11 March CA 2010 is one of the most exciting CAs so far this year for me. Firstly because the speaker, Bro. Calvin Tay is from my church (Harvest Generation Church Subang) and secondly is because so many AUSMATians came for CA this week which is a totally rare thing! Maybe it was because we just finished our biology test on Wednesday night and the coming week will be our mid-semester break. There were so many AUSMAT newcomers and overall there were slightly more than ten newcomers which is quite a big number! And almost all of them are non-believers, really praise God for that! => We really pray that seeds have been sown and one day these people will know how blessed is it to know our great and awesome God!
As usual CA started with icebreaker, then praise and worship, then sermon, then fellowshipping while enjoying refreshments. Icebreaker was led by Bobby (unsure of spelling). The game tested on our faith. I did not play the game and I was watching them play at the back. It was so funny to see their reactions when they found out that the thumbtacks were actually not on the floor and they worried for nothing. The game master then explained the meaning behind the game. Many times we lose faith towards God, we are always distracted by what the world says and forget to go back to God. Every time when there is a problem we forgot to bring our request to God and trust in Him that He will pull us through. We prefer to consult the people around us and not follow what God says. And then we worry and worry so much not knowing that God has actually taken care of these problems. So even through games we all learnt something that day.
the blinds
the 'eyes'
After that we proceeded to praise and worship led by Abigail and the team. Then, Calvin Tay spoke on ‘Loving God with Our Minds’ in accordance to the CA theme this year to love God and then love our neighbours. There are two things that caught my attention. Firstly is ‘think less and pray more’ and secondly is ‘as a man thinks, so is he’. ‘Think less and pray more’ really speaks about me sometimes. Many times when I’m face with a difficulty or just about any problem, I tend to worry and worry and worry. I will think of so many ‘what ifs’ and then I’ll complain to my friends but very seldom I’ll talk to God first. This shouldn’t be the way as our God is the one that has everything under His control, not our friends, not our parents, not even ourselves. So let’s all learn to ‘think less and pray more’! ‘As a man thinks, so is he’ also speaks of the mind, what we input into our minds will determine what will be the output. As Christians, we should input good, positive and godly things into our minds. We should think of good things like think of what we want our future to be in say 2 years time, think and pray about what is God’s purpose for me in this life instead of constantly filling our minds with things of the world e.g. TV series, money, porn?, good-looking guys, etc. It is not that these things are bad but if we don’t have a balance then it won’t be good for us. BUT porn is definitely a no-no!
After the sermon ended, Bro. Nick Chan, also from Harvest Generation Church shared with us a short testimony. He was one of those faithful servants of God that started CA some 7 years ago with a few other friends. He was an AUSMAT senior from AUSMAT 14!! (This June/July we will see the coming of AUSMAT 22 juniors!). He shared with us some history of CA as well as encouraging us to keep doing what we do because he said that through CA seeds have been sown and that some people have accepted Christ later while studying overseas! After that we had some refreshments as well as fellowshipping with each other. The team from Harvest Generation stayed back to fellowship with some of us. Then, slowly we all left for our respective hostels and we all made it on time as CA ended really early that day.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦Loving with Your Mind♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
It was a hectic week, I’ll admit that. But I was looking forward to CA. It meant a break from assignments and also that the holidays were approaching rapidly.
The night started off with the welcoming of the newcomers. Abigail, Sarah and I pulled off a quaint little so-called performance to welcome all those present in CA for the very first time. It was a joy and delight to have so many newcomers that night. Straight after that, announcements were given and the time was passed to Bobby, the game master of the night. He introduced a game, which got half of the people screaming their lungs out at another half of the people who were blindfolded and absolutely clueless of what was going on. They were to give directions as to avoid the blindfolded from getting into harm’s way (Bobby had put thumb tacks on the ground). In the end, after all was over, we were informed that the tacks had been taken away already. So in the same way, when we know there are troubles and obstacles ahead in life, we need to listen carefully to the voice of One and obey Him. =)
imagine a world with no light...(or blinded with rubbish bag?) you can only depend on Him to guide you...no worries people!
worship team
The praise and worship session led by Abigail followed the game and we were led into a time of worship. After which, our speaker for the night – Calvin Tay delivered a message, sharing with us the meaning of ‘loving God with our mind’. He gave us three points on how we can love God with all our minds:
- Think less, pray more
- Stop thinking that we know everything
- Start thinking with God’s purpose in mind
bro Calvin Tay
I learnt that it’s important to keep our minds pure and to set it on righteousness because our actions portray what is in our minds. And also, with so much to do and so little time, we tend to forget that God is in control and start pulling our hair and losing our cool. It’s important, in fact, not to worry so much and just pray more, talk to God more. That was a very good reminder for me to just be still and know that He is God.
After the message, Nick Chan, who was one of the students who first started CA, shared a little about himself and encouraged all of us to remain strong in our faith and to keep on spreading God’s love through CA. Following that, we celebrated the birthdays of those born in March and with that, CA was adjourned over light-hearted chatter and some refreshments (prepared by Ivy and Carmen =)).
Blessed holidays,
Jan =)
Campus Alive 