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(Sunday, March 25, 2007-)
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# The Freedom We Know
Weekends are like battery chargers. They charge batteries! Duh... haha. Yeah, and of course the batteries im referring to are our lives. Yup, but more accurately, its not really weekends but church (cuz YA and Sunday service are obviously on weekends) that recharges my life! Its jz so great to have this "mini-revival" in my soul everytime i step into YA and Sunday is jz like the icing on the cake! So here we go
Saturday
Woke up on time and got ready for tuition. By almost 9am, i was ready to leave the house when Vincent smsed me that he had competition. I was, like, all the best for ur competition. I surprised myself that I wasn't pissed that i woke up early for nothing and jz wanted him to do his best for his comp. Yup. That was significant yet i didn't know it till much later in the day.
Basically used the morning to blog and tried to do QT. Jz read the book and didn't really work out. The rest of the time was jz wasted... Walked towards the 14 bus stop to go to Beer Garden for lunch. Then as I reached Upper East Coast Road i realised i am now staying nearer to TJ and opposite TJ is so much nearer... So I walked back the other way. Haha, so stupid of me...
Had Jap food for lunch and cincau/soya beans. Came back and wasted my afternoon until i had to do laundry. By hand! I washed like 8 t-shirts and many other articles of clothing by hand since the washing machine is spoilt... And it took me close to 2 hours to do it all. Was tired but realised it was time for YA already so took a quick shower and headed to church for the best part of any week! YA Service!!
Reached church roughly about 6.15 and was in time for pre-service prayer although i thought i was late cuz the musicians were alredy praying. But there was a whole bunch of other ppl there waiting so i was in time. The board was ready with the prayer items and today was a significant day as many new ppl were coming. Nelsie was one of the 10 targets for YA who was coming!
Joel lead pre-service prayer for the first time, sort of like how i did it 3 weeks ago. And it was a really good sharing on perseverance. Shared from the story of Pentecost where only 120 received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the upper room when there were originally 500. So we in the "engine room" were like the 120 who have stayed on and we prayed till roughly 7. We also had some sharing by Maddy and we were all ready to get the newcomers feel welcomed.
YM service stretched so we entered first and soon we were setting up the place. Then i met Dickson after a "detour" by Chellie. Haha. Significant nonetheless. Dickson's from MJ. JC with best uniform! And he's from Triton too! So Yi Ning, do u know him? I asked and he doens't know u or the rest from o6 that went there. Oh well, he plans to join canoeing. There were two other girls from MJ but i didn't catch their names.
Other than the fact tehre were many new ppl, James came for the first time (in a long time i think) for YA! And Jeremy came too! Yay. So my cell had a grand total of... 4 people. Sighs. But nevermind, we'll keep on trying to get the rest in. No idea why BS wasn't ard, MY was not well, Su-E and Grace the usual MIA, Matthew, coming soon! Really! and Gabriel at Batam.. looking for a wife according to Bertrand. But actually he's on mission trip there. Yupz.
Service was good with Mich worship leading and the songs were Evermore, Jesus I Surrender and To The Ends of the Earth. Yup. And this was really impactful cuz i felt God speaking to me abt what happened at the start of the day. When Vincent sms-ed me that he coulnd't make it for tuition, it taught me how the Father Heart of God is like.
God is so overflowing with love and when we do something wrong and come back to Him, He so readily forgives us. Loves covers such a multitude of sin that its jz so wrong for us not to come back to Him who is so ready and waiting with open arms to accept us. Especially meaingful to me on how God doesn't "take time to get over our sins" but forgives AND forgets the moment we ask in repentance!! =D!!
And then it was offering and YA fund collection. And then it was sharing by Livia, Aiken and Isaac on the impact that Ignite and Synerg!z conferences had on their lives. And the ever-awesome Pastor Mark shared a concluding msg from abt 15 sermons throughout the whole two day conferences.
Ones that really impacted me were from Ps Matthew Barnett who has this really awesomely amazing Dream Center in LA and hence my nickname - Catching Dreams (check out their purpose and history). Seriously, what are we living for every single day. Do we have a bigger purpose than jz finishing school or eating enough to survive? Do we just, honestly, go through the motions of school and work and waiting for uni or NS. Or are we a people of purpose and a destiny. Such that, in retrospect, 2007 would have been a fulfilling year, one full of growth and dreams fulfilled. For the larger dreams, first steps taken?
And also from Ps Glen, Don't let the frogs stay for one more night. Like.... what??? Okay okay, its abt the ten plagues in Egypt when Pharaoh didn't wanna let the Israelites go, God sent a plague of frogs to punish the Egyptians. And when Moses spoke to Pharaoh to negotiate, Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go. So Moses gave Pharaoh the honor of choosing when the frogs were to be removed and Pharaoh answered... Tomorrow
I mean, how stupid is he?? Imagine ur room right now crawling with cockroaches and the exterminator is at your door and he asks you when u want to get rid of the pests and u think about it for a while.. and you tell him, come back tomorrow morning and you land back on ur bed with cockroaches crawling all over you.
Seems ridiculous that anyone would answer tomorrow right? But how often do we do the exact same thing to God who wants to remove all the stains, dirt and sin in our lives. How often we keep bad habits for one more night. This was so significant for me and it is decided that 24th March will be a turning point in my life! I believe in the altar call and the work has been done!
Yup, really really feel refreshed after the service! Time to dream big once again! Im free to accomplish what God has in store for me! And to make things even better, dinner for that night was on the house! Wow.. how rare is that! Free Pizza and Drinks! Yay! So i ate quite a lot and still there were 2 leftover pizzas. No idea what happened to it. Talked a lot and 12-ed back with Winnie.
MSN-ed as well with a few ppl. BS was online too. Had a nice chat with cass too (= then slept
Sunday
Did NOT wake up on time. Crap. Actually i did, jz that my alarm didn't ring after i snoozed it. No excuse, i was late for church. I got out of bed at 10.45 and reached church by 11.00
I ran more than half the way there... From Sennett to Emmanuel within 15 minutes of waking up. Was sweating quite a bit and so sad that i reached at the end of the praise and worship which must have been awesome.
Briefly sat at the empty row behind FX and then moved to my cell when the announcements were starting. And today it was 4 baby dedications as well. Too bad they were all girls, even the one in blue, and so BS was wrong. Haha. Mathematical Induction failed. Hehe
Ps Ang gave a simple yet strong message on The Cost of Being a Disciple. Things i really learnt from this
-we are not Christians because of our religion, but by our actions, as seen by outsiders. Are you a Christ-ian?
-it really costs something. not $ but our entire life. our priorities. is family more important than Him? is studies? is that special someone?
-it is a call to being doers of the word, WITH A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Him. even if we cast out demons in His name and not have a walk with him, we will not get into heaven.
But the underlying truth is still simple and encouraging. God is ever willing to empower you to achieve your full potential in him. He has the plan and purpose for our life, so committing it to Him, although it may seem to cost us a lot, actually gains is so much more. A really nice quote to sum it up
"He is not unwise who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose"
Think about it. Is IT really worth hanging on to or can God give u something so much better?
Then after the service, had an altar call and i was brought back to think how i haven't been significant at all for Him so far. And its time to change. And that I have really awesome people in church who care so much for me. Who really bother to try and find out how im relaly feeling on the inside and how my life is coming along. Had a good cell time with stand-in cell leader Sarah. Then had great prayer for our cell as well as Matthew who is gonna tell Dr Lee that he won't be a flutist for TPJCSB.
Then we walked to opposite TJ for lunch cuz we missed the bus and joined the newcomers although we were really late. Wwalked here and there quite a lot before settling on where to buy our "groceries" (read:chocolates and snacks) Txs to FX for the Milo Bar and MY for the Doaraemon magnet from 7E! One of it is now on Roland's car! Hehe!
Then had a Bible "picnic" in the haven with our snacks. Matthew, FX and MY with me sat in there and discussed the sermon of the day and the costs that we all pay as well as catch up on each other. In no time it was time to leave and FX took the bus with MY whil Matthew and I walked back. Met Alvin and Mich and talked a lot more. Really encouraging people who care so much! This is where Roalnd's car had the newest addition. Haha!
Then bought my dinner and came back to blog! Hehe. Its really good to live life with You God! The inner peace is just priceless (=Labels: Alvin, bible picnic, BS, cass, dream center, frogs, FX, Matthew, Mich, MY, newcomers, pizza, ps glen, ps matthew, sarah
the story ends like this;
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