Blessed and affirmed

I was looking in the night sky last night after the MAD and reading the slips of papers inside my pouch. Hmm....

Teacher's Day celebration I went back to Pioneer Junior College last Thursday to visit some of my teachers. The bulk of the teaching staffs during my time was still around, so I was able to feel much at home even when the current campus is now at Tech Whye and not opp science center. Managed to talk with Mr. A and some of my juniors including the ever so 'noisy' Ling. Somehow or rather, the visit just brought back sense of nostalgia, the never-ending debate and arguments with the gang about all sort of issues under the sun. Apparently, my recently acquired interest in religion has caused some commotions and apparently some worry from Mr. A. I would say that yeah, it surprises me, in fact it still do now. I never thought that I'll be following God during that 2 years in PJC. Learning about the Bible was only part of my academic requirement but now it's part of my lifestyle. It also seems that my current status that I'm still single troubles my juniors and friends, although it never seems as a problem to me (it's another story being tempted sometime though). And Ling actually tried to tease me by saying that she only saw a girl hitting out at me and I didn't notice it. It doesn't trouble me though, since most (in fact all) of the girls I hang out with these days are sisters from church, so I'm not particularly bothered. Anyway, these discussions only serves to convict me further in my faith, and also served to renew some old memories. Hope that I'll be able to go back on 12 Oct as an alumni speaker for the juniors. Think I can even share some of my convictions with them also.

HQ party Thursday night also saw the inaugural HQ party of this year. Also something like a new believer party for the brothers and sisters who have come to know Christ for the past few weeks. As usual, I got to be involved in hosting the games together with another sister whom I have never worked before. The preparation was minimal compared to all the birthday celebrations I have helped planned but the response from the crowd was great. The modified version of Hunter, fire, earthquake, the right-off-the-net balloon war and the win-lose-or-draw game all allowed the brothers and sisters as well as other friends to have great fun, which utterly surprised me. Expected them to have fun but didn't expected such magnitude. The fried pasta was great and indeed we had great pizzas too. Looking at the new believers, I found that it was all worth it for the effort, to toll our blood and sweat for the Alpha. Nothing better than seeing God's kingdom expanding. The chocolate fondue was even better.... to my taste buds apparently.

Life together the last one Saturday heard a very inspiring sermon on encouragement. Encourage: what is encourage? It just simply means instilling courage. So encouraging others just mean giving courage to others.
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
- Hebrews 3:13

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
- Hebrews 10:25


Indeed, I have been greatly encouraged lately by the lives of the people in the ministry lately. I have been encouraged by the growth of our new believers, by their willingness to fellowship with the whole uni group, by their willingness to put God in the first place, by their child-like faith. I was greatly encouraged by the message, as well as the people in the auditorium, when they were praying for each other. I was also greatly touched when Ps Jeff said that God's love is so simple but yet profound. It surpasses any human (and maybe humane) understanding. And I like this song a lot:

Jesus loves me this I know
For the bible tells me so
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak but He is strong

Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
The bible tells me so.


This is a song sang by children in Sunday school and it tells a lot. It really tells a lot. If you can't comprehend it, then maybe it's time for you to dwell into the bible and find out what it's all about. Basically it just sums up the bible.

MAD I didn't expect that much that I'll be applying what I learnt on Sat the very next evening. Had a great afternoon for the MAD. Indeed, it was a fruitful time of games, though something came into my mind. I was wondering why should we be confined to games for team bonding? Is there any other better ways to build up the fun? I mean, why are we always confined to the ways of the past (though I'm a historian in training)? Why should we subject ourselves to rules and regulations of games? What if games have no rules and regulations, it would even be more fun, isn't it? Certainly, there is no easy answer that will come out of it. I must comment, though, that the NTU changing room is way much more better than the one we have in NUS. It beats NUS hands down. Anyway, the evening at CSC was the highlight of the whole day. We were able to apply what we learnt on the Sat service by writing affirmations to each other, and put them in the designated pouches. I grabbed a whole lot of papers, but didn't manage to finish the affirmations for those whom I wanna affirm. Well, I guess we need to priorities some people given limited time. I guess this is so. When I received my pouch, I found 5 slips of papers, but I was tuly blessed and encouraged by these affirmations. They completed my night. But to be a bit thick skinned... I think there are still affirmations for me lying around and that's why I'm carrying my pouch around, just in case. Food was great too, indeed, everyone was blessed by the food as well, and of course the celebration in seminar room 1 of CSC. Think it's time to respond to Ps Jeff's challenge to rise up in leadership, if God permits.

Looking down at my pouch, my bus reached the stop. It's time to get off the bus and write next time.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Parable of the 'Good Samaritan'

Of Teaching and Learning

Of Exegesis, Wedding Preparation and the Whole Lot of Things: Another Reflection