CF camp!!!

Running along this race of life
Sometime we run out of time
With deadlines to meet
And schedules to fit
There's just no time for everything

Short of breath
Yet we are to press
Onto the goals that we have
In Him, we find rest
Whether we walk or we run or we fly
strengthened by Our King

So we gotta shine on, Oh shine on
and be the blessing
for we are fearfully, wonderfully made
in the image of our Heavenly Father
We we will run with perseverance
And face our giants
His stones- sufficient
We will be more than conquerors
With amazing Grace
To finish the race, keep the faith
And fight the good fight, shine His light
We shall joyfully praise Him
For the battles He's won!

Written by: IMU's very own.....Ivy Ang!! (M205)

Above is the theme song for the Christian Fellowship camp which I attended this weekend. Meaningful lyrics, isn't it? =) If only you could hear the song- it's a really lovely song! And I predict that the tune will be stuck in my head for at least another couple of weeks more.
Ivy is really talented! God gave her many gifts- among them is the ability to play the piano by ear. (not everyone can do that, you know). And she could compose such a great song! On top of that, she actually uses her talents for the glory of God, and not for self-glorification.

About the camp- it was indeed a refreshing and enjoyable experience. I got to meet people from other batches, and those that I already know, I got to know them better. The camp was organized by IMU's Christian Fellowship. A number of people in my batch were in the organizing committee. The camp was held in the Port Dickson Methodist Centre. The theme of this year's camp was 'Short of Breath? Shine on Brightly!'

We stayed in dorms. (Our dorms had air-con! I didn't expect that I would actually be freezing in the middle of the night, that is so not me).

The first night, we were divided into four groups:- yellow, green, orange and blue. ( I was in the orange group. We were also divided into smaller groups within these 4 groups, named after famous sports brands). I was placed in the Pouncing Puma group with Ivy, Jason (Pharm.), Chris ,Yee Pei (M106), Ken, Suisse (both my batchmates), Lynda and Amy (M107). We had the ice-breaking session, whereby we played games and got to know each other better.

The next morning we woke up early to gather in our groups for devotion. After worship, it was time for our first sermon in a series of 3 sermons. Hmm....maybe I prefer to call it a 'talk'.
The power speaker was pastor Sean Prasad from one of the churches in Shah Alam. (Damn, I forgot the name of his church!). I've to say that pastor Sean is a really powerful pastor and speaker. I like his style of preaching, it is sort of similar to Pastor Kevin's (City Harvest church Pastor) style of preaching- in that he would say 'Are you still with me?' or 'Turn to your neighbour and say......' He is full of fun and energy too. At first glance, you wouldn't have guessed that he was a pastor at all. His personality too doesn't give away the fact that he is a pastor. He can be jolly and mischievious (he told us about the pranks he played while in Bible college) , but at the same time he has this burning passion to serve God. He admitted that during his first few years of going full time into the ministry, he suffered a lot- being paid so little, and other people- even other pastors doubted him. And he had to give up so much - including his ex-girlfriend in order to go into the ministry. It is not his will- in fact, at first, he tried so hard to deny that it was His calling.

Pastor Sean has been to many countries before to preach- and among them.....America. (Can I tell you readers a secret? America is like my DREAM PLACE! I vow to go to America one day.) And he has this weird passion of impersonating the black/African-American people's way of speaking.He can impersonate them so well that given his skin colour, you could actually mistake him for a black person himself! And I personally think he resembles some similiarities to Randy Jackson of American Idol.

Then there was this activity called the 'Spider Web' which requires teamwork ( you have to get across the web through the holes), followed by some indoor games.

In the afternoon, we played sports games such as Captain's Ball (which besides football also included us using papayas and throwing discs as our 'balls') and Human Foosball. I think that the Games Committee did a great job in organizing the games! Most of the time, I was afraid that the ball would just make it's way towards me and knock me down unconcious ( can't you see that I'm NOT a sports person?) but it was fun though.

That night, after decorating a HUGE banner for our camp, we danced the night away. =) And Mafiaed the night way as well, for some of us.

Sunday morning, after the final sermon, pastor Sean called us to come to the front and he would pray for us. Now, I've to admit that I can be secretly cynical at times. I used to think that God doesn't speak to me. But now I know that he actually does, in His own ways. Like this morning. Pastor told me that God was telling me 'Don't be afraid'. That's it. 3 simple words. But I think I know what God means. I'll ponder upon it some more. Maybe fear is something that is stopping me from moving forward. The fear of the unknown, fear of failure. Fear of falling down and injuring myself prevents me from giving it my all in sports games. Fear of coming to God face to face prevents Him from reaching out to me.

I was glad I went to the camp! The things that I learnt and can take home from this camp......... a) running this race of life with perseverance.
b) teamwork! yes- as Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let's support each other, give each other a word of encouragement and lend each other a helping hand! One good example was when Weilin sprained her ankle on the second day of the camp. Everyone was there to help her in their own ways. Have to give props to her too for handling the whole situation so well and not uttering a single word of complaint!

p.s. We also had this 'coach' and 'athlete' thingy which basically follows the 'angel' and 'mortal' concept. I almost got Lynn Xuan as my athlete, but a 'technical problem' occured and so it was not meant to be. :( I got Ping Wei, a Pharmacy student instead, the second draw around. My 'coach' turned out to be an M107 guy whom I didn't know. But he bought me a bar of chocolate, a scent candle and a tiny cute bottle, so all is good :)