What CA is all about...

a special presentation by our very own jim gor gor...

From The Inside Out

"From the Inside Out" - Hillsong United (United We Stand)

A thousand times I've failed
Still Your mercy remains And should I stumble again
I'm caught in Your grace
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

Your will above all else
My purpose remains
The art of losing myself
In bringing You praise
Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart and my soul
Lord I give You control
Consume me from the inside out
Lord let justice and praise
Become my embrace
To love you from the inside out

Everlasting
Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart
Is to bring You praise
From the inside out
Lord my soul cries out

Seriously God, let me praise you from the inside out, not from my success, not from my wealth. Let me love you just from my heart. When everything else fails, let me still continue loving You.

------
Wait, this is supposed to be a CA blog, not my blog. O__o Oops. =P It is still a wonderful song though.


Still loving Him,
Leen

Latest report on previous CA...

Once again on a normal Thursday evening, Campus Alive kicked in with awesome joy and fun. As usual, many faithful CA attendees plus some new faces came and filled the sanctuary. It was evident that all were anxiously anticipating something wonderful to happen that night. Our dear MC’s for this CA were ALG’s Timothy and Korean Amy!

This time, the CA service was conducted mainly by our faithful juniors. Surely their efforts, hard work and most of all their willing hearts to serve God had brought back tremendous blessings to us. The theme of this CA is “to give or to receive?” and through this theme, the juniors came out with a creative ‘game’ that portrayed the action of giving, and the joy it brings (sort of…=P). Each was asked earlier this week to purchase a gift ranging from RM 2 to 10, wrap it up nicely and bring it on Thursday for CA’s first ever gift exchange session as ice breakers and games. Before the session started, almost everyone out of curiosity glanced through the packages on each person’s hand. Some were big, some were small, some were nicely wrapped and yet some looked like packed ‘murtabaks’ and ‘roti-johns’. Worse still, some did not bother to even wrap their presents! To start off the gift exchange session, the people were divided into two large groups by numbering. This however caused much confusion to the point that the division was not symmetrical i.e. not balanced. This then propelled our coordinator Yen Mee to declare us ‘failures in Mathematics’ (shame to all of us scholars!!). As things got noisy and confusing, Samuel stepped in to help control the crowd and things slowly got under control. To cut the story short, the members of the first group were given two pieces of paper each where on one piece they were asked to write down their full name. After collecting the papers with the names, Yen Mee and Samuel distributed them to the second group, and members of the second group with the papers were asked to find the person stated on their respective paper. After finding their respective partner, each group of two were supposed to draw the face of their partner on the piece on paper they have on their hands and then exchange gifts. It was a time of tremendous fun and laughter as we discover and admire the drawing skills of our respective partner, and how we really look like physically in the eyes of others! About the gifts, well, some were disappointing, but as many would say, ‘it is the thought that counts!”.

Next on the line was of course worship, lead by ALG junior Mr. Anderson *feigns ‘The Matrix’ style* (hehe…). Worship was fantastic, as one of the worship coordinators, I am truly proud that the team worshiped God with all their hearts although some were in their midst of examination. Always being in the worship team, it is a great joy this time to take a break and join the others in awesome worship. Usually in the worship team, I would be more aware to judge on how well the music went, spotting mistakes and inaccuracies here and there. But when I am down there, these things does not seem to matter anymore, but only the sincere hearts of the people longing for the presence of our God is of top most priority. Kudos worship team! You did great! In addition, the songs chosen really reflected the proceeding message about giving to God very well. Songs like ‘Till I see you’, ‘I Stand’ and ‘This is my desire’ impacted many of us to willingly surrender our lives wholly to the Lord, as a ‘gift’, service and devotion. Halleluljah!

“I will live to love you, I will live to bring you praise, I will live a child in awe of you…”

“What could I say? What could I do? But offer this heart of God, completely unto you…”

“Lord I give you my heart, I give you my soul, I live for you alone!”

As worship was about to end, we stayed in a prayerful attitude and continued to worship God. We searched our hearts, surrendering all areas of our lives of Him. Then came an emotional time where some of us who have friends and family in sickness knelt down before the Lord in prayer. We surrendered those people we love who are sick into the loving hands of Jesus and prayed for them. Some poured out their hearts in tears, some laid hands on one another and some hugged with comfort and love. It was truly a time of comfort and assurance that God is in control in all situations of our lives. We then stand up in faith and continued to worship and participate in offering.

For the word of God, Pastor Joshua Lee Chin Ban of NLRC shared to us a short yet powerful and straightforward message about ‘The Art of Giving to the Lord’. He based his sermon on 1 Chronicles 29, about how King David though very old still generously gave unto the Lord to build God’s temple. Referring to the wonderful generosity of King David, pastor revealed to us that there is always great joy in giving, both to the giver and the given. We give to others because we want to bless others, and we give cheerfully to God because we LOVE the Lord. In his sermon, pastor gave us 8 points on giving unto the Lord. (1) Give joyfully and freely (2) God fills time and space (3) Everything is God’s (4) God is the Real King (5) God is Rich (6) God is Generous (7) A million reason to thank God (8) God gives us ability [to give].

Finally, refreshments on the fifth floor were on as usual! We had delicious ‘pau’s with different types of filling (no ‘char siew’ though…*sad*) accompanied by delicious mango juice and guess what, ICE CREAM! *fuiyoh* Thanks to aunty Phoebe! (I did not realize one of the flavors was DURIAN! Not until I smelled my breath!). As always, the room was filled with the loud chit-chatting fellowship of scholars. It was a little hectic though at the sink where everyone was queuing up, not for more food but to wash their cups! Praise God! Truly all of us had a great time of fellowship and sharing. Then came the siren by Joash (as always…), “REFRESHMENT OVER IN 5 MINUTES!!”, or “ALL CENDANA GUYS DOWN NOW! NOW!!” (over and over again…).

Well, though tired, CA has and will always be something to look forward to. Thank you so much to everyone who came! All glory to God! AMEN!!

GOD BLESS!

Prepared by fellow CA dude,

CALVIN LIM FUNG CHYE

The greatest joy is in giving...

Sometimes pictures paints thousands of words... so read on... it's going to be a lot of words... its a story bout a bunch of ppl, who wanted to bless other ppl because they themselves hav been blessed so much til they overflowed...

The ice breakers ^^

The korean lecturer who so faithfully came for 2 weeks...

The juniors...

Worship was awesome!!! nuf said...

2 beautiful mcees... haha

The greatest joy is in giving...

all glory to God, the master story teller... and the Author of our live stories


*all pics are not photoshopped(coz i still dunno how... hehe) and all taken in the most natural and candid condition... haha

serving the One and Only
pat

13/9/07 CA report... finally out!!!! hooray!!!!

Campus Alive

As usual, every fortnight, NLRC (New Life Restoration Center) will be crowded with Intec students. Why? It ‘s because that all of them are excited, excited to have fun as well as fellowship with God and also, not forgetting, with each other. As a senior in CA, I had seen many things and yes CA had changed. So, I arrived at NLRC, the earliest (hehe). I drove there actually. The musicians were supposed to go there first but the funny thing was, someone had actually forgotten to pick a musician up. (hm…I wonder who? Hint hint…what a joke la..) Anyway, to be more exact, I was the second one to arrive after the music team. I felt nice because I actually brought two non-christian friends along. The best is still to come.

Like any other CA, people will arrive, and have their dinner first at the food court situated just beneath the church. Again, we enjoyed it. Although simple, it’s nice (well, that’s what I think la, my tongue has very simple taste wan. So, anything also I enjoy.) Okay, so I had my dinner, went upstairs to church, sat down, and waited for the rest to come. In the process, I get to see the musicians practicing their worship songs. “One-two-three... “, the band members and play in unison. So nice to hear . As one of the worship coordinators of CA, I felt that this band is the most well mixed band. Why did I say that? Ya, you have a Korean on the piano, a French on the bass, ALM and Ausmat on the vocals and ALG on the drums. Very colourful right? Yes, indeed.

As I waited for the meeting to start, I chatted a little to my non-christian friends that I brought along. Did you know that they did? They actually took out their physic book and study. Oh gosh…must they do that. Then, kiasu’ism seeps into me, I also took out book to study but it was long after that that the rest of the crowd actually came to fill the place. Ok, time to stop studying and look around.

The place starts to get noisier and noisier. Guys and girls, mixing together, chatting, talking, chatting some more, “Really? Serious? You sure or not? “ were heard. “ Hahaha, hehehe, hohoho(sounds like santa) “ also got. I went round taking pictures but unfortunately, my camera punya battery died after just a mere 4 pictures. Sad. Ok, the place is now very very noisy. I got more noisy as my other friends walked in. I wound actually call them out loud from the other end of the room. Sometimes, I will go “LEON!!!!” waving my hand frantically.

Then, the masters of ceremony called the meeting to order. They were Ausmat juniors(cheers, Hidup Ausmat!!). Two nice looking young ladies. ( I noticed that quite recently, the meeting will be conducted by two MCs, Hm…) After and short, simple but nice prayer, the meeting jump start with the usual ice breakers. Although Eujeen had gone to the “Land of the Free, home of the brave” (Amarika), Erica and Samuel did a good job maintaining the legacy of CA ice breakers. Although conducted differently, both are equally interesting and F.U.N. The games goes like this:

a.Form two circles.

b.One circle will be inside the other circle.

c.The inner circle face outwards, the outer circle face inwards.

d.So, people will be facing each other right? Good. The one that they face are their partners.

e. Music will be played, the outer circle turns clockwise, and the inner circle, anti-clockwise.

f.When the music stops, you are to find your partner. The last pair to find their partner will be hehe, “punished”.

Ok, you got the game right? It was fun. Everyone laughed like crazy. The punishment? Eat lemon. Sour and juicy lemon. There were a few that actually managed to eat two lemons. That is cool .

After the ice breaker, it was time for worship. Worship was led by non other than Eunice, supported by a strong band of junior musicians. I personally had a time of great time worshipping God. The better part, my non-christian friends were worshipping together with us too. I felt happy. My friend even jumped to one of the praise songs.

Then, it was Ps. David’s turn to share with us. He shared about faithfulness, loyalty. The example that constantly gave was about being committed to your partner, as in boyfriend-girlfriend, husband and wife relationship. One vivid line that is still stuck in my head is “once you found one, you have to shut your eyes to others” which is entirely true. Hear hear!! The message shared by pastor was very powerful. In relation to that, we must also be committed to God, be loyal and of course, faithful to Him. Why? Because He is also faithful to us . Amen to that.

After the alter call, the meeting proceeded with the farewell of a brother of ours. He is Gareth, from the French programme. Although his stay here with us was very and considerably short, we had fun having him around. He had also served in the music team, twice, playing the bass. I still remember that I have to communicate with him in mandarin. I guess you guys know that my mandarin is a little rusty, as I was given the title as ¾ banana. Anyway, though difficult, I still managed to get my message across to Him. Who needs language when we are speaking music? (hahaha)

The crowd adjourned to the fifth floor for ‘makan’. Refreshment was good. If my memory serves me correctly, we had cream puff. That’s my personal favourite. Sadly, I only get to eat one because I have no time left. I went up to the fifth floor, took 3 creampuffs( all three on a plate), and slowly, one by one, people start taking it, thinking that I was serving them. Not long later, I was asked by Amy( Korean Junior), to fetch her Korean lecturer home. Yes, the lecturer, Mr. Kim joined us for CA. He had fun (that’s what he told me lah). Then, I ended up with only one cream puff. Thank God I had a chance to try it. I guess God wants me to learn not to be greedy.

Okay, time to go back. Curfew by our hostels. Everybody said their last goodbyes to each other. The usual, everybody managed to squeeze themselves into various vehicles. Vroom!! and off everyone went. I, on the other hand, dropped the Korean lecturer back to Intekma, a hotel. We had a good conversation with each other. I understand him and he understands me as well. Before we said goodbye, he taught me how to wish goodnite in Korean. I was honoured because, when I informed the Korean Juniors about this, they told me that Mr. Kim haven taught them how to do so yet. Some privilege I had. It goes like this, an nyeong hi chung uu sae yo. It means goodnight in Korean.

I reached my hostel at 11.30pm. I was tired but satisfied with everything that had happened in CA and I’m looking forward to the next one. Thank you. Kam sa hab ni da. (Thank you in Korean).

In His service,

JiM

Campus Alive

Report From The States

Just a little bit of story-telling before the long-awaited CA report actually comes out.

Report from United States:

2 days before I boarded a plane to US, I received 400 dollars voucher. Unable to use them up, I thought of ways to exchange vouchers for cash instead. Pat was kind enough to exchange 50 dollars. Thanks, Pat!!! 350 left. What to do? I went to the bookstore to look for people who would be kind enough to exchange voucher for money. Not known to me, I bumped into the bookstore's manager and he gave me 350 dollars for all my vouchers. Wow, God was already helping me even before I reach the States.

2 days after I reached the States, I lost my passport. I was "smart" enough to leave my passport in the bank and I didn't realize anything wrong until 3 days later. Thank God, the bank was honest enough to keep my passport and return it to me when I went to the bank a couple of days later.

The day I checked in to my dorm, I received 12 packets of stuff from Pastor Ha (my former pastor back in hometown). Those stuff are essential stuff for me in order to let me survive my time here in Chicago. I got comforters, bedsheets, pillows, lamps, pens, radio, subwoofer, mugs, cups, plates, shampoo, hangers, other stationeries, files, blank DVDs, a camera (2-megapixel), bath robe, lots of winter clothing, winter boots, and a lot more. Wonderful. God kept giving me stuff that I had to share with my roommate because I just couldn't use them all.

The following week, I took my fitness test and swimming test. I passed both of them successfully. Praise be to God. He saw me through despite me being doubtful of myself.

This is the second week I am in the States. God has just been so faithful to me and has blessed me with so many things. School starts tomorrow, and again, I believe He will guide me through my studies in the States.

Yep, that's a summary of my United States report. God is good and I'll make sure I keep that in mind all the time.

Shivering in the windy weather,
Leen

CA Service: Self-Control & Faithfulness

When you try to hit a golf ball from its tee, it takes full concentration and self-control. You cannot be panic or nervous. You cannot think negatively and you certainly need to have a strong self-control over your own swing. Too hard a swing might just send the ball off the fairway to the bunker or the rough. Too light a swing might end up in a bogey or even a double bogey.

When the ball is in the air, there is only faith that is left in you. You have no choice but to have faith that the ball will drop in a strategic location for you next swing.

That's exactly why I used a golfer image as my main stock for this week's CA. The theme is "Self-Control and Faithfulness". Do come to CA if you are free on that night or you want to learn more about self-control and faithfulness. Mark down your calender for CA and remember the pick-up times for your pick-up point.

See you there!

Ciao.
Leen