane. Cause the chance said that we were struck by a hurricane and we have to move to another team to continue on their structure.

Imagine the horror on my team mates and my face. I tell you, we really put in alot of effort to build that house. Our heart was practically on the house and to be told that your heart is to be taken away, would you not feel the pain? I wanted to cry for our ice cream stick house! But we really have no choice. Just our luck.

So we have to start on another foreign structure but God is good. The foreign structure was similar in a way cause it was also a house but it is only just smaller and shabbier and it was placed on top of a bowl.

We made the smaller house look prettier and the house was place on the bowl to indicate that a house built on a rock can never be blown away by storms just like our previous house. It also says in the bible that a house built on rock will not be shaken but a house built on sand is easily blown away.

The end results was okay. And we actually got the best team work prize. We were all shocked. I mean, we didn't expect to win anything but you know what, God is Good!!!

I learn alot from this game. Life is just like that isn't it. You put in all your effort and heart into something and just a press of a button and everything is blown away. All our hopes and dreams are destroyed. But that was because we built our house on sand. We put our hope on sand where the wind and rain and waves can just wash them away. But if it is on a rock, like our second house which was not taken away from us, our hope is rock solid, no matter how the storms of life like waves just crash at us, we will not be shaken. And my hope is not on material things, I put my hope in God. He is my rock, my shelter, my strong tower. And if you ask me, how can I smile when my world is falling apart. I'll tell you, cause I have hope and hope is the anchor of our soul. My hope is in the Lord. I see the light at the end of the tunnel only the tunnel is very long but there is light and when there is light, there can be no darkness.

Oh! I have not introduce you to my camp counsellor. They are Anthea and Gracia. Anthea is really sweet. She really give helpful insights when I open up and share with her. Gracia, she is just fun! She has a wicked sense of humour and she is so nice to hug and she reminds me of my friend Gracia also!! Are all Gracia's so lovable?

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me through this very long post. So I am going to say a prayer for you!

Dear lord Jesus, thank you for my friend who read this post. I pray that you will bless him/her and let them know that they can always call on you for help and that you keep them strong and healthy, in Jesus name, Amen!

I Lay every burden down, at the foot of the cross