Dust

I think I should blog more often. Not that it is a matter of life or death for anyone (is it?), I just have to commit myself to doing something. Anyway, here are my excuses for not blogging the past few days:

1. I was lazy
2. I had nothing to blog about
3. I was busy
4. I had many things to blog about but had no time
5. I was doing some other things so yea
6. I forgot that I had a blog
7. I was busy looking for things to blog about
8. I was too tired
9. My PC died
10. My camera was not working
11. I could not find any nice pictures
12. I could not find the cable for my camera to plug into the PC

Okay, that will also be my excuse for not blogging the next few days. Good night.

Have you been high today?

Nicki is lucky to have sane roommates in camp. Look at the people I was stuck with for two nights.

One Hundred and One

By the way, the previous post on MAD Camp so happened to be my 100th post on this blog, signifying that I have broken the 3-digit barrier.

Coincidence? Hmm...

MAD Camp 2009

I have been to many youth camps - well not that many, really - my first being MAD Camp in 2004 when we were in Shalom Villa; the time when we could fit all of the campers into two apartments and did our praise and worship with only a guitar; when we would literally sit at the feet of the speaker and hear the message.

Time passed and gradually I grew to predict how camps usually are: the first night everyone will be chatting until late at night and doing anything but sleeping; on the second day half the campers will be late for the morning exercise session and for some mysterious reason everyone will only be all excited and ready to take the world on the final night... People will try to stay up as they did on the first night but fall asleep out of exhaustion anyway; and on the last day everyone will wake up late, eat breakfast and go to the final session (which starts late) half asleep. Everyone goes home, sleeps the afternoon away, and continues life as usual.

But MAD Camp 2009 was nothing like that.

I missed the first 24 hours or so of camp because I had to attend class on Thursday morning; but as I reached that evening and attended the first session, it was as though the place was alive and electrified by the presence of God. Pastor Cheah nailed the whole heart of MAD as he began his message saying, "YOU are the face of the future!" God was so powerful and tangible in the place that as the altar call went on late into the night, all I could do was say over and over again, "God... you are here" It was a revelation on a whole new level: the power that created the universe was THERE in the room that we were in.

I left the hall that night saying to myself, "If I had paid the full camp fees just for that session... It was already more than worth it" But as we all know, the camp did not end there. In fact, it only got better, and better, and better, and better, leading right up to the final session on the last day of camp. Sure, we were tired; sure, we felt like we needed more sleep... But God was in the house, and we did not let him pass us by. Every message was alive with the power to break mindsets and transform lives; the anointing as so strong in the place that we know it was more than a feeling... It was God and it was real.

MAD Camp this year was more than "just another camp"... it was more than another youth camp... In fact I do not even know what word I can use to describe it; but one thing I can say... Our time has come.


"All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle; C.S. Lewis

Tuesday's post on Wednesday

I was walking around Segi UC's campus when I came across this bulletin that claims to be able to teach you how to speak Chinese in five minutes. Thought it was pretty hillarious. I was standing there laughing like an idiot at the bulletin while passer-bys gave me strange/concerned looks.

Learn Chinese in 5 minutes... (YOU MUST read them out loud)

---

1) That's not right ......... Sum Ting Wong

2) Are you harbouring a fugitive?..... Hu Yu Hai Ding

3) See me ASAP..........Kum Hia Nao

4) Stupid Man ..............Dum Gai

5) Small Horse ...........Tai Ni Po Ni

6) Did you go to the beach? ........Wai Yu So Tan

7) I bumped into a coffee table ........Ai Bang Mai Ni

8) I think you need a face lift .......Chin Tu Fat

9) It's very dark in here .....Wao So Dim

10) I thought you were on a diet ......Wai Yu Mun Ching?

11) This is a tow away zone .......No Pah King

12) Our meeting is scheduled for next week ........Wai Yu Kum Nao?

13) Staying out of sight .........Lei Ying Lo

14) He's cleaning his automobile ..... Wa Shing Ka

15) Your body odor is offensive .......Yu Stin Ki Pu

Proverbs 18:21

Once upon a time there was a man called Mi who had a very special gift: whatever he said with his mouth comes true. His nation prospered because of him, and no harm could come on any of them because he said so.

One day an enemy came from the north, and its general stood up on a hill and said to him, "We have an army of ten thousand and one men! Our arrows will blot out the sunlight, and you will be dead before your lips can utter our defeat!"

"Oh really?" Mi said, scratching his head, "What if you don't have arrows to shoot with?"

In an instant, all their arrows snapped at the head and disintegrated into the air. Ten thousand and one men started to flee in seven directions all at once. All was good.

Then another enemy came from the west, and this time the King stood up on a high place and cried out, "Even if our legs turn into jelly and our arms into butter, we will overtake your city and burn it to its roots!"

Mi stretched in his chair and yawned. "Sure," he said sleepily "Would love to see you all try to do that with legs of jelly and arms of butter"

What followed is too violent and graphic to be put into words, but what was important was that all is still good for Mi. Before he could close his eyes, another enemy came from the south, and the commander stood on a high platform and spoke into a megaphone.

"We know your weakness, Mi!" The commander said with a smug look on his face, "So we have plugged all our ears with wax and cotton - you cannot defeat us now!"

This got Mi's notice. He stood up and saw three hundred men with their ears plugged with cotton and wax; they could not hear a single thing. The commander from the south laughed maniacally before resuming his poker face and gave a battle cry, "Now, we attack! CHAAAARGEE!!"

No one moved.

Mi cocked his head to one side and gave the commander a pitiful look. The commander seemed quite confused at this.

"I said, CHAAAARRRGEEE!!" He shouted again. Again, no one moved.

This went on for a few hours before they finally gave up and went back to where they came from. Mi was about to resume his nap when another army came from the east, armed with sharp sticks and nasty-looking wooden mallets. This time, no leader came forth with a challenge, but the men in the front line raised up a banner.

Mi squinted at the banner. "I... lost... my... voice" He read out loud the bright yellow words on the banner. He shook his head at the idiocy of people nowadays. Surely anyone would know that yellow words on white was impossible to read. Mi opened his mouth to bring hail, fire and sulphur upon the army that disturbed his afternoon nap.

Only a croak came out.

Oh, shoot. He thought to himself as the army started charging.