Christmas 2009

End of 2009


It's crazy how fast a year passes. We're now living the last days of 2009. Yesterday, we celebrated Christmas as a CG at my place. Thanks everyone, for all the food you brought or cooked!


It's amazing to see how far we've come as a CG. From the noisy, annoying bunch of kids that you were, you've transformed to a noisy, annoying bunch of slightly more God-loving teens. I hope that we'll continue to walk closely with God next year and grow further as a CG. It's good that we're finally starting to bond more. I can see how much time you guys want to spend with each other. (Seriously sometimes you guys spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME) As some of you suggested, our goal for next year is to be more loving, inviting and accepting of EVERYONE in the CG.


Our next outing will be at Ryan's place on 31st Dec. Thanks for opening your house to us, Ryan! I can't wait for another amazing year. Let's not forget God in everything we do. May we continue to glorify him in all our actions.


Till the 31st,
Ciao!

Hey guys.


i just came back from malaysia not long ago.haha.


i know its kinda random for me to post since i have never posted on the cg blog before.
i was listening to some christian music on my com just now, and i came across the song "all glory" and i went to google search the lyrics. 

To Him who reigns upon the throne and to the Lamb

To the true and faithful King

Who created everything

To the glorious Son of God and Son of Man

Who gave His body and His blood

To take away the sins of all the world

All creation bows before You now

All glory and honor and praise

Jesus, You are worthy

Jesus, You are worthy

All power and wisdom and strength

Jesus, all the glory belongs to Your name

So we worship You forever, Amen.

although our cg has been going for outings these few days, i feel that we're not giving God the glory and praise he deserves. we should thank God for giving us free time to spent with each other and stuff. im sure that during this period of time, most of us have been thinking of christmas and the presents, food and parties that we are going to attend. but remember not to forget about giving thanks to God. giving honor, praise and glory to him. for christmas is about giving and not receiving.

anyway, when i was in malaysia, i watched facing the giants on my brothers com..

its a really good movie. its a christian movie which portrays Gods awesomeness! we should really watch it as a cg one day(:

have a good christmas,

zenas.

Upcoming events - Dec and Jan

22 Dec - Planning the mini party for the Youth Guidance Youths
25 Dec - Christmas Service. Shall we all attend the 11am service?
26/27 Dec - Christmas Party?
9 Jan - Party at the Youth Guidance Centre.

For those who didn't come last sunday, our CG will be working together with Vera's CG to plan a party event for the youths at the youth guidance centre. We've decided to create 4 mini activity stations. The youths, together with the CG members will be broken up into 4 groups and will go from station to station completing the games/activities. At the end of it, there will be FOOD!!!!

We will be meeting tomorrow (22 Dec) to plan the activities.

For those coming for the Christmas party, it will be a potluck event, meaning everyone has to bring an item. Below are some examples of the food we need:

4 Bottles of Drinks

Cake/pie (Germaine)

Chips

Pasta (Patrizha)
Sandwiches
Nuggets or Onion Rings
Chicken Wings
Kebabs
Salad
Pizza

Please let me know what you would like to bring.

Youth Camp Reflections

Youth Camp Reflections - Ryan Ngan

Perhaps the greatest demonstration of God’s power that I have experienced is during Youth Camp 2009.

Ever since I was a child, I was raised to become a Christian. Now, I don’t look down on raised Christians considering that I am one myself, but sometimes these Christians’ love for God is artificial. This was what was happening to me. My zeal and passion for God was being snuffed out like a candle on a windy day.

Enter Youth Camp 2009.

Being part of the Valentine’s Day 2010 committee (I <3 Woodlands), I had to brief roughly 150 youths on what we were going to do for Valentine’s Day. Furthermore, I had to share a bible verse. Imagine sharing biblical knowledge to people older than you when you haven’t been experiencing God in your life for awhile! So I blanked out right up until 5 minutes before my time to share. Then I felt God’s mighty touch.

I was inspired to share in a way that made me so convincing and passionate (I suppose…) that if I had recited the exact same words I would not have gotten the same effect. People were kneeling, people were weeping young men and women, hearts zealous for God were crying out praises to God. It was wonderful. While speaking, I was in tears myself, thinking to myself “What have I done to make such a big impact on this camp?”

During the next few hours, younger and older youths alike were approaching me and clapping me on the back, praising me for such a convicting message, making me confused once again. What had I done right? In that instant God spoke to me. He said “Nothing. You have done nothing right. All you have done is being my vessel.” And that is good enough for any faltering Christian to ask for.

Youth Camp Reflections - Zenas Lim

Before the camp, I was going through some problems and stuff and i guess i was spiritually dry. I believed in christ but I did not act like a christian ya... said alot of vulgarities, I didnt care about going to church and stuff. Going to cg was a drag for me. But i only went because my brother kept nagging at me.

I felt like "why are my cg friends so close to God but I'm not?". But i didnt tell anyone of course. However, when youth camp came up, it clashed with my robotics camp. Somehow, although I was really close to my friends in robotics, I decided to go for youth camp because I felt that it would be more meaningful.

The 1st day of camp: the games were quite fun I guess.. but I really enjoyed praising God under the "stars". Although there were no stars, it was just amazing to look up and see the moon and clouds; to see how magnificent God is. The sermon for the first day was meaningful to me too. 24/7 praising God is a really hard thing to do but I saw the need for it in my life.

The 2nd day: "who dunnit?" was interesting. But what really opened up my heart was the when Ryan shared about his testimony. I broke down before God in repentance. I realized how blessed I was to grow up in a christian family, but all of my life I'd been complaining about what I didn't have or complaining about how how other kids were more blessed than me. But so many people out there still do not know our God, and there I was for the past 14 years of my life taking God's blessings and love for granted. That started to open up my heart. I took worship, sermon and devotions more seriously, and I began to feel the Lord's presence working in me. I could feel my relationship with Him growing closer.

Although camp's over, im still trying really hard to keep God in the center of my life and not to stray away from Him. I'm really glad that i attended this camp.

I know that it was what God had planned for me.

Youth Camp Reflections - Amanda Lu

In this year's camp, firstly I've learnt about persistence and endurance. Being in the camp committee taught me that camp is more than merely fun, more than merely all the good food we have but it's all about God. God should be the center of the camp and everything we do. He is the center of our lives and we should turn to Him 24/7 and not when we need Him.

For God said in the word, 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." 1 Peter 1:15-16

Being in the camp committee was tough and tiring. But nevertheless, we made it. Although there were times where we kept joking around and did not get on track, we did not forget about God. We made God the center of all our meetings, having devotions, worships and prayers before meetings. We did not forget God and made God the center. (:

Even though the camp committee couldn't play the games like the campers and enjoy the camp like the campers, I had fun (: Even more fun than being the camper although there were times I wished I could play. I prayed to God about that. I told Him that I couldn't be so selfish and think of myself, that although I couldn't play, I was able to see how the campers enjoyed themselves with the games the camp committee planned and I thank God for that!(:

Zenas told me when I was down “But remember, love driven relationships are not given by a boyfriend or girlfriend. That love thirst only can be filled by God. 'To love the God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.' Mark 12:30"

Thank you Zenas for making me realize that I've taken the Lord's love for granted. I always thought that God would always love us so we don't have to turn to him and just wait to be loved but I'm wrong. The Lord sent his only Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins. No man on Earth would go through so much suffering to save everyone but Jesus did. He did it because He loves us and yet a lot of us take His unconditional and unfailing love for granted!

Marcus also told me this quote “Don’t miss the chances life is giving you to spend with the people you love. Remember that in life, there are no rewinds." This taught me to treasure whatever I have now and not to regret in life.

I want to thank the Lord for letting me have such close friends that encourage me when I'm down and reminding me that God is there always. Thank you Lord! Our CG, Effervescence, has grown so much over this 2 years, spiritually and physically. Those who have been turning away from God, I want to pray to God to bring them closer to Him and for those who have grown closer, I want to thank he Lord for bringing them so close to You Lord.

Hi all, I believe most, if not all of you know that I'm at another christian camp in Malaysia now. I'll be back for CG on the 19th again.

The youth camp just ended not too long ago. As a part of the camp committee, it was touching to see how many youths responded to God's call back. The theme of the camp was Worship and during the camp, many of you learnt how to be more open in our worship to God.

On the 2nd day of camp, Ryan shared a very compelling testimony with the campers. Thanks to God's work in his life, he left many campers reduced to tears by the end of his sharing. I will definitely get him to put it up here to share with those who didn't get to hear it.

I know that many of you felt really changed by the end of camp. I want to encourage you to answer God's call and decide to follow Him. It won't be easy, especially once school starts, but let Jesus' love compel us to give our lives to him and surrender our all at his feet.

Thanks Zen for being the 1st to email your testimony. I've also received a few others. I broke down after reading them. I really felt that we've been so lacking as your CG leaders and it's by God's grace that you've all been called back to Him. What I touched me the most was how you are all starting to have the spirit of encouragement which is so precious and important.

I'll put all the testimonies up back in Singapore. I look forward to receive the rest of your testimonies as well! All Glory to God:)

These are photos from Youth Camp 2009 and CG games on 12th Dec(: Thought i would post the pictures(:

And we have a new CG member. Applause for BRANDON!!

Holidays

I can't believe it. Next year, you will all be returning to school as seniors. Cool. And Scary...

Anyways, since it's the holidays, I just thought we should have a list of possible things to do. Of course, we don't actually have to complete everything, some I put just for fun. But if there's anything you really WANT to do, pls let Wei Sheng and me know.

To do:

Camping (actually pitch a tent and stay overnight)
Hiking (and this time actually reach the top of Bukit Timah)
Kayaking
Picnic
Cycle somewhere for breakfast
Have a night picnic on top floor of a carpark
Fly kites
Have a sandwich-making competition before CG
Go jamming (again)
Play badminton
Do charity (Especially since it's christmas)
Have a mini Christmas celebration
Sleepover
Cooking/baking session
Movie/drama marathon

Hm, seems like a lot to be done. Any more suggestions from the rest of you?

Open Sunday and the P6 outing

Open Sunday (1 Nov)

Please note! There won't be Cg this week (31 Oct) as it is Open Sunday weekend. This week's Open Sunday will start at 11.30am instead of the normal 1.30am slot. So, perhaps you guys wanna meet up at 9am to attend the service first? I won't be able to join ya because I'm playing for worship this week.

To all who came last week:

Thank you guys so much for the time and effort spent in organising the P6 outing. You were awesome. I think in many ways, we did leave an impact on the P6-ers. Hopefully we can continue being good role models to them, reflecting the example of Christ. I hope the experience was rewarding. We really should do more stuff like that next time!

Here are the pics for those who missed out:

Pri 6 Orientation Hosting Guide

Hi guys, please meet at 8.45am in Cana hall to prepare for the games.
Remember to conduct yourselves in a Godly manner as you guys are setting an example for these younger youths.
Be patient and loving to them.
I'm sure you guys will do great:)


Schedule

9.00am - 9.30am Worship (Led by Marcus Lim and folks), Devotion (Led by Pastor Timothy)

9.30am - 9.45am Sharing of experiences in Youth Ministry

9.45am - 10am Self-introduction

10.00am - 10.30am Ice breaker game

10.30am - 11.30am Dog and Bone (Modified version)

11.30am - 12.30am Capture the flag/Catching tails

12.30am - 12.45am Wash up, gear up, prepare for lunch

12.45am - 1.30am and beyond Lunch + Fellowship (Everyone)

Sharing of experiences in Youth Ministry

Intro (Patrizha):

Hey guys! I officially welcome you to the Youth Ministry! As you all know, once you enter the youth ministry you will be assigned to LCGs among yourselves. Are you guys excited about entering the Youth Ministry? I bet you guys are! You guys are not all from the same powerkids class right? Later, we'll have an introductory session for you guys but before that, we'll just introduce ourselves and tell you all some facts about the youth Ministry ok?

We are the Sec2 LCG! Our LCG has a name, Effervescence. I am Patrizha, and these are my LCG members....(introduce the rest)

Open Sunday (Celestine):

Every 1^st Sunday of the month, we have a youth activity called Open Sunday. The entire youth Ministry will meet for worship, sermon by our youth pastor followed by games. The games are organized by different LCGs every month. Next week will be your 1^st Open Sunday every so I'm sure you'll understand more when you're there.

Youth Camp (Amanda):

How many of you guys have signed up for our youth camp? Youth Camp is an annual event that bonds the whole ministry together for 4 days and 3 nights. This year's Youth Camp has a theme on Worship. Youth Camp is not all just about fun and games, it is a time where we can focus about God and learn together as a ministry as well as bond between one another as you get to spend a few days together. This year Youth Camp is from 1^st to the 4^th of December, Tuesday to Friday. Early bird registration ends tomorrow so sign up quick! I really encourage you guys to come for Youth Camp.

Youth Service (Patrizha):

On the third Saturday of every month, we have Youth Service. The Youth Band will lead us in the worship and Pastor Timothy will give a short sermon after that. What you guys had just now is something similar. It starts at 1.30 and ends at about 2.30. After that, we all split up for our weekly LCGs.

Personal Sharing (Ryan):

Now, I'm just going to share about about my experience being in a CG so far. (Sharing session)

Self-introduction

(Wei Sheng):

Ok, we will be playing some games now, but for this 1^st game, we need every one to know one another's names. So before we play, we all need to introduce ourselves. Can we go round in a circle saying your name together with 1 interesting fact that the others don't know about you?

Ice breaker game

David explains the Ice Breaker Game

Dog and Bone (with a twist)

Marcus and Wei Sheng:

1. 
   
   Divide the group into 2
   
   
   
2. 
   
   Number them off
   
   
   
3. 
   
   Explain the normal Dog and Bone and demonstrate
   
   
   
4. 
   
   Let them try 3 rounds
   
   
   
5. 
   
   Then explain the twist and demonstrate the handicaps
   
   
   
6. 
   
   Mark the starting points for the 2 groups
   

For those who don't know, we will be adding a new element to this game. When we call out the number, we will also call out a handicap which they must abide by.

Handicaps:

Pick the bone up with chopsticks

Crawl

Froggy leap

Garbage bag (Jump there in a garbage bag)

Balloon (2 people supporting a balloon between their hips)

Walk backwards

Capture the flag/Catching tails

Wei Sheng and Ryan explain this game

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID!

P6 orientation outing preparation!

The science of Christianity

The Bible

The Bible is not exactly a science text book, in that it doesn't explain the processes of science. However, there are a great deal of scientific accuracies mentioned in the Bible which were ahead of it's time, proving the divine wisdom of the author of the Bible.

The Bible knew it first!

Isaiah 40:22 (New International Version) - The Earth is round
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

Job 26:7 (New International Version) - The Earth is suspended in the galaxy
He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.

Genesis 15:5 (New International Version) - The starts are countless
He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

Job 36:27-28 (New International Version) - The hydrologic cycle
"He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams;
the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind.

If God created the Earth, who created God?

For this, we need to understand:
1. Everything which has a beginning has a cause.
2. The universe has a beginning.
3. Therefore the universe has a cause.

God, however, had no beginning, therefore, God needs no cause.

Does the Universe really have a beginning?

We know that the universe has a beginning because of the Law of Thermodynamics.
1st Law: The total amount of mass-energy in the universe is constant.
2nd Law: The amount of energy available for work is running down.

The universe could not have existed forever because if this was so, all the usable energy would have been used up, causing what is known as (heat death).

Evidence for the creator – God

There is a natural tendency for all systems of matter to rundown. Energy is scattered and order is lost. Most systems will tend to lead from order to disorder, and towards less availability of energy. That's why heat flows from hot to cold, and why the sun's energy will not make a dead stick grow. Something as complex as the origin of first life can likely arise only if outside information has been impressed on it.

This means that like a clock, the universe could not have just existed eternally and would have had to be wound up at the beginning by someone.

Likewise in living things, changes tend to lead to loss of genetic intelligence instead of an increase in function and complexity. Information is usually destroyed in the process rather than gained. Although natural selection can sometimes lead to the strengthening of a particular breed, it only works by getting rid of the weaker of the lot and cannot be used to justify 'ameba to man' evolution.

Fossils

Although Darwin (ask who is Darwin) expected millions of transitional fossils to be found to support his theory of evolution, none have been found, except for a few disputable ones. There have been a number of fossils which claimed to be the intermediate of apes and humans but have now been rejected by evolutionists themselves:

Homo sapiens neanderthalenis
Rampithecus
Eoanthropus
Hesperopithecus
Pithecanthropus
Australopithecus africanus
Sinathropus

Did God really take 6 days?

Because our knowledge of science from the world today teaches us to believe that the earth is millions of years old, we sometimes find it hard to believe that the Earth was created in 6 days, and that it is only less than 5000 years old. If we take Genesis 1 at face value, we can see that it tells us the Earth was created in 6 days.

To understand the meaning of 'day' in Genesis, we must understand the Hebrew word for day, “yom”. The word “yom” can mean: a period of light as contrasted to darkness, a 24-hour period, time, a specific point of time, or a year. Outside Genesis, yom is used 410 times, each time meaning an ordinary day, so why should Genesis be different? The plural of “yom” or other words (like olam or qedum) which can be used to communicate a longer period of time is not used. God chose to complete his work in 6 days and rest on the 7th to set an example for us to keep the sabbath day holy.

2 Peter 3:8 states that 'one day is with the Lord as a thousand years'. This passage, however, has no creation context and is not referring to Genesis. The context is to the 2nd coming of Christ and is saying that to God, a day is LIKE a thousand years, because God is outside of time and is not limited by it. Imagine if we used that verse as a context for all days, Jonah would have spent 3000 years in a fish!

Some people believe that each day mentioned in Genesis must refer to a great number of years because of the evidence of fossils. However, Adam was created the last, meaning that the fossils would have to be formed before Adam. That is not possible because death only occurred because Adam and eve sinned. Verse 31 of Genesis ends with God saying that He saw what He had made, and it was very good. How could death of His creation be “very good”?

There are always limitations to science. Even today, scientists do continue to find new discoveries to prove old discoveries wrong. (Think Pluto the "planet") Let's trust in the wisdom of God instead of the foolishness of man.

Home Blessing

Just a short update. Today, there'll be Home Blessing. I'm glad that quite a few of you guys will be coming. I really enjoyed the last home blessing we did, even though we carried the heavy bags of rice for 10 min before we realised we were walking in the wrong direction. Haha, now thinking back on the Bukit Timah trip, I now really believe that I should never be in charge of the maps or direction... lol.

Anyway, we'll be meeting at Causeway point at 7pm for dinner before heading to Church for Worship and then Home Blessing. See you all there.

Tmr, there'll be CG as usual. See you guys in church at 2.30pm!

P.S. For all the girls who read this: I'm thinking of having a sleep over on the sat night before the next open sunday. We will cook dinner, have short bible study, play/talk/watch a movie, sleep and then on Sunday, head for service and open sunday together. Let me know what you guys think! (germs: 98212425)

CYA.

OPEN SUNDAY - 6th September

Just a reminder, there will be no CG this week because of Open Sunday... See you guys on sunday.

Was Jesus really God?

Hi everyone, just a summary of what we did for CG this week. (I was really happy to see such a big group of you come for CG this week)

Sharing

Sharing was done by Amanda. And boy did she make us turn our Bibles... (: Amanda talked about what the Bible meant to her and how it is important for us all to go to the Bible in all the different stages of life - Whether we feel Happy, Sad, Worried, or Angry, the Bible will always have words of comfort for us. She also mentioned that sometimes in the train, she would just open the Bible and think about a verse from it. Maybe you guys should try that too, hm...

Worship

Patrizha led worship this week - She chose God will make away, inspired by something that really happened in school. Apparently she almost got into trouble her group into trouble by not submitting their work on time to the teacher. Thankfully, God really did make a way and she was given a chance by the teacher! Praise the Lord. (Let's also not forget the wonderful worship session led by Marcus last week. He did a very meaningful session about God reminding him through many repeated verses in the Bible to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart...")

Next week, Ryan will be leading us in worship and David will be doing the sharing. I'm sure we all looking forward ;)

Prophecies of the coming saviour

For the benefit of those who didn't come, we discussed the many prophecies in the Old Testament that came true through Jesus Christ. Some of them include:
The Messiah being born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)
The Messiah being a descendant of King David (Luke 3:31)
The Messiah being born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1)
The Messiah entering Jerusalem while riding a donkey (Luke 19:35-37)
The Messiah being betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15)
The Messiah being crucified for our sins (Luke 23:33)
The Messiah being resurrected (Acts 2:31).

Of course, there are a lot more prophecies that we haven't even mentioned! Scientists have calculated the probability of all the prophecies being fulfilled in 1 man to be 1 out of 10 to the power of 157. For those who study probability, these are CRAZY IMPOSSIBLE ODDS!!!

How did Jesus show that he was the son of God?
Jesus showed others that he was the son of God by referring to the Old Testament's prophecies about himself. (Luke 24:27)

Could the fulfillment of prophecies be a coincidence?
No. In his lifetime, Jesus not only fulfilled just 1 or 2 prophecies but more than 60 of them in the Old Testament! No coincidence could possibly come so close!

Could Jesus have intentionally tried to fulfill the prophecies?
No. If Jesus was really just an ordinary man trying to make himself fit into the prophecies, there were a lot of prophecies that were beyond his control - Being a descendant of David, the location of his birth, the way he died, the amount he was betrayed for, and the list goes on... In other words, it must have all been planned by God!

Could the prophecies have been written after they had happened?
No. The Old Testament (known as the Septuagint at the time) was translated around 150-200BC. That was around a 200 years before Jesus was born!!!

From Cowards to Heros

We discussed how Jesus' disciples used to be before they experienced Jesus resurrection. Peter denied Christ 3 times, Thomas wouldn't believe that Jesus resurrected until he could touch the nail prints in his hands, James wanted to call fire down unto a village because they rejected Jesus. These men were cowardly and sinful. Yet afterwards, they became heros, bravely preaching the gospel and willing to die for the word of Jesus to be spread. (Acts 5:40)

These man were beside Jesus and spent a lot of time with him. They used to be such weaklings but had such a drastic change in character. Had Jesus really died and not resurrected as Saviour of the world, would they have so bravely preached his gospel? No way! They would have been more depressed and defeated than ever, now that their master was dead!

Not only that, if they were spreading a lie about Jesus' resurrection, all the Romans had to do was bring Jesus' dead body out to prove them wrong! But more importantly, who would be willing to die for a lie? The only explanation for their sudden courage was that they had seen and believe - JESUS WAS ALIVE! From then on, their lives were changed forever.

Who do you believe Jesus is?

Jesus claimed to be the son of God, the saviour the Jews had been waiting for. (Mark 14:60) Some people believe that he was a wise man and a great moral teacher but not the son of God. However, these theory means that either Jesus was lying about himself or he really believed he was the son of God, making him a madman.

Jesus could not have been a liar because his life and his works spoke of his morality. He was a pure person with a great heart. Had he been lying about himself, he would have been turing the Jews away from the real God that was coming, making Jesus a demon. How could a person so kind and so pure be a demon?

Jesus could not be a madman because of his immense wisdom and sanity. When posed difficult questions meant to trick him, Jesus always had a way of answering so cleverly that he made the answer seem so obvious that the person who asked it could feel foolish for even asking. How could such a clever and witty person be crazy.

Because of these, there's only one sane conclusion we could have - Jesus is God!

Will you choose to let Jesus into your heart?

18 August Movie event - UP!

Hi all,

I'm sure all of you know the movie UP; Zenas has been raving about it for ages... We will be arranging a group movie event in Orchard on 18 August, Tue. The movie will probably be sometime in the evening, maybe around 7pm. For those who are free in the afternoon, we could have lunch and go shopping before the movie. Remember to ask your parents for permission and respect their decision. (Perhaps you can make them a deal by promising to do your work beforehand etc.)

Please sms me (at 98212425) to let me know if you will be going or not.

August Open Sunday

hey guys.
there will be open sunday on the 2nd of august.
this open sunday is hosted by vera&shun bin's CG.
let's go and have fun and have a time of fellowship together(:

**NOTE: there will be water games so bring a change of clothes and GIRLS!dark clothings(:

and finally,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GERMAINE!

An Adventure of a Lifetime

We went to Bukit Timah Hill today.

I would like to say "we climbed Bukit Timah Hill today" but...

You better read on...

It started with a harmless little map. 

Yong Ling suggested that we take a photo so that we could have a copy of it for the road.

We chose the not-so-common green path... 

   

The trek seemed easy enough.

We saw monkeys, squirrels, rambutan trees.

We stepped on rocks, we stepped on mud.

It was all in the name of FUN.

  

Marcus was the speedy one.

He was practically 200m ahead of us all the time.

Zenas was um... let's just say, if he could cab up the hill, he would have...

Marcus found a nice and windy spot so we stopped for a break.

Had a picnic and feasted on Chips and drinks.

Discovered that we CANNOT in fact pop popcorn by the radiation of 4 handphones.

Played Twister.

Climbed some huge water pipes.

Apparently the leaders still have a little bit of ADVENTURE in them...

We went on our way, and that was when we realised... 

Our one huge mistake...

All this while, we thought we were climbing Bukit Timah Hill...

But...

The fact was...

We were NOT on Bukit Timah Hill...

Now how on Earth could that even happen?

Well... we made a wrong turn right from the start.

We were walking AWAY from the hill.

After that was a lot of walking... and walking... and walking...

And... we hit a dead end.

This adventure was followed by a whole load of grumpy kids going... "GERMAINE!!! This is all your fault!!!"

(Yes, Germaine now owes a tub of ICE CREAM for CG next week)

We saw a lorry and Army Truck and considered fainting so that they would drive us back.

In the end, we turned back, repulsed at the idea of walking all the way back.

Marcus, the natural scout found a steep opening in the forest and walked out.

We followed behind and soon found ourselves at BUIKIT PANJANG.

We ended the day by stuffing our faces in Ice Cream at Island Creamy.

It made for a good ending.

On the whole, we accomplished nothing we set out to do...

But the generally feeling in the air was that it was a pretty cool adventure.

So guys... ready to get lost at sea during the next outing?

Love,

Germs

CG Outing!

Hi everyone!

Details for tommorrow's outing is up.

Location: Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

Time: 10am

Place to meet: Woodlands Bus Interchange

Attire: Sporty and cooling

What to bring: Yourself, food, drinks, games

What to expect: Food, Fun and Fellowship

Tommorrow's outing is simple, explore around BTNR as adventurous people and climb to the summit together as a team to have and enjoy our picnic! Hope to see you at there! :)

-WeiSheng

CG Outing

Hi CG,

Sorry for not updating sooner.
We recently had to postpone a CG outing because of H1N1.
The next outing will be this coming Sat - 18 July.

Here are our choices for the outing:
1. East Coast Park
2. Tree Top Walk
3. Kayaking at MacRitchie Reservoir

(Just so you know, my vote's on kayaking. But it's your outing!!!)
Please vote for the one you want to do the most!
Either post it in the comments section or sms me at 98212425.
I'll consolidate the votes and give you guys the confirmed location and time by Friday.
Please choose and vote NOW!!!

Germs

Hey all, due to the H1N1, tomorrow's CG outing to East Coast Park would be cancelled. Hence, tomorrow we won't be having any sessions. Thank you.

Hey people! [: Remember the youth Alpha?

Venue: One of the chuch rooms[:
Time: 7.15pm to 9.30pm
Date: Saturday, 27th June '09
What is there? : Dinner & a short talk

Hi! [:

Dear all, actually i also don't know much details regarding the alpha dinner. So when confirmed the details then i'll post up the details ok? Will most probably be before Friday, 26th June' 09. I'll try. Thank you.
Celestine! [:

Cg outing! [:

Cg outing

Date : 27th June'09

Time: 10am to {about 4pm}

Venue to play: East Coast Park

Venue to meet at 10am and also leaving at 10am then go together: Woodlands MRT. *Please don't be late.________.

*Please do inform Germaine if you're going before thursday, 25th June'09.

Thanks a million, Celestine! [:

A reminder to all:

Hello.
Okays this weeks cg will be as normal, it will be:
Time: 2.30pm
Venue: The normal room [of course in church]-.-

Okay then yea. Its just some obvious info[:

hey guys(: today was OPEN SATURDAY. the people who organised this event were RENFRED, CEDRIC,  AMANDA LU, AMANDA TAN and PAULINE. thank this people for making it a success! [APPLAUSE]

this are some pictures of the our members who went. let me tell u hu went. WEI SHENG, IAN, MARCUS and JC. shall i count again? WEI SHENG, IAN, MARCUS and JC. im sure i dun haf to do dat again.

there were 4 newcomers at the event so yeah APPLAUSE again!(: 

MARCUS in his grp building a newspaper tower. he looks so enthu!(:

JC in his grp. they did a ship-like structure. it looked lik the star cruise kind of thing.

IAN and WEI SHENG were in the same grp(: they did a duck kind of thing which looked lik a dog. no offence!hehes

MARCUS in his grp photo. sry abt e others. PAULINE took ur grp photo! i dun haf it. sry!

heyys guys

How have you guys been?Have you guys been doing your QT?i hope you guys have been doing it regularly or at least once a week!hahas.

Now is the holidays season so those who have done well GOOD JOB! but for those who have not done that well then JIAYOUS!hahas

People!People!People!

Give some suggestions for the CG outing in june!the leaders are cracking their brains already.hahas.lets lighten their weight load!(:

so yeah,tag your suggestions(:


,aMANduh!lu-SER(:

Two Kinds Of Wisdom

This is from James 3:13-17

1. What is one thing you would ask for if God answers only one of your prayer requests?
2. What did King Solomon asked for? [ans: Wisdom.]
3. Why did he ask God for that? [ ans: He wants to have a discerning heart to govern his people.]

Introduction: [ 2 Timothy3:14-17.]

• In verse 15, what are the Holy Scriptures able to do?

Ans: Makes you wise for Salvation through Faith.

• All of Scripture is useful for...?

Ans: Teaching, Rebuking , Correcting and Training in righteousness.

• Will knowing the Word Of God help you do good works? Why?

Ans: Yes. As you walk in the ways of the Lord, he will guide you[:

Question and Answer Time[:

How has James described wisdom previously? [Hint: James 1:5-8]
Ans: James described wisdom as the ability to make wise decisions under difficult circumstances.

" Wisdom is the ability to discern God's hand in human circumstances and apply heavenly judgment in earthly situations." --John Blanchard

Searching for Evidence:
What is the evidence of wisdom in James, verse 3:13 ?
Ans: The democracy of his good life and deeds done in humility.

Earthly wisdom VS Heavenly Wisdom:
Earthly wisdom:

1. Envy
2. Self-seeking
3. Confusion
4. hypocrisy
5. strife
6. lust/ covet

Heavenly Wisdom:

1. humility
2. peace
3. gentle
4. willing years to yield
5. mercy

What does Earthly wisdom produce?
Disorder & Evil Practice
What does Heavenly wisdom produce?
Harvests righteousness.

Keyword Search:
Earthly wisdom

• A heart at peace gives life into the body, but envy rots the bones. [Proverbs 14:30]
• Do nth out of selfish ambition or vain conceit , but in humility consider others better than yourselves. [ Philippians 2:3]

• For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints.[ 1 Corinthians 14:33]

Heavenly wisdom

• To slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. [ Titus 3:2]
• Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." [ 1 Peter5:5]
• Love may be sincere. Hate what is evil,cling to what is good. [ Romans 12:9]
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. [ Matthew 5:9]
• No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. [ Hebrews 12:11]
  

Home blessing + last week's pics

Home Blessing

Hey all, there will be home blessing this Friday (22nd May) for those of you who can make it. We will go to one of the blocks near the church to distribute rice, along with Youth Alpha flyers. Let's meet at 7pm at church for a quick dinner before heading to distribute the stuff.

Don't worry about what to say when we go distribute the stuff, the leaders will be guiding you guys along. It's a great opportunity for you guys to learn and experience what our church has been doing for the community. We hope you'll be able to go!

Last week...

We celebrated the Birthdays of all the May babies last week during CG. Check out the Chocolate Truffle Cake below! Happy 14th Birthday guys... do you feel any older yet?



After that, we had our DIY pizza-making CG session. All you guys had to do was dump the ingredients on the prata/crust and have us toast them to perfection. The ingredients did not appear out of nowhere or cut themselves. Your poor leaders actually had to meet up on Friday night to go buy the ingredients, cut them up and lug the huge toaster there! You guys better appreciate the effort!!!

Well, the good thing was that many of you did turn up. Yay! At least our effort did not go to waste.