Campus Alive

@LIVE IN C@!

2009-04-12T02:30:00.002+08:00

Hey all! It's the last Campus Alive meet of the year, and a truly eventful one. Our friends from KTT Fellowship will be here and it's going to be the last CA for many of our seniors (ACTP and ALM)...sobs!!! Pastor David of New Life will be speaking on that night on how we make our campus alive (no word pun intended...lol)! : )

But don't worry, CA's not going anywhere, because next next Thursday will be a farewell for the seniors. Location and time will be informed.

Happy Easter! Have a blessed day as we celebrate our risen Saviour Jesus and spread His love! See y'all!

- Larry : )

Hello again!

2009-04-10T08:04:00.003+08:00

I say, the new blog's feeling lonely without much comments! :D And there's an article from a wonderful Samantha Sii about Easter too!

It would totally, and I mean it, totally awesome if you would link to the new blog, and yes, spread the word! (So that, you know, it would be like, totally widespread - more people can find it, etc?)

And yes, due to some misunderstanding or so, the latest report was posted up both places. But, do do do visit the new blog.

And that's all from me now. :)

The day we broke the walls!

2009-04-07T12:51:00.002+08:00

CA this week was quite a unique one. Those who came were greeted by an all-male ushering team. Some stopped in their tracks to stare. There was Ivan, Tze Jun and Graham. Next, the meeting of the night was started off with the two MCs, Esmond and Krystal. They forgot to introduce themselves at first, and only much later did they recall that not everyone might have remembered their names. It brought about much laughter and a renewed sense of fellowship among those who attended that night. A few announcements were made then, about the coming CG where it would be movie night. The movie, ‘End of the Spear’ was to be shown this coming CG.

The time was then passed to Samantha for the games. We played an interesting game of Tic-Tac-Toe and what made it more interesting is the fact that it was a battle of the sexes! With the boys lined up on one side and the girls on the other, Samantha called out numbers (the rows of the boys and the girls were numbered first) and the person whose number got called would run to save a strategic seat so that they could form a line of four in a row. What was the outcome of the game? Well, let’s just say that it proved why males engineer battles and are addicted to online strategy games.

X
	X
		X
			X

After the games, it was then time to worship. Worship that night was done a little differently. It was led by Joy and only had Chewie and Larry as guitarists with no other instruments for the night. Joy had a brilliant idea of making it acoustic. Samantha and Katherine sang beautifully for back-up. The songs, Yesus Pokokku was sang with much animation and truly, it set the mood for the time of worship. The next few songs sang were Oh Happy Day, Lord of Lords, You’ll Come and Everything. It was a meaningful time of worship and was a good transition to the time for the speaker.

The speaker of the night was Brother Michael from the Fellowship of Evangelical Students, (FES). He is no stranger to those who have come for CA before. His message was on 'Prejudice'. He first began with asking us to get into groups of threes to discuss the things that we were prejudiced against, and the prejudices against ourselves we were most hurt at. Ee Heng mentioned that he had prejudices against people who were a head taller than he was. There was also prejudices against people who cannot speak English. And Cedric spoke up to mention that he was hurt mostly by prejudices against him unable to speak Chinese (so we shall avoid calling them bananas, yeah?). Brother Michael encouraged us to stop having prejudices against our brothers and sisters of different races here in Malaysia. He even elaborated on the parable of the good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37. He spoke on how we should not only be Christians Christian but to be Malaysian Christians, understanding of other people and their beliefs. We must not only do our duty to God, but do His pleasing work by helping those He has placed in our paths to help. This is so that we can reach out to them and not be complacent in our Christian lives. He then spoke on how to break the walls of prejudice.

“If we realize that all things given to us are from God, then we truly have nothing to lose as we break those walls and reach out.”

Such a sharing was thought-provoking, challenging, and refreshing. For at the end of the day, indeed all we have are two hands and a heart, to make a difference in our land and home.

Then it was time for refreshments which were prepared by Pei Ling and Maritha. It was a good time of fellowship and food, coupled with laughter and excitement that ended yet another wonderful meet.

Update!

2009-04-04T14:12:00.002+08:00

Hey people, I'm very proud to say that the new blog is very much nearly done. Now, there's pretty limited stuff as there's not much to say just yet. But the latest report shall be posted there! Now, how awesome is that? :D I'm very very excited, aren't you? Many new things, so take your time and read them all!

The new blog address is this: http://www.campusalive.wordpress.com/

I know that we're able to transfer every material here to there but we'd like to keep it this way. :)

And yes, there are those who have questioned our decision to shift to Wordpress. I understand that Wordpress isn't as friendly as Blogger, and the background is rigid, and we can't have a chatbox, etc.

Let's just say that God wanted a change. I was in a worship session during ACTs, when I prayed to God about what to do should I lead IT Ministry. And I believe that God spoke to me throughout the worship session and sermon. That day, both Pat and I felt strongly that everything shared by the Pastor was so inter-related to CA. Seriously. It's an awesome sermon by Pastor Kenneth.

He gave me insights, gave me new challenges. :) And one of them insights was to have new pages with more details. I can't quite explain it, but it's already been done up in Wordpress. The function doesn't exist for Blogger, which is why is was tough.

I also understand that I haven't been doing a good job sprucing up the place, but I realize that God being the centre of it all is most important. That a new blog is necessary for a new revival, coinciding with our new ministry in CA, and other important new things coming up. A change is coming, and we're trying to keep up with the massive awesomeness God is bringing forward for us to take charge. :)

I hope I make sense. Please do visit the new blog and give it a shot. :)

Nic.

The Walls Between Us - Next CA!

2009-03-29T00:55:00.002+08:00

CA is back! After a one week holiday for the most of us, we return with a topic which concerns all Malaysians. As a new generation it is time we unite in love and harmony, and that means breaking the walls that separate us racially. Come and bring your friends for a night that will refresh, renew, and change you! See you there!

The Fire Within

2009-03-17T23:08:00.000+08:00

With the advent of third week of March, our ministry had managed yet another Camps Alive which falled on 11 March 2009. In the evening, those who were in-charge of transportation waited at the bus stops located at Cendana, Cemara and Akasia hostels. I was to wait at Cendana hostel whereas the other friend, Jonathan Wong had been waiting at Cemara and Akasia hostel for quite a long time that evening. So, we gathered around at around 6.00p.m. and set off to church after that.

The Campus Alive started at 8.00p.m. after everyone had had their dinners. That night, the number of attendees was not as many as usual. The cause for that was due to the fact that the seniors had exams and the ADFP students had their tests that day. All of us knew that attendance didn’t really matter. Campus Alive would still went on regardless of the number of people, and time will come to prove that Jesus can provide the number. Before the Campus Alive was officially started, we had a praying session. It was initiated by Larry and ended by Samantha. Next, Campus Alive was made alive by our emcees of the day, Graham Lai from AUSMAT and Fabiolla Lea from ALM. This was then followed by an opening prayer, led by Graham Lai.

After that, we proceeded to our next event, the gaming session. The game master of the day was Joy. She had proposed to us a game by which we all were separated into two groups and lined up. So, the first person of each group would have to think of and create some random yet so-called exaggerated movements to be imitated by the next person lining up behind. The condition here was that no one was supposed to look forward by turning around from each other from the front to the back. Therefore, the imitation was relayed from the first person to the next one till the last person. The last person would then be invited to come to the front for the performance of 'relayed movements'. They were Jonathan Wong and Jonathan Chua. (Quote: “The battle of the Jons’ begins!” Joy) Well, as what we had seen, the movements were prodigiously distorted to an extent that they hardly showed any similarities with the original one, causing the people around laughing out their heads off! Next, the first people, namely Esmond, Joshua and Karen were also asked to perform the original version of movements that really showed a great difference.

The third event was the worshipping session, led by Larry. Larry himself was the guitarist and the vocal. The other members of the band comprised the drummer (Joshua), the keyboard player (Samantha) and two backup singers (Jonathan Chua and Hui Theng) So, Larry had brought to us a few worship songs, namely One Way, Praises (Everyone), For All You've Done, Amazed, Heart of Worship, Ku Mahu Cinta Yesus Selamanya. Certainly, it was clearly revealed that all people sang the worship songs with hearts for Jesus. The presence of His love has always been the avenue for us to love people and to be loved by people as well. The atmosphere was indeed teeming with all His love!

Then, this was followed by our next event, a speech by Elder Kien Yiak from Acts Church. He is truly a good and sophisticated speaker and all of us were greatly impressed by his talk. He preached to us about a lot of things in a humorous manner, and that was why the surrounding atmosphere was always full of laughter and cheering. In his preaching, we were told to behave in our real and sincere personality. We should act according to our characters and be debarred from becoming double-faced people. Besides that, he also told us that passion is all about giving, in accordance with what the bible has mentioned. He emphasized to us that Jesus Christ believes in us, and will always provide the clues and answers whenever we are confronted with problems. Therefore, faith is what we truly need and that is how we will be blessed. Apart from that, we were also being reminded that Jesus is able to give. If we can manage strong faith in Jesus, all our requests will be answered. He listens to our prayers and problems, and He does answer them. "God does answer us. He answers all our phone calls, SMS, and E-mails!!", he talked to us in a creative way.

It was really a long period of time before he finished his preaching. The talk was started at 9.00p.m. and ended at 10p.m. After that, there were announcements from the emcees, saying that there would be a prayer meeting in Cendana, Akasia and Cemara hostels at 8.00p.m. the next day. Also, a Post Mortem would also be held in Cemara's "Starbucks" on Friday.

Finally and practically, the Campus Alive was ended after the announcements, accompanied by the prayers led by Elder Kien Yiak. After that, we went to refreshment room for refreshment prepared by Amy while waiting for the transportation fetching us back to respective hostel. Usually, refreshment time is considered as the best time where the people can mix around and communicate with each others.

The report is done by Chong Tze Jun from ALM9.

The Fire Within

2009-03-17T23:03:00.005+08:00

This flyer was awesomely done by Julius which was in colour but he deleted that soft copy from his computer. Give him a cheer anyways! :)

P/S: I'm sorry it's late and for being incompetent. ;__: I don't know why I can't seem to be able to handle this properly, but I'll promise I'll do better. Really. It's all my fault.

In Good Faith, We Come

2009-03-06T09:42:00.002+08:00

It’s the third CA of the year. The ushers tonight include Qi Ying, Amy, Fabiolla, and Hui Ting. They welcomed us with grins on their faces and cheerful greetings of “welcome”s. The gathering kicked off with the jubilant shout of the emcees of the night, Boon Tung and Catherine. With their spontaneous speaking skills, the night was filled with laughters. After some greetings and shouts of “shalom”, an opening prayer was made, led by Boon Tung.

After the opening prayer is the game session. It’s a shoe game and the game master was Nicole. We were asked to form a circle. And next, we were asked to take off one of our shoe. We were then required to tap that one shoe on the floor according to a rhythm. After tapping according to the rhythms, we need to pass the shoe to the person next to us and the tapping and the passing of shoe continues until we were stopped. Then, we were asked to find the owner of the shoe which we got and asked five things about them. There was this funny situation where lots of the shoes end up at one place and some people don get any shoe at all. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves with the game.

Up next was the worship session, led by Chewie and Betty, with Joanne as the backup singer. A few songs of worships and praises were sung, accompanied by the lovely tunes played by the guitarist (Chewie), bassist(Daniel and Esmond), drummer(Anderson) and pianist(Theng Theng). We could definitely feel the presence of God and His love in our midst during the worship sessions.

Then it was the video-watching session. The video was made by Lisia, Charis and Samantha. The main focus of the video was to talk about missions in campus. We are invited to sign up for mission and spread the love of God to people around us.

And of course, there was also a talk. The speaker for that night was Audra Darshini from the Fellowship of Evangelical Students. The talk given was about missionaries in campus. First, a bible extract from Jeremiah 29:4-7 was read. From the bible extract, the speaker had outlined four main points which can be related to missionaries in campus.

Jeremiah 29:5-7- “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.

The speaker asked us to get involved in the missionaries and be concerned to the people who need our helps beside us. We are also called to start our mission in campus starting now. We should be Christian witness for people around us to spread the word of God and God’s love. Truly like what the speaker said, we might only have 2 years in our campus but we should make full use of the 2 years to be involved in missionaries because if we are to wait till after 2 years, it would be another 2 years in another campus and another 2 years in another place again.

As usual, after the talk, the emcees will give some announcements regarding the cell groups and post mortems. After that, Beatrice came up and invited us to join Ops Gegar, a conference with the theme “Kerinduanku Penglibatanmu”, which is going to be held on 7th of March.

Finally, CA ended with refreshments at the refreshment room. Refreshments was made by J-Cyn and Siaw Hui. It was hotdogs, and coco de nata drinks. While taking the refreshment, we had the opportunity to mix around with friends and do so chit-chatting. There is an atmosphere of friendship and God’s love. It had been a very meaningful gathering. We can be refreshed and gain new strength in God. So, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are all called to be a part in God’s mission to preach His good news and love to the people around us. In short, this CA had been a great success. Glory and praise the Lord!

P/S: Pictures coming soon. :)

P/P/S: This report was written by Peter. Much thanks and applause!

In Good Faith, We Come - 26 February 2009

2009-02-25T15:31:00.002+08:00

Hey everyone, really sorry about the delay in putting up the flyer. Let's just leave it at me not being competent enough. :) CA is still going on this Thursday, please be there!

When You Fall In Love

2009-02-25T15:24:00.008+08:00

CA started off with LOVE!! As cliché as it might sounds, love was definitely in the air on that fateful night. Without a doubt, God’s love was felt everywhere in the church compound and in fact, it is the only LOVE which matters most in our lives.

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When first entering the room, ushers dressed adorably in either pink or red with white wings on their backs would throw confetti above our heads. Particularly cheeky guests had even more confetti thrown to their faces. The ushers for that night were Fabiolla, Esmond, Chee Huat, and Catherine.

We were all welcomed by the loveliest emcees of the night, Daniel and Winnie. With their quirk enthusiasm, everyone was humored by this lovely pair. Then, we heated up the environment with the worship session, led by Pei Ling and Zoe. The drummer was Dian Han, guitarist was Chewie, and bassist was Bryan. We were all captured by God’s faithfulness and love. The worship team was fabulous and of course, all the credits went to our Maker of heaven and earth.

Games session was next. Led by Miriam, we were divided in pairs and engrossed ourselves totally in this game called Marriage-Proposal-Divorce. When Miryam called out Marriage, the pair were supposed to hook arms together, as if going down the aisle together. And when she called out Propose, the guy was to kneel on one knee and take the hand of the girl as if to propose. And when Divorce was yelled out, the girl and guy was supposed to turn back to back with each other, and cross their arms, as if angry with each other.

A gift exchange took place after that. And each pair exchanged gifts with each other. Interesting gifts in particular was a honeydew, and a loaf of bread.

A sketch was performed after the games. Participated by Joy, Cedric, J-Cyn, Sze Yin and Samuel, it was a great reminder to us that God’s love is what matters the most in our lives. The basic plot of the sketch was a girl – portrayed by Joy who found her boyfriend (Cedric as ah Boy) with another girl, J-Cyn. She then goes home to find her parents fighting, Mummy being Sze Yin, and Daddy being Samuel. A particularly interesting line said by Samuel was, “I love you! (Pause) But I love your best friend too.”

Disappointed and hurt by her father’s infidelity, Joy then leaves home. She tears a red paper heart each time she is hurt by the people she loves, and indication of her own broken heart. She receives a birthday card, but doesn’t care anymore. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” Joy said. But in the card is a verse, John 3: 16 and she finds a huge white heart with the words, “Never have I abandoned you.” The lights dim. This is a sketch to show just how much God loves us still, even when we face our earthly troubles, He is always there was us.

A short testimonial by Nicole followed next. She quoted Romans 8 and her testimonial was a strong, powerful testimonial. Coming from a broken family, God’s love has sustained her and pulled her through all the difficult times. It really served as a reminder of how wonderful is our faithful God.

Romans 8: 38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As the CA was held in conjunction with Valentine’s Day, a short video entitled A Father’s love was aired.

(video)

For all that our Father has done for us, all that he asks is just a simple question, “Would you be my child?”

Touched by the video, we were then introduced to Pastor Ron from Newlife PJ. A man full of faith and good nature, he talked about how God’s love has changed him from the inside out. He agreed with the lot of us that finding a life partner is indeed important, but if we just let our hearts be filled with His love, God will let the right person come our way. He testified of how God has been good to provide him the greatest gift of His life-his wife.

Truly, if we love Him with all our hearts, He will give us the miracle of finding the other half who will complete our lives. By loving God, we give our whole heart to Him because He loved us first. He loves us by showing His ultimate gift of grace-Jesus Christ to die for us. He died so that we can have an abundant and fulfilling life which the world could not give. Many people in the world are crying out for something that will fill the holes in their hearts.

We need to love and be loved, as this is part of human nature. Too often this desire will keep us searching everywhere and get love from people whom we think will fill up the emptiness in our hearts. If you are still searching today, God is telling you to embrace His unconditional love, which will make you whole again. How should we respond to His love? Let us start serving out of love, as 1 Corinthians 13 reveals that love is the most important motivation in Christian living. Let us start loving our brothers and sisters, as Jesus loves them too.

CA ended with refreshments. Refreshments were prepared by Nicole, Samantha, Amy, Miryam and Theng Theng. Laughter and chatters echoed throughout the church compound on that day. In short, CA was a great success. Everyone joyfully went back with an extra portion of love in their heart, all thanks to our loving heavenly Father.

P/S: One of the interesting addition to CA that night was a Love Shout Out Board where anyone could write messages to whomeever they want to. :) More pictures shall be put up real soon. :)

P/P/S: This report was written by the ever lovely Sze Yin. :)

Sorry!

2009-02-21T15:46:00.001+08:00

Much apologies for not having the details of the last CA until now. We're trying to get the new blog up and running, and because there were tons of wonderful pictures for the last CA, we might put up the latest report in the new blog.

Much editing, and writing to do, and we're terribly sorry for the delay. :(

When You Fall In Love - 12 February 2009

2009-02-10T17:09:00.005+08:00

Please Bring A Gift!

(need not be too costly,
something nice and simple)

This Thursday, Campus Alive is celebrating Valentine's Day! It's two days early, but it's the fun we have together that matters. And that will leave your Saturday free!

Please do come to be refreshed with God's word with our speaker, Pastor Ron from New Life PJ, after that wonderful one week holiday.

Don't forget the gift for exchange!! : )

Faith, Our Vision

2009-01-20T14:03:00.006+08:00

Dated 15th January 2009, a historical moment in New Life Restoration Centre with the presence of our beloved God, the new committee of Campus Alive 2009 have successfully organized the first CA meeting in the new year!

This year we have set a new vision and mission. The mission for our movement this year is to spread the good news until the end of the Earth and to have faith in God and with great love among each other in Christ.

There were a total number of 100 people present that night. We were very blessed, and had indeed, not worried about the number as we truly know that God will provide us with the people. The only thing that is obvious is the Atmosphere at that moment is packed with lots of people and of course, with many new faces! Praise the Lord!

Among the crowd, we had special guests too. Two of them were not from Malaysia, and they were Amy and Heaven from Korea. They had come to Malaysia to learn English for one month and I guess they are visiting around Malaysia too during their study period here.

Other special guests include the vibrant, and wonderful people from ACTS Church Subang Jaya! Not forgetting about our speaker: our speaker of the night is Brother David from ACTS Church Subang Jaya whom had been described as a charming and enthusiastic guy by Samantha!! :)

Concentrating on the humorous and nostalgic slide show.

Our very much loved Sam, and Steffie.

The night started rolling, literally with a slideshow of photos of the previous committee, along with pictures taken during many previous CA meetings last year. It had been done up by our nice and cute Masters of ceremony, Mr Samuel and Ms Steffie. Samuel started CA after that with a prayer. Steffie had even learned uttered ‘good evening’ in Korean to further welcome our Korean guests to CA.

This was then followed by the happy-go-lucky game master, Mr Graham from AUSMAT program leading and guiding the crowd through a game involving much animal antics. Everyone was separated according to their birthdays. So the crowd was separated into 4 groups with each group consisting of members who had their birthday on every three consecutive months starting from January. The game is simply about imitating animals. However, that was not it. The leader of each group had to start by imitating an elephant. The second person in that circle had to follow what the group leader had done, and subsequently imitating another animal of their own. And the third had to imitate both animals, and add their own as well. Thus some groups started with an elephant, then a dog, cat, and various other animals came into play. The game would continue until the last person imitated all the other animals correctly.

Darsh having fun imitating the elephant.

The winners of the game. I think. :P

The game ended in enjoyment and it was for certain that everyone had an enjoyable moment playing and cheering others along. After the happy moment together, it was the time to worship our beloved Father in the heaven. We sang four beautiful songs (Hari Ini, We Will Sing, I Am Free, and Amazing Love) and shouted to the Lord in our praises, committing ourselves fully to God in midst of worshipping our mighty Father. Larry lead the worship, with Anderson on drums, Esmond on bass, Chewie on the guitar, and Joanne, Sam, and Nicole as the backup singers.

Larry and Sam introduced the new mission and vision for the year. A new ministry that had been set up was then formally introduced to the CA crowd. A Missions Ministry is now part of CA, and anyone who is willing to serve can contact Larry or Sam. Li Sia, who leads this new ministry had spoken about it as well, during CA that night.

Samantha, explaining the mission and vision of the year Faith, and Love.
(More about this soon.)

That night we had invited ACTS Church Subang Jaya to deliver a wonderful speech about faith. It is indeed a wonderful and fruitful sharing to everyone by Bro. David. He told us about his wonderful story in his life, sharing his story about becoming a Christian 15 years ago. He originated from Penang and shared about his humble life there where he had to struggle hard to live. There were even a few moments in his life when he had thought of committing suicide to end his life as his didn’t really like what was given to him in his life during those days. He suffered from great tension since his young age till one day he came to Christ through a movie “The Story of Jesus”. He said that this movie had greatly inspired him to receive Christ and this was what that had brought such a big change in his life.

As for the students in INTEC UiTM, he convinced us by asking us to think about things positively. In the Malay language, the word “Shah Alam” came from the root word “shah” which means Sultan or king and another “alam” which means realm. In full, it means that Shah Alam is the land of the King or a kingdom and all those who live or rather students who are arranged to study in UiTM should be thankful to have been able to enrolled into such prestigious university in Malaysia. And if the students feel that Shah Alam is such a boring place, we should claim back this land, as the land of the King. Bro. David inspired us to make a change in this place. He told us that the students of INTEC must start doing something. And when we leave, we will not have regrets, and be able to say, “At least I have done something here.” He is indeed a very great speaker, having been thoroughly convincing and with his wide smile on the face, he created laughter among the youngsters.

Brother David inspiring us with what he had shared.

The talk ended in about one and half hour. It was then followed by a few announcements by the MCs who reminded us that cell group would commence as usual this Thursday. The former president of the CF of KDU, Brother Jason, too, shared a few words with us. He introduced us to a certain program organized named Malaysian Youth Prayer meeting which was first held in Kluang, Johor.

Finally, everyone broke up for refreshment and fellowship in the refreshment corner. Some mingled around, chatting together, and had enjoyable moments together in laughter and friendship. At the same time, what was happening in the Atmosphere is that some grouped together to pray for the AUSMAT seniors who are going to set flight to Australia and New Zealand very soon. I sincerely wish them all the best here and hope that they will have great moments with God there too! After that, it is the time for everyone to go back home. It was late when CA ended and the NLRC resumed back in its normal quietness, but indeed it is still burning hot in the Holy Spirit flame. Whatever, that ended the first CA of the year!! Yahoo!! Bravo to all the organizing committees!!

Last but not least, our next meeting will be on the 12th February 2009 which is two days before the well-known Valentine Day. In conjunction with the soon-to-come Valentine Day, the theme of the sharing of our next meeting will focus mainly on the contexts of LOVE. Either it is about a boy-girl relationship or it is about love from our heavenly Father, it is for you to find it up the next CA meeting!! See you!!

We are one in Christ.

Faith in God,
Julius Tan Jin Soon

p/s As Chinese new year is drawing near, I sincerely hope that everyone will have an enjoyable moment in the fun of the Lunar New Year! Enjoy yourselves and of course together with the presence of God! I hope that everyone will have a safe journey back to the hometown, including those Koreans who are going to depart back to their own country on the 31st of January 2009! All the best to all! Have a joyous Chinese New Year!! :)

Faith, Our Vision - 15 January 2009

2009-01-12T11:50:00.004+08:00

It has been a while since we have had a Campus Alive meeting, due to the holidays. I hope that all of you were still faithful to Him during the holidays and have made the holidays an enjoyable and fulfilling one. If not, it was still relaxing and refreshing, no?

Anyway, this will be the very first CA meet of the year. And we're all very very excited, whee! The theme for this meeting is, Faith. More about the vision and mission for this year, and all about the new commitee will be talked about later during the meeting. :)

Please be there!

Symbols for the New Year

2009-01-01T22:47:00.002+08:00

Symbols carry with them very powerful meanings and imageries. They represent a group of ideas linked together in one visual or verbal representation. In fact, the word symbol is derived from the Greek words syn- meaning ‘together’ and ballein meaning ‘to throw’. So taken literally, to create a symbol is to throw a couple of ideas together into one representation.

As we use symbols describe things, we are invoking the ideas that have been associated with the symbol and connecting those ideas with the particular subject. Since this year is the year of the ox, perhaps I shall use the ox to illustrate an example. For instance, say I described someone as an ‘ox’. The ox becomes a symbol that calls forth several different ideas and places that person in possession of those qualities signified by the symbol. In this case, the symbol of the ox could carry the significance of strength, vitality, loyalty, devotion, etc, so to describe someone as an ox could ultimately mean that the person is strong, youthful, loyal, etc. In other words, the qualities that have been ascribed to the ox have now been ascribed to that person.

As we enter a new year, I would like to present two powerful symbols that I believe challenge us to live a life that is worthy of our calling – peace and resurrection.

Nowadays, we often hear the word ‘peace’ in the news, public discussions or even casual talk. But what do people really mean when they talk about ‘peace’? Often times, we discover that ‘peace’ in contemporary terms has been diluted to mean merely the absence of conflict, i.e. we’re cool as long as we don’t step on each others’ toes.

However, the Bible presents a whole radical idea of peace. The Hebrews would call peace shalom, while the Greeks eirene (for those who are interested, the name Irene actually comes from this word). I would particularly like to focus on the symbol of shalom. Throughout the Old Testament, we observe that God’s commandment to the Israelites place much emphasis on community living. In fact, when we examine the Torah, God instructs the Israelites to care for those living amongst them, look after the welfare of their neighbours (including foreigners), greet each other in love – or to summarise it all, to seek the shalom of the community. Hence, the symbol of shalom (or peace) brings together the idea of not only the absence of conflict, but also the obligation towards the health and life of the community.

Even today, we are not exempt from these commandments that God gave to the Israelites. As we become part of a community of believers, the New Israel, God expects us to go beyond peaceful coexistence or personal isolation from the life of the community. Rather, He calls us to contribute and be part of the heartbeat of the whole body of Christ. We are called to care for one another in love, to seek each other’s welfare and to greet one another with joy. In other words, peace (shalom) calls us out of our self-centred survival status to life-giving love-filled latitude as we gather together as one body to seek the face of God.

The second symbol I would like to point our attention towards is the resurrection. First of all, I would like to address the idea that ‘resurrection’ is an event that will happen ‘someday, somewhere’. I believe that this is an incorrect perception of the resurrection. In fact, I would go further to suggest that we already have the power of resurrection within us. It is merely a matter of tapping into that power.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that “those who are in Christ are a new creation”. In other words, those of us who believe in Christ and have received His Spirit are already a new creation. And as a new creation, we are now living in a whole different kind of power, i.e. the power of the resurrection. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that “if the spirit that raised Christ from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies”. The power of the resurrection is already accessible to us through the Spirit, right now, and not in another distant reality.

Then comes the question then, “But how does the power of the resurrection look like?” The same Greek word that is used for resurrection, egeiro, is also used in several ways in the New Testament. I would like to point out four of them, all found in the book of Matthew.

To rise up and go – “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” (Mat 2:20)
To rise up and stand – But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” He said. “Don’t be afraid.” (Mat 17:7)
To rise up against – Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (Mat 24:7)
To raise up people – I tell you out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. (Mat 3:9)

Therefore, the symbol of the resurrection draws together these ideas. In my opinion, to stand in the power of the resurrection means to get up and go in faith as the Spirit leads. It means that we were once afraid of taking brave steps to uncharted territories, but now we have the faith to make choices that no one else has ever dreamed of.

To stand in the power of the resurrection means to rise up and stand for our faith. It means that we were once insecure about our own identity, our purpose, our calling, or even our life, but now we hold onto a new hope and a covenantal promise in God that far exceeds any other promises of the world.

To stand in the power of the resurrection means to rise up against the ways of the nations, and the status quo. It means that we once tried to impersonate and mimic the ways of the empires around us, wallowing in our self-preservation and survival games. But now, we have caught a glimpse of a new way of living that is not based on following social norms or trying to meet the human expectations, but that which is based upon faith, hope and love. And because we have witnessed that kind of life, we rise up now to fight against the influences of the world that will try and pull us back to our ways of living.

Finally, to stand in the power of resurrection means to raise up a new generation of people who too can embody this hope in their lives. It means that since we have experienced this freedom and life in the Spirit, we now pass on this freedom to the next generation so that they do not have to start from scratch and go through all the painstaking process of discovery that we have been through, but so that they can build upon the foundations that we have laid, just as we build upon the foundations that Christ has laid.

Indeed, there is nothing foreign about resurrection. Dare I say, as we engage with every single day of our lives, we make choices each day whether to follow the leading of the Spirit and to tap into the power of resurrection that comes through the Spirit. We make choices each day whether to go to new frontiers, to stand firm in our faith, to fight against the ways of the world or to raise up a new generation of Christians. And as we step out in faith to take up these challenges, we are living in the power of the resurrection of Christ.

So, brother and sisters, I exhort you then, continue to live in the power of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, making peace with all men. Have a blessed new year ahead! Shalom!

You'll never walk alone...

2008-11-16T23:57:00.001+08:00

I can't believe it has been two and half years since the first day I step into INTEC main gate to register myself for ALG programme. And it was during the same week I got my first invitation to INTEC's CF (at that time I didn't know tat it was Campus Alive) and the theme was 'Laughter's Night' dated 5th July 2006, the day that my life took a turn completely. I was introduced to some very excited seniors and from there I realise that I was actually being brought to CA over some series of event by God. Only when I look back I realise that God has been so real to me during my time here in INTEC. I vaguely remembered a beautiful girl who was with me on the train back to Shah Alam. She approached me asking whether I was new and started to invite me to CA. And that officially started off my whole journey of CA.

Personally, CA has been such a huge blessing. I had the privilege to serve in the committee together with passionate people from different programmes led by two visionaries and revolutionists (hey, my boss is Joash, so go figure how our meetings were like.haha) I served in the transport team and from there I really learned a lot about the 'behind-the-scenes' because I get to transport the worship team to their practice. During these practices, I had the chance see CA as not just what we see in front of our naked eyes, people really sacrifice a lot just to make one meeting full of God and full of joy. So whenever I felt weary because of serving, the thought of this instantly woke me up. I know that I am not alone in this journey that I walked, I am surrounded by people who is equally tired but they still press on, knowing the eternal reward towards the end. I will never walk alone.

Another thing that encourages me a lot through out my journey with CA is the seniors. They really played a big part of my life during my first year because as cloud of witnesses, they encouraged us to throw off everything that hinders us and let us run with perseverences the race marked out for us, as what Hebrews 12 : 1 says. They cared for us not out of obligations but out of love. I still remember during my MMS (orientation week) I was freaked out when I was not provided with a spoon or fork to eat my meals and the facilitators didn't seem to care, so I have to go around asking for spoons or simply eat with my hands. However, I notice some seniors who went around smiling and talking to people so I joined in. That was when I got my first CA flyer and an invitation to a church I intended to join. Looking back, indeed God's hand was at work to provided me with a 'home' when I was so far away from my hometown.

When the seniors graduated one by one and they left INTEC, leaving us a bunch of juniors whom we can left a legacy to, just like how our seniors did. Being the only batch with 5 semesters, I see how my juniors and super-juniors grow. They went from being totally confused about everything in INTEC till they become men and women after God's own heart. Sometimes I do feel like they grow so much faster than me and I was always reminded again and again that I must do some catching up. Every batch of CA has their own unique style of handling every CA meeting. And I really enjoy every meeting because I know the effort they put in every CA, from transport to praise and worship, flyering to refreshment, ushering to decoration, mc-ing to games etc etc and all these I believe will be turn into lives. So dearest juniors, do not give up when difficulties come but commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.

I really don't know what God has prepared for me after I left INTEC, but I trust that God will prepare my way. Every CA has been such a wonderful time in INTEC, it's probably the only thing that I enjoyed doing in the past two and half years. But now, it's time to let go of CA and expect more from God in the future. CA has really been a stepping stone in my journey of faith and I can't always hold on to the experience with CA until I get stuck in my spiritual growth. I must step out of this comfort zone that has been such a blessing for me and prepare to have more CAs to come in Germany!

Lots of love from your dearest super senior
(guess you should know who am I)

V-Day: Barack Obama, The 1st African-American President of the USA

2008-11-05T13:56:00.004+08:00

My friends will tell you that I stay at home most of the time and I don't join any events. That's partially true (hey, I don't even have a facebook) but in reality, I don't join those events because they are trivial stuff. If important things are happening around me, I make it a point to show up.

This is exactly the scenario today. While some people study for the coming exams and whatnot, I went to witness the most historic day of US, the 2008 election day. I was there since the beginning, when Sen. John McCain won Kentucky and Sen. Barack Obama won Vermont. Once Obama was announced as the projected winner, I, like many other people around me in the dining hall, cheered loudly.

Why do I care when I am not even a US citizen? Why do I go to this event when others choose to study at home? This is because I believe in a change. I believe in miracle. I believe that America is the land of opportunity. Sen. Obama proves to me today that miracle can still happens. African-Americans, who were once denied equal treatment, fought their way through and today, we have our first African-American president.

It opens my eyes to the opportunities lying in my country. Yes, we are minorities. Yes, inequality is everywhere. But we can make a change. Yes, We Can. It is such a touching moment to see everyone (literally) from all colors gather in Grant Park, Chicago cheering and hugging one another for Sen. Obama. It is such a privilege to encounter so many white people who rejoice over an African-American's winning.

Will the same thing happen in our country in the near future? America takes 222 years for an African-American to become a president? How long will we have to wait for our country to elect a Chinese or Indian Prime Minister?

No matter what the answer is, today is still a historic day of mankind. It is an inspiration and a miracle.

Friends, we shall pray hard for our country. UMNO just had their party nomination. MCA just chose their new leaders. PKR leader is pressing into the government. Who is right? Who is wrong? Let us not be ignorant toward our country and start praying for God anointed leader now. Prayerfully, He will extend His grace and perhaps one day, we will see miracle in our land too.

God bless America.... and Malaysia.

P/S: I do realize that in the near future, my opinion toward this guy will change but for now, he is still making history. ^___^

Is Gossiping A Sin?

2008-11-04T23:39:00.002+08:00

This is an interesting excerpt I got from "Doubt", a play by John Patrick Shanley.

A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew - I know none of you have ever done this - and that night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O'Rouke, and she told him the whole thing, "Is gossiping a sin?" she asked the old man. "Was that the Hand of God Almighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?" (Irish brogue) "Yes!" Father O'Rouke answered her. "Yes, you ignorant, badly brought-up female! You have borne false witness against your neighbor, you have plated fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed!" So the woman said she was sorry and asked for forgiveness. "Not so fast!" says O'Rouke. "I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me!" So she went home, took the pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escapte to the roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old priest as instructed. "Did you gut the pillow with the knife?" he says. "Yes, Father." "And what was the result?" "Feathers," she said. "Feathers"? he repeated. "Feathers everywhere, Father!" "Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind!" "Well," she says, "it can't be done. I don't know where they went. The wind took them all over." "And that," said Father O'Rouke, "is a gossip!" In the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

It is clear from the play that it is very much influenced by the Catholicism (the practice of confession and the end prayer). It's a very interesting play, for those who are interested.

Race of Faith

2008-10-30T21:14:00.019+08:00

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE JOURNEY BEYOND
On the 23rd of October 2008, CA was held for the last time in year 2008. This special meeting was highlighted by the presence of many ex-CA committee members, including Joash, Erin, Mandy and Si Han.

The emcees of the night, Jonathan Wong and Elsha Liew introduced themselves and warmly welcomed many newcomers who were present. After the opening prayer, Miriam led the people into a fun-filled time of games. The people were grouped into different numbers and tagged with different colours which indicate their respective monetary values. The mechanism of the game is that the members had to form certain values indicated by the games master in the shortest time.

After a bustling atmosphere of fun, an inspiring and heart-warming worship session ensued. The worship team comprised of an all-senior team of 11 people. They were Bryan and Pei Ling ( worship leaders),Amanda and Shalisha( keyboardists), Dian Han (bassist), Anderson (drummer), Ming Joun( guitarist), Chewie( electric guitarist), Steffie, Betty, and Eliza( backup singers).The worship team led the people into the awesome presence of God .

Special programmes were arranged for the night, including a time of testimony from two very special people, Yen Mii and Helen. They basically shared about their experiences in CA and how the hand of God has helped them through the many stormy days when serving in CA. All in all, they inspired us to believe and trust that God will honour His servants who faithfully serve Him. Yen Mii and Helen, we salute you for your step of faith which encouraged the many people who are serving in CA. Above all, we salute Jesus Christ who is behind your beautiful testimonies!

Then, the moment of shock has arrived. Three very comical clowns stepped into the hall with outrageous costumes and make-ups. What a start for a humorous drama! This drama was directed by Eliza and involved a total of 19 people, who were Sam, Steffie, Ken, Dian Han, Larry, Zoe, Nicole, Pei Ling, Bryan, Mary, Rachel, Ji Yi,Andersen, Chieng Loo, Chewie, Derrick, Shalisha and Betty. After a jaw-dropping moment of seeing Bryan wearing a short skirt and singlet, a song entitled “Sing of Your Love” was presented. This drama spoke of the many challenges that Christians face while running the race. Nevertheless, the unshakable Rock of our faith has never ceased to see us those seasons. For the seniors who are leaving soon, let us be reminded that wherever we may be, The Potter’s plan for our lives will never change. He is going to bring us into new territories, where He can use us to touch lives and change hearts. Let’s expect great things, for HE IS GREAT.

Soon after, another unexpected treat came up. Without introduction, the ever-enthusiastic speaker strode purposefully to the front and started to share on the verse Hebrews 12:2.

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God."

He was none other than the very familiar Joash Tan. The core of his message centred on the fact that each of us had a race and journey to run. The race we run will be the story of our lives. What story or legacy do we want to leave behind? He highlighted the example of Jesus Christ, who has the greatest faith of all; faith to bring heaven down on earth and to accomplish God’s will, even though this cost Him everything, including His life. That brings up the question of the choices we make in our lives. Are we choosing to run a race of faith, or are we choosing other things like FAME instead? Secondly, in this race, we have to put our faith into action. The Bible says “Faith without action is dead”. Lastly, he talked about the rewards that we will reap in heaven, just as Jesus sat down on the right hand of God’s throne after accomplishing His mission on earth.

Then, he opened up the altar and invited those who had regrets over the race they had run for the past years. Many people stepped forward and was ministered to by the presence of God. Sam also invited the speaker to pray for the Ausmat and IMU express class seniors who are going to leave soon.

The meeting ended with people fellowshipping over sandwiches and drinks, which were prepared by J-cyn and Siaw Hui.

Many left with smiles that day, including me. Above all, I smiled because I know God did.

“ Bless the Lord, o my soul, all that is within me, Bless His holy name!”

In His service.

Samantha

Race of Faith 23rd Oct 2008

2008-10-21T16:31:00.003+08:00

hi!! we will be having the last CA 4 this sem on this coming thursday =( unfortunately this will also be the last for the ausmatians. therefore the title Race of Faith was chosen as the topic to encourage us to finish the race with HIM no matter where we are... this flyer is done by the junoir as well, Chee huat. thanks man for the wonderful job!! continue running and finish the race in Christ!! hope 2 see u all this thursday =)

CAN YOU HEAR ME?

2008-10-13T15:23:00.008+08:00

A CA was held last Thursday right after everyone had a wonderful Raya break. We were first ushered in with radiant smiles from the adorable Ee Heng and Cassandra. CA then kicked off with emcees Joanne and MJ which humored us with their small banter on stage. A newcomer was introduced, before we led into an opening prayer by MJ.
Games soon followed, and Li Sia made us get into a big circle to be easily divided into two groups. The two groups then settled in a long line facing one another, and we held one another’s hand. The game resembled an electric current and one was supposed to squeeze the person on their left’s hand once they felt the squeeze from the person on their right. The first person from each line can only start squeezing after a coin was flipped. The last person of the line must then dash to grab the bottle placed between the two groups before the other group. After seven rounds, it was announced that Group 2 had won.

Praise and worship was then co-led by Zoe and Larry (guitar). The rest of the team members were Dian Han on the drums, Samantha on the piano, and Nicole and Elsha as the backup singers. Chewie played bass for one song, “One Way”. The songs included in the worship were “I’ve Got The Joy”, “One Way”, “Through It All” and “Above All”. Siew Wee was in charge of the projector.

It was a really inspirational time as the worship team was all set on fire for Jesus, and Zoe really led us to Him with her spirit and passion. It was her first time leading and she gave it her all. The rest of the team had given it their best to the Lord as well, and everyone could feel their fire.

After the worship session, it was time for a testimony from Samantha and Elsha. It was about the recent annual debate competition held by INTEC. (Battle of Minds). Sam and Elsha were the champions for this year's competition and they felt the need to share with us their experience with God through debate. Sam said that God brought them through it as both Elsha and Sam have had bad experiences with debate during high school. God gave them a chance to heal and to have strong faith in Him that He will bring them through it, through this debate competition.

It is amazing how God works, and as He is an amazing God, just as Elsha had said, He brought them both to victory, for they had done their very best for Him and held His name up high through debate.

Afterwards, we had a sermon by Pastor Joshua entitled Listening To God. The first step to listening to God, as Pastor Joshua said, is that we must prepare our heart. Before we can hear Him, we must be ready to listen. We wouldn’t be able to hear Him if we are not prepared to listen to Him just yet.

Pastor Joshua shared with us a story of his personal experience of listening to God in a particular garden that he had been with his son before. He told us that when he was bogged down with troubles about his job, he had went to that exact same spot where he had heard God speak in order to listen to Him again, and true enough, God did speak to him. Pastor Joshua was given another job just two days after God spoke to Him. Though, Pastor Joshua mentioned that the same problems occurred and after a year, he went to the same spot again in order to speak to God and to hear Him speak.

He said to God, “Lord, You promised, and You never break Your promises”. And God did speak to him yet again for God does not break His promises, and true enough, Pastor Joshua finally had a job in which he was happy in. Pastor Joshua said that we can only listen to Him, if we are prepared to listen to Him speak. For he waited for the Lord to speak, and true enough, the Lord did speak to him.

To be able to listen to Him as well, we must read the bible. This is the second step to listening to Him as the bible is His written Word.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
– John 1:1

Pastor Joshua also shared with us a touching story about how his girlfriend who eventually got back together with him after a period of being apart. (His girlfriend eventually became his wife, and they lived happily ever after!) They both heard God speak, in different ways. He told us that God speaks, most of the time in a still voice that we have to strain to listen, and rarely does He speak in an audible voice. This is why we must always open our hearts to listen to Him and to learn His Word.

The third step to listening to Him is to check our motives. We have to know why we want to hear Him. Pastor Joshua shared with us a little story, that there were two people in Petaling Street but one of them actually heard a cricket sing. His friend did not believe him but he then parted the leaves of a nearby plant and actually found the cricket.

His friend then said, “How can you hear the cricket over all this noise?” The point is, when we strain to listen, we will hear something beyond the noise. The world around us is always filled with noise, and so, we must take that time off to actually still our mind and listen to God.

The story doesn’t just end there, the boy then rolled coins down the street, and everyone actually stopped and searched for those coins. Pastor Joshua then also mentioned that when we focus on something, we will then be able to listen to it. These people have set their motives on money, and as such, they were able to listen to the clinks of the coins over the noise.

If we focus on Him, and set our motives right, to listen to Him, we will be able to listen to Him.

Speaking first is the fourth step to listening. We must first begin, by saying, “Hello.” Pastor Joshua told us to pray to Him and to ask for confirmation for Him to speak. We must begin the conversation, and we must then be patient and listen.

And lastly, we must rely on the Holy Spirit. In John (16:7, 12-13), Jesus Christ said,

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.”
– John 16:7

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”
- John 16: 12-13

Pastor Joshua then begin praying for those who lifted up their hands, wanting to be able to listen to God, those who had not been able to listen to him, or even those who had fallen out momentarily but wished to listen to Him once more.

Afterwards, Pastor Joshua also urged those with examinations coming up to step forward for him to pray for them to be given the wisdom and strength by the Lord to get through it. However, due to the large number of people who stepped up, Pastor Joshua then told them to form small groups to pray for each other.
A small worship session was then held, and everyone had a really great time singing along to the songs and worshipping God. After the small closing worship session, it was then time for fellowship and we adjourned to the next room for refreshments prepared by Jonathan Chua, Pei Ling and Chewie who helped. They served us soup, with hard bread, and even banana cake.
One thing about this CA that was really touching was the fact that everyone had the passion to serve, and to worship Him. God really multiplied our time, and everyone felt that things concluded early and just in time for everything. Another great thing was that so many people turned up for this CA, and we were all encouraged by all the small little events that occurred during CA this time.

In His service,
Nicole.

Can you hear Me? 9 October 2008

2008-10-08T15:37:00.003+08:00

really... sorry for the late update. we will have CA this Thursday as usual. as you can see, this flyer is done by a junior, Jonathan. there will be a number of juniors serving in various ministry as well. do come and join to serve the Lord together. see u there..

ASK and you shall be Answered

2008-10-03T23:48:00.004+08:00

Campus Alive was finally back after a few weeks of absence due to the AUSMAT trial exams. This time around, CA was held in forum style. The gathering kicked off with a warm welcome from our emcees, Larry and Samantha from ALM 9. They had the crowd cheering and geared up for the session ahead. There was a competition on who could cheer louder between the guys and the girls. Two newcomers were introduced and it was followed by opening prayer by Samantha.

We proceeded with games led by Krystal from ADFP. We were divided into two groups and both groups had to guess the word without using all the other words shown on the screen. This game is called taboo. If a taboo word was mentioned, the other group had to shout the word “taboo” and marks will be deducted. Some words had to be acted out without uttering a single word. Among the words that they had to guess were Pak Lah, cheek, shoulder, Jonas brothers, pirates, Transformers, robots, Ratatouille and many more. It ended with both groups evenly matched.
Praise and worship was then led by Chewie and the team, Theng Theng (piano), Daniel (guitar), Dian Han (drum), Winnie and Miryam as backup singers. The songs included in the worship were Hatiku Percaya, Here In Your Presence and Sing Of Your Great Love.

We had an inspirational time with God and we could sense His presence throughout the session.

After that, Larry and Samantha introduced the three speakers who had kindly agreed to answer our questions in this forum-styled CA. The three speakers were Kong Lee Ang, Michael William and Lee Chun Chung from Fellowship of Evangelical Students (FES). The questions and answers during the forum were as followed:

If God is good, why do bad things happen? Why does God let Christians suffer?

Michael answered that according to Genesis 3:16-17. God gave human freewill, so He allowed Man to sin. However, sin has consequences, which is suffering. Bad things happen to everyone because of sin.

“To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."

“And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;”

Nevertheless, in our suffering, we can hope on God and He will still help us.

How do we know that God listen and answer our prayer?

Lee Ang said that there are times when we can be sure that God will answer our prayers but through the Scriptures in 1 John 5:14-15, we can be sure that God does answer our prayers. However, sometimes we do not know whether it is God’s will for us when we ask of Him for something. Therefore, we need to read the Bible in order to know whether it is God’s will or not. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as well. She gave the example of Joseph who did not know what God’s will was for him until after so many years being stranded in a place far away from home and enduring so many hardships.

What is the explanation of the trinity? Are they three in one?

The word “Trinity” is not directly mentioned in the Bible. However, in Genesis 1:26

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”

and Genesis 3:22

“Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.”,

it is shown that God was addressing more than one person. What is the trinity? God is three distinct persons (Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) and each person is fully God but there is only one God. Also, if Jesus is not fully God, how can He redeem us from our sin? The one who suffers for the sins of mankind must be perfect, completely sinless. The only person that fulfills this requirement is Jesus, the person of the Son in the Trinity. The trinity is a mystery and man’s understanding cannot comprehend it. Trinity cannot be explained in a tangible way.

When do we receive the Holy Spirit? What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?

The disciples first received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost

“When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Acts 2:1-4 (CEV)

The Holy Spirit comes upon us after our conversion. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit and we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit then brings forth the Fruit of the Holy Spirit and empowers us with spiritual gifts. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is basically receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit when one becomes a Christian. A manifestation of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the speaking of tongues, but it’s not the only sign nor is it a must.

Can you lose your salvation?

We cannot lose our salvation. Jesus had died on the cross for us to redeem us from our sins. Salvation cannot be lost just like that. Jesus Christ guaranteed that we are secure in His and the Father's hand, and so He will keep safe each one who has received the gift of eternal life.

"And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."

John 10:28(NKJV)

If we are truly saved, will there be any reason to denounce our faith and lose our salvation?

What about the people in the interior or those who have never heard of Christ, will they be saved?

We do not know but we have the conviction that God will be fair. Everyone will have a chance to hear the gospel, as illustrated in the verse Revelation 7:9 (NIV).

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”

If there are people who did not hear of the gospel, how can there be people from every nation, tribe and tongue that are saved?

The people before Jesus did not hear of Christ e.g. Abraham, yet they were saved (counted righteous) because of their faith.

“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

Genesis 15:6 (KJV)

As time did not permit for the session to continue, Samuel suggested that those who were still interested in the forum could stay back and others were asked to adjourn to the next room for refreshment prepared by Eliza and Siaw Hui. We had French toast, sausages and jelly. It concludes another great CA.

His children.

ASK and you shall be Answered

2008-09-21T15:26:00.003+08:00

Hi!! Greetings in the name of the Lord!! CA is back on this coming Thursday, 25 Sep 2008.we are going to have a forum session for this CA. so, if you encounter any doubts or questions on your faith.. or if you would like to know more about Christianity... do come and attend this CA!!! ASK and we have special guests trying their best to clear your doubts... see you there!!

CA, I'm back!

2008-09-06T23:39:00.003+08:00

Ask a JPA scholar who is studying abroad now what he or she misses most, the expected answers would be: Family members, food, shopping centre etc. Ask me, a JPA scholar who is studying abroad now and had been to CA before, my reply would surely include the 2 big capital letters: CA.

Since the day I departed Malaysia for my destination: Germany, CA has always been on my mind. Thoughts like: when can go back and visit CA again? How are the juniors now? What sort of ice-breakers will be held this time? will always appear on my mind whenever Thursday arrives. To satisfy my “hunger” for CA, visiting the CA blog has become a weekly habit for me. However, just by looking at reports and pictures doesn’t seem enough for me. I had to be there somehow. Thank God that He has listened to my prayers and after 9 months of separation, I’m back in Shah Alam again!

Besides visiting CA, one of my objectives of coming back to Malaysia was to spread the news about my church in Germany to the juniors and more or less help them in choosing their future universities by giving them advices. During the meeting with my fellow ALG juniors in KFC, I got the chance to meet CA “Papa” and “Mama” and other fellow committee members as well. It’s assuring to see that God has capable people like them to replace the departed Joash and gang.

After 9 months, CA did have some changes to it. From previous reports, I got to know that the NLRC building has undergone some renovation. However, I did not know that the hall has changed floor as well! The hall where we usually meet for CA meetings was actually on the 1st floor. Having that thought in mind, I opted to use the staircase to save the time waiting for the lift. To my surprise, first floor was totally empty! So I and Vincent walked up the stairs and look inside every door at each floor. Finally we managed to find CA on the 5th floor. Thank God for the opportunity to be able to do some exercise after dinner. =)

Besides having the chance to visit CA, Vincent and I were given the privilege to conduct the ice-breaking session as well. I have to admit that the game we thought of was not as interesting or fun as the previous games held last time. It’s not an easy task to think of a good game (try asking the usual conductors!). Anyway, through the games, the both of us received supports in many ways! Everyone cooperated well when I was trying to split the groups evenly. Eagerness is something not lacking in this bunch of juniors. Before I can finish stating all the instructions for the game, they already got started! Amazing! By the way, I also got to know how valuable a chocolate from Germany can be…

One of the things that I have missed the most in CA when I was in Germany was the praise and worship session. The word above (shirt worn by Yi En), if one can see clearly, is Passion. This is something that I never find lacking in each and every Praise session of CA. The worship leader, the background singers and the musicians never fails to create a wonderful atmosphere where one can fully focus on God by singing and praising Him. The scene where everyone sings at the top of their voices praising our Almighty God remains in my memory even until now. Kudos to the worship team once again for conducting the worship session so well.

The message for that evening served as a reminder for me as well. As a JPA scholar, the temptation of not coming back to our own country and work abroad can be irresistible at times. However, as our God is a covenant keeping God, we as Christians should also respect the contract or the bond between us and the government. In short, we should return home after finishing our studies. I guess this message couldn’t come at a more appropriate time. In this time where the stability of the nation is a big question mark, we as Christians should stand up and help out in making Malaysia a better place to live in, rather than just complaining about the government.

Time flies when one is enjoying every moment of it. Within a few hours’ time, my visit to CA has come to a close. To the juniors, I appreciate very much the time that we could spend together. Continue to serve God wherever you go. Life in overseas is not an easy one. This is the time when we need to depend on God the most. Never lose faith when hurdles come in your way, instead, pray and always give thanks to God. Cherish every moment where you can attend CA, I’m sure you will miss it when you are abroad. Thank you to the committee members of CA as well for the opportunity given to me and Vincent to conduct the games. I wanted to do something for CA since a long time ago. Last but not least, thank God for CA. Dear God, may You make CA a blessing to the students in INTEC. Amen!

Hmmm… when will be the next time I visit CA again? =)

In His service,
Daniel Tang
(Class of 2005-2007 ALG9 INTEC)

Live Out Loud

2008-09-01T12:40:00.006+08:00

Merdeka x7!! These indeed are the historical words which set our nation free from colonization. 51 years passes as time witness the massive development in our country. As we ponder again, we are not forgetting our mighty King who releases us from sins and death through His precious blood. Great is our Lord!!

When you step into the Atmosphere, you will be surprised with Malaysia flag hanging here and there and even at the back of the t-shirt!!

This CA kicked off with Graham and Shalisha emceeing for the night. It started off with some songs before welcoming us. We were greeted by dividing ourselves by the colour of our toothbrush!! Blue, red, green, yellow and even I don’t know group!! What a new and fresh way to start!! We also have the privilege to welcome back Daniel and Vincent, my super senior, our juniors’ super duper senior, from Germany!! They were conducting the ice breaking and we were divided into 2 groups, (Cat Group and Dog Group). For the first game, we were to arrange ourselves in a line according to our names in alphabetical order, without talking to each other or making any sound. Imagine, everyone started to point out their fingers trying their best to show the alphabets. Then, we had another fun game. Everyone was paired together and the objective is to look at each others’ face and try not to laugh. Look who showed up to interfere. Bryan with a silly and funny face got everyone roared with laughter. In the end, the winners received chocolates all the way back from Germany. We had a great time having fun and fellowshipping with each other. Thanks Daniel and Vincent for the games.

Next, the praise and worship was lead by Andersen and his team which includes Patricia and Peiling as backup, Larry, Daniel, Bryan, Chewie and James. The songs are You are Good, Awesome in this place, How great is our God, Beautiful Savior and God of this city. We can sense God’s presence with us throughout the praise and worship session. Then, we have sis Eu Pui, an FES instructor from IMU speaking to us on the topic “Living Out Loud”. Sis Eu Pui gave us some questions to ponder about. Are we satisfied with the current situation? Are we going to make a difference, not doing anything or just be indifferent? She also shared the story of Daniel, who was stripped off his very own identity, even his name, to live in other land. Daniel who completely put his trust onto the Lord lived out to His name (book of Daniel). She also urged everyone of us to return back to Malaysia after our studies because the Lord has entrusted Malaysia to us. We must indeed live out God’s name and shine in this land. We are building His Kingdom. In the end, she poured out a bucket full of marbles. It symbolizes that God will also scatter us to different parts of Malaysia to spread His words. Each of us took a marble to remind us of the day to come.

It all ended with the song “Malaysia Bagi KemuliaanMu”. Samantha also prayed for the nation and everyone of us. We had great refreshment prepared by Betty and J-Cyn. We have the chance to taste Betty self bake cake. Longan and Lychee drinks were served. Everyone manage to return back to the college in time and it concludes another great CA. Greater thing have to come, greater things are still to be done in our beloved country, Malaysia. Amen

Han

Live Out Loud 28 August 2008

2008-08-22T23:17:00.002+08:00

Hi!! We will be having our CA gathering on the 28th August 2008.. this CA is in conjunction with our National Independent Day!! Do come and worship together...

Unwrap your gift

2008-08-17T18:25:00.011+08:00

WELCOME TO CAMPUS ALIVE!! The gathering kicked off with a warm welcome from our emcees, Samuel from ALM and Yen Mii from AUSMAT programme. Due to the Language Awareness Night which was supposed to be on 14 August, we decided to bring it forward to Monday. However, the L.A Night was then postponed. But still, we decided to keep with the original plan as the flyers were out, and the speaker was informed. Just wanna take this opportunity to apologise to our ALM 7 seniors, although we know it will most probably be your last CA before everyone of you are dispersed too different corner of the world, and Thursday night will be better as all of you are coming back to take your A-Level results on Thursday, but I do hope that you will understand…
In conjunction of the theme on spiritual gifts, all were asked to bring a small gift with them to exchange. Big and small gifts with different shape and colourful wrappers were collected by the ushers and were lining up on the stage. Proceeding to the games session by Melissa and her helpers, Ken and Asaph.
We are divided into four groups according to the shape drawn on the stickers we were given. I personally would love to name the game as ‘snake’ as we are told to take off all the things on us (except our clothes of course! ) and joined the things together into line from one end of the Atmosphere to the other end, and make a u-turn back. The group which was able to make the longest ‘snake’ in five minutes will become the winner and will be given the privilege to choose the presents first. Haha… it’s really fun to see all kind of stuffs on the floor. Let’s see what I had found…

cashes, shoe laces...
student cards, shoes...
passport size photos, name cards...
and socks with holes!!!

things that are not in the photos: identity cards, driving licienses, glasses, Mydin's receipts, Giant's receipts, different kind of cards............

Thank you Larry and Chewie for the photos.

After collecting all the stuffs we ‘donated’ during the games, wearing the socks, tying the shoe laces, it’s time to worship our awesome God. The praise and worship session was led by Shalisha and Dian Han, with the powerful band of God- Samantha on the piano, Andersen on the drums, Billy playing the bass, Chewie playing the lead guitar and backup.

We are very privileged to have Pastor Hock from New Life, PJ to speak on ‘Spiritual Gifts’. I’m sure that everyone who saw him for the first time tonight will have the same question in their hearts ‘He is a pastor? He looks more like a student…’ Yup, and now you see how young he looks. He mentioned in his sharing that when he came to CA for the first time two years ago, our senior asked him to mixed into the group and pretend to be a student from Russian programme. And guess what, no one suspected and everyone was surprised when the emcees invited the ‘the Russian student’ to preach.

Pastor Hock began his sharing with a humility way by saying that being a pastor is not an honour job or position, as he wrote in his blog before that before he became a Christian, any ladies can; when he became a Christian, his cell leader told him that only Christian can; but when he became a cell leader, he was told by his youth leader that only committed Christian can; when he became a youth leader, his pastor told him that only woman with faith can; but when he become a pastor, ‘God, where are the ladies?’

I’m pretty impressed by his sharing with us. He mentioned about the existence of the Christian Fellowship like CA is not only for the Christians, but it is to proclaim to His goodness in the university. We, as a Christian, as a student have to walk as a children of light, to be an ambassador of God that people will see Jesus Christ living in us. Aren’t we more successful than successful if we are able to influences the others to be successful as well?

Another thing that struck me is ‘our God is greater than any exams and results.’ Before pastor became a Christian, he was very curious that why Christian spend so much time in church activity. Despite of the exam, Christians gather to pray, instead of studying at home. Undeniable, even we Christian, tend to get distracted and lose our focus on our Heavenly Father. It was a hectic week for us, especially for the ALM 9 juniors who were having their very first Biology topic test on the next day. I’m very encouraged by all those who turned up tonight, to seek God, to put God first above all else. God is a God that can multiply. In Matthew 8, Jesus fed five thousands by multiplying five loaves and two fish. God will multiply our time, effort and every little thing we give Him. And remember when we seek God first, He will make our paths straight. This is His promise to us. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33) Hold on to His faithfulness to us!

There’s a lot of time, we refuses to follow God’s calling. Like Jonah who went into the opposite direction to get away from the LORD. God hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. God then arranged a big fish to swallow Jonah. And in Jonah 4, God arranged a leafy plant to grow, to provide Jonah shades from the sun as he waited to see what would happen to Nineveh. But, the next morning at dawn, God arranged a worm to eat through the stem of the tree so that it withered away. Why did God spend so time to create a great fish to swallow Jonah? Why did God create a tree and destroy it the next morning? Isn’t it will be easier if He just raise up another prophet who will follow His calling. But, God didn’t. He arranged these to get Jonah’s attention. There are things that God put in our life, and only we can do. Our Father is willing to do anything just to call us back.

After sharing about his life story, Pastor Hock went into the topic of this CA on spiritual gifts. They are to help us to experience God in a greater dimension. Good news!! Our speaker posted the powerpoint here http://youth.my/?p=32. Try the tests that will help you to discover your spiritual gifts! He taught us an interesting way to remember the five ministry (office) gifts using our fingers. Our thumbs represent apostle as it is the only finger that can touch the others; our index fingers represent prophet as it points and gives direction; our middle finger which is the longest within the fingers family symbolize evangelist as it can reach out; our ring fingers represent pastor with a lame but reasonable reason that it’s the finger where we wear our wedding rings, meaning loving people, so pastor is loving; and last but not least, the little finger is teacher which help us to dig our ear wax…

Taking the opportunity of this quite time after a long busy month, reflecting back our journey walked together, hand-in-hand, with our Daddy God, brothers and sisters in Christ, I’m just so amazed by Him. I am so grateful for His faithfulness to us. Just like the verse printed on our CA shirt this year, “For I have plans for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) Indeed, God has His plans for us, and we are not an accident. Even before we were born, He has already planned the exact time of our birth and death. He planned where we’d born and where we’d live. He planned for our nationality and race. He planned for our education, the people we are going to meet, the situation we are going to face. You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in Your book. (Psalm 139:16)

And I believe that God gives us these gifts for a reason. Quote a line in Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, you were born by His purpose and for His purpose. God knows our potential even when we don’t see it, because it is He who created us. I’m ready to grow in faith that the boundaries of the work God has given me will be extended. Are you with me?

3 generations...
Two pretty ladies from UiTM main campus...

Our 10th CA gathering this year ends with the refreshments prepared by Chieng Loo and Ivan.

Shine for Jesus,
Be.

While God is preparing a place for you, He might just be preparing you for that place as well!

2008-08-08T11:11:00.003+08:00

One of the very first questions that I used to ask God after being placed in Intec was, “ Lord, why Intec? Why here? Why here in this place when I’m faced with so much restrictions?” But God...He dint answer me... Or so I thought . Looking back, I really blame it on my impatience, because after awhile of not hearing anything, I stopped asking... I just went on with life-woke up early, went to school, did my homework, went for CA... It was all so routine and regimented! All because I never realised the true importance of knowing the purpose I was there, or why I was doing something...

Well, this is my story of how I’ve learnt how important it is that we, as children, prince and pricesses of the Most High know our purpose of us being here! Let’s look at a simple illustration—Imagine that you are on a mission trip, and you happen to not know what your mission is! Hehe... So take the ‘mission’ out of the ‘mission trip’ and all we get is- A Trip! A trip with no aim or purpose... It might me fun, might be exciting, but there are times when we’ll be faced with troubles, and setbacks, and with nothing to look ahead as our beacon of light ( since we had no aims) we start to complaint, we get upset and depressed, and the trip becomes tiring.

That’s what happened to me. Remember I couldn’t wait long enough for my answer? So I went on with life—my ‘trip’ in Intec. I did my best for my exams, was present for all my classes ( except the occasional moral classes), tried to adhere to their very cacat-ed dress codes, just did everything that I thought was necessary for me as a student. Yup, I had my own fair share of good times, as well as the bad. It’s easy to give thanks to God when things are going well, but when those horrible things came upon me, I began to blame God, I began to ask why those things were happening to me, I began justifying and reasoning with God. And day by day, I just kept all these within me, covered it up with other happier thoughts. Rather than looking at the big picture, I saw all of these as separate events , all because I never knew why God placed me in those situations...

Until the last day of school came. Everybody in college was dying just to get out to go to the movies, to just have fun and be free! But very funnily, instead of basking in that new found freedom, I felt this extremely deep burden to just go home...and pray. Pray about what, I dint know. And I was faced with a choice- Either I ignore this feeling and drown it down with movies, or I take this burden seriously and go before God, after all, our God is a God of choices! Thankfully I chose the second one =) And so there I was, kneeling down before God at my favourite corner of my bed, just being there in prayer... And so amazingly, and so very gently, God asked whether I would like to know why He put me through all these in Intec, why He sent me here. And then I suddenly remembered that question which I used to ask but was never patient enough to wait for the answer! And overwhelmed with a mixture of joy and anticipation, I tearily responded, “ Of course!”

And God graciously revealed it was all to bring me closer to Him!

As cliched and common as it may sound now, when God said this, it was as if my spirit was lifted up! And how true is it! I went through my first break up here in Intec, had loads of sad times, times of loneliness, yet it is also here that i had the best of memories. And God allowed all of these to happen with the sole purpose of bringing me closer to Him. And I knew, oh so clearly, that I left Intec so so much closer to God than when I first entered. Praise God!!

We might be in Intec for 3 months or 2 and a half years, but it really doesn’t matter, because God does everything for His purpose. If I had knew His purpose, I would have asked different questions, I would have reacted differently, and I could have done more with my life here in Intec...I’m learning =) hehe...

If you would allow me to quote from the book ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren. “The purpose of our life is far greater than our own personal fulfillment, our peace of mind, or even our happiness. Its far greater than our family, our future career, or even our wildest dreams and ambition. If we want to know why we are placed on this planet, we must begin with God.”

And guys, we discover our identity and purpose through a relationship with Christ Jesus! Right now, I’m intent to ask God to reveal what His plans and purposes are for my life, even if I’m on holiday now! And trust me, He has been opening countless doors! Praise God =)

I hope that we all would come to know the divine purpose of us being here, and in the process, grow and mature in the image of Christ.

While God is preparing a place for you, He might just be preparing you for that place as well!

Ephesians 1:11-12
In Him we were also chosen, having been predentined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory.

Eve.

Next CA-Unwrap Yout Gift 11/8/2008 (Monday)

2008-08-05T18:27:00.002+08:00

hey everyone!!! Please be informed that we will have our next CA on the 11th August 2008, that is on MONDAY, not the usual Thursday. As there will be quite a number of people involved in the language awareness night, we have decided to shift this CA on this date. One more thing!! please bring along a gift (RM 2-10). we are going to have gift exchange..... see you there..

Heart of Worship

2008-08-05T13:25:00.008+08:00

JESUS, THE MAN!!!

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God- this is your spiritual act of worship.

‘Heart of Worship’ first came to me as an important theme, a theme we looked forward to and yet a worry: of causing a disappointment to such an inspiring theme. Praise the Lord Almighty that He never fails to surprise us in CA as it has been another fabulous night for us with our bubbly Pastor Sandra from ACTS church.

It was just 7.45pm where the Atmosphere had already been filled with laughter, chattering, and smiles. Ushers with their warm little greetings had made all the difference; it felt just like home once again. Steffie and Yi Ern, our emcees for the night, in bright red, summons us to the front, stirring up even more excitement as CA began for real.

We proceeded with games led by Betty. Betty divided us into groups of different colours. Then, we were supposed to imitate the action exactly as portrayed on the screen. First was to imitate professional ballerinas with graceful long stretched arms and a leg high up in the air. It was followed by 9 different faces by Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes, lyrical dancers and lastly, to imitate a caterpillar crawling from one end to the other. There was non-stop laughter looking at one another being silly and simply letting down our hair enjoying each others company.

Praise and worship was then led by Bryan and his team, Timothy, Billy, Ah Han, Larry (junior), Shalisha, Eliza, Remina and Nicole. We had an awesome round of worship truly for the Almighty King with several songs entitled I’m Running after You, Now that You’re Near, Unto You, You are My World and Here I am to Worship.

CA continued with a little change this time. The committee prepared a multimedia presentation to invite everyone to serve in the various ministries in CA such transportation, emcee, usher, musician, refreshment, PA system and many more. The purpose of CA is definitely not solely for fun and laughter, but also for us to serve upon our Lord. Let not the committee to serve alone. Everyone should play a part or another for the glory of His work. For the night as well, we were very happy to have a few of our super seniors from ALM7 to be with us. Evelyn, one of them, gave a short testimony; very much of an encouragement for fellow CA members to come to serve Him and find our purpose in CA.

Yi Ern introduced us to our speaker for the night, Pastor Sandra. She started with a statement that we are all not born automatically a Christian. We need to make the choice to be daughters and sons of Christ. We need to choose to invite Him into our life and take control, lead, and mould and guide us as our personal saviour. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does that so that men will revere Him. In fact, the word ‘worship’ is first used in the book of Genesis chapter 22. Abraham brought Isaac to worship God. ‘Worship’ as to come close to God, postulate in humbleness as we meet God the Almighty, and have a relationship with God.

Brothers and sisters, at many times, we long so much of a great worship, very often with great songs and music. We’ve often complained that we could not fit in a church because the church is so different from our homes’. We could not worship as the worship leader did not lead well. We could not worship as the band was messy. We could not worship because people were noisy. We have forgotten that the true heart of worship is our attitude towards God and for God alone. We worship Him because He is our God, the ‘MAN!!’. He is great. He is holy. We worship to celebrate His greatness. We will give Him the best of our worship. We will not squeak for proclaiming His glory but shout, clap and exalt Him on high for He is worthy to be praise. We might be self conscious at times during worship on how people might judge us, we might be quiet just to fit in the church; but God says in Luke 19: 40 that if we refuse to worship Him, the stones will cry out to worship Him. We need not to be pretentious because God sees us through our hearts. Worship is for Him alone and not to please others.

Our God is omnipresent. He is standing right in front of us, waiting for us to open the door of our heart. A great time of worship is where God is right in our hearts, openly, sincerely and all out for Him alone. We will never be changed unless by the spirit of God; so do the worthy of worship unless there is the presence of God in our heart. Be still and He still hears our great heart of worship.

CA ended with a little birthday celebration for the August babies and refreshments by Ken Lee, a guy for a change.

CA has once again brought our hearts back to the presence of God. A great worship is about the attitude we put in. God sees our heart and hears our prayer. Be still and He simply brings peace into our heart.

In His service,
Blessed child.

New Header and Logo

2008-07-28T15:09:00.006+08:00

Updates!

Just a little modification to the old logo and header for better presentation on the blog. Hope you like it. I still need to learn more about html before I can do major changes to the background and other stuff. Bear with me. =D

And if you don't like the color scheme now (black, brown, yellow, white), tell me and I'll make a poll with choices of color scheme you want. Then we can switch color. ^___^ I'm pretty flexible and the color for banners, logo and background are very flexible too. The only problem I might have is the pinkish-brownish thing in the center. That might need a little bit of effort but it is certainly do-able.

Example of a new color scheme (black and blue):

Just tell me. ^.^ All critiques and comments are appreciated.

Heart of Worship 31st July 2007

2008-07-27T17:13:00.002+08:00

hi everyone.... the next CA will be held on the 31st July 2008. it is about the attitude of serving.. looking forward to meet you all there.. May God bless those who serve Him whole heartedly..

What Would Jesus Do?

2008-07-26T13:56:00.004+08:00

I am sure at least some of you are aware of the current happenings of this country.

The country is bombarded with all kinds of challenges every second. One corner of your ear caught the sobbing of a mother wondering why her son failed to secure a government scholarship. Another part of your ear overheard the voices of a Malay complaining how he is denied position in a private company. Everywhere, you see fear in people's eyes. Price hike for oil continues, our bridges still fall down, projects never get completed, murder cases and corruption decorate the front page newspaper daily. There is not a single day without accidents, murder, kidnapping, corruption, or rap cases.

My question to you, what will Jesus do in this situation?
A better question will be, what are you going to do about it?

Some people choose to ignore the news and live an ignorant lives. The world is coming to an end, they said. So why bother?

God gives us this world for a purpose. I might be the only one, but at least, I believe that He wants us to take good care of it. That includes preserving the harmony and peace of the world. If Martin Luther King Jr. had the same mentality of ignorance, the segregation between the black and the white might not be erased up till this day.

Since ignorance doesn't work, does actions work?
Hindraf and Bersih rally are two major rallies that get published widely in the news. These are people who believe in the power of peace rally (probably they got the idea from Gandhi but who cares) but take a look at their fates. The leaders of Hindraf are detained under ISA. Thousands of people in Bersih rally are sprayed with chemicals. Government personnel is even summoned to a broadcast company for explanation.

If both inaction and action don't solve the problems, what will?

I guess that leaves us with nothing but prayer. I think, in accordance to the coming Independence Day, we should all pray for this country daily. There are less than 40 days before the "Merdeka" shouts are heard again on air. Will you join in the effort to pray for our country?

Again, going back to the question of what will Jesus do, I think He will first pray. If you have other ideas, feel free to shoot them too.

Prayer items that you can pray for:
1. God will send his chosen leaders to lead the country.
2. God will help trigger the heart of the ignorance to start acting by praying as a first step.
3. God will send you to help make a difference in the life of your neighbors and friends and families.
4. God will bring peace to the country and lead people to repentance.
5. God will be glorified at the end of the days.

I'm pretty sure there is a 40-day fasting and praying event going on right now. If you can join one, it will be great too. It doesn't take a person to be physically in a specific designated area to make a difference in the area. Pray a big prayer and let God handles it from you.

That's all from me. I'm signing off for now.

In His Service,
Leen

Goodies

2008-07-24T01:17:00.006+08:00

Here are some of the wallpapers that I sort of made. Feel free to use them if you want to. The Genesis one is uploaded twice because one is specially made for those with WXGA+ screen (1440x900) instead of the normal WXGA widescreen (1280x800). If you are still using the old 1024x768, I'm sorry about that because I don't resize them into that width.

New *Updated*

CA Rocks!!!

2008-07-22T21:19:00.001+08:00

Coming to Shah Alam to study is an exciting thing, but it’s also a testing ground of my faith in Jesus Christ. As Christians, we need each other so very much. That’s were Campus Alive comes in. Every Thursday night, the young generation of believers meet in one place, to glorify one God, and to encourage each other to continue living out a life of faith and love.

I knew about CA before I came here (Chieng Loo introduced it to me through a mutual friend). As soon as I visited their blog, I felt drawn to join CA.

So far, CA has had two meetings. One was an introductory meet at Cendana Hostel (what a wonderful place to live in!hmm..) and the other was the first official CA meet in the Atmosphere (the awesome youth gathering room in New Life Church). I can only say one thing: I’m home!

The seniors made us feel welcome from the very first moment we met them at the introductory meeting (Samuel and Chewie!). Soon, we found a group of friendly, caring seniors who brought us into the CA with arms wide open! They really showed God’s love to us.

I especially enjoyed and was refreshed by the singspiration session at the CA meet. Personally, there is nothing for satisfying to me than to lift my voice to praise God! There is a passion in worship that cannot be replaced nor forgotten. And on a by-note, the music was great!

Then we had sharing by Pastor David about stormy times. One verse that he shared reminded me of God’s ultimate love and grace. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” I was greatly motivated and encouraged by that verse, and I realised that I was here in INTEC, not just to study and make it to an overseas university, but rather, I was here for God. For His will and purpose. No matter what life here will bring my way, I know that God will carry me “on wings like eagles” over the storm.

And after the meeting, we had time to chit-chat awhile alongside refreshments, before it was finally time to say goodnight. Fret not! There’s always next week! The prospect of returning to my family of brothers and sisters in Christ every Thursday is exciting! Thank God for CA and for all the new friends I’ve met there.

Larry;)

Through Stormy Times

2008-07-22T20:55:00.005+08:00

18 days have passed for our juniors, 381 days seem to crawl by for our current rocking seniors and around 746 days staggered on for our ALG super seniors since they have stepped foot on the grounds of INTEC to attend the first CA event for the second half of the year of 2008..! On the 17/07/08, drivers huddled students to Kota Kemuning for a great praise and worship session to kick start the new semester. It was a heart-warming atmosphere as 73 young believers gathered as brothers on the wall, fellowshipped and caught up with each other, even before the MC’s Dian Han and Jiyi started the event with the theme: Through Stormy Times.

After Dian Han’s perpetually “lame” jokes set the crowd on a light note, we had a silent moment of prayer, in the light of concreting us as students who are the salt and light of the earth, armed as living testimonies of the Lord. Proceeding to the ice-breaking session led by Hui Theng, we were separated into a few groups to commence the game. The objective of the game was to hand over whatever items requested by Hui Theng to her, in conclusion an immensely simplified play of Treasure Hunt. The necessary items asked indeed raised eyebrows listing McD Breakfast cards, a shirt and even Mydin receipts!! Nonetheless the Green group won as they had successfully managed to scramble the weird itinerary within seconds. God must have blessed them with great nerve impulses and the ability to carry extra baggage weight, lol.

Worship soon started with Jia Jeng as the lead, backed up by Ken, with musicians Chewie, Bryan, Kevin,Anderson, Eliza and Grace rounding up the cast of the charged band insinuating our roles as faithful followers who have pledged our lives to preach and build His kingdom together through songs to glorify His name. The hyped crowd serenaded to God with love songs such as Majesty, God is Great, “Kau Yang Terindah”, Hosanna, and Amazing Grace. After we gave our offerings, there was a brief introduction for the rather ‘lost in transition’ juniors, the several churches they could attend on Sunday.

Then, Pastor David proceeded to give a sermon based on the theme ‘Through Stormy Times’. An extremely eloquent speaker, Pastor David managed to keep us on our toes with witty jokes and inspiring texts serving as the mouth piece and vessel for the Lord’s word. Here are the key text summarized from his sermon about persevering through harsh times; that in any single individual, there are 3 options in life subdivided into self-help, people’s help, and lastly divine help. In self help, it is self responsibility that constitutes such as having the right attitude in breaking through those hurdles in life, making us tougher and stronger to be a better person as God’s representatives. Quoting Pastor David, when God created every single creation, He called the animals ‘good’ but to the human race which He so loved, He basked in glory and said ‘very good’. That is why as valiant and mighty warriors of Christ, we should not compromise with the Lord, following his word and holy gospel with all our might.

The second help, people’s help, is described as burdens lightened by other individuals such as close friends or family. However, one must be careful in choosing relationships as some would parasite and misuse another for their own selfish, sinful benefits. Lets us be reminded with this phrase that “We are on a wall together, each building up a section of it. We feel this deep in our souls because we all came from the same kind or spiritual boot camp”. Lastly, and the greatest, is divine help and intervention. God would not abandon anyone, unlike selfish humans strayed by lust, greed and wrath. The Almighty Lord uses circumstances to develop our characters, and it is up to us to persevere and stand the test of time and patience to emerge victorious. FAILURE is not final, neither is it FATAL as something good always comes out of any crisis if you reach and call out for the Lord. Pastor David’s speech continued to remind myself of this phrase I hold dear, “Your life is like a coin, you can spend it any way you wish, but you can only spend it ONCE.”

Pastor David ended the sermon noting that we are individuals “standing in the gap” with courage and faith in the Lord. Have sturdy faith in God as in Matthew 14 verse 31 “Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. ‘You have so little faith’ Jesus said.’ Why did you doubt me?”God knows what we are going through, as through him we have found the true purpose in living. After the sermon, we were soon ushered to the adjourning room to feast on refreshments, provided by Winnie, Christina, Elizabeth and PeiLing . Our body were weary after a long day but our mind and soul were rejuvenated with the advancement of our Lord’s kingdom on this earth. As we departed from NLRC’s Youth Centre at approximately 10.30pm back to the hostels, the pledge of serving the Lord until our hearts are broken and knuckles raw seemed hoisted firmly in each believer while I breathed out slowly “Thank you Lord, and Amen.”

In His Service,

JonHiu.

First Girls Cell GroupHOY, FINISH IT LAH!

2008-07-22T20:09:00.000+08:00

I was browsing through the posts n i suddenly realise i haven't post this up yet... this was the first cell group a year ago... look at how fast time flies...

can u see yourself in the picture, dearest seniors?

Through Stormy Times - 17th July 2008

2008-07-13T20:55:00.004+08:00

hi.. there will be CA gathering this week on this coming Thursday, 17th July.. this will be the first CA for this sem. we also welcome this warm invitation to everyone especially the junoirs. hope to see u there ;)

Our Country, Our Home

2008-06-25T19:15:00.001+08:00

March 8, 2008.An ordinary day the earth woke up to the first ray of sunshine. Showing neither ominous storm clouds gathering on the horizons, nor threatening omen of a torrential downpour, however, did not mean the entire course of the day would definitely run smooth. In fact, it was far from ordinary if put in Malaysia’s historical context. As if the change of four state governments and the loss of Barisan Nasional’s perpetual cocksure parliamentary two-thirds majority were not enough, the sea change brought about by the 12th general election of March 8 cannot even be brought to a halt. The beleaguered Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his fellow comrades suffer continuous blows and castigations from within the BN coalition, the substantial growth in popularity of the Opposition, and even his former big boss has now rejected him.

Mass protests and speculations never ceased. Sabah Progressive Party(SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee threatened to make history by supporting a motion for no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister during the Dewan Rakyat meeting, which eventually did not take place. The murder case of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a Mongolian woman. Does it really involve our deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah, as claimed by the blogger Raja Petra, who became famous overnight after being charged in court for “publishing on allegedly seditious article on his website”?

Changing the limelight onto the judiciary system in our country, thanks to the infamous Lingam video clip, judicial reform is irreversible and judges arise all of a sudden to stun the people with revelations swept under the carpet for the past umpteen years. This time involving our former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Who is next in line?

Amid thunderstorms in the political field, soaring costs of living, inflation and higher fuel prices cause economy and social crisis to the country and its people. People rise up from various fields, be it education or media wise, fighting for fairness and freedom. As our country celebrates its 51st Merdeka this year, is it en route towards democracy, adulthood and maturity? Or is it heading backwards instead?

This is a dark world to live in, indubitably. However as Christians, we have the assurance from our Lord Jesus Christ- “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows ME will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”(John 8:12) This is a troubled time to live in, undeniably. But as children of the one true God, we are given the promise that we “may have peace”. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33). So no matter what may occur tomorrow, be assured that the King of kings is the ultimate Ruler and Judge of this country!

As Malaysians, we are called to contribute to our country, making the effort, big or small, to make this land a better place to live in. As Christians, we are called to be the “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” (Matthew 5:13, 14). We may soar high and aim far, but deep down in our hearts, we know that whenever we grow tired of flying, there is a place we are always welcomed back to take a break. A place God put us in not without a reason. The place which greeted us our first “good morning” when we entered this world. The place we call our country, our home.

Let us be Malaysians, not just by name, but true Malaysian Christians by heart. No matter where you may be now, please remember your country in your daily quiet time. Its journey towards stability, transparency, fairness and freedom from all bondages. Nothing is impossible with God! Malaysia needs your prayers. Thank you!

* This article is written for the benefit of students who are now studying abroad, to have a glimpse into the current situation (esp. politically) of our country. And also serves as a reminder for all of us to pray ceaselessly for Malaysia. =)

In His service,
A full-time Malaysian Christian.

Life in INTEC

2008-06-23T13:36:00.001+08:00

International … Education… Centre… INTEC… Hrm, I had never heard about this place. The only information I had was that it was located in Shah Alam and 3 of the seniors from my school were studying there. Even though I was thankful to be granted this scholarship, skeptically, I knew that INTEC was neither a place of comfort nor glamour.

With only this piece of information, I flew across the South China Sea. For my first lunch, I innocently ate the extremely hot chillipadi, which “camouflaged” in the fried mee hoon I ordered. I blissfully thought it was just a vegetable. >.< Dear junior, watch out for chillipadi ya! As time passed, I gradually met classmates, friends and seniors.

However, a remarkable event that brought intimate friends who were close to my heart was an internal debate tournament- Battle of Minds. Well, to be precise, it was the drenching training schedule led by a senior. Imagine we had 3 rounds of brain-cracking discussions and mock debates everyday. A few of us who joined this training struggled, wobbled and dragged through it for we had to handle our academic workload simultaneously. Though it’s demanding, every single seconds of effort was rewarding. Through it, we attained trust, we gained precious friendship, and more importantly, we were brought closer to our Almighty Heavenly Father.

My life just went on smoothly after this. Until around mid August, while I supposed to be enjoying my life joyously since I had everything that I could ask for- friends, study, family and scholarship- but, for no reason, I felt LOST and EMPTY.

“ Be thankful, dear. Don’t ask for problem.” I always reminded myself.

I could say that I was quite a tough and resilient person. I seldom cried. But at that moment, I shrieked and cried all my heart out in my room when I was alone.

The scene was still vividly carved in my memory. It was in Cemara “Starbuck”, an open place with chairs and tables provided for students to gather around or study. I sat at one corner, together with a senior. I told him that I felt better and I’m fully recovered. No, he said.

“Amanda, let me pray for you.” Ok, I closed my eyes and bowed my head down near to my knees.

“ Dear Father Lord, embrace this sister, you sees her struggle, and you knows her heart’s desire. Fill up her emptiness… Jesus loves you… Jesus loves you… Jesus loves you…” Out of a sudden, I broke into heavy tears again. “ Jesus loves you,” these 3 words echoed in my ears. When I opened my eyes, I saw this senior who was sitting right in front of me, was shining so comfortably like an angel. This might be a confusing illusion caused by my teary eyes. But at that moment, he really looked like an angel that was assigned by God to send peace in my heart. This was a pivotal breakdown that embarked my journey along with God. I used to be like a wild stallion that ran without a goal, without a direction. But finally, I found my one and only rider. I would never regret falling in love with Him.

I was so blessed in this place. In my church (New Life Restoration Centre), we have great and caring pastors. My gang and me were particularly close to Pastor David and his family. Almost every weekend, we went overnight at his house. They were an authentic and wonderful family. I was so privileged to learn the way of Christian’s living directly from them. They just gave benevolently without condition and their love towards Father God were so glazing and consuming. Sometimes, I could just gasp in awe, where and how does this love come from? The answer was just very simple, they loves God.

I was given the chance to serve as a pianist in church. Frankly, I was not proficient in piano. In my first worship practice, one of my feet was pressing the pedal and the other was trembling. And on the Sunday service itself, both of my feet were trembling! So you can envisage how nervous I was. Well, I ever dreamt of one day, my fingers could just dance around the keys gracefully and I could play melodious music in front of people. Though it was still a long way to go, thank God that I was given this chance and a very supportive church.

Another community that impacted vastly in my life at INTEC was Campus Alive! This was a Christian fellowship where Christians could gather every fortnightly at New Life to worship God, learn the word of God and fellowship together. This is an indescribable heaven and sanctuary of mine. I witnessed the implicit and complete love of the people towards Him and how God’s power rained upon them in various areas. In fact, this was a place where I found my brothers and sisters that are knitted closely in the family of Christ. Come and join us and you will understand the peace and joy that you could seek from it.

So dear juniors, it was an exclusive prerogative for you to be placed here. Though the living condition here was unfamiliar and not very comfortable, people here were treasures and God’s power was magnified here. Come and devour every day of yours. Learn to adapt and be independent. Remember, God is strong when we are weak and we seniors are here to help you. Cheers~

Senior,
Amanda

Australia, and I'm still growing.

2008-06-10T22:22:00.001+08:00

Hi everyone. Hi hi hi. Hello and g'day mates! That's how the Aussies say over here.Ok, before you all scroll down to the bottom and try to see who wrote this post, let me save you some time. I'm Jim by the way. Ya, I'm an Ausmat senior. Very senior. Er..not that senior actually but I was in Ausmat 18, 2007. This year, the Olympic year (woohoo!), I'm doing first year in Engineering in UWA. Ok, let me see, where to start?

Firstly, I want to talk a little bit about UWA(Univetsity of Western Australia) over here and to make a little promo(haha). Then, I shall proceed (briefly) about my life here in the land down under and also how my spiritual life had been .

So, for those confused Ausmatians who will be going to Australia , and for those doing engineering, dentistry or medic, UWA is the place for you. Ya, if you ask me, UWA is the best uni in Western Australia. If you mention about UWA in Western Australia, people will go "wow......!". Perth is a nice place to be. If you are those people who feels a little uncomfortable with the hustle and bustle of city life, like KL, well, Perth is perfect for you. It's not that "kampung" like till you like have nothing to do and all. Perth is still a city and it's just nice. It's less hectic than in Sydney and Melbourne but much alive compared to Adelaide in South Australia. Yup, I guarantee that you will definitely like it here. For those who intends to do pharmacy, choose Curtin. Why? Coz UWA don't have pharmacy..haha. For engineering, there's a catch. UWA forcuses more on theories. It's theories theories theories all the way. That's why, there's a lot of researches done in UWA itself. For Curtin, they focus more on the practical stuff. In other words, it's more hands on. For now, you do not need to worry so much about which uni you want to go. Focus on your Ausmat test first. Then, like one month before your trials, I think that's when you need to decide. Well, pray and ask God to where He wants you to go. Choose wisely I should say. Again, focus on your SSABSA. Don't worry about when you should apply for this and that, haha, no need to kiasu. Intec will tell you when. If you desperately need to know all, go IDP and ask. Then, while applying for unis , you can also start applying for accommodations. It doesn't matter if you are still not enrolled in a uni. Just apply, cause accommodation is a hot topic. Haha, I could actually go on till morning but anymore further questions, e-mail me, genre_log@yahoo.com.

Eversince stepping foot in Australia, I felt that I had been growing , spiritually! The first few days here was a little tough though. Ya, I faced a lot of things that troubled me and all. I was having anxiety and I worried like mad. The main one was money. Anyway, as time past, God spoke to me through His word, and through people and finally, I snapped out from that and I was myself again. From that day onwards, God had been teaching me new things. I feel like I'm growing bigger and maturing faster, spiritually. I was attending two churches. Subiaco Church of Christ and Zion Praise Harvest. After prayer, God spoke to me, and I decided to settle down in Zion Praise Harvest. Since then, I made many many new friends. Before that, I do not know anyone here in Perth as there's only like 2 of us from Intec being sent to UWA. A little lonely I am ya...I made super many friends and I felt so at home for the first time in the first few weeks. Things are great! I say it again, things are great over here! Most of my friends are from Singapore. Then, I have Malaysian friends(from taylor's college, Kuching High, UEC, KK..), a Burmise friend, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, China, haha, lots more. Most of them, 90% are those whom I know from church. I'm so happy that God had blessed me so much. You know, God had put me here in UWA for a reason and I know He put me here to prepare me for something big. Something super big that He had to bring me all the way here to Australia. Yes, and I'm sure that when the time comes, I shall be ready for that 'something big' that God had planned for me. To summarise all the time that I'd been here in Australia, I'm growing each and everyday in Christ. God is teaching me new things, bringing me to new places to let me gain experience, to gain new knowledge. I'm just growing haha, and nothing else. The best thing is, I'm peaceful and joyful in Him, knowing that He'll take care of me no matter what. Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God...." . In other words, relax, chill, cause God is in control. Let God be God. Yup.

Haha, guess what, though I might had left Intec, left CA and all, I'm not taking a break unless God tells me too. It doesn't mean that my duty had ended. Nope, it's just the beginning. It's just the beginning. Think that you are a super senior, haha, there's always someone more senior than you. There...the one that you called God. Take CA or Intec as a place where God will train you and mould you , shape you to build up your foundation. When your foundation is strong, then only you can stand firm when the trials of life comes your way when you leave Shah Alam. I tell you, and I tell you boldly. Yes, I jump, I lift my hands up during worship. What will happen 30 years down the road? Will you still continue to do that when you are 50, 60 70? I tell you boldly, I will. Even when I'm 60 or 70, the way I worship my God will not diminish. Will God get bored of you ? Nope, so, I shouldn't too. My passion will still continue to burn stronger eventhough physically and outwardly, I look hagged and old. Nothing will stop me from worshipping my God. What about you?

Yup, I think that's all that I want to say. To all of you , all the best in your tests and exams and some "perjumpaan blok" haha. Oh ya, just want to let you all know. I'm too excited to keep in to myself but ya, I will be attending this year's Hillsong conference 2008 in Sydney. Yes, I'm so excited. God is good right? hehe...take care. God bless.

jim

cheers, from the Land down under

Dear juniors...

2008-06-09T20:05:00.003+08:00

Phew! Does time fly indeed. Here I was, a freshman fumbling to find my way around in INTEC (and *ahem* gotten lost once), and, before I knew it, I’d to start bracing myself for the title “senior” already, having completed my first year and currently enjoying the semester break. The second semester here at INTEC had really been a fleeting affair for me, passing perhaps doubly as fast compared to the first, for reasons unknown to myself.

Nevertheless, the first week at INTEC had been the longest week of my life, amidst the frenzy of settling down, adapting and parting with family. There was of course the MMS (Minggu Mesra Siswa) Week, which was essentially a weeklong orientation programme for freshies, conducted by seniors. Rest assured that there will be no ragging though, as far as what the Professor had told us, that is. Juniors can expect a hectic week, what with all the activities carried out, which will be done in groups. Meals will be provided throughout the orientation week, ‘meager’ yet satisfactory. (We have to count our blessings, remember?)

Junior guys can look forward to a truly unique hostel experience at Kolej Cendana. The mere mention of the word Cendana, I believe, would spawn a deluge of complaints and negative comments from seniors who’d had the ‘privilege’ of staying there; of being stranded in the middle of nowhere, with irregular buses, limited variety of food and poor internet connectivity. (Gasp!) True as convicted, nonetheless, fret not, dear junior guys! For Cendana is actually not as bad as it seems. In fact, the internal living conditions are pretty much better off than those of Akasia or Cemara’s, owing to the fact that Cendana had just been renovated quite recently. To top it up, there had even been further repair and renovation works last month (during the period of our exams heat, literally), so there shouldn’t be much to complain of. There are two rooms in an apartment; one with 2 single beds and the other with 2 double Decker beds. That makes 6 guys to an apartment – quite a cramp, yes indeed, but we guys will just make do, won’t we? Expect the morning rush though, as you’d all be racing for the washrooms and toilets upon waking up, especially during the orientation week, making for an interesting start to hostel life … The good news is that the bathroom and toilet here are separated, unlike those in Cemara, so there can be two people doing business at any one time.

The apartment may seem a little too small for six people at first, what with the six desks arranged in the living room especially. There is hardly any space to move around! But then again, this calls for acclimatization; you’ll have to get used to it. The walls are painted with a yellowish hue and the floors, tiled. The bus stop is quite a walk away from the hostel though; there is also a Petronas station nearby with ATM machines, and of course, how could I forget, the infamous Dawood Restaurant, the only reasonable eatery within walking distance around. It is a mamak restaurant serving mostly Indian and Malay food, with rather poor service however, sadly. There is also a stall - Mat Endon further down the road, but it does not present too attractive a choice, as it is located just beside a drain. All hope for food is not lost however; venturing beyond Section 6, there are always greener pastures, most notably being perhaps Restaurant Kari Kepala Ikan serving Chinese food in Section 9 and McDonalds in Section 2. Yes, it is within walking distance for the adventurous. In fact, my friends and I had jogged there in the evenings on numeous occasions; dined and then taken the bus back (It was dark by then, anyway). Rapid KL T602. Get familiar with it, for it’ll bring you to several places such as Section 2, PKNS, SACC and so on.

Sadly, there is no wired or wireless internet connection at Cendana, being sparsely (and annoyingly) intermittent at best, if any. The alternative is to use the computer labs or walk a short distance to a cyber café nearby. There’s a laundry room with 2 washing machines — yes, guys, you’ll have to do your own laundry! No more relying on mummy. By the way, just to let you know, the management had actually placed a notice before, prohibiting the hanging of clothes and eye-catching apparels outside the windows, lest the landscape be changed. Fret not though, for there’ll be places to dry your clothes. There’s also a basketball court and gym for the physically active.

Hmm… What other ways to describe the typical Cendanian’s experience than of course the Restu Barakah bus service! UiTM buses will be plying Cemara and Akasia, leaving Restu Barakah for Cendana. Buses arrive as early as seven in the morning to pick students up to INTEC, at supposedly half hour intervals, which can hardly be depended on. During the morning rush hours, the buses will not usually leave until students are packed to a sardine can-like density in the bus. I’ve learnt much through trial and experience, having had the bus leave right in my face; buses, I learnt, have a tendency to leave 5 minutes before their scheduled time. So suppose you intend to take the 8.30 am bus, assume that it’ll leave at 8.25 am and be there by then. Then again, always make allowance in case the bus breaks down or does not arrive, by taking an earlier bus. I’d had to learn this lesson the hard way, unfortunately. It was the day of our end of semester Chemistry test scheduled at 2 in the afternoon, and my friends and I had just missed the 1 pm bus. So we banked all our hopes on the 1.30pm bus, which never arrived. Fret not, we assured ourselves, for we could call a cab. By 1.40, however, we were already a bundle of frazzled nerves, no taxi or bus in sight. It was not until shortly after 1.50 that a taxi coasted our way and picked us up. We made a dash for ALM square where our exams were held after arriving at the main gate, and were fortunate enough to make it just in time. Phew! T’was a terrifying experience I’d never forget.

So much for depressing Cendana issues. Moving onto INTEC, the most notable feature’d be none other than the newly-opened library. No WIFI access though, sadly. The collection of books is huge nonetheless, amidst conducive studying environs within the library. As it is fully air-conditioned, a sweater might be of great help. There is also a 24-hour studying room for students; restrictions apply however, for girls as they are not allowed after 11pm.

Remember to abide by the dress code of INTEC. Casual wear would do fine, jeans are allowed, but no collarless shirt though. Sandals are supposedly not allowed but students wear them anyway. And yes, dress formally on Mondays; and Fridays for girls only, i.e. long-sleeved shirt with tie for guys and Baju Kurung/ Batik for girls. Don’t forget to display your Student ID at all times; there’ll be guards hoarding at the front gates to check on your dress code. One offence and you’ll land yourself with a saman, which’ll be recorded in Student Online Services. Sigh.

Food at INTEC is satisfactory enough, the main cafeteria being AUSMAT café which serves a variety of food, as well as custom orders like Pattaya, fried rice and so on. It is air-conditioned, prices are reasonable, but food runs out fast during lunch hours, so it’ll be a good idea to pack food earlier beforehand. There’s even a wafer machine outside the café for those eager to grab a bite between classes, perhaps. There’s also the ALM and ADFP Café, but they’re less popular compared to AUSMAT.

As far as ALM is concerned, you’ll be placed in classes according to your future destination i.e., IMU, PMC or MMMC. Depending on your timetable, classes may start at 8am, which is most often the case in Semester I. Expect classes to end as late as 6 pm on at least two days a week, thanks to the CTU classes (Philosophy & Theology) and ko-PLN sessions. The schedule becomes less hectic into the second semester, though, thankfully. There’ll usually be two topic tests and quizzes now and then and, not to mention, of course, the end of semester exam. It’s not all work and no play nevertheless; there’s plenty of recreational facilities in and around the hostels, eg a park near Cendana. We even have DoTA and CS tournaments (informal ones, that is) now and then after a busy day at school, by linking laptops wirelessly together across rooms and blocks back at hostel. Yes, life over here is that fun!

I’d also like to take this opportunity to encourage fellow juniors to attend CA. In case you don’t already know, CA is a Christian fellowship gathering fortnightly on Thursdays in New Life Church, Kota Kemuning. CA has really been a blessing to me; I had immensely enjoyed the time of worship and fellowship there. Do join us!

After all that has been said and done, it has indeed been worth the experience. College and hostel life is not without its ups and downs; but then again, who says life is a bed of roses? It is important to face challenges with the right attitude, adapting and improvising along the way. For those feeling homesick, I can empathize most well; but worry not! The bus station’s located at Section 17, just a stone’s throw away from INTEC. The ultimate gateway to home. So to all dear juniors, enjoy your stay in Shah Alam! All the best.

Signing off,
Kenlee

I Want To...

2008-06-08T20:46:00.004+08:00

Dearest people of CA. How are you doing? In this time, even as I prepare for my exams, I just felt the Spirit prompting me to just pause and reflect on life. And you know what, the thoughts that came to me from God are just so beautiful. I want to crystalize those thoughts into words as much as I can but truly no words can describe them. So yea, I just want to share them with you guys, hope it gives all of you some inspirations. Here goes...

I want to...

I want to change the world

I want to see joyful souls all around me

I want to see disease, plague and pestilence be purged

I want to see war, strife and turmoil be stilled

I want to see people's hunger for a meaning to life be filled with living bread from the broken body of the Perfect Lamb

I want to see people's thirst for a greater love be quenched by the streams of living water that flow from the fountain of life

I want to see the whole earth join in one chorus with all the heavenly hosts to proclaim the glory of God

I want to be part of God's plans for the world

I want to grasp the promises of God for this earth, to bring life onto this earth which He calls his temple palace

I want to live in adoration of His holiness, the Oneness of His purposes since the beginning of time - to raise up children of God from each generation to rule over creation in relationship with Him

I want to dwell in His presence, the greatest love that has been poured out to mankind, the hope for a better resurrection made possible by His grace, the faith He has empowered me with to stand up against the beasts of this world

I want to be changed by Him

I want to show love for the world and for the people around me, just as the Creator has loved His creation with unending love

I want to have faith to stand in this world, to stand firm in the midst of the storms and persecutions in life, just as the Son stood firm against all the evil that tried to uproot Him

I want to be filled with hope for this earth and for a better resurrection, trusting in the Spirit who resurrected the Son to breathe new life into this world and into all those who believe in Him

I want to be free

I want to be all that I am created to be

I want to stand firm against the systems of this world that want to enslave me and tear at me like wild beasts, I want to have faith to rise up above them all

I want to approach His throne boldly without guilt or shame, for Christ's sacrifice has set me free from all my sins and iniquities

I want to daily lift up my hands in worship of the One who created me, to gaze into His beauty and to be awed by His majesty

I want to be led by the Spirit, by the one who can liberate me from the broad pathway to destruction on to the narrow road to peace, love and joy

I want to be renewed each day, not dwelling in the past sins and guilt that chain me down, but to be filled with His love and grace that shatter every bondage

I want to stand on the zenith of my tower of achievements, I want to climb up to the peak of my pride, I want to ascend to the pinnacle of my insecurities...I want to close my eyes...and throw myself down from there

And I want to trust that God will carry me in the palm of His hands, and I will soar in the greatness of God

I want to believe all things are possible

I want to believe that nothing is impossible with faith

I want to dare to dream of bigger possibilities for this world and for myself

I want to believe that my God is a BIG God, and I want to pray BIGGER prayers

I want to believe that changing this world is possible, I want to take that step of faith

I want to believe in a better resurrection

I want to believe that, when the time has come for me to rest, it's not the end

I want to believe that one day God will call me up again and I will be with Him forevermore

I want to believe that one day God will grant me the crown of righteousness that He has promised me

I want to believe that even in the midst of all this chaos, the preparations for it have already begun

I want to be able to hear the trumpets sounding, to prepare myself for the Holy war ahead

I want to prepare oil for my lamp, that when the Lord returns, I shall be ready to greet Him

I want to fully utilize the talents He has given me, that when He returns, I shall be called the good and faithful servant

Most importantly, I truly want to believe that I am part of all this...that no matter what, He loves me deeply...and I love Him too

--

Blessings guys!

Brian Chee

CA t-shirt

2008-05-16T18:05:00.011+08:00

Attention!!

This is the design of our new CA t-shirt...

Two colours...

Black

=Front=

=Back=

and Apple Green...

=Front=

=Back=

Sizes: XS, S, M, L

RM 18 per piece.

Interested?

Please contact:

=ALM=

Ling Dian Han (8M10) / Betty (8M9)

=ALG=

Andersen (11B) / Bryan (11B)

=AUSMAT=

Ken Chan Chin Yaw (Christchurch) / Jia Jeng (Alice Springs)

=ADFP/ACTP=

Hui Theng / Sze Yin (P214 class calculus2)

Ending = Beginning

2008-05-07T20:21:00.010+08:00

What an apt theme! Ending = Beginning was chosen as the theme for the last CA of this semester because our friends (or seniors) who are in the ALM and ALG programs are going to sit for their A-levels finals soon, which begins on May 12 and that implies they are going to leave INTEC pretty soon. Those dear friends of ours include Helen, Erin, Patricia, Eunice, Shiau Hooi, Johnson, James, Yi En, Timothy, Grace and of course all of the students in INTEC who are in the same batch with the mentioned names. Well, it’s that cliché again; the ending of one journey leads us to the beginning of another. Besides that, much to our surprise and joy, 2 juniors namely Alvin and Yan Siong who are in French program also joined us for the CA. It will be their first and also the last CA because sadly, their stay here in INTEC is a very short one (just one month), and then they will be heading off to France to do their pre-U. That further accentuated the aptitude of the theme……

CA kicked off at around 7.45 pm. The meeting commenced with a worship song entitled Let Everything That Has Breath before the emcees (Dian Han and Amanda) welcomed the 2 newcomers, Alvin and Yan Siong who hail from Sabah and Sarawak respectively. After that, Shalisha and Eliza took over the session as they were the game masters for that night. All who were present were being separated into two groups (groups 1 & 2). Group 1 consisted of those who took up the role as “trees” while group 2 comprised “squirrels”. The “squirrels” were required to outrun or to cleverly manoeuvre themselves through a bunch of “foxes” and then cling on to the “trees” in order to survive to the next round. Those caught by the “foxes” will not be eliminated from the game just yet, but they have to be one of the “foxes”. So, the difficulty of the game increased with every round as the number of “foxes” went up while 4 “trees” were taken out each round so as to make it harder for the “squirrels” to escape. Of course both groups got to get a taste of how it feels like to become “squirrels”, trying their best to outwit the “foxes” when the groups switched their roles. The enjoyable session culminated to its climax when the seniors were called to the front of the congregation, with plain papers stuck on their backs so that the juniors get to scribble something on the papers. Guess what.. three seniors who had the most writings on their backs were required to do one of the “stuns” written on their respective paper. The “chosen ones” were Patricia, Johnson and Erin. The “stuns” written on the papers were read out aloud by Shalisha and some sounded somewhat really off the beaten track and inhumane in a sense. Patricia was asked to scream like a girl, which she eventually did after much contemplation. Next up was Johnson, who was requested to sing Up Town Girl. It wasn’t quite a success as he could not recall the lyrics of that song. So, he sang I Love You by David Tao instead and many were surprised that he could actually sing (Wow…. ). The last “victim” was Erin, whom I think got the most out-of-this-world request. She was required to turn her head continuously, balancing herself on one foot and sing the chorus part of My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion, simultaneously. It may sound like a mission impossible but eventually she managed to rise up to the challenge and I was really taken aback (Salute…Erin). All of us really had a good time and we really enjoyed the session.

Then, it was time for us to sing praises and worship the Lord. The worship team for this occasion made up mainly of the seniors as it was their last CA and they really grasped every opportunity that they had in order to serve in CA for one last time before they leave. We sang songs such as I Love You, Lord, Set Me Free, One Way, Mengejar HadirMu and as well as Hosanna. The worship team put their best foot forward and went all out leading us in worshipping the Lord. Our spirits were really lifted up and the Youth Centre just turned into a place for God’s glory to dwell. As usual, we had the time of offering and were led into a quiet time of prayer by Dian Han. Shortly after that, came the presentation from 8 ALM juniors accompanied by a video clip which showcased numerous photographs of the will-be-leaving seniors whom we love so much and also documented some heart-warming messages dedicated by Pei Ling, Chewie, Derrick, Samuel, Steffie, Amanda, Eliza and Dian Han to our seniors. It was truly an unforgettable moment for each one of us.

There was no pastor preaching this time around as the slot had been reserved for testimonies from just about anyone of us who would like to share. It was managed by Dian Han and Amanda, who kept embellishing the session with their “lame” jokes as well as some evocative Bible verses. The friends who shared include Andersen, Helen, Erin, Dian Han, Patricia, Eunice, Shiau Hooi, Johnson and also Uncle Yong, who is a member of the CA committee that has been guiding and supporting us for all this while. Andersen started the ball rolling with his own testimony.

Andersen
He said that God is expanding his capacity as His servant as he now serves in a church as a drummer, a part of the worship team. Besides that, Andersen also drives the church van and sends us back to our hostels after each CA. He strongly believes that one’s capabilities and capacity can be expanded by serving God whole-heartedly and sincerely.

Helen
God had completely transformed her. She used to be an introvert who liked to keep all of her problems to herself but after coming to INTEC and getting to know Erin, whom she said was the one who took the first step in trying to know her, her life had been changed for the better. Helen also told us about the hardships that she went through during her 1st semester in INTEC. Among them were her mediocre results and problems in relationship with her friends. Despite all of these, God had given her courage and confidence and turned her into the person that she is today. Before she retreated, much to the delight of the juniors, she promised to offer her academic help to the juniors so as to guide them through their studies.

Erin
Related her stories of how she came to know CA through her seniors and also how she was so touched by the loving care of her friends when she needed support. She recounted how friends used to cook her all kinds of porridge when she was recuperating from the stitch wounds in her mouth. Time flies indeed and she never expected that CA would come to an end that fast. She capitalized on that opportunity to remind us to keep encouraging friends around us as we may just touch someone’s life and make a difference. She also prompted us to always serve God with a passionate heart. Sometimes, things may not go according to our plan, but God’s plans are always higher and bigger. So, as long as we continue to obey Him, we would get to where He wants us to be eventually.

Dian Han
Came to know CA through friends. Recollected an incident where the church van that he was in got knocked by another vehicle. But thank God, the Lord was with them all along and in the end they managed to get out of the commotion unscathed. He emphasized that CA is not just about having fun but most importantly is the time for us to serve Him, to fellowship with the Lord and with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Patricia
She strongly agreed with Andersen that serving the Lord would truly expand our capacity because our God is generous and rewarding towards those who obey and are willing to serve. She openly declared that she would surely miss CA a lot and could not imagine living without CA.
Eunice
She came to the realization that CA is a way which God had opened for her to serve. She reminisced her first time coming to CA, where she met Erin, whom she described as the “super-cannot-smile” girl at that time, probably due to their unfamiliarity. As time went by, their friendship blossomed and Erin became one of her best friends. She thanked God for everything before passing the microphone to Shiau Hooi.

Shiau Hooi
As soon as she got the microphone from Eunice, we sang her a birthday song as her birthday was on 28 April 2008. She felt very grateful getting to know a bunch of friends in INTEC whom she depicted as angels. She spoke about the way her friends cared for her when she was down. She shared that God had changed the way she sees things. She used to have a pessimistic view about this world around her, but CA gave her a new definition of the word life. Challenges from the Lord taught her an invaluable lesson, that is to put her focus on the Lord instead of her problems. She motivated us to never give up in the face of challenges as God is always with us no matter what happens. We might not know what are His plans for us, but the fact that He loves us remains invariable.

Johnson
He conceded that he was so obsessed with his studies to the extent that he neglected relationship. He did well during the 1st semester but what seemed to be a blessing from God turned out to be something that began to sink him as he back slid in his spiritual life. He did not go to church as often as he should and forgot about the power of prayer. Fortunately, Joash came into his life and lifted him up. Trouble came when there was a misunderstanding between Johnson and his former roommate. Johnson started to lose focus in his studies and suffered an emotional upheaval. That was when God made His presence felt to Johnson through Johnson’s mother and Joash. After confiding in his mother all of his problems plus the motivation from Joash, Johnson finally found the courage to set things right. He took the initiative to apologize to his roommate and everything just got back to normal. They are now the best of friends once again. Besides that, Johnson also realized how important his mother is in his life, being his confidante.

Uncle Yong
Uncle Yong underlined the importance of unity among all of us. He likened every one of us to the parts and organs of a human anatomy. Even if merely one part of our body does not cooperate, the whole system would suffer directly or indirectly as the result. So, unity is of utmost importance in our lives as well as in our walk with Christ. He challenged us to put our focus onto the Lord when we are faced with problems and hardships as these challenges would be taken care of in the mighty hands of the Lord who loves us unconditionally.

After the testimonies and sharing, all of us enjoyed the refreshments prepared by Pei Ling. The seniors also spent some time taking photographs. What’s more, we also took this opportunity to pray for the seniors who will be sitting for their finals and also not forgetting Alvin and Yan Siong who will be leaving for France in less than one month’s time. CA came to end with us going back to our respective hostels.

Into the hands of our Saviour we surrender our lives, our future and our everything. Let’s pray that He would strengthen our friendship, make it stronger each day and that we would be able to meet each other again. Deep within us, we do not like to be separated from the people whom we have grown to love and to be comfortable with, but our mighty God has great plans for each and every one of us which are waiting to be carried out and accomplished. Bidding adieu to our friends is part and parcel of life which is inevitable. It is His way of making us stronger, making us grow in every sense as we walk this path with Him in preparation to fulfill even greater responsibilities in the future. So, let’s rejoice in His name, have faith in Him and let Him take control of our lives as He is an unfailing God who will never ever forsake us. Amen. Also, please pray for those who are desperate for His word and enlightenment.

In His service,

Next CA - Ending = Beginning

2008-04-26T21:04:00.003+08:00

greetings..

this coming CA will be the last CA for this semester. it will be the last for the ALM seniors and the first and only CA for the junior French programme, as they too will be leaving us soon!!!!! (if not mistaken,.... please correct me if i am wrong). in every ending, there is always a new beginning and likewise there will be an end for every beginning... so, do turn up for this CA and hope to see u there.... God Bless!!

Can Gua...

2008-04-14T19:56:00.009+08:00

Time flies and abounds indeed with blessings from the Lord. The dawn of 10 April 2008 has brought to light yet another eventful and memorable point for CA, being, after all, the second last gathering of the semester. Due to a number of tests next week, CA had been brought forward to accommodate the majority. So gathered we for another fantastic evening of praise and worship in NLRC’s Youth Centre, sizzling with excitement and aflame for Christ. The atmosphere was jolly as usual, amidst much chatter and fellowshipping before CA began.

before CA began...

The theme for CA this time around was catchy indeed, namely “Can Gua…”. The attendance was fairly encouraging, a group of some 50 young people having gathered to worship and extol His name. At around 7.45 pm, our emcees Patricia and Timothy started the meeting on a light note with some jokes and casual interactions, before welcoming the newcomers and consequently summoning Andersen to lead the prayers.

Why she looks so excited?

Let move on...

Next came the ice-breaking session, led by Christine. We were asked to find a partner to play what seemed to be perhaps a grossly modified version of the age-old classical “rock-paper-scissors” game, this time using facial expressions and actions instead of hand signals. For instance, to represent the choice of paper, we would have to stick out our tongues ~ hilarious as it may seem!

demonstration

The idea was to separate us into two groups, namely the winners and the losers for the next round of games which, being more challenging, came as quite a pleasant surprise. Apparently, the winners had to play the role of “traps” and the losers, “mice”, in what was aptly named a “mouse and trap” game. The “mice”, scattered around a circle formed by the “traps” whose hands are jointed and uplifted, would have to move in and out of the circle until the game master exclaims “Mousetrap!”, when the “traps” shall attempt to trap any “mice” inside the circle. Hence began the game amidst much cheering and shrieking upon trapping of “mice” by the “traps”, both parties being unrelenting in their quests. Whilst the trapped “mice” would go all out in escaping whether it be by means of disconnecting jointed hands or even hopping over the barrier, so would the “traps” endeavour to surround the trapped “mice”. The “mice” outside the circle would survive into the next rounds of elimination until there was left only four. The fun does not end here, though, the “mice” having been granted an opportunity to seek vengeance by trading roles with the “traps”. Suffice to say has the game summoned an air of cordiality and excitement about the gathering; everyone had immensely enjoyed the game and fellowship.

mouse trap!!!

The master and the losers...

The worship soon after was started off on an upbeat note with the song “My Best Friend”, led by Dian Han with a full-power band made up of back-up singers Mary Chen and Wei Xin, and musicians Andersen, Bryan, Chewie and Grace. The congregation also sang several other songs including “Touching Heaven and Changing Earth”, “Open The Eyes Of My Heart”, “For Who You Are”, and “From The Inside Out”. Brimming with vigour were the young people, praising the name of the Lord. Indeed had His divine presence dwelled amongst us then, touching the hearts of many. Dian Han then led us into a quiet time of prayer, before the offerings.

The word that followed shortly was given by Pastor Joshua Lee of NLRC Kota Kemuning. An inspiring speaker, he had preached on “a life of no compromise”, drawing on myriad down-to-earth illustrations peppered with good-witted humour that made the message an interesting one. We were taken on a journey of discovery on issues relevant and close to the teenager’s heart, had our preconceived notions challenged, and above all, were reminded of God’s faithfulness in helping us fight sin, given that, of course, we first take the initiative to resist evil in the first place. As Christians, we should live a life of no compromise, pleasing and acceptable to the Lord, and of course, avoiding sin. For we are frail, attempts at overcoming temptations by virtue of our own strength and willpower alone will inevitably prove futile; hence, we should turn to God for His empowerment and help when faced with temptations. We need as such to only take the first step in battling sin by praying for divine intervention, trusting in his faithfulness and resting in the assurance that God will do the rest. Pastor Joshua had also shed light on the popular misconception regarding holiness, that, by God’s grace, all of us have in fact been made holy by the blood of Jesus Christ shed upon the cross. Praise be to the Lord for his unfailing grace and mercy!

Pastor Joshua

Worship then resumed with the song “From The Inside Out”, during which we were also asked to join with the person next to us in prayer. After that, the emcees then took over, cracking a joke or two and livening up the atmosphere again, before passing over the time to the worship team for the closing song, “My Best Friend”. Hence ended CA on perhaps as equally buoyant a note as it had started, spirits high and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord.
Before ending the meeting, Yen Mii had made several announcements, including that this would be the second last CA of the semester, much to the surprise of many. The next CA will be held on 1 May, and will be testimony day open for those who would like to share about how God has worked in their lives, and thus bear testimony to His love and grace. Refreshments this time around, prepared by Pei Ling, was served at the Youth Centre. After a brief period of fellowship, we then returned to our hostels at around 10.30 p.m. Thank God for His journey mercy that brought us safely back home in time.

T’was indeed a magnificent evening, meaningful and purposeful, directed to the Lord, of glory all given back to Him. By God’s grace, everything had worked out fine as planned without any snags. May the seeds be sown in the hearts of all who attended the CA, that His glory be magnified, eventually.

In His service,
Kenlee

A Walk To Remember

2008-04-07T13:59:00.007+08:00

On the 3rd of April, Campus Alive gathered together once again for another great session of passionate worship and an inspiring sermon entitled “A Walk To Remember”. Today, we may speak of many walks in life; nevertheless, our speaker for this week, Joash Tan-Loh broadened our perspective to see beyond that. There is only one walk that surpasses all other walks in life, and it is none other than our devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.

CA started a little different this week. For a change, our emcees, Andersen and Pei Ling got the crowd warmed up with a song entitled “Salvation Is Here”. The song is a declaration that God has made a way for mankind to attain salvation. Praise the Lord!

After that, we had a games session taken charge by Jia Jeng. The crowd was divided into three groups, and each person received a small piece of paper with a number written on it and highlighted with a color (green, blue or orange). One color represents one group and the objective of the game is to arrange the group members from the smallest number to the biggest number into one queue. The catch is, no one is allowed to speak or show their number using their fingers. Other methods like stomping feet, clapping etc are allowed. The game got the crowd all warmed up and ready to enter the worship atmosphere.
Grace, an ALG senior and the worship team facilitated the praise and worship session to the Lord. The congregation sang several songs entitled Majesty, Adonai, Your Love Goes On Forever, Indescribable, and Consuming Fire. Truly, our God is majestic, loving, and indescribable and we will always declare His goodness.
Moving on, the Word was taken by Joash and he spoke of devotion. He gave an illustration of a runner throughout the sermon and he focused on 3 main points concerning devotion, namely the purpose of the devotion, the price of the devotion, and the dedication. A walk to remember. What walks do we remember? Yes, significant ones. Achievements, relationships, once in a life time experience. Those walks are worth remembering. How about our walk with God? Our ups and downs in the Christian faith. Times when we are so passionate and times when we slack, times when he Lord picks us up and cleanse us and welcome us children as a loving Father. These significant events in life can be so heart warming, touching and encouraging because they show the unfailing love of God, and glorifies Him completely.

What is a devotion? We can see it as a race where we are all runners whose goal is the finish line. As runners we look forward, not to the side nor to the back. We set our eyes to the prize, the goal, the finish line. So, there is a purpose in our walk. We are devoted to become more like Christ.

How about warming up and preparations? There is a price to a devotion. Lots of effort and energy need to be put in when we’re devoted to something. Training and discipline are also necessities to a devotion. A runner needs to maintain a balanced diet, have loads of intensive training and refrain from drugs, smoking etc while preparing for a race. The more disciplined and well prepared a runner is, he has a higher chance of winning the race. In other words, we have to be prepared to sacrifice when we are devoted.

Lastly, dedication is also vital to devotion whereby one must have the focus and a strong spirits that will never say “I give up”. A runner who gives up easily will not win a race. There are several reasons that cause people to give up. Firstly, the journey is too long, so they are unable to see the end, thus they lose focus and end up giving up. Also, people fall out of the race because they are not prepared enough for it.

That was an outline of Joash’s sharing. The point to ponder is what are we devoted to? It may be to score good grades, to be the top student, to be successful in life, in relationships, and so on. These are so common to us and they compel us to strive for excellence and to try harder. But at many times, because of all these factors, we tend to forget or even deliberately put away our devotion to our Lord and Savior. So, the challenge is to give God a chance to reveal Himself to us and to work in our lives.

Finally, we had a short time of prayer and refreshment prepared by Sze Yin and Hui Theng.

In His service,
Chewie

Next CA- 10th April 2008

2008-04-06T18:24:00.002+08:00

just want to make a huge announcement that there will be a CA meeting this coming week, on the 10th April 2008. in this CA, the speaker will be talking about compromising..... is it a christian lifestyle? so hope to see you around in CA....

Next CA - A Walk to Remember

2008-03-28T10:34:00.004+08:00

The next CA will be held on the 3rd April 2008.. usual place and usual time... but an extraordinary CA that will that will make an impact along ur journey..... trust me!!!

Broken Watch

2008-03-22T23:26:00.002+08:00

I've been managing this blog for almost a year now. In that one year span, my friends and I have submitted quite a few posts into this blog. However, if you check at the labels, you can see an overwhelming number of message compare to the amount of testimonies. It kept me pondering for days, "How could it be that the messages are more than the testimonies?" In a church, there are alway finite amount of messages that a pastor can preach but there is an infinite number of testimonies that people can share. Because of that, I've decided to put down my testimony here and I strongly encourage all of you to share with others too. Just email anyone of the staff here and we'll post it for you.

This is my story.

I have a broken watch with me. It had not been working properly since December. Because it is an automatic watch, there is no way to fix it except to open it and fix the spring in it. I do not have the capacity to do it. Hence I will have to adjust the watch every morning when I wake up to make sure I have the correct time for the day. Often, it will only last about a day (max) before the inaccuracy kicks in slowly. That have been the case since December 2007 until now. I was frustrated but nonetheless pleased with my broken watch. After all, it had served me well from 2004 to December 2007. I absolutely love the fact that I do not have to change the battery in my watch because there is none. O__O

I was having finals earlier this week. Guess what, my watch never slowed down. It never stopped (like every other time) and the time was surely accurate. I did not pay attention to it at first but after I finished my exam, my watch started to go back to its old habit of breaking down. Only then did I realize the miracle that just happened on the past few days.

An old broken watch that cannot be fixed unless you fix the anatomy of it was working perfectly for about 5 days during my finals week. Who could fix the watch ? I tried to find a few reasons to it. Hmmm... perhaps the weather was doing the trick. Honestly speaking, it was kind of warm (not warm, but at least warmer than winter) for the past few days but then again, once my finals was over (but the warmth was not over), my watch went back to its old self again. Lol... It can't be the weather.

Anyway, I believe it is God and even though I did not pray specifically for my watch to get healed for my finals week, I guessed God must have heard a little anxiety in my heart about the fear of getting late to class for finals and must have decided to do something for me.

Finals week was awesome and it went on smoothly. Praise God.

In His service,
Leen

Die and Rise

2008-03-22T21:59:00.014+08:00

The much anticipated Easter CA was finally here! Although it rained heavily in the evening, but the weather didn't stop the hearts that wants to seek God and His greatness. This CA was a special one because we were given the privilege to be the first one to use the newly renovated NLRC's youth centre. The atmosphere was vibrating with the spirit and vitality of God's young men and women, filled with His presence. Amen!

CA was officially started off at 7.45pm by the emcees Hui Theng and MJ, by firstly welcoming the new comers and welcoming all the INTEC students back to a place where we called home. :) The atmosphere was further heated up by game session conducted by Ah Han. Let's break the ice!!! The students were divided into 4 groups, each group consisted of about 10 people. Then, they were asked to form one straight line for each group and sit back-to-back to another group next to you, group 1 with group 2, and group 3 with group 4. Two of the committee will be in front of the two rows, tossing a coin. Only the first person on each row is allowed to open their eyes while the rest were required to keep their eyes closed with hand holding your team member sitting next to you. This is a game testing your reaction and cooperativeness among the team, the information is passed to the other end simply by squeezing the hand you are holding and the fastest wins. In the end, Group 1 turned out to be the winner of the night.

What followed next was worship and praise led by our dear beloved Erin, with a full-power band made up of back-up singers Christine and Shiau Hooi, and musicians Anderson, Joash, Bryan, Chewie and Eliza. In the earlier practise, problems occurred with the new PA system. But with God's grace and mercy, everything went on smoothly during the actual session. Amen! Special thanks to Mark too, one of the NLRC's church member for helping out with the photography and PA system throughout CA. The song sang were My Redeemer lives, Praise Him in The Sanctuary, Lord I'm Amazed by You, How Deep The Father's Love for Us and I Am Forgiven. We were brought into the close presence of God, coming back to Him once again with a heart of repentance and thankfulness for all He has done for us.

After the praise and worship, we were shown of a video clip entitled Above All with the scenes taken from the movie Passion of Christ, compiled and edited by Samuel. From the video, we were once again reminded of all the things Christ had done for us on the cross. Every drop of blood shed, is meant to wash away our sins. Every of the word uttered, is meant to ask for forgiveness on our behalf. Every of the nail hammered, is meant to put an end to our sinful past and to be given an second chance, a hope through the resurrection of Christ three days after that. It touched the hearts of many, bringing us to come before the cross, put down our past and receive his forgiveness.

Next we moved on to the message from Rev. James. An impactful speaker he is, he brings out the most simple truth that lies behind the cross. People may think that only by torturing themselves to go through the same thing Jesus had done for us (hang themselves on the cross with all the slashing and beatings). Only can we be recognised by the Father. But in fact, the truth is, Jesus had paid everything for us when the nails went through His flesh, Jesus had gave everything when He breathed His last. He accomplished EVERYTHING. All He asked from us who are so unworthy of all this, is to respond to His love. Like a father, He is waiting for His children to run back into His arms again. He is ready to forgive as long as we turn back, but are we? If Christ can forgive all we have done, can't we forgive others and give them a second chance again?

Easter CA came to an end with refreshments and fellowship. There was this crispy popiah prepared by Mary and Chien Loo, not to forget those lovely and alluring chocolate cake by Aunty Suzanne (NLRC's church member). Time to have fun and talking is never enough. We were asked and arranged to go back to our hostel by 10.30pm. Thank God for His journey mercy that brought us safely back to hostel in time.

In this season of Good Friday and Easter, let us allow and prepare our hearts, ready to receive this second chance from God to walk hand-in-hand together with Him, and to give a second chance to others who have hurt us before. Easter CA, a night truly and only for God.

Called to serve,

Peiling ^^

Next CA - 20th March 2008

2008-03-15T18:03:00.003+08:00

It has been a while..... just want to inform that the next CA will be held on the 20th March 2008. Please prepare your heart during this Holy Week and for this CA. Hope to see you there...

The Reason For God

2008-03-11T22:10:00.002+08:00

It's a title of a book written by Tim Keller. He came to our campus last Friday and delivered a mind-blowing message. The following is summary of what he said. I learned a lot and I hope that you will be enlightened too.

Christianity is built based on the exclusivity of the truth claim. So do other religions. In fact, this exclusivity of the truth claim is one of the main reason for lack of peace. Imagine this, Islam says that it is right. Judaism says that it is right also. Soon, fight occurs. Simple logic, right?

So, the question remains. How do people deal with the exclusivity of the truth claim that Christianity throws at them?

1. They hope it away.
What does this mean?
It simply means that the people hope that the religion will just thin out as the technology flourish in our secular society. However, that belief is ultimately false because in the reality, religion has been thriving all over the place alongside with secularism and technological advancement. Thus, it doesn't work to just hope that it will go away one day. You just got to learn to deal with religion and can't hope it will die out sooner or later.

Conclusion, hoping it away doesn't work.

2. They outlaw/suppress it.
This doesn't work too. Foe example, China kicks out all the western missionaries but Christianity continues to grow. The reason for this is that, by kicking out the western missionaries, the Chinese government is actually making the religion even more indigenous. So now, it becomes Chinese Christianity, untainted by western culture. It does not work to suppress the religion because it only makes the religion purer and stronger.

3. They explain it away.
A lot of people tend to do this. They try to explain things off but it doesn't work too. One of the reasons that most scientists will give is that the religion is part of the natural selection in which the ancestor takes the belief of God, chooses it, and that trait is passed on to the newer generation. It is not because you believe in a God, but it is because you are hardwired to believe in God since that belief helps your ancestor survives in the past. To bring this point further, scientist claims the existence of belief forming faculty in our mind that tells us religions make sense to us and that the belief forming faculty is there to help you survive. Thus, you should not believe in your belief forming faculty because it is unreliable.

Question.
If you cannot believe what your belief forming faculty is telling you about religion, how can you trust or believe your belief forming faculty to tell you the right thing about evolution?

4. They argue it away
Normally, people get questions like this:
How dare you say that your religion is true?
The problem like this exists again, due to the exclusive truth that every religion holds. For example, bible clearly says that Jesus is the only way to God.

The following are some of the common points for arguing against Christianity
I. All religion are equally right.
This is impossible because every other religions say that "I am a prophet coming to you to show you the way to find God" except Christianity.

I do like the doctrine of Jesus Christ but I like the teachings only.
That claim simply means you have not read the bible at all. He claims that he is God and that statement is everywhere. How could you believe all that he says except the part where he claims he is God when that is the statement that gets repeated over and over again? If Jesus is indeed that God who comes to find His people, then Christianity has to be the superior religion here.
In conclusion, Christianity can only be superior or inferior to other religions. There is no way of saying that all religions are the same

II You are all equally wrong.
This claim asserts that all religions are wrong because they all say that they have truth but they don't have. The most elegant example that they come out with is the story of the blind men with the elephant. One holds the tusk and thinks that elephant looks like a tusk. Another holds the tail and thinks that elephant are small and flexible. That's the analogy to the current religions. In short, they are all blind.

The problem with that is that the whole point of the story is overlooked. The story is told from a man who can see. Without a man who can see the whole picture, how could you know that the blind people see different parts of the elephant? How could you know if you were blind too? Therefore, the only way to see it is that you can see. So there cannot be all false religions.

What about people who say this:
"No religion is true. You are dogmatic. You are arrogant. What are you trying to do to me? Evangelize? Trying to convert me"
For these people who think that Christians are arrogant and are trying to push their beliefs on others, what are they doing? They are doing the same thing too. So Christianity cannot impose their beliefs on others but others can impose secularity on Christians? How awful. When people say that you are pushing their morality/beliefs on them, it's the same as saying they are pushing their morality/beliefs on us too. If you say don't evangelize me, you are evangelizing me. So who is more narrow-minded here? Ultimately, it is fine to make exclusive truth because everyone makes them.

What is narrowness?
- attitude toward other people who don't share your belief
- if you make jokes of them, you are narrow yourself. You are fundamentalist yourself.

So there we go, it doesn't work.

II Ok, you love your view but you need to keep it private.
To illustrate this, take our modern day. When you argue for public policy, you never use a religious reason. You must always use secular reasonings. Why? Because religion is conversation stopper since there are other people who don't share that view. So let just do things pragmatically and use practical solution. Put religious ideas behind the work.

No, that doesn't work.
It doesn't work because everyone argues. If you say that society must be this/that, there is no God, morality is relative, human has the right to determine right/wrong, can you prove all that? Even those claims are religious statements and more so, not everyone has access to that view point except for those who agree with you.

Example.
Should divorce be easy or hard?
Traditionalist: Individuals are less important than the family - so divorce should be hard
Modernist: Individuals are more important than family - so divorce should be easy.

How can you use practical justification when different people are rooted in different beliefs that are unprovable too?

Let me introduce 2 terms to you.
Privileged secularism - people can only use secular methods to build laws
Procedurral/ Pushy secularism - the state is not going to support any religious ground but everyone has the freedom to argue out of the religious ground.

US is taking the latter approach and you can see how privatization just doesn't work here. Religious belief will emerge no matter what.

So the suggestions to you guys are:

You need to recognize why we have big problems in our country. Take responsibility that you are the problem. Only then can you be the heart of the solution.

If you say, "I'm a good person because I perform" then you are feeling superior to others.
If you say, "I'm good because I'm religious" then you are looking down on other who are not religious.

Remember about the grace narrative. A salvation is accomplished in our weakness. You can never look up to your own performances to feel superior. You must be weak to accept God. If you have a little bit of grace, just a little bit, then you won't have the self-righteousness and pride that you feel superior to others.

Example.

In the past, the Graeco Roman believed that everyone had their own God. And what happened to the society? The weak and the poor were despised.
The Christian came and say that they only had one God. But all the poor are loved.

When trouble came, the Romans fled while the Christians remained to help out with the people there.
So how could Christians be narrow if they live the most inclusive possible lifestyle out of the most exclusive truth claim?

People are linking fundamentalists to terrorism now. NO. It all depends on your fundamentals. If you fundamentals is a God/man sacrifice for people, you will have the most inclusive life. An example of this will be the Armish people. They are fundamentalists too but can you imagine an Armish terrorist? No.

God becomes real and died on the forgiving people. That that to your heart and you will be the heart of the solution to the problems we have now.

---------------------

Later he holds a Q and A session and one of the questions that struck me is this:

Bible lacks details. Parts of the bible looks bias. How could you ask people to forgive other seventy times seven times? There should be justice, there should be vengeance.

Aristotle thinks that same sex marriage is bias.

So if you take either one of the position (same sex is bias of forgiveness is bias), that's because you are bias yourself too.

The bible HAS to be bias if it is the ultimate truth because it won't agree to a certain culture only.

Culture A might think that a is good while b is bad.
Culture B might think that b is good while a is bad.

It is easy to see how bible can never be truly be free from bias simply because everyone has his or her own different views. So if the bible is bias, that means it is good.

^___^

----

In His Service
Leen

Reasons for Faith

2008-03-05T21:35:00.002+08:00

Since Antiquity (before Christianity), man has been searching for meaning to life. What is life all about? How should we conduct ourselves? How should we live our lives?

Man has thought, reasoned and rationalized. “There must be some supernatural force beyond our mortal realm!” they concluded.

Indeed, this is what drove man to worship the many gods of Antiquity. Mythical gods spawned by the natural inclination of man to worship, to find a sense of security, to grasp onto something onto which they can tether their hopes.

But while they worship the many gods that they have created, why is it so hard for man to worship the one true God? Why is it so difficult for man to realize that He alone is their source of strength? Why is man so reluctant to place their hopes on Him, even though He loves him so much?

Probably man would say, “Oh, He hasn’t shown Himself to me” or “I can’t see Him nor feel Him, so there cannot be such a god.”

When man fell, the spirit part of man died due to sin. Hence, man lost his communication with God. He can no longer sense God. But even if man does not sense him, is it true that he cannot know if God is there?

I believe that man still can know that there is a God. This is because man has a soul, which incorporates his personality, mind, thoughts and emotions. Man’s logic has led him to the conclusion that there IS a God.

Each person has an innate ability to discern between right and wrong. Even without verbal commands or written laws, man is able to tell that crimes such as stealing and killing are wrong. In other words, there exist absolute moral values. If there were no God, where would these absolute moral values come from? Surely not from man, for who’s to say one’s values are superior to another’s if there were no God. Hence, logically there has to be a God who is above the rules of man and who has set absolute moral values in the hearts of man.

What purpose would man have on earth indeed if there were no God? What does man hope to achieve here on this earth? Riches? Fame? All these can be lost in an instant. None of these physical things last forever. Imagine now, if God did not exist, where would you expect your life to be headed? What is the purpose of life? Why are we even here in the first place? Life makes more sense if God is added to the equation.

More importantly, where would we be after death? Without God, do we really have an assurance of where we will be after death? Will we just be reduced to ashes and be forgotten? Will we just go with the wind? That would no doubt be meaningless.

Much of ancient philosophy has been devoted to searching for meaning to life after death.

Plato, one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived, believed that apart from this physical world we see, there is an eternal world of ideas. He believed that every being on earth is merely a “shadow” of its perfect or ideal form in the world of ideas. What this implies is that there is, somewhere beyond this physical realm, an eternity where everything is perfect in its form. And can we not compare this to the mind of the Creator? Plato also says that the human soul longs to return to this perfect world of ideas.

In fact, many world religions have god or gods as their centre of worship. In Islam, believers who are devoted to Allah will be rewarded in heaven. In Hinduism, believers who are free from the cycle of rebirth will merge with the Cosmic Being called Brahman. What this illustrates is that man has been in a constant search for the meaning of life after death, and it can only be found in God.

So, man’s logic has led him to the conclusion that there is a God. But which one is the real one?

If Christianity were true, then the true centre of worship should be the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All other gods would effectively be false. This is because truth is exclusive. No two contradictory things can be true at the same time. For example, Christianity asserts that there is only One God who is above heaven and earth (monotheism) while Hinduism asserts that the Cosmic Being is in all creation (pantheism). The two cannot be true at the same time. There can only be ONE truth.

Is there any basis for Christ being the way, the truth and the life?

Yes, there certainly is. God has spoken to man through His Word, where He has revealed Himself as a loving God, full of grace and mercy. He has revealed His plans for mankind’s redemption and gave His reassurance of salvation to those who believe in Him.

Though many have tried to refute the Word of God by claiming technical and doctrinal errors or contradictions, they have failed in their bitter endeavour to discount it as mere fables or manmade stories. In fact, so many attacks have been made by scholars from other religions, atheists and agnostics on Christianity in recent years, yet it has withstood them all, prevailing against scrutiny and standing up to close examination.

Hence, dear brothers and sisters, there is no doubt that the Lord is the only true God, our Maker and our Judge. He deserves our wholehearted worship and our deepest reverence and fear. But most of all, He deserves our unconditional love because He first loved us.

Therefore, hold on to the faith that you have. Persevere and you shall be given the crown of life! Amen.

In His service,

Brian Chee

CA 28/2 Report- "Heavenly Chatroom"

2008-03-04T14:56:00.007+08:00

After almost 2 weeks of preparation, once again, another CA was held successfully, praise the Lord!!! The main theme for this CA was “ Prayer” or just like what is stated on the fliers “Heavenly Chatroom”.

At about 5.30pm, just right after the test for the ALM student that day, the whole worship team departed from INTEC. They went to NLRC earlier in order to practice for the last time before the real worship began. As usual, people started to wait for the transport at the bus-stop in INTEC, Cemara-Akasia, Cendana at about 6pm. Basically, the transportation that day was a smooth one thanks to Amanda and Steffie and all those who were fetching all the people there.
CA started at about 7.30pm. The emcees of the day were Samuel and Jia Jeng.

Basically, people who attended CA this time were lesser compare to the previous one due to the exams for the juniors and trial exams for the seniors. However, all this didn’t stop God from filling the whole sanctuary with His presence. As you can see, the peace and the joy of the Lord still be upon everyone who attend.

Normally, CA began with the ice-breaker. But this time, CA started off with worship. Andersen was the worship leader.

King Of Majesty

You know that,

I love You,

You know that,

I want to know You so much more,

More than I have before

These words are,

From my heart,

These words are,

Not made up,

I will live for You,

I am devoted to You,

Pre-Chorus:

King of Majesty

I have one desire

Just to be with You my Lord,

Chorus:

Jesus You are the Saviour of my soul

And forever and ever I'll give my praises to You,

Jesus You are the Saviour of my soul

And forever and ever I'll give my praises to You,

Bridge:

Jesus You are the Saviour of my soul(echo)

And forever and ever I'll give my praises to You(echo)

My Redeemer Lives

I know He rescued my soul

His blood has covered my sin

I believe I believe

My shame His taken away

My pain is healed in His name

I believe I believe

I'll raise a banner

'Cause my Lord has conquered the grave

My Redeemer Lives

You Lift my burdens

I'll rise with You

I'm dancing on this mountain top

to see your kingdom come

Jesus Lover of My Soul

Bridge:

Worship You, my God,

Until the very end.

Jesus,

lover of my soul

Jesus,

I will never let You go

You've taken me from the miry clay

You've set my feet upon the rock

And now I know

I love you,

I need You

Though my world may fall

I'll never let You go

My Savior,

my closest Friend,

I will worship You until the very end

Everytime I Pray

i will come to You in prayer

i will seek Your face

i will stand between the gap

there will i intercede

for every time i pray

i move the hand of God

my prayer does the things

my hands cannot do

for every time i pray

the mountains are removed

the paths are made straight

and nations will turn to You

i am weak and helpless, God

You my strength shall be

guide me with Your gracious hand

there will my victory be

Up next, is the ice-breaker. Shalisha was leading the ice-breaker. We were divided into 5 group, each group was given an item to act out in order for others to guess what is it. Here are some randomly picked photos.

The winning team, a guy standing in front meowing, and the rest standing behind singing, and the answer is “Elvis Presley” ?!

The night continued with Bro. Chun Chung’s short message on prayer. His message began with a short video clip about Psalm 23. He mentioned that David, to our surprise, was actually praying with his eyes opened. When David prayed, he was looking at the nature, the mountain, and the sea. With his eyes opened while praying, he actually sees God as a shepherd.

Psalm 23:1, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

Through prayer, you can respond to God in any moment of your life. You still can pray even when your eyes still opened wide. Seeing what is around us, and respond to God. It’s a way for us to communicate with our Heavenly Father.

Later, all of us were divided into groups again to pray. Each and everyone in the group take turns to pray. After that, the prayer coordinator, Eliza, briefed about the WSW (World Student Week).

That night ended with the refreshment prepared by Shalisha, Xin Yun and Qian Ru. Really thanks a lot for their effort. The refreshment was nice. Lychee juice with sandwiches and some round round thingy (I’m not so sure what is that called, but I think I tasted kaya inside that round round thing, nice:p)

The 3rd CA of the year has finally come to an end. Everything went on so smoothly in the midst of the presence of the Lord. It was a great and enjoyable night. Once again, praise the Lord for His blessing throughout the night.

-Bry@n

History in the Making

2008-03-02T18:50:00.003+08:00

How CA came into existence in my world...

Part 1- At AUSMAT Cafe
Anna: (in Mandarin) Amy, want to go CA?
Amy: (in very broken Mandarin) Huh? What’s that?
Anna: Don’t know. Campus Alive, some Christian gathering I think. Joshua invited me to go.
(Along comes Joshua, blur as usual)
Anna: Joshua! Can you explain more about CA to us?
Joshua: Er....it is our Christian fellowship in INTEC. Er...wait ha. I’ll ask him to explain to you (turns around and talks to a guy half eating)
(Guy half eating stands up half chewing his unfinished rice about to open his mouth)
Amy: Hie, “him” *laughs at lame joke*
Jim: Huh? How did you know my name?
Amy: Huh? What name? Your name is really Him? Finish chewing your food first.
Jim: (finished chewing food) Huh? Never mind. Never mind. Anyonghasaeyo. That’s most probably the only thing I know how to say in Korean. Hie. I’m Jim from the AUSMAT Programme. CA stands for Campus Alive. It is where we gather once every two weeks to worship and have fellowship with God’s people. Do come. It is very nice.
Amy: Oh ok.....

Part 2- During ICS Week
Eugene: Join CATS!
Amy: Ah....what do you guys do?
(Eugene explains. After finishing, he pauses)
Eugene: Ah, I see you are wearing a cross. Christian?
Amy: Uh-huh
Eugene: Do come to CA tomorrow. It is our Christian Fellowship. It’s going to be fun! It’s my last CA though. *frowns*
Amy: Oh......

I came to INTEC, as a believer who was losing her faith. Question, doubts, fear haunted my thoughts day and night. Lost and not connected to a church at that time, inevitably, I backslid. Fortunately, thank God, He sent people to tell me about CA. It was there that God chose to bless my life with people who got me back on track. People who inspired me when I looked at their faith. Joash, Erin, Jim, Calvin..... Back then I could barely comprehend how did they manage to get such faith, but as I continue my walk with Jesus and as He ministers through CA to me, I learnt. Slow but steady. Baby steps.

This year, God used CA as a platform again to launch me further into my Christian life! This time, discipleship. Truly, one cannot really experience Him fully until they start to serve. Last year, Yen Mii asked me whether I wanted to be in the committee. I contemplated, not knowing what I can actually contribute. Somehow, I was moved to take up the offer. So, I did. And from then on, I was made game master. A job I enjoyed. When I first got it, as usual, I wondered was I up to it. A lot of what ifs came up. But God remained faithful. When the first CA came about and I did the games, I knew, it was a job God tailor-made for me.

First CA of the year was a success. There were 3 generations of Intecians gathered together to kick off the year. I was nerve wrecked. Super seniors, seniors and juniors. But, God’s presence was strong and we went home victorious, honouring Him. The second CA was simply a blast! Elder Kien Yiak shared about loneliness, and taught us how to wait upon God, something which I felt helped further equip us as students who will further their studies in a foreign land.

I prayed hard for an unforgettable CA when it struck me that CA is something that I will never forget. It was where Jesus set my feet on solid ground. He replanted the seed that fell on the rocks on good soil. That night, i truly understood why Eugene had a frown on his face when he told me about his last CA, for now I will tell you with a frown that 13/02/2008 CA was my last. Though short lived, being game master has taught me the concept committing something greater than myself to Him first before I do anything.

CA Committee before 2007, thank you for making CA happen and keeping it Alive. CA Committee 2007, thank you for introducing me to CA and putting me into place. CA Committee 2008, thank you for making me part of the team, keep up the GREAT work and continue to burn for Jesus! CA Committee to come, keep the fire BURNING! We would never know how many lives has been, is being and will be touched through CA, only God knows, and I’m here as one of the many testimonies. Continue to make CA a miracle and blessing for the many to come.

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

*CHEERS*

-Amy-

Making a difference in Malaysia

2008-02-28T08:20:00.001+08:00

On the 12^th of October, a group of us from IMU set off to Peaceheaven for the first ever Professionals of Tomorrow (POTs) conference. I guess for me, the major attraction POTs held for me were the exposition talks on the book of Nehemiah (and moreover by Bishop Hwa Yung at that).

It was definitely the most memorable camp I’ve ever gone for, because for the first time, it wasn’t just a time of fellowship and sermons, we were also confronted with very real issues and challenges of being a future professional in Malaysia .

What lingered on my mind was the issue of missing Christian voices in Malaysia, as evidenced by the report that the majority of citizens who emigrate are Christians, also of the fifty years of Islamization and how we’re being increasingly pushed aside, and the fact that government service is shunned by most Christians (And yet, it is in the government sector that our voices are needed the most). They are all very hard truths. Not forgetting the issue of missing grace, where love is lacking in race relations in Malaysia , when we know that Jesus came for them too, just as He came for you and me.

Many questions abound: Will we write off the situation here in Malaysia as being hopeless and pack our bags and leave? (Many would say it’s the sensible thing to do) Will we keep on being silent, when we see injustice and inequality? Will we shun government service, because we’ll so obviously be discriminated against (and what more the low pay)? Will we choose to be absent, or present in restoration in Malaysia ? Never before had I realized the gravity of the need for Christian presence in Malaysia . If there’s one thing to be taken home from POTs, it’s that one thing – that God has placed us in Malaysia for a reason.

I remember vividly singing Negaraku in POTs, and also the contrast with how I sang Negaraku in secondary school. A song that never used to make any sense (land where my blood is spilt??) suddenly made total sense to me.

My country, land where my blood was spilt,
The people live united and in progress,
Blessings of happiness God grants,
Our King reigns in peace.
Blessings of happiness God grants,
Our King reigns in peace.

Yes, I believe that one day it will be the blood of Christians (because I believe revival=persecution ) and I do want to see my King (Jesus) reign in the hearts of all people. Well, perhaps I will not be the one to spill my blood, but by the sweat of my brow I’ll choose to be present in restoration, to claim this land and its people for my King.

Are we facing a task that seems too big? Learning from Nehemiah, our God is BIGGER still. We need a fresh understanding of His GREATNESS. Also, we must learn to fight our battles incrementally, not always looking for quick fixes and giving up when we don’t see things coming to pass. Will Malaysia be changed in a day? No, but it would not happen at all, if not for certain individuals who chose to make a difference in Malaysia, and still continue making a difference, no matter how small, till this very day.

With that said, coming back from the conference, I took back with me more than just the heart of Nehemiah. I took back the hearts of Christian professionals who went before us, men and women who had ran the good race and fought the good fight. Can you hear the call to join them? I do.

Linda Chew @ Melbourne, ex-ALM4

Who Is A Good Leader?

2008-02-27T15:59:00.002+08:00

Candidate A

Name: Sandra
She's a international student in Yale University from Maldives and she holds position in the Model United Nations as well as the Honors Chemistry Society. She describes herself as a hardworking person and never sleeps until she gets things done. She is known among her friends as the Alpha Female because of her intelligence and her all-roundedness. She has a strong sense of justice, which is explained by her upbringing as a child to a police officer. However, she also admits that it is sometimes hard for her to identify with others who are not like her. She also mentions how she lacks in people-skills because she sometimes find it hard to engage friendly talks with people who are not similar to her.

Candidate B

Name: Ben
Ben is a very outgoing guy. He is the guy whom everyone wants to be friend with. He always has a way with people and to make people laugh. People also generally go to him when they have problems. Even though he will normally approach these people with lots of jokes, he doesn't exactly provide much constructive criticism and advices to his friends. He is quick in his thinking, doesn't engage long in a thought, and proceeds with things rapidly. He is also strong physically and he had won 2 intramurals championships in swimming for the past 2 years of his college life. He is going to graduate with a bachelor's degree from a California State University with double major in Computer Science and Social Science. His ultimate goal in life is to be a successful programmer in a secular organizations and spending his leisure time doing some charity works.

Candidate C

Name: Kylara
Kylara is a graduate student in University of Minnesota. She graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor degree in Public Policy. She is a bookworm and she is constantly seen with a book in her hand. She likes to hang out with people who share the same interest as she does. She is always seen in the library and she considers herself to be a quite introvert person. However, she is good at solving math problems and thus, people always come to her in the library and ask for help with their problem sets. She is involved in the Student Government as a treasurer because she prefers to work alone and to deal with the money instead of having to talk a lot. She is actively engaged in the online community, having served at some forums and other online communities. She doesn't talk much but when she does talk, her words matter and count.

Candidate D

Name: Adam
Adam is a very independent guy. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in mathematics. Adam is a multi-talented guy with wide range of interest. He was a member of the Wind Esemble Team in Dartmouth; he is also the editor for the school magazine. Apart from that, he becomes a Resident Assistant to his House and has engaged in various non-profit charity works before. He is a Caucasian with a strong "Southern" background to himself. He, however claims to not be racist in any sense and that he is friends to everyone without discriminating their color and creed. He is generally a like-able person and people seem to get along well with him. He claims that his main weakness is the inability to cope with excess pressure. That is one of the reasons he gets involved in music: to release some stress.

Candidate E

Name: John
John is a social worker in World Vision headquarter in New York. He does not have any college degrees and he stops schooling since he was 14. He had to help support his family by working part-time as a restaurant waiter and as a bartender at night. He joins World Vision because he understands that there are a lot of people who are probably more unfortunate that he is and thus, he wants to help them. His effort however doesn't bring much consistent income to his family and because of that, his family are constantly relying on government's money to survive on a monthly basis. He does think about going back to college "to get some papers" but he is not sure when he will have enough money to do so.

So, we have 5 person and imagine that they land on an island with no possibility of being saved by any planes whatsoever. Who will you elect as the leader of this group? Why?

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Perhaps by now, you are scrolling up and down and compare the strength/weakness of each candidates. Perhaps you already have a candidate at the back of your mind. Who is it going to be? The math major? The illiterate social worker? Or the Alpha Female?

Whichever your choice is, you must have thought it through rationally and you must have weighed his/her strengths/weaknesses against other candidates.

All right.
To find the answer to this question, let's look at the scripture.

Luke 5

The Calling of the First Disciples

1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,^[a]with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down^[b] the nets for a catch."

5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

---

In the scriptures, Simon was trying to catch some fish all night long but to no avail. When Jesus came and told him to put down his net into the deep water, he obeyed because he had tried everything else and nothing worked. His faith landed him with a heavy caught so heavy that he needed two boats and both boats began to sink. After that, he was so shameful to face Jesus but Jesus reassured him and made him the fisher of men.

The moral of the story?
Peter is faithful to Jesus (by obeying His command to let the net down to the deep water)
Peter is available to Jesus (He was there in the water)
Peter is teachable. (he becomes the fisher of men after Jesus told him to not be afraid)

The point of me going through all these things is to highlight one thing. Jesus doesn't see how many As you have. He doesn't see if you are an introvert or an extrovert. A good leader, like Peter, should just be faithful, available, and teachable.

We, as human being, are always quick to notice out people's weakness. That's what the exercise above was all about. You might have said, "Hmm... Sandra doesn't seem like a good leader because ...." We only fix out eyes on people's fault but God just wants someone who is faithful, available, and teachable.

The real thing is that, all the candidates above can be good leaders if we give them a chance. It is us, people who love to judge others by their strength and weakness, that complicates things.

I'll ask again, who is a good leader? Still having a preference to a certain candidate or have you come to accept that these people are good leaders if they are F.A.T. ?

In His service,
Leen

Which Type of Leader Are You?

2008-02-27T15:39:00.002+08:00

So I went to this church conference/convention/retreat called Winterfest. Winter + Festivel = Winterfest I suppose??

Anyway, I learned a lot and I think that best way for me to remember them is to jot them down before I forget about them. So here it is.

Emerging Leadership.

Which kind of leader are you?

Type 1 : Red Bull leader
This type of leader drinks Red Bull everyday. One Red Bull is enough to keep you going for one day, maybe two for some who are extra-sensitive to glucose and caffeine. Once the high/strength/stamina wears off, he goes and get another drink and move on. This type of leader has finite amount of energy and stamina in him.

For instance, leader A has 1000 calories from one Red Bull and he decides to pour out 300 calories to one brother, another 300 to another sister, and another 300 to another friend of his. Ooops, now he only has 100 calories of energy left in him. That lack of energy is going to drive him crazy and hungry for more. So he goes and take more Red Bull and this vicious cycle never ends. Besides, when he gives to people, he will be like, "Hey, I only have 1000 calories in me and I'm giving you 1/3 of them. Treasure them well." Wait?! He gets the energy from the Red Bull; it is not even his own energy.

To tie it to present day leadership, this is the type of leader that goes to church every week in order to get refreshed. He then uses up all his spiritual energy during the weekdays and go back and be filled again. He is not going to feel full ever because he has to use them all the time. Not only that, a side effect might emerge from this bad habit; that is he might feel that he doesn't even receive enough from God to share anything with anyone.

Not only that, a Red Bull leader will incline to leading his people to himself instead of leading them to Christ. So we have this never-going-to-be-pleased leader who is constantly trying to uphold his own position desperately by trying to point people to him and not God.

This is not a good example of a leader.

Here's another type of leader that we should consider.
Type B: Overflow Leader

This type of leader goes to a fountain and drink as much water as he can. He drinks so much that he cannot contain it anymore. So he uses his water bottle/canteen/tumbler/Tupperware/whatever you call it and fill up all the bottles and distribute them to other people. In return, other people feel refreshed and he feels refreshed too. He can never get enough of his resources because the water is always overflowing in the fountain and his subordinates never feel thirsty too because they in return, benefit from the fountain as well. Eventually, the leader, being a good leader, points the people to the fountain because obviously, that's the source of the energy. The leader will not keep pointing that he is the source of the water because after a while, he will want people to get to the source of the water and drink from the fountain themselves, instead of him having to fill up their water bottles every single time. By leading them to the fountain, he does himself a great deal of help and he does the people a great deal of help too. He releases some of the pressure of his shoulder, he leads people to the original source of water, and he let people enjoy the overflowing water that he has been enjoying all this while.

I'm pretty sure that you have a good idea of what this story means. A good leader should be the one who is constantly renewed in God, constantly having a relationship with God, having revelations from God, that everything overflows. The God in him just shines through and people get drawn to him automatically. Then he will have this abundance of spiritual experiences to share, lessons to teach, and so on. Not only that, he will ultimately lead the people to Christ and lead the followers to be leaders themselves too.

Now that's a good leader.

Should We Break Our Bonds?

2008-02-25T10:22:00.000+08:00

I'm posting this on behalf of our beloved Keropok Lekor.

"Without appearing dogmatic, I feel that christian JPA scholars should not break their bond with the Public Service Department aka the Government aka the People.

It is because honourable people honour their agreements.

As Christians, we reflect Godly values. Our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a God of faithfulness who never breaks His covenant with His people. The basis of the Christian faith is a relationship between men and God, based on trust in what He has promised through Jesus Christ forever.

Our agreement with the nation thus should be regarded as a sacred agreement between us and the people, and should be honoured at all costs. Failure to do so especially due to selfish reasons is a shameful act that does not reflect godliness. However I am aware that there are instances where situations do not allow one to fulfill one's obligation, but that should not be the norm.

While honouring the agreement means that we may have to forgo better career or educational prospects in the future, it is a reasonable price to pay for what we have chosen at the first place. Jesus said that one should count the cost before committing to anything (Luke 14:28). Jesus also said that we should let our yes be yes and no be no (Matt 5:37).

Committing ourselves in a public funded scholarship-bond (regardless of whether we can afford to repay) is more than just a financial assistance or prestige thingy.

It is a commitment to honour the aspiration of the scholarship giver and the whole nation, and the recipients should not only be accountable to the funder, but ultimately the Supreme Giver of all blessings.

Quoting our beloved JPA officers, "Kalau tak balik Malaysia dan bayar balik, tak berkat hidup meskipun sekaya mana sekalipun"

Next CA: Heavenly Chatroom

2008-02-23T09:47:00.005+08:00

Just a reminder...... the next CA will be held on the 28th February. We will also be celebrating World Student's Week.. For those who are having exam this week, be well prepared and may God grant us wisdom and knowledge for these tests ;> so, see you there......

A reminder from our dear Brian

2008-02-19T21:04:00.001+08:00

Dear fellow brothers and sisters,

It’s sad that I can’t be with you guys tonight in this wonderful service. But I just want to give you guys a short message of encouragement. The Lord has been gracious to me. So far, I’m almost done with my preparations to fly to Australia.

But I just want to share this with you guys. Last Sunday, I went to a service at one of the Baptist mission centres in Sandakan. Someone said it was an English service so I went ahead to check it out. But, when I got there, I discovered that the service was conducted in Hakka, lucky me. As the congregation was praying, I was thinking, “Oh no, how la this time. I’m gonna miss the sermon.” But fortunately, the Lord was gracious. Despite my limited knowledge in Hakka, I could understand the overall meaning of what the pastor was saying although during the singing I had to pretend I could read Chinese. Lol.

The service was refreshing as it reminded me that God equips us with all that is necessary to serve Him even though we are at a loss about how we should carry out what He wants us to do. I’m just going to share a bit on what the pastor said as I don’t want to take too much of your time.

The verses for the sermon were taken from Proverbs 22:17-21. You guys can check back on that when you go back home. Mainly, the sermon was about sharing the Word of God, which is a very important part of our Christian lives.

Proverbs 22:17 tells us that we should first equip ourselves with wisdom and understanding. In order to do that, we must have three attitudes of seeking wisdom – listen carefully to the sayings of the wise or the word of God, accept what is being said and understand the Word.

Proverbs 22:18 – 19 tells us that we should feed our spiritual lives with the word of God. We must keep the Word of God in our hearts and set our hearts to the events of the church. That is, as Pastor David said in his previous sermon, we should look after God’s interests. We shouldn’t merely glance through the word of God but rather savour it and digest it slowly so that we obtain the nourishments from it.

Finally, Proverbs 22:20 – 21 tells us to teach or share the Word of God. We must apply the Word of God in our lives such that others can see the changes in us. We should be grounded firmly in the truth so that we do not fall prey to those who distort the truth. The way we live our lives is a powerful testimony of God’s goodness and mercy.

But in sharing the Word of God, remember one thing. God equips each and every one of us for His good works. We should rely on the wisdom of God and not the wisdom of man. In my stay in Melbourne, I’ve been given the privilege to become roommates with a non-Christian friend of mine. Do pray that God will touch His heart as I share with Him the goodness of God. Let’s win one more soul for God!

I pray that CA will continue to flourish under the new committee by the grace of God. May God continue to bless you abundantly as you serve and seek the Lord.

Love,
Brian

God's Valentines...

2008-02-19T20:30:00.010+08:00

Siew Fong:
"Same as others that is the first worship and also the last worship for me. Thank you for the Lord as giving me this chance and it will be a memorable CA for me no matter when will I be in the future. Beside, it gave the feeling of family, a big and united family. I feel the love of God from there"

Amy:
"God made it the best CA ever!"

Anna:
"That is my first worship and also the last worship for me in CA. The worship is great, I don't know how to describe it. When I'm in the worship, I have the feeling as David said,"I will praise God's name in song ans glorify Him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD!"

"For He will order His angels to protect you wherever you go."
-Psalm 91:11

Campus Alive

@LIVE IN C@!

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Update!

The Walls Between Us - Next CA!

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The Fire Within

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When You Fall In Love

Sorry!

When You Fall In Love - 12 February 2009

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CAN YOU HEAR ME?

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ASK and you shall be Answered

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CA, I'm back!

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Unwrap your gift

While God is preparing a place for you, He might just be preparing you for that place as well!

Next CA-Unwrap Yout Gift 11/8/2008 (Monday)

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Heart of Worship 31st July 2007

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Through Stormy Times

First Girls Cell Group*HOY, FINISH IT LAH!*

Through Stormy Times - 17th July 2008

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CA t-shirt

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Can Gua...

A Walk To Remember

Next CA- 10th April 2008

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Broken Watch

Die and Rise

Next CA - 20th March 2008

The Reason For God

Reasons for Faith

CA 28/2 Report- "Heavenly Chatroom"

History in the Making

Making a difference in Malaysia

Who Is A Good Leader?

Luke 5

The Calling of the First Disciples

Which Type of Leader Are You?

Should We Break Our Bonds?

Next CA: Heavenly Chatroom

A reminder from our dear Brian

God's Valentines...

First Girls Cell GroupHOY, FINISH IT LAH!