sometimes the shuffle button brings pleasant surprises, surfacing ol’ favourites this one has a particularly ethereal feel to it

when the night seems so long (throw your hands to the sky)
you can sing a new song (wipe the tears from your eyes)
when you’re weak, He is strong
He can heal your wounded soul
and calm the storm inside

for all your times of laughter
in every hopeful prayer
when the world weighs on your shoulders
through sorrow and your despair
with everything, with every breath, praise the Lord
let everything, that has breath praise the Lord
(With every breath, sixpence none the richer)

the brain also shuffles a bit, in ways we cannot understand. eh brain, stop shuffling yo. and hair can you please stop growing for a while? 12 bucks to cut hair every 6 weeks is not fun ok.

anyway back to shuffling. was cavorting in the study room and came across the blurb of a c.s.lewis book which is quite cool.

Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell. (C.s.lewis)  

stop shuffling brain, stop shuffling.

was reading the sunday papers just prior to coming to the airport (yah, i’ve been in singapore for less than 24 hours) AND GUESS WHO IS ON THE BACK OF THE SUNDAY PLUS.

GUESS GUESS GUESS!!!!!!!

*squee*  my super awesome supervisor. *pink shiny glittery things*

for the entire week at AnnTIC, i slept a grand total of 18 hours. i felt as though i had written manymany essays. by the end of the camp i think i was running solely on adrenaline and caffeine and the excitement that i had each morning when thinking of the day’s activities.

but first…

minuses

- mites! ARGH YOU STINKING CRETINS! all four limbs and other bits of exposed skin bear my battle scars with those critters. i think the girls dorm was particularly afflicted by these evil six legged things with bites of doom. hello, bite the guys can? arrrrr.

- stinky feet! oh bother. the inclement weather meant the sandals, my sole footwear, couldn’t dry, coupled with many people playing soccer in my sandals, the smell was definitely not rosy. and when it did dry on friday, some smart person kicked it out of the porch and it became utterly soaked in the downpour. what fortune. *fists*

- brinjals! why, uncle, why? i remember your nasi lemak and the lip-smacking chili and i also remember the brinjal and the fear-factor challenge we had. so why uncle, why brinjal and not nasi lemak?

- the mountain of panadol cold flu tablets that i consumed and also dispense to other people. *shakes fists at germs*

pluses

- just about everything else, i must say.

- the theme talks were, as expected, fantastic. having heard Pastor Gideon speak at EARC i knew this was going to be good. and he did 5 expositions, lasting three hours each, on the book of Amos, focusing on the theme of Israel’s complacency, a false sense of security brought about by our social circumstances. very relevant to life in Singapore where we are so richly blessed and yet we turn many a blind eye to the injustices in our society. i was really glad Gideon came to speak with us, so that the message of social justice does not die off with the people who came back from EARC but that the next wave of VCF people would continue to be challenged by the word of God and to do something about it.

- IBS was the highlight for me. I was in the Psalms class led by Paul. We also covered the book of Lamentations and one from Isaiah. no wonder 60% of all VCF teaching is during AnnTIC. it is like cram Bible school. We used Prac crit techniques to analyse the psalms and Paul had a wealth of knowledge, telling us random bits like how deers can sniff out underground sources of water, thats why Psalm 42 goes “as the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs for You, O God”.  I really loved prac crit in JC, mostly cuz I was lazy and didn’t want to read other texts and seeing how parallelism and metaphors etc are used in the Psalms brought out the meaning so much clearer and was simply, beautiful. and with this Psalms class i’ve completed all levels of IBS! *prances* oh and the workshops were super interesting can? esp the one on Intellectual Property. i think if anyone was there at the beginning of the discussion, he/she won’t believe he/she just stepped into a room of christians. tsk.

- exco time was where we saw how God helps us in our time of need. hehe. the preparation for it was quite lacking, hence the very little hours of sleep due to late night meetings. the station games on busyness went on pretty alright and even though the court case lapsed into the defence got a bit sidelined into trying to win the case (AND IT TOOK SO LONG!) i think the message got across la.

- random things we did in the bunks. i recall us taupoking some random thursday person. i think it was ade. and chatting while squeezed on the same bed, which surfaced some interesting issues to say the least. and i think flo is not going to like the song ‘rise and shine’ for quite a long while. BWAHAHAHAAHHAHA.

This camp was really packed, so i particularly enjoyed QT at 730 every morning. during quiet time when i sat at my usual spot on the outside staircase looking at the fields in the distance and just feeling the cool morning breeze enveloping me,  it was a period of rest and just enjoying the presence of God, something rare since the mad sem started. every morning i was reminded of the song “Times of refreshing, here in Your presence. no greater blessing, than being with You. My soul is restored, my mind is renewed. no greater joy Lord, than being with You”.

knowing Jesus better was something that was on my heart and when minzhi led worship, the lyric was apt.

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

It is really such a privilege to be able to study God’s word for one whole week, just sitting there poring over it, discussing the interesting things we learn at our various IBS and workshops during our meal times, and having Bible study discussions after the themetalks. and the long chats and  prayer on our lower bunk beds, and across bunk beds, recalling the past and how God was always seen to be faithful no matter what, thinking of all the lessons we had learnt and looking to the future with expectation, knowing that God is always there and in full control. like the throne room scene in Revelation that John keeps on referring to, because despite all the chaos in the world, God is still on His throne and because Heaven is a reality, we know we can rest assured in his love and mercy.

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

in an attempt to be a leprechaun, i went for the final job interview in the midst of the exams. why did i get called back even though i thought the opportunity was over? long sad story about my lack of brains in psychometric test ensues but i shan’t…

and then 3/4 hour way through the interview, this really pretty super power woman arrives and throws the curveball. and i realised, for the past 45min, i had just been a baldfaced (almost) liar. ALAMAK WHY DIDNT YOU COME IN EARLIER? *facepalm* *facedesk*
congrats debs. you take the cake.