Wednesday, December 13, 2006
TIME: 7:41 PM
I'm home, looking like the walking dead, pretty much about to collapse very soon. Actually just fell asleep in the toilet just now.
Just came back from breakthrough camp.Well actually came back from that long ago but got parade...Anyway...I'm gonna try to blog as accurately as I can what happen lar... But some stuff just can't be captured in words.
First day---Supposed to meet games comm ppl at 930, but waited until 1030 only to find out that they left already.. oh well. So headed there along with the rest of the ns unit. Then went on to prepare for games. Also registered in, and like this camp's goodie bags are sooo much better than before! Shoe bags! with very nice camp booklets. Also wann extend my warmest welcome to all the A level grads boys from various district, welcome to NS or the SAF, Serve God Always Forever.
Otherwise it's just gonna be a waste of your 2 years. Quoted from Derrick.
Anyway, on with the games! Turns out east didn't have enough people for table soccer, so only had 4 games between NorthEast, NorthWest and Central before I became free to roam around. Unfortunately, rain came in shortly after the 4th game and the rest of the games session,including the track events,were cancelled. So we adjourned back to the hall to continue on with cheerleading and king of food. Very fun to watch cheerleading, we have such talented members in our church. and very big eaters too. haha.
Then we were given the keys to our respective bunks so we could go wash up for dinner. The keys were kinda irritating since there was only one set for 4 of us. Which pretty much meant that we had to always wait for the person with the key to come help us activate the lift and gate. Thank God I got to hold the key, muhahaha.
So after dinner we had the opening ceremony where they showed us a nice sample of the mass dance. And then we prepared our hearts for teaching with prayer and praise & worship. Both of which were especially ministering, think its the fact that all the people present were just so hungry to hear from God. So by the time that ended, we were more than ready to hear from the Word of God.
The first teaching was Illustrations of Christian Victory by Pastor..ermm brother! David Chen. :) The way he preached was a very refreshing change that really ministered to me. For this lesson, the main point was that God wants to and has given us victory in everything we do, however God gives but does not feed, we must desire for the victory and if we want it we must work for it. But working for it fully with the faith that God has already ensured that we will be victorious. The thing that really struck me that day was on how hidden sins could become our bondage that prevents us from being victorious. I'm not gonna say what, but there are some things that I had not accounted for yet. Right at that moment though, God called out to me, I just can't describe it, the feeling and what happened then is just beyond description. I cried, ashamed of myself and amazed by the grace that God still wants to give me, even with the doubts that sometime comes to me. It's awesome to have felt God's love just surround you.
Following the spirit-filled altar call, we were pretty much exhausted and most went to bed on time(1230) though some of the more energetic ones seem to not need sleep till like 3, 4am.
Day 2--- Woke up at 7 and did QT with my new CG. Followed by a brief mass dance session. And then breakfast... did I mentioned that the food that was provided was none other than from SFI, also known as the provider of cookhouses in most army camps? Urgh! But thank God it tasted better than what was given in the cookhouse. More teaching next.
Basically the whole day was devoted to teaching by Shirley and David. But it was good, because the Holy Spirit was moving. I learnt a lot that day. And while God didn't hit me the way He did on the first night, nevertheless He did speak to me. More and more I'm convicted about fulfilling the Great Comission. And after listening to all the testimonies shared by David, I'm convinced that 100% man 100% God. God confim give 100% effort, so we give 100% effort, and there's pretty much nothing that we cannot do. All the testimonies on how God provided money for busride, stopping the storm, sending the right people at the right time... It's just so amazing.
So instead of dinner... we had..... MISMATCH!!! I'll post photos of the event shortly... as soon as I upload it. Very happy to say that my outfit got nice comments. Lol. So interesting to see what other people come out with too. Had presentations of affirmations for all the DLs too. Very touching. We had one more teaching and since God was moving in the hall. We ended up overshooting the time by alot. But hey,we're youths, we ain't gonna let late night stop us from praising and worshiping God now are we,especially on the last night. So yeah, we had our concert! Always fun to praise God, though I got my feet scraped by the floor for not wearing shoes.
So the concert ended at 2, which pretty much left very little time for our usual talk to all the people you need to talk to kinda thing. Had district and unit meeting till about 330. Don't want to go into details here. Then met up with Peter for a sort of a first shepherding, a quick run through to see how I am on teachings and such. Then went to meet Derrick for a chat. Did a little affirmation for each other. Really gonna miss this shepherd. Learnt alot from him. So yeah Derrick, thank God for you.
Then just chatted with Derrick and Guo Feng. Talked about the reasons why we accepted Christ and stuff like that, very thought provoking chat. Then Derrick couldn't hold out and fell asleep right there by the netball court. Lol. So continued to talk to Guo Feng. We're pretty much came about the same time... at least I think so lar... I sort of can't grasp the fuzzy memory anymore. Talk about a lot of stuff. Don't wanna go into details.
Then went to talk with Alvin. Also wanna thank God for him. He has really been a blessing to me this year. So we talked about what we learnt in camp, which is pretty much what I've been writing about so far. lol. Then went back to the hall and sort of rested with Rayson and Kayson... interesting names eh? Lol. The hall was pretty much left to the NorthEast ppl. Wonder where the rest have gone... my unit think only left me and Rayson. Had some nachos, thanks Kat for getting them for us. Though you make me buy something everytime I see you. lol. Then me and Kayson decided to go play "volleyball" with erm... ok I dunno all them names... so its er... Pam, Sunny, Gary, Jian Cong and the rest. lol. Very fun, its not really volleyball so much as smack the ball until it falls to the ground. I got 3 headshots though, so sorry to those I hit. We played till about 715 before going back to dorm to wash up.
day 3--- this is where I felt abit low. Coz me and Peter gotta report back to camp at 1030, so like we have to leave about 830 to ensure that we weren't late. Which meant that we would miss out on all the day's activities. including photo-taking and all the fellowship. My heart felt heavy to have missed out on this. Moreover, considering that I had no sleep, going for a parade seemed like a daunting task. But one nice thing that happened today was that 2 of the sisters from Hope overseas gave me a keychain to remember them by. So nice of them.
Now to share one of my breakthroughs. Ok most people that know me know that I'm kinda cowardly, speak in front of more than 10 people and I get stressed up and all that... When David was asking people to go up to the front to share their convictions to the rest of the Church, ok I didn't go...(this is not my breakthrough yet) I was prompted yeah, I wanted to stand but firstly I was still pretty much tied up by my fear and also there were already too many people sharing already. So I thought, ok that was the end of it... dissapointed in myself, but relieved. Then after the concert we had our district meetings... And Daniel gave us the chance to those who wanted to share but haven't. Once again prompted by the Holy Spirit. Again I resisted... not very obedient after all... but this time, my resistance didn't last that long... with pretty much no idea what made me do it, I raised my hand... and moved to the front, all the while thinking, die... what in the world am I doing up front. But God gave me courage, I wasn't completely comfortable, but I shared my conviction. Very big step out of my comfort zone I think. Later Derrick was like saying that he was very surprised when Daniel called me up front, he was actually trying to remember if there was another Shaun in central. Lol. So I faced up with one of my fears, maybe next camp, I'll be one of those people standing in front of the Church sharing.
I haven't exactly been really serving God for like awhile now. But I want to change. And from this camp I gained a fear. A fear that once I leave the camp, I'll just revert back to my old routines with not life transformations. I'm doing all I can to keep the fire burning and not let this fear come through. But I know that the fire will only keep burning when I trust in God. Trust in God's strength, love, comfort and so much more. All you people who went for the camp too, keep it burning too.
Breakthough 1000 by end Dec.
Amen.