Heroes of the Faith

that was the theme of the UTAR Kampar CF camp i recently spoke at.

i did four sessions based on this theme. apart from looking at the lives of Biblical heroes of the faith (based on Hebrews 11), we watched some video clips on the lives of Eric Liddel and Jim Elliot. and in the final session, i challenged them to be the heroes of faith for their generation.

each of us who calls ourselves 'Christian' are standing on the shoulders of giants. we are where we are today in our journey of faith, because of people who've gone before us who've passed the baton of faith down to us. they were able to do so because the people who came before them passed the baton to them in turn. and so it goes, down the generations and the centuries, an unbroken chain of faith, all the way back to the heroes of the Bible. therefore, it is now our turn to run the race well and pass that baton on to those who will come after us.

here's a pic of all of us, courtesy of ee ling:

one reason i really enjoyed this camp is that there's a pretty big gang of sitiawanites (sitiawanians?) there. one of them is joshua, now a leader in the CF... another is andrea, who's fabian's li'l sis (fabe was my best man at my wedding last year!), then there's anna, who's father is the famous bald physics teacher in my school who was also our SCF teacher advisor for years and years, and ren jie from ayer tawar whom i knew when she was literally a baby! (there was also a girl named mei sing there, but i dunno her that well cos she's from a different church). in many ways, these are precisely the people to whom i hope i left a legacy of faith when i left sitiawan... the people i passed the baton of faith to. it was great to see them again and to know that they are continuing to grow in their faith and serve God through the transition into uni! =)

besides that, the other campers were great too... it was a pleasure getting to know them, and a privilege to minister to them. at least two of them shared with me that they have a call to full-time christian ministry... may they be true to their calling as God leads and guides them! oh, and mr. kuek is a really interesting character too... he's a lecturer in UTAR kampar and the CF advisor. he's a veteran SU camper, and we may even have met at some long-forgotten SU camp, because we have the same SU Theme T-shirt! =)

i was pretty exhausted at the end of the camp. my voice was already weak at the start of camp, because of my trip to genting with The Wife. someone gave us two free tickets to the theme park there, and because of the expiry date, the only opportunity we had to use it was just before this camp. all the screaming on the rides and roller coasters had given me a sexy (yeah, right!), hoarse voice. and then during camp, there was this crazy game in which one group is divided and stands at opposite ends of a badminton court, and they have to shout a message across the court while the other group makes noise to distract and disturb them. the pandemonium was insane, and i couldn't sing properly anymore after that... heheh

thank God for the two days of hari raya, i really needed that time to recuperate.

last weekend and this weekend i was/will be in pj, taking a course for my part-time Masters in Christian Studies. this module is about Methodism, and it's pretty inspiring to learn about the roots of this denomination that i belong to. at the heart of the Methodist Revival was the man John Wesley, after whom my home church in sitiawan was named. reading about his quest for personal and communal holiness and his formidable self-discipline, i find that he is truly a hero of the faith whom i'd do well to emulate.

Looking forward, i have a high-school reunion thingy happening on 18 October, followed by the dreaded 10km run on the 19th (i still can't run more than 1.5km at a stretch! die lah this time...=P) and then SU staff consultation on 20-24th October. staff consultation is a really important time for us as we seek God's face, bond as a staff team, discuss important issues and ministry matters, and plan for next year's camps and events. as always, your prayers are highly valued and appreciated. =)

'til the next post - God bless! =)