Problems with dating

Hi everyone,

Below are the notes for our last lesson on relationships. For those who couldn't come, do try to fill up your worksheets with the answers below. Reflect. I know that many of us call ourselves Christians but when it's time to submit to God's will, it's not easy for us. Being in a relationship is one huge way to show if we truly want to follow God's will or our own.

As we continue this somewhat tough study on dating, ask yourself this: Do you really think God wants you to be dating NOW? Why? I can't answer it for you. You have to be convicted yourself. There is also no point in appreciating and enjoying the whole relationship study if you do not let it transform you. Most important, seek to please God with every single action and decision you make. Being a Christian may not be easy but... hey... it's more than worth it.

The Problem with Dating

1. Dating skips the friendship stage of a relationship.
One-on-one dating tends to move a boy and girl towards romance too quickly. In true friendship, you don't feel pressured by knowing you “like” the person and the other person “likes” you back and you are free to be yourself and do the things you like. In dating, the focus is on mutual attraction . (I'm attracted to you, so let's get to know each other) Friendship is focused on 2 people enjoying common interests together. If romantic attraction forms after developing a real friendship, that's an added bonus.

2. Dating often mistakes intimacy for love.
This intimacy here could refer to both physical intimacy and emotional intimacy. When 2 people start sharing more intimate secrets, this bond they form can be mistaken as love. Many couple mistakenly measure the seriousness of their relationship by how physical they are. Often, holding hands, kissing and other physical involvement make them think they're in love.

3. Dating isolates a couple from other vital relationships.
Dating is about 2 people focusing on each other. Everyone else fades into the background. The couple tends to isolate itself from people who have been loving and supporting them. When we allow 1 relationship to crowd others out, we lose perspective. Proverbs 15:22. If we start making decisions about life based only on the influence of 1 relationship, we will make poor judgements They can sometimes get so blinded that they stop taking advice from others when it goes against what they're doing as a couple. They give up maintaining their previous friendships and eventually if they break up, they find themselves more lonely than ever.

4. Dating can distract us from our primary responsibilities.
Dating can distract us from our current responsibilities like studying and serving God. It can hinder us from developing our God-given skills and abilities, character, education and more. Many times, the ups and downs or in the relationships leave us feeling too bitter/upset/emo to concentrate on whatever we're supposed to be doing or learning.

5. Dating creates an artificial environment for evaluating a person's character.
When dating, couples tend to put on a front. They charm each other by acting seemingly perfect but never show their negative points. You don't get a chance to see the person in his natural state. A guy can pay for dinner and be funny but who knows how his real character is like. They need to see each other in real life setting of family and friends. How does the other person treat his/her parents and siblings? How do they respond in negative situations. Often, the true traits only show up late in the dating game and by then, the couple is too emotionally entangled to break up.

6. Dating often becomes an end in itself.
Many people date without a goal in mind. Dating becomes the final goal. This is why dating couples hate when the word “marriage” is raised. Some people are routine daters and they break up just before things get too serious. Without marriage as an ultimate goal, dating is just for the fun of it. It is selfish, unloving and unpleasing to God.

Why we shouldn't start dating too young?

1. Emotions are harder to control
You should be more aware by now, teen-hood seems to be one non-stop emotional roller coaster ride. Small problems are magnified 100 times. A small comment someone makes can leave you feeling emo the whole day. (Ask Marcus) Being in a relationship when you're emotionally unstable is dangerous. You can't control the way you feel. It could distract you greatly. Breaking up could seem like the end of the world. You are emotionally incapable of making correct decisions as we will let our emotions do the talking.

2. It's more difficult not to get physical
Often, as a couple knows each other longer and longer, it gets harder to not get physical. If you start dating at 16, by the time you're 18, you'll be wanting more physical intimacy which can't be fulfilled until marriage. Physical desires are awakened that neither person can justly meet. Further more, it's more difficult for younger couples to fight against temptation because they make lack the maturity and wisdom to do so.

3. It's hard to have marriage as a goal because it's too far away
The whole point of being in a romantic relationship is to explore the possibility for marriage. Are you ready to be a husband or wife? If you're too young to consider that, you shouldn't start dating as it would be for the wrong reasons. Since we are called to glorify God in all aspects of our lives, we shouldn't be dating if it doesn't glorify him. A good gauge is to consider the possibility of getting married within 4 years of being in a relationship. If you can't see that happening. You shouldn't be dating.

13 March 10

Just a reminder, tomorrow's CG will be at my house, Woodlands Ring Road Blk 650. We will be meeting at 2.20pm at Admiralty MRT station. Bring your Bibles, file, pencil case, journals, and the book if you bought it!

Germs

Where is the reverence?

Reverence

To have reverence for God is to have deep respect for Him and to honour Him. Do you see that happening still?

In the Old Testament, you will read about the people and the priest going through great rituals to purify themselves before they come into the presence of God. In fact, before the scribes copied the Holy Scriptures, they would have to purify themselves before. This is because our God is a Holy God and for us to come before Him, we need to be clean.

So why don't we have such rituals anymore?

We have been freed from all these rituals after the death of Christ, who served as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Because Jesus died, we are made clean and can now come into God's presence. But this doesn't mean that we should take God's holiness lightly!

Reverence should be shown in the way we live our lives. When someone makes a crude joke or insults that God who died for you, do you laugh along or do you tell them that it's offensive? Do you make a stand?

Worship

One way we can show our reverence to God is through our worship. Think about the way you've been coming into God's presence during worship. How is your attitude in preparing for worship service? Let's ask ourselves the following questions...

Do you drag yourself there?
Do you come late?
Do you check your handphones during the service?
Do you concentrate on worshipping God or are you looking around?
Do you talk during the songs?

I think it's very sad how lightly we treat worship these days. We are distracted and we don't give enough respect to God. We have severely CHEAPENED our worship to God. I want to remind us that worship to God is a big deal. We should see it for what it really is. When we come to worship God, we should focus on Him and worship Him wholeheartedly. He is our creator and our God... our KING!

I believe God takes our attitude in worship very seriously. Let's reflect on the areas that we are lacking in. Together as a Cg, let's remind each other and spur each other on towards the reverence of God.

Knowing Him

Knowing you
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres, and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now, compared to this

Knowing you, Jesus
Knowing you, there is no greater thing
You're my all, you're the best
You're my joy, my righteousness
And I love you, Lord

Now my heart's desire is to know you more
To be found in you and known as yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All-surpassing gift of righteousness

Oh, to know the power of your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like you in your death, my Lord
So with you to live and never die

For some reason, every time I sing this song of worship during service, it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Embarrassing as that may be, it is always the lyrics of the song that reminds me of God's grace in my life.

"All I once held dear, built my life... all I once thought gain I have counted loss..." My heart always echos in agreement as I sing these parts out. My teenage years were a wreck - I wasted years of my life on rebellion and going my own way. It sounds like a cliche, but I really mean it when I say that God changed my life. He gave it meaning.

I know you all have your dreams and ambitions. You have plans for what you want to study and what you want to be. Where does God fit in? Is He someone you're living for? Or merely a person who happens to be in your life? Are you ready to give everything up to Him? To lay every thing down before Him, at His feet? To let God take the steering wheel of your life?

All the dreams that I used to have, things I've wanted to achieve, I now realise that they are but foolishness. I've submitted them to God. I'm more interested in belonging to Him completely. I want to follow Him all my life and do His will.

Yes Lord, knowing you... there is no greater thing...

-Germs

Jamming!

Yo peep, the jamming pic's here! I thought it was really cool and really fun that we could go jamming as a CG. You know we don't sound close to perfect, but we'll get better I'm sure... um... we will right? Anyway, hope you all enjoy the time we spend together. I know I do, most of the time. Those who weren't able to join us, you can come the next time. 

P.S. Sorry IAN! We forgot to take the photo before you left!

No CG this Sat (6th March)

March activities
6th March - Jamming session.
7th March - 1.30pm Open Sunday weekend.
13th March - 2.30pm CG at Germaine's house.
18th - 19th March - Camping at Changi Beach
20th March - 1.30pm CG at Woodgrove office & Amanda's house.
27th March - 2.30pm CG at Zenas' house.

Jamming
Hello all. Because this week is open sunday weekend, there won't be CG. However, we will be going jamming instead. We'll be meeting at 2pm at Admiralty MRT station. Do have your lunch before you come. After jamming, we can have dinner together before heading back. Please bring dinner money and an extra $3-5 for the jamming studio.

Open Sunday
We'll be having our first Open Sun this weekend at our new office, 48 Woodgrove Ave. The V-day comm will be bringing us through a session to process/debrief our last V-day outreach, and Pastor Tim has also invited a street hip-hop Brazilian missionary to Japan, who works with Louis/Chris and Daniel Wong in the Kanto Church House Network, to share about creative ways of evangelism, especially to youths. Don't miss it!

Let's meet at 8.50am at the level 6 cinema to attend the 9am service. Please don't be late because once you miss the 9am slot, you'll have to wait for the next service to go in. I heard the Cinema is very strict. We also will not be able to reserve seats for you. After service, we will head for lunch together before going over to Woodgrove.

Camping
We will be trying to organise a one-night camping outing for the CG. We will confirm the details again soon. Basically, we will be having 2 tents, 1 for guys and 1 for girls. We can have an over night prayer and worship session by the beach, under the stars. It all sounds really cool. It's a time for us to fellowship and get to know each other better.

{e-dited.05.03.10 19:31, Amanduhloo'Effervescence}
REMEMBER TO PAY ME $6 FOR THE V'DAY EVENT EITHER ON SAT OR SUN!
THANKS:)
P.S. Make life easy for me! Bring exact or the most $10. No $50 please! Thanks:)

I kissed "I kissed Dating goodbye" hello

The books have arrived!!! They look so pweeeety!

I hope you guys appreciate the effort. I had to go down to the Novena bookstore and lug them home myself. I believe the people who ordered them are: Zenas, Amanda, Patrizha, David, JC, Brandon (x2) & Celestine. Did I miss anyone out? Please bring $13 this sunday for the books.


Also, I need to remind you guys to bring $6 for the Vday event. I know most have paid for the T-shirts already but this $6 is for attendance and for the event itself. Amanda will be collecting the money this week.

Dating Anxieties

I wonder how everyone is reacting to the dating series we're going through now. I imagine that there are differing opinions: Some may find it irrelevant, some may find it awkward, others may find it interesting but applicable. Still, I hope that everyone comes with an open mind and heart, ready to listen to what God is telling you through the studies. I want to challenge EFFERVESCENCE to know what it means to love and be loved.

I know that many of you are emotional teens. You can't wait to fall in love. Some have already started relationships. But loving the way God wants us to is very different. It calls for us to honour Him with our love, and not give ourselves to different people too easily...

When I was at this christian camp, during the sharing session, one of the guys bodly came to the front. In his hand was a poem he had written for his future wife, a person he knew God had planned for him. He wasn't dating anyone and he didn't know who this future wife would be. I don't remember the exact content of the poem, but it was basically about how even though he didn't know who the person was, he was praying for her. Not praying that he would find her, but praying for her well-being. He was caring for a person he trusted God to prepare for him.

It was a very sweet poem. But more importantly, it showed the kind of peace and faith that he had knowing that God had everything in control.

One reason why people date carelessly is because they don't trust that God is in control. They take on the mission of finding their own partners without God in the picture at all! This is also a big reason why people start dating young. Because every time they find someone they are attracted to, they want to hold on to the person in case the opportunity "slips away". Ultimately, there is a lack of faith in God's perfect plan.

My dear Effervescent, stop rushing into meaningless relationships and stop taking things into your own hands. Lay everything down at the feet of Jesus. Trust that God has things in control and has the perfect person for you. Pray for the person, not simply to meet him/her earlier. But pray for the person's well-being, that God will protect the person's purity, pray for the person's character. Pray also for yourself, that God will teach you how to be a good husband/wife.

Memorise the following verse.
Whenever you feel tempted or dissatisfied, recite and meditate upon it.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight

As Christians, we are so lucky to be able to unload our burdens upon our God. So why do we keep taking matters into our own hands. Seek God in all your ways and He will guide you through life.

Love,
Germs

100th post

Woohoo, this is to celebrate the official 100th post of the Effervescence blog. Of course, it's by God's grace that we even got this far. I remember a time when this blog was practically dead and it was so difficult to revive. Thanks to God, it is now active again, serving as a learning platform and where the members can share valuable lessons with each other and simply stay connected.

Let us all put in effort in keeping this blog alive. Not simply for the sake of entertainment, but that God's name be glorified through it. I want to encourage everyone to post. Share how God has been working in your life or even struggles or thanksgivings you may have. Those who don't have access to it, pls let me know and I'll add you to the list of editors.

Here's to many many more posts ahead.

Love,
Germs

Dating 2 Homework

Dating 2 Homework:

1. Read the story about the 2 couples, Jeff and Gloria, and Eric and Leslie.

- What was the difference between the 2 stories?
- Which would you consider true love? Why?

2. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Read 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 (above) 3 times. Reflect on it. Now, highlight the words you think are important.

- What does “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit mean?”
- What are some ways in which we can flee from sexual immorality?

3. Write out Psalm 119:9 below. Memorise it (:

Dating 2

Dating lesson 2

When we think about Christian dating and what God expects of it, we often think about general rules such as “You can only date a Christian” or “You must not have sex before marriage”. These rules, by themselves cannot possibly serve as enough of a guideline for us to stick to. Being a Christian means that we have to glorify God in all areas of our lives, and this includes our relationship with the opposite sex. HOW?

Must commitment be the goal of a romantic relationship?

What about just having fun? We all want intimacy. It's a chance to be open, vulnerable and dependent on someone. There are many different kinds of intimate relationships in life. We can be intimate with our friends, family, but the most intimate one (other than our relationship with God) is the relationship between a husband and wife. They share not only their hearts but their bodies as well.

The common factor in all these relationships is trust. We trust ourselves with those who have proven themselves faithful. We're intimate with people who are committed to us. However, in most cases, if we start dating young, it only serves the “need” and “want”of the moment. We want to enjoy the benefit of physical and emotional intimacy without the responsibility of commitment. What we fail to see is that such intimacy is counterfeit.

The Joy of Intimacy is the Reward of Commitment

Pursuing intimacy without commitment awakens desires (both emotionally and physically) that neither person can justly meet. It's like arousing a hunger that we know we cannot satisfy. Intimacy without commitment contradicts what the Bible teaches about true love. Instead if being selfless, it is selfish.

While relationships with the opposite sex can make us feel great, we have no right asking for the other person's heart if we are not ready to consider marriage. Otherwise, we would simply be using that person to meet our short-term needs. We may enjoy it, but we wouldn't be truly loving them or putting their interests first. We should avoid romantic, one-on-one relationships until God tells us we are ready. That way, we will be able to serve those of the opposite gender as friends while keeping our focus on God. Until we can learn to love them selflessly that way, we are not ready to be in a relationship.

A time will come for us Christians to account to God for everything, including our actions and attitudes towards relationships. We should all seek to be pure and blameless in our thoughts and actions before Him.

Not dating doesn't mean that we should be cutting off all ties with the opposite sex. As Christians, we should be commited to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Although there are limits to these relationships, we cannot shirk our responsibility to care for, encourage and build each other up.

Caring for the opposite sex

Read John 4:10-11

God's love for us provides both the example and the power for us to love others. Our sins have been forgiven through Jesus' death and we can't live life the same way we did before. We are new creations, controlled by God's love instead of by what feels good.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

As true Christians, we no longer live for ourselves but for God and for the good of others. Relationships with the opposite sex can no longer be about “having a good time” or “learning what I want in a relationship”. They should be about giving, not getting. Every relationship we have is an opportunity to love a person like God has loved us. We should be able to care for the person even when there is nothing in it for us. We should want to protect that person's purity and holiness because it pleases God.

1 Timothy 5:1-2 “[…] Treat younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

Prayers and Thanksgivings

Hello all. Yep Zenas, thanks for posting. I absolutely agree with you. We always go to God for our requests but how often do we come before Him with a thankful heart. As you can see in the picture (and in your notebooks), one of the purpose of our CG journal is to log everything that we're thankful to God for, big and small!

The leaders will be electing a prayer and thanksgiving IC to consolidate and post some of the prayer requests and thanksgivings that the members have. He/she should also continually remind the CG the importance of prayer/thanksgivings and propose different ways we can do that. Hm... any volunteers?

Love,

Germs

the power of a prayer

hey, i just experienced something quite cool recently..

i had a few class test recently, all of which none did well..

but the worst thing was i failed my e math test..

so i was moddy and paranoid through out that week, and after all the begging, my math teacher still wouldnt give me extra marks..

so i decided to pray to God. (i thought it was my last hope.. although it was just about a test)

and then the next day, the teacher suddenly just gave the class a retest..

i didnt realise until a few days later that it was the prayer to God that gave me another chance to redo my math paper which i screwed up the first time..

and i learnt that if only i had seek God in the first place.. maybe i wouldnt have been that moody before..

through that ,"probaly be boring to you" ,experience, i realised how powerful a prayer can be, even in small things like the failure of my class test.

do we take prayers lightly?

do really mean what we pray sometimes?

these were some of the questions that went through my mind..

i realised how dependent i was on my own decisions instead of God's advice. (so sad right)..

thanking God even for the smallest things

i was just thinking.. would it be awesome if we had something like a thank you notebook?

like, at the end of everyday, just right down all things you would like to thank God on that day itself.

even small things like, thank you for blessing me with great friends or thank you for providing food for me everyday. or stuff like that..

then like the end of the year, you can like read through all the things God has blessed you in your life..

so what do you guess think about it?

anyway, i better go study now.

zenas

Man oh man... How do I even begin to describe TRUE LOVE? True love is not about ownership. It's not about having someone to belong to you. Frankly, it's not even about the other person liking you back! Effervescence, you all always think that you are old enough to be in relationships; that you understand what love is. But are you really capable of loving someone selflessly, without the need of owning the person?! 

We will continue to explore this crazy, magical topic of love. Remember to do your homework. (Details in one of the posts below) As you read the 1st chapter of I kissed dating goodbye, you can underline, highlight and write questions and thoughts on the notes itself. But most importantly, do it sincerely, with a genuine interest of finding out if you're ready for a relationship.

hey guys, how has your week been?

hope you guys will have a happy chinese new year(:

WORSHIP(:

anyway,

have you ever found it amazing that we can praise God?

have you been singing and praising God with the right attitude?

do you praise God whenever you like? do you praise God only when he does something amazing in your life?

reflect on all the times where you worshipped God.

do you sing and mean what you sing, or do you sing because the tune of the song sounds catchy?

what is worship to you?

do you raise your hands when the music starts to hit its climax or do you raise your hands when the words of the song touches your heart.

God is always looking at our hearts. whether we're in school, church or at home, etc.

have you been leading a God centered life, or a very world centered life.

reflect(:

i found this weeks cg bs very helpful and relevant to our teenage lives.

im sure some of us have had a relationship before..

and im sure many of us have gone through the "i have a crush on this person before".

and we also have many questions about BGR and stuff.

so may God help us understand what he is trying to teach and correct us as we continue in our cg bs'.

Remember that God always there for us.

He''s just a prayer away.

continue to seek and stay close to Him,

zenas.

Christian Dating 1 Homework

An intro to Christian Dating

We just had our 1st session on Christian dating. I've posted notes below for you to refer to. I'm afraid this is not going to be an easy topic to go through, simply because it sometimes so hard to listen to what God wants when our feelings seem so strong and pull us the opposite direction. I hope today's session was a good introduction. It was just to get us all to start thinking about how God is involved in all areas of our lives, including our love life.

Things we will be learning in the following weeks:

- What is love, how do we genuinely care for the opposite sex
- The problems with dating
- Maintaining purity in a relationship
- Friendship VS Romance
- Singlehood
- Choosing the right partner
- Dating the Godly way

CG Journal Homework:

1. Reflect and journal: When do you think you'll be ready for a relationship? (Please elaborate and explain why)
2. Read: 1st chapter of "I kissed dating goodbye"
3. Reflect and journal: What are the things that struck you the most when you were reading that? (Eg. Is the writer's view of relationships any different from yours? What are some things you've learnt?)

Do put in effort in completing the homework assignment. Write your reflections (or answers) in your CG journal. We'll be sharing our answers during our next CG session on 27th Feb. As you reflect, pray and ask God to show you what He wants you to learn, and how He wants you to change. Seek His guidance... He made you and He knows you best... :)

Love,
Germs

Christian Dating 1

Dating

Dating is actually a very mordern term. In the past, it was common for marriages to be arranged. If a guy spent a lot of time with a girl, it was assumed that they were to be married. Today, dating has become so common. We all enjoy being able to be intimate with someone (physically and emotionally) without committing to marriage. We can try out different partners. We disregard feelings. Surely there is something wrong with the way the world views relationships?

We're going to be discussing what God expects in relationships based on a book: I kissed dating goodbye. There have been people who loved the book but also those who hate it. Some think the suggestions made by the book are impossible to follow. But let's discuss it and see where it brings us. The message of the book is not to pursue romance until you're ready for commitment, enjoy your single years, don't feel like you must have a girlfriend or boyfriend and ultimately, to make God your focus.

As Christians, we are no longer living for ourselves, but for God. This means that we have to deny ourselves certain things that we want doesn't please God. As we go through this series of Bible studies, some of you may feel compelled to follow while others may think it's over-the-top. I believe much of it depends on your own walk with God and how much you want to please Him. I can't expect a non-christian to undertand simply because he feels no need or reason to do what God wants him to. So, search your hearts, and let God speak to you through these studies.

But first, why should we care how we date?

1 Peter 1:13-16
Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

1 Thessalonians 4:3-7
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

As a Christian, there is no limit to how good we are supposed to be. God expects us to be completely blameless, 100%. We tend to categorise sin into what is acceptable and what is not. We decide for ourselves, what we can or cannot do. That's so wrong. Who are we to think we can decide what's right or wrong. God calls us to be completely Holy because He is Holy.

Think: Purity and Holiness
- What does it mean to be pure and holy?
- Why is it important for us to be so?
- How can we practice that?

We know that as Christians, we have to be different from the world. This should also apply in our B/G relationships. How do you think Christian BGR should be different from secular BGR?

Cg on 13 Feb

Heellloooo,

There will be Cg this week, 13 feb at 2pm instead of the usual 2.30pm. This is so that we can end earlier for those who have to rush off for the reunion dinners! I hope your week at school has been ok.

Staying hot for God

I know that we haven't had much chance to have CG sessions like we used to. There's been so much going on, Pre event and Vday...

Many times I'm afraid... I keep worrying that if we stop meeting for too long, everyone will lose interest in God and CG. But when I think about it, I realise that this actually means something ... WE ARE FORMING A HEAVY DEPENDENCE ON CG!

I think there's a good and bad thing to learn from that. I've asked many of you this question personally, "Is CG something you look forward to during the week?" And most of you have told me yes! I'm glad we enjoy fellowship together and learning about God. But, for some of you, if you stop coming for CG for too long, you feel so far away from God!

Dear Effervescence, I think we may be facing the danger of forming a dependency on the CG instead of God. If the CG were to collapse, does that mean that your relationship with God should collapse as well? No! That would be a rather silly thought right? It would show that your relationship was unstable in the first place.

As members of Effervescence, we should commit to 2 aspects, our relationship with God as well as commitment to the CG. I'm glad that you have all been committing more to the CG but let's not forget the more important thing, our relationship with God!

It's never easy and Satan's forever attacking... Wei Sheng and I are here for you. If ever you feel unsure about anything or like you're drifting away from God, just let us know! SMS us or something la! We can try to help you through it, or at least go through it with you. You guys really should talk to us more instead of bottling everything inside you know... Bottling will just make you EMO -___-

Love,
Germs

p.s. Hm, I can't believe I used "-___-"... I'm supposed to be like... 22 yrs old...

A night in the park with God

Last friday, on my way home, I suddenly had an urge to spend some quality time with God. That evening, I had just gone out with 2 of my friends from secondary school. We passed by some bars/pubs on the way and when I saw the people drinking and smoking, I just wondered how many of them were actually feeling empty inside.

While I was walking home, I just kept thinking... As the years have passed, my friends and I have become so different. Many of the people my age drink, smoke, club, sleep around. All these things are so common that not doing them seems almost strange. To most people, I probably seem like a real prude; a freak, even. I suddenly felt like I wanted to show the world that I was different not because I was a freak, but because I have God in my life. He changed me. He gave meaning to my life. I don't want and I don't need the world's approval. I want God to tell me I've been a good servant and that he's proud of me.

As I reflected on all these, I knew deep inside that I hadn't been talking to Him enough recently. Although it was already 11.30pm by the time I reached my block, I decided to spend some time in solitude with God at the park downstairs.

I had a meaningful time with God that night. There, in all the silence of the park, I looked up at the trees and the sky and soaked in His glory as I spoke to Him. And as I looked at the open sky, it felt as if the words from my mouth were floating up to him in Heaven, and there was nothing in the way. God always hears our prayer, but sometimes we pray as if we don't believe it. It took praying into an open sky to remind me that God is there. He listens.

That night when I got home, I received some "bad news". Strangely, I felt an immense peace. It felt so much like God prompted me to talk to Him to give me strength and encouragement just before it. Almost as if He was preparing me. This is the God who gave His life for me, who loves me more than anyone ever can, and whom I love and want to serve forever!

As I type this now, I remember an old hymn:

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield thee;
thou wilt find a solace there.

Effervescence, reflect on the lyrics for a bit.
What a privilege for us to be able to carry everything to God in prayer?
When was the last time you spent some REAL time with God?

Love,
Germs

Vday instructions

Lol Pat, yes, you do sound like me.
This is an add-on to what Pat has written.
(Thanks for the initiative Pat!)


Official TImeline for VDAY 6th Feb:


2.00pm - Table hosts to be in church for briefing (They know who they are too)
3.00pm - Other helpers to be in church for briefing (Mainly Renfred's CG helping to move things)
4.00pm - Prayer session. Open to all youths who are free and can come a little earlier.
5.00pm - Main event starts off with Icebreakers and games at Bethel.
7.00pm - Dinner
8.30pm - Glow stick activity
9.15pm - End of Main event


I believe those who have volunteered to be Table hosts are: Marcus, Amanda, Patrizha, JC and Ryan(-edited by amanduhloo and Zenas). I'm not sure if I missed out anyone. These Table Hosts need to come at 2pm sharp. (Not 3pm)


For the rest of the CG, you can join us for the prayer session at 4pm first, or come at 5pm to attend actual Vday event itself. Because of Vday, there won't be CG. (Aw....!) But I'll look forward to seeing you all the following saturday ok! :)


Love,
Germs