Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Highlife Fungus/101 Camp!
Camp! It excites me just to mention it! Honestly, words can't begin to describe the amazing work that God did at this camp; the powerful messages by the enthusiastic preacher Michael Raj,the breathtaking encounters with Him each day, and the strong friendship bonds that grew... that's just the tip of the iceberg! It's been one week now, since this amazing milestone in my life, so if you're ready...buckle up and brace yourselves ^_^v. (yes i'm dramatic, get over it. LOL xD)as some of you may know, this was my VERY FIRST fungus camp ever! Yes yes..so sad. I've been overseas in the Mediterranean, London (go Arsenal!), Queensland. *sigh. I've never experienced camp first hand! And trust me...after this camp...there's no place I'd rather be...than spending each day seeking and praising Him...building relationships and performing high school musical songs (randomly) in skits. LOL. =]
in the past, I've been to several church and kids camps - they were great experiences mind you, but for some reason..at this camp...i was less inclined to hold back, and was more able to give my all to Him.
I was looking forward to this camp, and was getting VERY excited and hyped up, (not hyper)... and all I wanted was to meet God, and to receive a touch from Him that i so yearned for. Praise God, I got so much more than that! So prior to camp, I asked God to really reveal Himself to me over camp, because at times, it felt as though I was miles away from Him. After the exam period, I had realised that barely any of my time I had given to Him, and this was something I really wanted to fix. Much stress, late nights and full schedules had wormed their way into my life, and I was often left distraught and alone. But just a few days before camp, when reading the bible, I came across a verse.
Psalm 46:1-3
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
So the day came. The second of july. Not a particularly warm or sunny day, but I was PUMPED! Although i finished packing at 1:30am. *Sigh. (I have no idea how i managed to squash everything in!) I invited a few friends from school, but luckily, at the very last minute, JON LEE decides to come along. Ahaha. Mister hair straightener himself xD I thank God for allowing Jon to come to camp, I believe God has begun to stir something up in his life and ignite a passion for Him! In the future, I just really hope that others will be more open into attending such life changing experiences like this, and I just give that all to Him.
Back to where we were. ^.^
We had quite an interesting bus ride there...from singing (over-sung) songs, to having the bus start smoking in the middle of nowhere!! But i spotted a double rainbow, and just reminded me of the promise God made so long ago. Nature is so beautiful...
Anyway...that night at praise and worship, I don't think I've ever seen our youth group go so crazy - jumping, screaming, singing and kneeling in worship to Him, and that already exceeded all of my expectations for camp! I remember the amazing atmosphere, God's presence was so thick - I couldn't have asked for a better way to start this camp off! That, accompanied by Michael Raj's enthusiastic preaching really set the bar for the rest of this Highlife Camp. Were we in for a treat! One thing that he said that night, was not to hold back or wait for the last night, but to surrender it all to Him! The song 'surrender' by Planetshakers has already racked up several plays on my iTunes, and prompts me to give my all, my everything to the King. (hey that rhymes..just realised. lol)
Lord every day is yours
Lord every breath is yours
Im giving my life to you
Lord I'm yours
....
I surrender all to you
I am nothing without you
Jesus Christ, take my life its all for you
Day two was good fun! We had a schedule full of games, brilliantly organised by Audrey and Azim. Thanks to both of you for the work and love that you put into running games at camp, the dedication behind the scenes as well as at the camp site, was something to be proud of. May God bless you, and continue to reveal Himself to you both, as He has great plans for the future! Today I was able to meet our family BROWNING! (ftw!). I co-led the family with Ruth, she was a such a great person to work with! Rutie has such an amazing, kind and loving personality, and such a heart for serving God. Let me just say, You're AWESOME! Thanks for all the notes too. Aha. =] I managed to get to know her quite a lot better, and am extremely happy I had the opportunity to do so! One of the highlights of the camp was the river crossing game..because we WON IT! =P haha..our family didn't win that many things at camp, but this was something to be proud of hehe. I just want to say, well done to everyone for all your efforts! Go team =P
The themed dinner was awesome! Although the food wasn't great (at all hehe), the place looked really really cool! And so did everyone ^.^And definitely, closing with HSM songs was 'wootage!' (if that's now an adjective!)
In my mind, the third day was the HIGH-HIGHLIGHT of the HIGHLIFE. (Sounds cool huh?) Honestly, you couldn't have packed so much into one day. Firstly, the hair. shaving. fundraising. competition. =O!!! Basically, altitude had spent the last month or so raising money for camp through busking, sucking up (*nudge), foodsales (thankyou to all the aunties!), and blackmail. (LOL not really :P) Mixed feelings of fear, excitement, incredible odds and FEAR again, the moment was fast approaching.
To think that our BEAUTIFUL HAIR would be gone!! Ahh!! What a complete disaster! (If you were a narcissist, you'd understand...right aud&jan?)
They counted our three buckets, (we spent a day looking for a fourth, which never existed >.<"), and 101's sole bucket (full of notes!). And announced the winner.
*Silence.*
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!! I HAVE NEVER BEEN THIS ECSTATIC IN MY LIFE! OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!! Lmao!! Kinda got a little carried away with our victory celebration, and I'm starting to feel bad now. Sorry! =(
But yeah. you can't even understand how much this was building up....every day...dreading and waiting for this one moment! But then.
Relief. of. a. lifetime.
So I went back, and did my hair. ^_^v Haha. Woots! And thanks to jackie & stephi for my awesome haircut xD. and to my personal hair stylish Aaron. You guys are legends! Also to my messenger, who was 'pro'! (Go qynn!)
We also spent the entire day preparing for our skit! I am quite new to this, and I think I kinda screwed up our thingy. But we managed to come an amazing third! Our family rocks! Yvonne-y was "so cute"...as was everyone else for cooperating so well!
If you didn't get it, I think I thought about it too deeply. *sigh lol. I'll explain it to you. if you really want. :D (not now...im at like 1500 words...T.T)
That night's session was unlike any other. From praise and worship at the start, and the powerful ministering of Ps. Michael, this set the atmosphere for God to move amazingly. And He did. So powerfully, so mightily, so awesomely. Ps. Michael really challenged us, and God really convicted me, about things in my life, that I had to change if I was to live a life that glorified His name, one that was an act of worship to Him. During the altar call, my heart began to race, and I stood up, not even knowing what, and just knelt down, waiting for God to speak to me. When I was being prayed for, I just broke down and cried uncontrollably. Crying in awe of His presence, and sorrow of my sins, and the unfailing, unconditional love that He has for me. Our God is great. He is awesome, and worthy to be praised. That night, I just saw people crying out to God, and being touched so mightily by Him. But the conclusion of this session was what really blew me away. We began to pray for each other. In groups of two, three, four - even more, we cried out to God, and asked for His hand upon our life, our youth group, just thanking Him for all that He is, and His will for the future... This reminded me of a verse in Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 4:9
9 Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:
10 If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!
11 Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
12 Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
This really opened my eyes to the importance of friendship and relationships. The genuine love that I saw and I felt that night was just indescribable. And even reminded me that the love God has for us is so much more... I just want to thank God for being so real throughout the camp, for changing lives, breaking down barriers of the sin and of the past; for Him, nothing is impossible.
A perfect way to close off the camp, a warm and cozy camp fire, amidst the millions of stars that blanketed the night sky, so pretty... like you. (LOL. note to self: thats quite a good pickup line!) Singing random songs ranging from Veggie Tales to sunday school classics, Teddy Geiger to planetshakers, I spent five minutes or so, standing beneath the spectacular and beautiful night sky. Admiring the brilliance of God's creation, whilst trying to find the southern cross!! to my avail! Shucks. there were so many stars...i couldn't find it. Not blonde! I don't think anyone else did!! I managed to spot two shooting stars (there were THREE!!), and really took my breath away. Rarely did I sit back and admire the beauty of our surroundings and of nature, God's creation, and really just made me feel so thankful for all that God has blessed me with, the friends and family, a house to live in, and a beautiful world to admire. (not to mention an AWESOME god to praise!)
I just want to thank God for everything he did at the camp. I have gotten to know people so much better, made new friends, and experienced God's might and power first handedly.. what more can I ask for? (a nintendo ds with tetris maybe? LOL jk jk). I also just want to thank everyone for the love that they showed towards me and others, that was so genuine and powerful...be it through letters written, or acts and words of kindness and love. Remember, even the smallest acts of kindness can impress into one's heart!
This camp so amazingly exceeded anything that I had imagined in my wildest dreams, and I want to give ALL Glory to God. I pray that in the future, His hand continues to be upon each and every one of us, as we grow and love Him more and more each day.
Praise God for an awesome awesome camp!
This was truly..a camp to remember.
Dan13L.
PS. Btw...this post took me a good two hours!! I think slow lor.. :P
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