It's Done..

Just got back home from the Reunion. For those who don't know, we had an ISCF 09 Camp Reunion.. 37 out of 52 people who were involved in the camp came.. More than expected..

I'm really tired right now.. But I just feel like posting this..

To all fellow ISCF'ers, thank you so much.. Just watching you guys fellowshiping and laughing was more than enough for me. I wasn't sure how things were going to turn out and stuff like that. More bout this in my Part 2 Camp post...

Nothing much else to say right now... I do realize though that I do wonder alot; how people are feeling, if they're happy or bored, if they're enjoying themselves or not etc... Thanks all for coming! And thank you Jane and all the rest who, well you know what you guys did.. I am very grateful and I really did not expect anything..

that's all for now.. till then. =)

p.s: Thank God every moment for His ever loving kindness and faithfulness...

God is God

There's nothing greater than doing the will of God...

It's painful...

It requires sacrifice.

But even if it hurts, it's worth it...

Cause at the end of the day, He will prevail...

He will come through for me..

Who am I to question His authority?

Who am I to doubt?

Who am I to disobey and go my own way...

Lord, if this is what You want, then I will follow.. Whatever happens, it's all in Your hands..

It is good that we should have to submit what we do not understand. It teaches us the law of faith, hope and love..

While I'm Waiting

A beautiful song that speaks so much.. It speaks for me right now...

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

Church Camp

We had our church camp just last weekend from the 18th - 20th April.. It was pretty refreshing.. It was good that nearly everyone made it for this year's camp.. And my two older brothers happened to be back too... So the company was great =). Camp this year was held at a place called Lumut Country Resort which was pretty decent.. Not 5 star or anything but the atmosphere was peaceful.. We were all contented and satisfied...

The theme this year was Growing in Christ.. The speaker was Ps. Bernard Hull from the UK.. Had 3 sessions in the span of 2 days and it was amazing.. Will post more about what I learnt another time.

For 2 nights in a row we went to the mamak stall in Lumut town.. Walking to the town from the place we stayed took only around 10 minutes.. On the first night we walked to to town and when we reached the mamak stall we saw some of the adults from our church there too.. Simon ordered this thing called Roti Manjung which was Egg Toast + Bullseye.. And it had mayo, ketchup, veggie etc.. Something I wouldn't attempt to try.. Haha. No pic though. Anyway, according to him, it wasn't that nice.. Then, his mum came over to our table and saw his 'interesting' food, so she tried some and said it was very good.... And then a few more adults came to look at it and they ordered it for themselves and Roti Manjung became a hit among them... The next day we went to the mamak again and this time everyone went and ya they kept talking about Roti Manjung... LOL. Anyway finally some pics... (Exclusive pics of John.. =D)

The very unique-shaped swimming pool..

Chilling in the room..

Me and Constance.. Quite long since we took a pic together.. =)

Me and Amanda..

.......

Abel, Amanda and Simon. At Lumut Waterfront..

The Chua siblings.. Except for the small one.. S,S,S. =)

We were supposed to act emo.. Constance dunno looking where haha.

Nicole and me..

Check out our faces filled with disgust.. MU was about to play that time.. And a bunch of United fans were behind us..

And the Picture of the Day...

A very tired John... Peace for a few moments.. Haha

Till then.. =)

ISCF Camp 09 (Part 1)

Since I'm free, I'll post about camp... (Only read on if you want to)

And I have no idea how to start... I quote Carl "Give me a few years to think..."

I took 30 minutes and I am still stuck..

Maybe it's because Lameness and Blurness from various people has infected me causing my brain to function slower than normal...

I need serious help!

Ok la, I'll just type whatever comes to mind so please bear with me. Hahaha.

I posted about what happened prior to the camp a few posts ago.. God was truly amazing.. Right up to after camp.. Since quite a few of you campers posted about camp from your point of view, I guess I'll do you a favour of how it was for the rest of us =).

Day 1- We boarded the buses and left Ipoh for GSBA.. The first bus was the Campers Bus.. And the second was the so-called Committee Bus.. In case you don't know, there were only 5 people in the Committee Bus on the way there... Namely Simon, Vincent, Rachael, Joshua Chen and me.. Simon and Rachael went to the other bus for awhile, but they came back cause it was TOO noisy.. LOL..

5 seems miserable.. But it was alright.. We wanted to sleep but I don't think anyone managed to.. So we watched movie la... The Sound of Music. The bus driver seemed pretty interested too.. Everytime the bus stopped, he would watch awhile.. Anyway, skip all these parts.

Started off with a short briefing and icebreakers.. Actually, the 5 of us were discussing about icebreakers in the bus and very lame ideas came out... Lame was not really defined properly as we were YET to see what it meant.. Some people will get this. Haha. Icebreakers were ok, except for the fact that the 'Lamest Joke Competition' failed miserably... But if we were to choose a winner now, I think the Super Ring one would win? LOL.

Fast forward to Session 1. God moved. To tell the truth, I wasn't so sure about how things were going to to turn out during camp.. And was quite worried.. But if I'm not mistaken, Ps. Ben prayed for the committee that night itself, and as for me, God did speak to me through him. Felt as if my burdens were lifted up. And from then on, I was relieved =). Not all hearts were ready to receive Him, but He went beyond all that.. There was more to come...

Committee meeting that night. Nothing much said. Except for the fact that you guys bonded well. And things were quite alright.

Day 2 - Everyone seemed to enjoy Move it Move it.. Haha... One thing we wanted to do this year was to make the exercise session more fun and less of the normal exercise routine.. I guess you guys got the best trainers: Simon and Joshua.. Anyone care to agree? Haha. Devotion time next.. And breakfast.

Once again, God moved in the midst of us. Session 2 touched a very intimate and powerful message - Understanding the Father Heart of God.. By learning more about our Father, we get to see more of who He really is.. and it inspires us to love and treasure Him even more.. At least, that was how it was for me.. And I was glad to see people respond when Ps. Ben called for those who've never been hugged by their fathers before.. I remember hugging a few as well, and I was touched too. =). But He didn't stop there..

We actually planned for a Simulation Game to take place before the Station Games.. It wasn't supposed to be the Slippers one.. But something much harder.. Come to think of it now, I'm not sure if it would've worked because it required alot of Brains and for some ppl.... HAHAHHA, jkjk. =P. Thank God for the good, good weather.. It was pretty sunny but at least it didn't rain.. Some went to the seashores to play after the station games and thanks to 'some' people, I didn't manage to leave the place with dry hair.. Ish..

Simon was kind enough to spend his money buying ice-creams for many people.. Since their wallets weren't with them.. And I pity Joshua for his TERRIBLE sunburn.. Poor Cinderella.. Too bad no picture.. Servant's Meal that night. Kar Mun and me were shocked to see that you guys weren't talking when you came down... Hope everyone enjoyed feeding your partners. especially Carl and Adrian =p.

Session 3 - Much to say about not limiting God.. God is TOO BIG that he cannot be limited, nor can He be fully understood... This is how Mighty He is.. If I'm not wrong, this session was about being Champions; just what we needed to hear.. Most people were on the verge of giving up for their own reasons.. And once again, He came.. How can we not be moved?

Committee Meeting that night - more things to discuss.. Especially bout the station games and how things went.. you guys were just awesome =). Thankfully, no one got injured... Forgot to mention how Shaun got injured while testing the sliding soap water mat game (which wasn't even soapy or wet).. And he didn't even know his knees were bleeding alot... Too man already is it... We were more worried for him than he was for himself.. See la the 'sacrifice' he made. Hahahha.

Don't want to make this post longer and draggier than it already is.. So till then... God bless and hope you could care to comment about anything.. =).

God is so much Bigger than we know.. And because of that, He deserves the right to take control of the whole of our lives..

Titleless Post

Realized that there are no pictures in this blog.. Thank you dear readers for reading though it seems dull? Lol.. I'll be putting pictures when I actually bother taking them..

Anyway, went to KL on Sunday with my family except for my little bro.. (few days of peace). He had to go to kindy so he stayed at home with my aunty.. Hah.

It was more like a holiday and also to check out the college I'll be going to in a few months' time.. We went to IKEA, The Curve, Sunway Pyramid and 1U in the span of 3 days.. Managed to buy clothes this time.. My whole family agreed I need a new wardrobe. I bought 8 pieces of clothing for only RM190.. Quite a good bargain.. Guys would agree that most girls spent RM190 on ONE thing.. LOL maybe not much la but you get the picture =D.

Went to the college on Monday to check it out.. It's MCKL for those who don't know.. Walking around the building reminded me alot about secondary school.. Cause of the building structure.. Very school-like.. Not very big but then again these things don't actually matter.. I'm actually contented with everything.. And there's this sorta weird feeling I'm having. Part of me anticipates going to KL and starting college and stuff.. But a bigger part of me doesn't want to leave just yet.. Somehow, the nearer it gets to the day I have to leave, the harder it gets... But whether I want to or not, that day will come. So why fret about it..

Finally decided on the subjects I'm going to take for A-Levels.. though I'm still praying that I can take Religious Studies.. They need a minimum of 10 to open a class.. And so far, I guess I'm the only one who's going for it.. Pray pray.. Would take Psychology if I can't take R.S... I'm leaving it to Him..

That's all for now. Till then. God bless =)

The Surrendered Saviour

[hope you would spare some time to read this.. =)]

From eternity past, through all of time, and through all of eternity future, Jesus' life was, is, and always will be, one of absolute surrender.

John 6:38 - "I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me."

It was Good Friday yesterday.. Was a pretty normal day for me; went to work. And at night, went to Infuse. They showed the movie The Passion Of The Christ (half of it).. I've only watched a few scenes from the movie, very long ago.. So it was something fresh for me.. Watching the pain He went through and thinking how much he suffered, I cannot imagine how it must have been... It's true that NO one could ever have such love.. And it compels me to follow Him even more closely..

These few weeks, I have learnt alot about surrender.. And if there's anyone to make an example of in this area, it's Jesus himself.. He was 100percent God yet 100percent human.. And because of that, he struggled too.. But His desire to do the will of God enabled Him to go through all the suffering and pain that we could be saved..

If you say you love God, are you then willing to surrender to His will? Some of us think that loving God and surrendering are two very different things.. But the truth is, love = surrender.. For when you truly love a person, you would surrender all for that person... Do we love God this way? Every day of our lives, are we surrendering our life, our body, our tongue, our time, our possessions, our mind, our will, our affections, our relationships and ourselves to Him?

For example:

Do we live with the conscious realization that all our time belongs to God, or have we merely reserved a portion of our time for the 'spiritual' category of our lives?
Are we morally pure - what we see, what we think, what we do, where we go, what we listen to, what we say?
Do we treat any of our possessions as if they were ours rather than God's?
Are we disciplining our minds to get to know God and His word better?
Are we wasting our mind on worldly knowledge or pursuits that do not have eternal, spiritual value?
Do we constantly seek to know and to do the will of God in the practical, daily matters of life?
Are we allowing anyone or anything other than Christ to control our emotions and responses?
Do we love God more than we love ourselves? Do we seek His interests, His reputation, and His pleasure above our own?
Is there any part of ourselves - our plans, relationships, possessions, emotions, career, future - that we are knowingly holding back from God?

Many a time, we expect God to answer our prayers. We expect Him to grant us our heart's desires. We expect Him to do this and that... Rarely do we bow the knee and say 'Yes Lord I surrender all to You. Do what You will'.

It is never easy to be fully surrendered to Him.. But that doesn't give us a reason NOT to try.. After all, radical love is when we are willing to surrender to Him.. And that means; even if things do not go the way you want it to; even though it will be painful; even if you will not understand; Surrender... After all, He is God... It's time we stop living for ourselves and start giving our all to Him...

For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You

What happened BEFORE ISCF Camp 09

Till now, every time I think about the ISCF Camp, I am truly amazed by His grace and power..

How great is our God? Far Greater than our minds can ever comprehend the term "Great"...

Before camp.. (info you might want to know; camp theme, how the committee was formed etc)

So it was on the 22nd of June 2008 where I was doing my quiet time and the word 'Unveiled' came to me.. I looked for the verse and it turned out to be 2 Corinthians 3:18.. Still unsure if this was what He wanted, I continued to pray about it...

Months later, I was wondering if camp could even be held due to NS.. When the time came, I found out I was chosen for it.. Mixed feelings. Wasn't afraid to go, just wondered what He had in mind.. Told Shaun about it and we continued to pray.. I thought the March holidays were to fall on the second week of March so even if I had gotten the 2nd batch, camp could still be on.. Then Shaun told me that the holidays were on the third week instead.. How la how la.. 1st batch - might have camp, most things had to be settled before NS.. 2nd batch - probably no camp. At that point, I never imagined that 3rd batch was even possible..

And soon enough, that was what I got.. Somehow, this year there seemed to be a great increase of trainees so they spread us out to all 3 batches too... Isn't God simply amazing? But He didn't stop there.

Shaun, Aaron and me began scouting for places for camp.. It was not easy.. The places we wanted were ALL booked.. And if you were wondering how we ended up choosing GSBA, let me tell you it's DIVINE INTERVENTION. =). Never heard of the place. After trying nearly 7-8 places, I tried Chefoo Methodist Centre.. It was unavailable too.. Tried Methodist Port Dickson Centre which was also unavailable. However, they gave me GSBA's contact..

We were worried about choosing to the place due to the location.. But there was no choice.. (And we didn't know jumping wasn't allowed in the hall. HAHA)

Speaking about the theme, I found out later on that Aaron and Shaun had revelations about the camp theme too, in different ways.. It was amazing how God worked..

The committee was soon formed. One by one came in.. There were a few who was supposed to be part of the committee, but due to their own reasons, they couldn't make it.. We were short of a guy committee when camp was drawing near. Shaun wasn't happy; obviously. LOL.

Around 10 days before camp, Joshua Chen messaged me and asked if he could still sign up for camp. I told him of course la and asked him to be part of the committee too.. Initially he said he didn't mind being just a camper. But I told him, he would probably feel weird being the oldest one there.. So he agreed.. So campers, you all must thank God, if not no Cinderella. =P.

The closing date for camp was on the 27th of Feb. And by that day, I only received 3 forms. No joke. Fast forward 1 week; few more forms came in.. There were around 20 people who confirmed to come for camp.. And as it drew nearer to camp, we were really worried.. Initially we targeted 60, and as we saw the response, we prayed for at least 40..

We closed the camp registration on Sunday, yeah two days before camp. We had 37 campers then..

But to look back, I think all of us agree that it turned out to be better anyway. More people more headache. More people less fellowship with everyone.. The list goes on. God was right after all.. Who are we to question Him?

Stay tuned for the REAL post on camp.

No Regrets

13 October 2008:

"Lord my heart is broken... into a million pieces, I can't fix it, I give it to You right now. You are my EVERYTHING. You are my ALL in ALL. I love You Lord."

Psalm 38:9-10, 15, 21 - All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from You. My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes... I wait for You, O Lord; you will answer, o Lord my God. Do not abandon me, O Lord. Do not stand at a distance, my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Saviour.

"How do I move on?" "Hold on to Me."

Looking back at the past, I struggled deep inside. There were times where thoughts of guilt and worthlessness came in.. The things that happened crippled me from believing that I am precious in His sight.. Yet I knew that I was.. Such confusing, painful times.. I could never understand why He allowed such things... I told Him I couldn't but He said He could..

Months later, He set me free. The past no longer affected me. Thoughts of worthlessness went away.. There was no definite answer why He allowed me to go through it all.. But one thing I know; it was all worth it.. Without going through the pain, I would never learn and thus never grow in Him.. I might have made mistakes but I have no regrets.. Holding on to Him all the while as He continued to shower me with His love.. There was never a moment He wasn't there.. And because of it all, I grew closer to Him.. Is there anything more I would want than to know Him more? I thank Him for every experience.. And I know there's more to come..

Right now, I've come to the point where I'm beginning to see that His will is ever pleasing, perfect and good.. And I thank God for bringing certain people into my life right now.. I don't know why I never realized it before.. But thanks; alot.. =) (hope you know who you are..)

Lord prepare me, to be a sanctuary.
Pure and holy, tried and true.
With thanksgiving, I'll be a living,
Sanctuary for You.

For how could the created one know more than the Creator?

Everything is meaningless

Without Him..

Had some time after work before lunch today, started reading Ecclesiastes and I managed to finish 7 chapters.

Many verses spoke to me so clearly and this was one of them:

Ecclesiastes 11:5- Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother's womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.

It just came to me that we all try hard to live a good life, to enjoy it while we can.. To pursue after our dreams, to go after the things we want.. But how often we forget that without Him, it all means nothing.. It's not wrong to do these things, it's just that we always tend to get preoccupied with all of it till we leave Him out of the picture.. If these things are gonna be a barrier in our relationship with Him, let it go...

Anyway, ISCF meeting today.. 20 people came.. Record broken I think.. But yeah, it was "double the normal people". LOL, some of you would und =P. Still missing everyone I guess. Makes me feel old and not wanting to leave home so fast. And yeah had a great week. =).

How could we NOT live for Him, after all He's done..

Lesson Learned

Note to self: Don't be greedy.

Woke up at 8plus today and went to Clearwater at 9plus with my 2 older brothers and dad.. They're back for awhile =). Anyway, we stopped at this place for breakfast, just a hundred metres away from Clearwater. It was a place we used to go long time ago.. Had nasi lemak and 2 roti canai... Started having a tummy ache soon enough. Rushed to the toilet the moment we reached Clearwater...

And I had to be so greedy during lunch.. It was a lesson indeed. Had stomach discomfort and the 'bloated' feeling for few hours... I have been putting on weight, not as skinny as I used to be.. Don't worry guys, you won't see an anorexic Serene. LOL. No diet plan whatsover.. Just eat normally! For those of you who don't know, I'm still working at the nursery.. Though I've switched to work in the afternoon instead.. Except for Fridays I guess...

That's all for now. Really tired. Good night..