Hello cellies!
How has your Easter break been? I am sure we would all agree that the holiday was too short. Can’t believe that a week has past by in a blink of an eye, eh? Hehe. Anyway, a few of us (10, to be precise) had a great opportunity of going to the Easter camp after the Easter service from Sunday to Tuesday arvo. =) And needless to say, most of us (I’d love to speak for the general masses) agrees that the camp was an awesome break as we’ve got the sand, surf and beach (albeit the season turning to autumn).
Apart from all the recreation that the camp provided, I believed that we as Christians learned a lot from the 3 sessions that we had at the camp. I guess this would be a section for me to confess that during the first session by Ps. Mark (Pompey) that I was actually falling asleep on my chair. =(. I know right, bad bad me. But but, we have Shannon to thank for summarizing with us (for the benefit of those who did not attend the camp, or may I add, for those who had a long day and couldn’t resist closing their eyes during the session) during cell on Friday. =)
Our second session that were placed during the next day catered to all teenagers (and youthful adults) who are in a relationship (*wink wink*) or in the works of being in one or who are still single. YAY. If you guys can guess it, it’s the BGR talk. =). Personally, I’d have to agree that I’ve learned a lot from this session as there are certain areas that I need to get my head around before jumping into a relationship. However, having known that God loves us so much, much, much that it can’t be denied that we should always seek His kingdom first and all things will be given to us.
But I guess what I really took home with me was the most powerful and engaging night which was the night when I needed God’s presence to again be filled in me: i.e. my inner-man being filled with the Holy Spirit. Often our life is filled with many ups and downs that along the way, we may stumble and even fail to listen to Him. That is when we rely so much on ourselves and our emotions overwhelmed our ability to trust God and even worship Him. It was a great night because for myself, I realized that whatever bad thoughts or emotions that I’ve been harboring over the past few months have been released, because God has answered my prayers, that is to forgive and let go of my anger. At that point of time, I knew how great our God is because though I’ve sinned, He did not give me the stick but rather, He still loves me for who I am and He is as the psalmist wrote in psalm 23, that He is the shepherd that guides me. All I had to do was to acknowledge His presence, as even though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil, for your rod and your staff, they are with me.
At the end of the day, the focus of the camp is not only to foster our friendship with the people in church that I call my family, but also to be refreshed and being in real fellowship with our God and savior.
All in all, this camp has been the vacation I needed! So, who’s up for another water bomb tournament by the beach?!!! Let’s go for the next Passion camp. Whee!
