Back from camp! I think this is like the most fun camp I've ever been part of, which is saying alot considering the number of things that kept going wrong.

Everybody remember to give the camp com a pat on the back!

These peeps were awesome - in the weeks leading to the camp the church was like their 2nd home. And at the camp they were like the 1st to wake up and slept alot later than everyone (almost). Apart from Walter and myself they were all new to planning youth camps but that didn't stop them from giving their all.

We'll soon see if we did manage to build up better fellowship in YF. Got to see the good and ugly sides of YFers though. Like at mealtimes when everybody would just pile the food on their plates, reducing the camp comm to drinking plain water from the cooler and eating whatever was left after the campers were done (anybody care to tell me how the satays and eclairs were?)And yet we saw the good side of people. Like at the campfire when we had to move and rebuild the campfire, and some of the guys came over to help move and set up everything, at the expense of having a really late dinner. That was really moving guys - kudos to all of you!

Though somehow the worship at campfire night wasn't what most of us pictured, I was personally very ministered to. It was an outdoor worship and with the speakers and amps blasting away, I had to play alot harder than I was used to (all the years spent conditioning myself to play softly). So there I was, happily whacking away, but by the end of the 1st song of the rehearsal my arms were already numb. By the time we were done with the rehearsal my hands were trembling so hard I had to hold a cup with both hands. Didn't seem as funny at that time. With the worship starting soon I was close to panicing. There was no way I could last the whole session playing the way I was playing. I couldn't feel my hands properly, and I was sweating so much that the sticks kept slipping off my hands.

The worship team soon gathered to pray, and we decided to pray aloud at the same time, on our knees. So I got down but even before we started to pray I was hit by this sense of helplessness. It just swept over me and I felt so overwhelmed that I broke down and cried before God. Kinda scary for me since I've never broken down in public but I just couldn't stop myself. The tears just poured out and I knew there and then that if I was to serve tonight I would have to lean on God and let Him carry me through, instead of pushing with my own strength. And at around that point of time I was hit by another wave - this time of how great the Lord was. You know how the Bible talks about people falling face down before God in worship? I used to think that it was a deliberate, conscious action, but that night I was just in so much awe of God that the next thing I knew, I was kneeling face down, praying and worshipping and crying out aloud to God. I simply couldn't lift my face from the ground. It was very refreshing, and it let me return to the drums confident that I'd pull through with God by my side.

Thinking about the incident brought to my mind something that happened quite a while back. I was facing alot of doubts and fears about my abilities as a drummer. I remember looking at my mediocre skills and telling myself that I'd have to keep practicing and improving in order to become one of the best drummers in the church, and then God impressed something that till today still encourages me: My calling wasn't to be the best drummer around - rather, my calling was to minister to the people and usher them into the presence of God. That really encouraged me, and allowed me to serve as a band co-ordinator without being biased against the other drummers (who incidently have alot of potential to be far better drummers than I am)

Anyway I'm tired. Rachel and Alan are getting baptised tommorrow! Congrats!

posted by NEB at 10:03 PM

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