SF Retreat 2006
Sunday, December 17, 2006
♥ 8:10 PM
On the night of the 11th of December, I went to Singapore Bible College (SBC) for our SF annual retreat. As usual retreat is a time for us to really put everything away and just focus on GOD and learn about him and his word. As we are usually very busy during our normal days, this is really a great time for us to really concentrate on GOD alone to learn to worship the Lord better. Retreat is also an opportunity for us to get to know other SFers better and to make more friends as we usually do not have much time on Sundays to really fellowship with each other. It is also through the retreat that I really get to integrate into SF and get to know more people. When I arrived on Monday night, everyone was doing the evaluation of the day and I joined my group just in time for some sharing. We mainly shared about the objectives we have and others share about the message that they had earlier. After the sharing, we went to wash up and sleep. SBC is better compared to the Changi Chalet in a sense that we have mattress and pillows provided for us to sleep and we do not have to sleep on sleeping bags. But the condition of the toilet is not as good as it really smells and the cubicle is really cram and the toilet bowl is so near the door that I have problems coming out. On the first day, I got to know my group members which are Matthias, Roger, TuanFong, Keith, Gervais, Joanna, Trina, Florence and Genevieve. Ivana is also in our group which is called the Light Bulb. I realized that the slides for my worship the next day is not ready yet, so I went with Sebastian and Randy to do the power point. When we went back to the bunk, we were locked out and luckily Zhi Zhen responded to my call and came to open the door for us. On top of that, I really have to thank Gervais and Sebastian for helping me with the worship songs and teaching me how to sing them. As it would be my first worship, I am a little nervous and worried about screwing it up. But luckily the worship went well except that I got out of tune for a while but later managed to sing in the right tune. I am glad that there are people who really encourage me and comment that they enjoyed the worship and it is a good job for a first timer. I am really relief when the worship ended fine and I really thank God for his help and guidance in my worship leading.
The next day, after my worship was quiet time by Albert where we learn about Psalm, mainly the definition, the target audience, the authors, the arrangement and most importantly how to study them. I think the most important thing to note is that the Psalms are to be read as an intimate and private journal by Christians to GOD, and not a historical record or theological letter. For it is only when we have a right frame of mind that we can appreciate it. We did Psalm 84 for QT and I was paired with Lionel, Danny’s cousin who was a non Christian. I took the opportunity to explain to him the need for QT and what QT is really about. But from my conversation with him, I find him to be very close to receiving information and I get this general feeling that he does not really want to come to this camp. But I still try my best to engage him in the best I can and leave the rest to GOD to work in his heart. After QT, we gathered back into our six groups for some sharing before going for lunch. After lunch was a session by Uncle Jit Meng on the topic of accountability. From the session, I learnt that in the world today, no man is an island and that we need some form of accountability for us to grow together and protect each other from falling. Many people understand the term accountable to which means that a person of a lower rank is responsible for answering to a certain leader and that the leader will watch over the person. However, in the SF, we must learn to be accountable for each other. In this system, anyone can be accountable for anyone. A leader is accountable for his/her contact as the leader really wants to take the responsibility and effort to be accountable for the contact and the contact must also respond to be want to account to the leader. In the same, a contact in a bible study group can also be accountable for his/her own leader and point out any wrongdoing for the sake of genuine concern and not going around looking for errors to pounce on people and to find fault with others. Accountability stems from genuine care and concern for the person to take the effort to be responsible. So in this case, should we see any wrongdoing by anyone, we should actually remind the person and advice instead of asking for leaders' help all the time. After the session was games time where there were four games to be played. At first we gathered at some open space and played some game where the groups are supposed to grab some marbles as well as go steal some. I feel a bit out of place playing with the kids so I ended up just standing around and extra a bit here and there. After that were 3 more games. First one that my group played was using a water pistol to shoot through a loop and collect the water in a container. Second was playing captain’s ball using either packets containing food or water bomb. Luckily there was only one food bomb. There was a third game but my group did not manage to play it due to lack of time I guess. But I had lots of fun shooting people with water pistols. Cheap thrill as what Denise commented.
The next day was as usual with me conducting the sweat it out with Randy. Oh Randy and I were tasked to be in charge of the sweat it out for the whole retreat which is from Tuesday to Thursday. For all 3 days, I was only in charge of conducting the warm up and Randy come up with the games. First day we played Virus which is some catching game where the catchers are stringed together and attack as a row. Second day, on Wednesday, we played a game called Human Chain which was conducted by Roger. The last day, we played Dog and Bone.
The third day, we had TAG which is Time Alone with God conducted by Aunty Deborah. We did John 14 and I did it with Lionel again. It was usual and we managed to do Psalm 1 and 100 too when we finished with John 14. John 14 was a record of John’s gospel which took place near the end of Jesus’ life on earth where He would subsequently be tortured and crucified. Here, Jesus was with His Disciples in a private discourse. He told and taught them many things about the Father, Himself and the Holy Spirit whom would be sent to live with them after His physical departure. After lunch time, we were dropped with a bombshell. We are to plan an outreach event tomorrow and invite our friends to it. I was like what the toot when I heard the mission. But still, the IC and 2 ICs managed to gathered and come up with a game program following the story of Paul. I was the medic for the program and also helped with the making of a gift for friends and all Sfers which is a star. It is great to see young Sfers taking the lead to conduct the event, especially Marcus who is literally in charge of the whole thing. Although only 4 friends turn up for the event, we are glad too. It is better to have 4 people to turn up and really want to learn more about Christ then have 200 people arrive and all leave without any interest. After the whole event, we had a evaluation and I took the opportunity to promote the Christmas event to everyone and to remind them to attend since everyone had the heart to invite their friends to an outreach event at the moment. On Thursday night, I left as I have duty on Saturday and I need to rest.
