iCA: WWG2 (Why we go Where we go?)

I could not wait for Thursday to come. In fact, it was only just Monday that I wished the next day was Thursday. Hehe. The reason why I wanted Thursday to come fast… 

*drumrolls*

Presenting to you our very first all-girls iCA!  [Which makes me wonder how did the all-guys iCA go considering there were already 2 testimonies on all-girls iCA and this is the third ;)]

The exam pressures were piling up but I needed a little retreat from books, a little fellowship with the rest. 

As the time was clocking to eight, knocks were heard on my door. 16 of us crammed into my small and warm living room. Sorry for that hehe. 

It kicked off with praise and worship led by Kar Suan with Yen Fong on the guitar. I was touched upon listening to the unison of our voices as we sang our hearts and lungs out for Daddy in Heaven, regardless of whether we were in tune or out. 

After that, Esther conducted a very creative and brilliant family game. Like what Kezia had mentioned in her testimony, we were divided into three groups, 5 in each group. Each played a role – a blind mother, a dumb sister, a handicapped brother, a father who couldn’t express what he wanted to say directly and a baby. Each family member, except the baby who was supposed to the source of disturbance, should try to tell the word that she received to the entire family and they had to assemble the letters to form the name of the place in the Bible. It was really tough to present the word to the rest to guess as each of us had our own disabilities. I had to draw with my feet. Nevertheless, we encouraged every member of the group to try so that we could guess the words. Despite being the last group to guess the place, I was really happy that we stayed united like a family in Christ. It reminded me that we are all imperfect in one way or another, so we are made to complement others.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Next up was the discussion session. Esther took a group and Sharon took another group. The first question posed was “What is a church?” We took turns answering that as the Awkward Turtle went from one hand to another. Interesting answers heard. Well, as what Esther had said, the church is a body and not a building; it is an organism and not an organization. In other words, the church is a living thing and is not confined to the walls of bricks. 

Romans 12:5
In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all others.

Then, we were divided into pairs to discuss about bible verses assigned to us. I paired up with Rebecca to discuss about John 13:5. There were some points with accompaniment of the verses discussed. Refer to Shrek’s wife post, they were listed there already. Recap:

• A church family identifies you as genuine believer
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples – John 13:35

• A church family moves you out of self-centred isolation
Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers – 
1 John 3:16
People from all walks of life form a church and we learn to put our selfish desires aside and help those who require our help in a church. Esther added on that while our relationship with Christ is personal, God never intends it to be private. As we discussed about this point, “Go spread and share the love” came into my mind.

• A church family helps you develop spiritual muscle
As each part does its own special work, it helps other parts to grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love – Ephesians 4:16
Muscles need to be used often so that they won’t turn to fats right? To allow our spiritual muscles to develop, we need to exercise them often with the help from our church family, elders, youth leaders etc.

• The church needs you
A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church – 1 Corinthians 12:7
Each one of us has at least one gift given by God. These gifts are not the same as talents, they are meant for the kingdom of God. I always wonder what gifts do I have and I have somehow found the answer through that night’s iCA. According to Esther, there are more than 20 gifts on a list which she would try to get it for us next time. Very interesting.  Like the family game, each member of the church has different gifts and they are so to complement each other. A church is certainly not a one-man thing; it requires teamwork among members. 

• A church family will keep you from backsliding
Definitely. You can find the matured and experienced Christians in a church family. Similarly, you can also learn from the younger ones in the church family. Learning through sharing of experiences and thoughts and opinions is really helpful and can help us exercise our spiritual muscles in a way.

It was great to be able to have discussions like this. They help you to squeeze your brain juice and keep you pondering about the questions that have never even crossed your mind before. Sometimes, you might found your answers that you have been searching for a very long time, who knows. iCA ended with a prayer and some food for thought by Esther. Kudos to Esther for the awesome job done.

Before I shut down, let me share with you a very cute song entitled “The Body Song”:

A body can’t walk on its nose
A body can’t eat with its toes
**For each little member has a special work to do, to make the body whole**

What if the body were all hair,
You could not sit on a chair. **…**

A body can’t smell with its knees,
You can’t use your ears to see. **…**

A body can’t chew with its legs,
You can’t use your teeth like pegs.**…**

What if the body were all arms,
Too many mouths cause a lot of harm. **…**

So I can’t do without you,
And you can’t do without me. **…**

Cheers and God bless. Happy holidays to all 

Cindy Chai

1st Girls’ ICA…<3

I know I’m writing this quite late compares to others but at least you have something to read during this holidays, yay! I was supposed to write about my experience of the 1st Girls iCA which was held last Thursday. To be frank, it was quite a busy and stressful week for me because exam is coming near (very near indeed) and yet I got a lots of activities going on especially that day.

But my race against time just started when I end up my class that day. First, I have to meet my ethics lecture regarding my assignment which she can’t explain through email but then later it was cancelled because she has others activities. At least I have a few minutes extra to proceed doing my second activities, which is doing a survey for my CO-PLN about the price of foods for the proposal things. But, the greatest challenge is when I received a message from my MDS group (MingguDestiniSiswa) saying that our group will go and eat together with our PM (pemimpinmahasiswa) on the very same day as iCA but thanks God they started early which was 7 pm. Not wanting to offend my PM I made the decision to go to the dinner. I know I can still make it for iCA despite the dinner . I pre-booked my meal for the dinner so that I won’t have to wait so long for the food to be serve. So, after a really nice talk with my MDS friends and good food I rushed back to Akasia. 

By grace of God, I manage to arrive there sharp 8 (according to my watch) only to find out there’s a lot of CA members already arrives at the “famous Akasia’s bus stop”.Then, we went to Cindy’s house. I think there’s about 16 of us cramping in Cindy’s living room. After our praise and worship, we were given a short introduction about the theme of iCA by Esther which is (W.W.G)2 Why we go Where we go? 

Then, game time. We were divided into three groups. Each groups consist of five persons and everyone must pick a character with a disabilities in each character. I be the mother (blind), Kar Suan be the father (cannot speak directly), Theresa be the sister (dumb), Fiona be the baby (the traitor), and Cindy the brother (no hand). Actually it’s quite hard to choose who be the brother and the baby because both Fiona and Cindy wanted to be “brother” (believe me, it’s a strong competition). So back to the game, we were asked to find the name of a place according to the letters that has been given to us. Our group was the last group to guess the word because I can’t describe the word that was given to me (sorry guys ). But, despite of all that I’m lucky to have a very supportive members (Thank God for that). From this game, everyone of us have their own disabilities and abilities and God made us to compliment each other. Thumb-up for Esther for such an amazing game. 

Later we were divided again into two groups for the discussion regarding our theme for iCA . What is church to you? Why do you go to church? It’s quite an interesting topic. Then, we were divided into pairs to discuss verses. This time I paired up with Hannah. Our verse is 1 John 3:16, feeling excited both of us begin to search for the verse and started to compare the verse as we were using the different version of bible only to found out that our verse doesn’t have the same meaning. It was completely different and doesn’t make sense. How could the verse could be so different? So, we refer to Rachel because she is just sitting beside us. Her bible match with mine’s BUT NOT with Hannah. That time, only God knows how nervous we were. Then after we check the verse again, we found out that Hannah was reading 1 John 2:16 instead of 1 John 3:16 . We burst into laughter and all the worries gone. It was a “quite” an experience that night. Eventually, after iCA the girls will have their ice-cream but not today….and the rest of story has been told by INTEC Shrek’s wife….I’m sure all of you have read it. Overall, it was a an awesome night despite all the exam things coming up. I get to forget about my worries and just enjoy my times that night. Honestly, I can’t wait for the next iCA where we can learn new things and experience and strengthen our faith in God. God Bless…. 

KEZIA MEA

The Bible, Pastor π, 3 Big Qs & etc.

The Bible, Pastor π, 3 Big Qs & etc.

2^nd August 2012

“Embarking on another journey for knowledge.”

I’m tired, and all I wanted to do is to collapse on my bed back in the dorm and sleep till the next sunrise. But I found myself sitting in the backseat of a van heading for Kota Kemuning’s church for the weekly iCA, I was there, because this was “Something” that I wouldn’t want to miss. As the van pulled away from the curb, the tiredness that weighed on me slowly faded away and was replaced by the excitement and anticipation for the coming gathering. When the van drove past a Tamil Primary school, we waved at adorable Primary school kids in a packed school van and they waved back at us with equal enthusiasm. That made me smile. Along the way, the van stalled a few times. But, thanks to the senior’s awesome driving skill, we got there in one piece.

We took our dinner at a hawker centre before heading “Up” to the church, and here’s where the Scary Lift came in… (Advice: Don’t take the left lift, just don’t.) We got there early, so we had some time to spare to explore the place. Sometime later, people started to arrive in small groups, but still, not everyone’s there yet. And so, to keep us entertained, there were some games. They were fun and I especially liked the fact that everyone’s in really high spirits. It’s like that you could almost feel the energy vibrating in the air, and it’s contagious.

Moments passed, and finally everyone’s accounted for. First things first, worship and praises. This time around, Rachel, Cindy and Sharon’s going to lead.  They talked about “Believe & Hope” and to trust in ourselves in whatever we do, for God is always there with us, every step of the way. Their words were really uplifting and I want to thank them for sharing. They really meant a lot to those who are in need of them.

Next, we had a small ceremony to welcome the newcomers, which involved Chokis. C:

Then…

*drum rolls*

Here comes the highlight of this week’s iCA, Pastor π’s (Mr. Chew Phye Keat) talk.

He enlightened us on various questions regarding the validity of the Bible, the ways to share the precious knowledge of the Bible with others and some valuable life lessons. He talked about the 3 Big Questions that we must, if not should at least ask ourselves, once, in our lifetime, preferably in the early years of our lives, instead of when we’re nearing the end of our journey called life.

 “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I heading?”

These were the questions. (Pause for a while here, chew on these questions. You may proceed to do some soul-searching after you finish reading all this. C:)

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

He quoted a great philosopher, Socrates. What he said was true in every sense, that in this life, we need to understand our goals and reflect ever so often on the things we do. Cause YOLO “You Only Live Once” so, make the best of it!

Pastor π possessed a really admirable personality. He would joke ever so often in his talk, to keep us entertained and focused. And I love the way he presented the subject of the talk. He shared with us for more than an hour’s time, and here I want to thank him again on behalf of everyone, for his Wonderful and Informative talk.

After the closing prayers, we went for supper, prepared by Rachel and her team, another big Thank You to you all Awesome people. The cakes were memorable.

It was almost 11 pm when we got back, tired as I am, I felt satisfied. It’s really fulfilling to be able take part in gatherings such as these, and now iCA takes up a special place in my heart and mind. And I want to thank, my roommate, Trester, for inviting me to my first ever iCA and everyone else, for making iCA AWESOME.

Ich bin glϋcklich! “I am happy!” :D

Ketchup addict,

Michelle F.

iCA and the Vending Machine Testimony

iCA and the Vending Machine Testimony

Vending machine? Yep. I’m going to share about that soon, but promise me, to keep the suspense, you should not see first who is this writer or skip to the end of this story.

Maybe because it’s been quite long since we had our ‘all-girls’ iCA (previously known as CG, to all the seniors who are still wondering what is iCA), I didn’t have the excitement to attend it at first. Some stress and crankiness about exams which have been bothering me these past few days also kind of robbed away my eagerness to come. Even when I was on the bus back from INTEC, there’s this thought which came across my mind, what if I choose not to come?

Anyway to cut the long story short, I did attend iCA because I felt that no matter how cranky I may be, I should not isolate myself and it should not rob away the joy that God has given me through this chance of fellowship.

Our topic was about church, and why do we attend church. After worship, we had an exciting game with a very interesting message, particularly about how God created everybody with their own strengths and imperfections so that we can complement each other. 
From what we had discussed, there are mainly a few points on why do we need a church family:

 • To identify ourselves as believers.
Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. – John 13:35

• To move out from self-centeredness. 
We know that real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. – 1 John 3:16

• To develop spiritual muscles.
He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. – Ephesians 4:16

• The church needs you.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. – 1 Corinthians 12:7

It was also a great moment of sharing with each other and honestly it really made me feel recharged as all of us had the opportunity to share on what we had in mind. Without these chances created through iCA, I don’t think we have any other time to share in this manner. (Well, maybe we do, but we don’t normally come to a proper time of discussion and sharing).

Here comes the vending machine testimony. (Sorry, you’ll have to bear with this very long story)…

We decided to break the tradition as everyone was too full to have ice-cream. Coolblog (the new thing in this small town) sounded like a great suggestion after cramming in Cindy’s warm room (literally and figuratively warm indeed). However, we had to change our plan and walk back to Akasia as the line was too long.

We walked to one of the vending machines in Akasia and decided to get our cool drinks from there. Then, there came this sudden idea of testing out what we had learnt during one of our early morning prayer meetings in INTEC.

PLEASE DON’T TRY THIS OUT. I’m sharing this so that we can learn together from it.

Someone from the CA family taught us a trick to get two bottles of drinks from the vending machine by inserting cash for only one bottle. In other words, you’ll get the other bottle for free.

As Kar Suan inserted her RM2, I mischievously tried out the trick when the rest were still contemplating whether to do it or not. We were hoping to see two bottles to come out, or maybe at least one, if we happen to fail.

Well, nothing came out. Not even a bottle of 100plus that Kar Suan paid for.

I felt ashamed of myself for what I did, and there’s this unexplainable guilt because it wasn’t even my own money, and what we were trying to attempt was obviously wrong. Although it was something that we agreed to try out together, I felt so wrong for being the one who attempted it. After some failed attempts of kicking the vending machine, I said out a simple prayer to God, basically saying that we’re sorry because we chose to cheat, and in my heart, I knew that was going to be the last time I’ll do such thing.

We gave up on that vending machine and decided to move on to another one located one block away. Filled with remorse, we knew that we had to learn from that lesson.

I replaced Kar Suan’s money, pushed the button, then there was this loud thud, which meant something good.

But nothing came out.

So I decided to reach for the bottle with my own hand (at the same time praying that my hand won’t get stuck). That’s when we saw something funny, pretty amusing I have to say.

There were two bottles. We only paid for one. The other one kind of replaced the previous one that we were supposed to get.

I’m not trying to promote cheating here, but what I want to share is that God truly sees our hearts. The moment we prayed for forgiveness and admitted that we were wrong, He showed to us that He knew that we’ve learnt our lessons.

This was also part from my devotion yesterday, where I read about the Parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8). While the whole passage wasn’t related to this incident, in verse 6, Jesus mentioned that sometimes we learn a good lesson from a bad example. What we chose to do was obviously wrong, and shouldn’t be imitated. But I guess the lesson is worth to be shared. Even in the Bible there were characters who chose to follow the wrong path, but as they set their hearts right before God once again and be honest to Him, He still called them His friends. 

Please don’t choose to cheat.

-Shrek’s wife, on behalf of the whole bunch of other girls.

An Interesting Experience

The last few weeks was just like other typical  week. The only thing that sets it out from any others is because I found out that there’s a group  here in INTEC that caters specifically for the few strands of Christian students and I was quite excited to get to know more about the group which is called Campus Alive. Since I was still quite new to this town called Shah Alam, I was still unfamiliar to it, especially to the whereabouts of Churches. Thursday came swiftly during the first real week of studying at Intec and my friend, Covey, told me that there is going to be an iCA gathering that night and used his phenomenal persuasion skills to get me to join him there. Should he had not, I wouldn’t be writting about this because that particular Thursday was really tiring for me. Anyway, fast forward a few hours and I was on a retro bus with my friends heading to Cemara. I expected the gathering to be attended by a lot of the seniors and with the other newbies of Intec and by the time we got there I was surprised that those who attended the occasion were less in numbers than what I have in my imagination, but what lack in numbers they made up for in other activities such as praise n worship and some brain tingling games. I was actually amazed how CA actually tries to help others to be more aware of worldly issues and enlighten us on how it has to do with our faith in Christ. In the end of the day i got to meet quite a number of new people, get to know a few others better and more importantly became more interested in the future CA gatherings.

God Bless Us All ,

Alexander

My First Time…=)

Hey! So, hmm.. i’m supposed to write a testimony on the first ever iCA meeting for this sem, held last Thursday, 26th of July. Initially I had no idea what will happen during iCA, as it was all very mysterious. Suspense made me go all the way to Cemara for the gathering; and of course, i want to be part of the CA family, so that’s why i decided to go- despite the piling up of assignments. We were given a short briefing, it seems, the boys are supposed to meet up in cemara whereas the girls in one of the rooms in akasia. But this first meeting for this semester, I guess it’s a special one? So there you go, girls+boys.

iCA started of with a short praise and worship, followed by a few ice-breaking games. It’s a little kiddy come to think of it, but I guess sometimes it’s still those kiddy things that brought laughter to everyone, aite?

Then it was the topic of the day! Environment. Yup, it’s a pretty general topic whereby we hear about it everywhere, on the radio, in the internet, newspapers, magazines etc. In fact, if i were to list down the possible topics which might be discussed in meetings like the iCA, environment would be one of the last in my list. I guess it’s a pleasant surprise. So we were divided into groups and we were supposed to share our thoughts on what can we do to sort of make the world a better place- environmentally. As the saying goes, it’s easier to say than to do it. I bet everyone would agree with the statement. There were many many suggestions on how to save electricity and how to keep the environment clean and green, etc. Easy to say, but sometimes, even the simplest thing for instance, picking up rubbish from the floor, we feel reluctant to do it.

Very quickly, time passed; and we closed in prayer. I thought we would all head back to our hostels, but nope, there seemed to be a tradition going on- ICE CREAM! So most if not all of us took a ‘night walk’ to stall beside Mydin, and we had ice-cream for supper. Kind, caring and generous seniors took care of the bill. I’m not sure about others, but Sharon paid for mine. Kamsahamida Sharon! While we savour our desserts, as usual, the never ending chit-chat session took place- all crowded there. Then it’s time to say goodbye.

Overall, it was quite an enjoyable evening. Although the mind is worried about the assignments (some even had exams the following day), for that 2hours that we spent together, the stressed up feeling was sort of forgotten. At least for that moment, we got to relax and destress a little and at the same time took a step closer to God. Right now, i can’t help but wonder what’s gonna happen on the next iCA meeting- feeling excited since all the girls will gather in a room. Female-bonding time! *no offense*

Whatever it is, girl or boy power, the meetings ahead will certainly be better, greater and just awesome, knowing that God is Always with us. [:D]

Elaine Pang

God Provides!

God is a real provider. A week ago I wrote that Jehovah Jireh has provided us a field to work in, a people to grow together with and to live and share our lives with. And just last night, God showed himself even more to me.

You see, in times of loneliness, God will send a friend for us.

In times where we walk alone under the rain, God will send a friend to hold that umbrella and shelter us from rain.

And he will inspire you and motivate you in different ways when you need it.

(The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. – Psalm 19:1.)

And truly God has provided again for CA! I praise God for this testimony. Just last night as I was passing the love gift to the speaker, the speaker asked me if there was money inside. I said yes, there is. He asked, is there anything else in the envelope…I replied no. Without skipping a beat, he asked me to put the money into the offering bag. Shocked as I was I actually asked him, “Are you sure you want to do that?” He affirmed his decision and started looking for the offering bag.

Looking back I knew that it was God working and knowing how much CA needed the money. We give love gifts to the speakers for we want to appreciate the knowledge and the teachings they have imparted on us. We were trusting in God to provide for our every need and to ensure that CA will have enough money to continue running.

Little did I know, God used the very speakers to bless us to ensure that we have enough money to continue meeting in Kota Kemuning and to bless those in need. I praise God for he has provided and I would really like to thank Mr Chew Phye Keat for really blessing us with his generosity.

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”-Philippians 4:19

Read the Word! :)

Matthew