We Walk By Faith

Theme: We Walk By Faith

Verse: We walk by faith, not by sight -2 Cor 5:7

We walk by faith, and not by sight
No gracious words we hear
From Him who spoke as none e're spoke
But we believe Him near
We may not touch His hands and side
Nor follow where He trod
But in His rpomise we rejoice
And cry, "My Lord and God!"

We walk by faith, and not by sight
Led by God's pure and Holy light
Prepare us for the journey Lord
And we may know Your pow'r and might
As we walk by faith and not by sight

Help then, O Lord, our unbelief
And may our faith abound
To call on You when You are near
And seek where You are found
That, when our life of faith is done
In realms of cleare light
We may behold you as You are
With full and endless sight

We walk by faith, and not by sight
Led by God's pure and Holy light
Prepare us for the journey Lord
And we may know Your pow'r and might
As we walk by faith and not by sight

Let's see how this theme, walking by faith and not by sight is evident in this wonderful week.

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Haha. I'm back! (:

Had time to catch up on food, shower and SLEEP. (:

And also, blogs of dear friends. Lots to catch up. To see interesting things like Sis CC's school posting, YX's team championship, etc. I'm happy for them. (: And also, much to my delight, seeing "I'll pray for you", and "Kping you in my prayers" on many tagboards. Lets hope, we may really learn to commit to praying earnestly for one another, and filling the gap inbetween us. Another week has past, so quickly. Goodness.

Not to mention. Darr: Yes, I wrote them. (:

The NOs for 5 days - fasting

- Handphone (what?)
- mp3 player (what?!?!)
- Book (oh my)
- Hot tea and milo (sighh)
- Cooked rice with delicious sides (ohwells)
- Strawberry Post conflakes with Daisy Milk (aye)
- Bed, comfy bed (oh no!)
- Warm shower (yikeS!)
- Rest? (constantly on the move)
- Computer, Internet! (managable la)

The YES' for 5 days- abundance

' Mosquitoes (well..argh!)
' Can food
' Maggi mee
' Dry biscuits and bread
' Rain?
' Sun, but minimum
' HCI boys!(OHwells.)
' Bugs? Insects?! Ants?!?!
' (oh ya) Wild boars! (ahhhhh!)
' God's Word (Thank God!)
' Unsaved, Unheard, Untouched souls (Help me win the lost!)

Day 1 - 09.05.05

Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life. -Ps 54:4

Walking by faith and not by sight, was my theme for this week. A week of faith, of trust and of dependance on Jehovah. To learn the most I can, of this week. To spend time with my God in the abundance of nature. To live each day to the utmost of my ability. To make new friends, get to know people, form bonds and to plant the gospel seeds into their hearts.

Despite the dreadfulness and poor attitude towards the challenge facing me ahead, I had to slug on and bear whatever lies ahead. I knew I could not give up and quit so easily and turn away from a learning journey. Motivating myself with the chance to learn more about God in stillness away from the world. Motivating myself with the abundance of souls there to reach. And hoping to enjoy, and not to mention to get a good tan out in the sea. (:

My bagpack were light, with few and much disposable items packed, but they seemed to wear me down as the time approaches. We very swiftly reached Punggol jetty and were deported into bumper boats which brought us to Pulau Ubin. My trip was quiet. Spending time with God and realising the week that had important lessons for me to learn ahead- faith, and also total dependance. The sun wore me down, while waiting, despite my expecatations of its presence the following few days.

My group was, hmmm, interesting. With Jackson and Nicholas, my exclassmates, Ernest Ng!!! the super lame, crappy but zai-ed guy, and a couple more which I knew not, but slowly to discover much to my amazement in my group- M12 aka "Raffles". Our instructor, well, first time I got a male instructor for my camp, they were always female. SO I was quite happy. Much more, this guy is quite zai-ed too! His name is Tirappongo Kelvin Chua ** aka "DD", 5 word-ed name, who was from Thailand, but very much a good natured Singaporean. Experienced, tanned, and definitely a nice guy, as I would soon realise.

We had to surrender all our valuables- handphones, mp3 players, foods and snacks, books - in view of the risk of getting them wet and lost in the journey ahead, and also given the excuse of going back to the basics. We were in a mobile group, which means we had to trek and move around every single day and pitch, unpitch our tents as we go along. DD was strict in this safekeeping of valuables, I had to surrender with much hesitation my mp3 player and also my book. My handphone was still managable. But my mp3 player?! My, when was the last time I did my quiet time without listening to music and which day saaw me not having my good old Creative MuVo sing my to sleep? "Take it as a challenge" was what convinced me to surrender it and simply go back to basic, having nothing but clothes and daily necessesities. The held on tightly to my bible. I knew I can never compromise on this. My hope to spend time in solitude was dashed when I was removed of my mp3 player- or was it? But now, my Bible? "Never!" I refused to give up this Precious Book. I thank God that DD was understanding and nice and respected me and allowed me to keep it. If not, I would not have survived a day.

We were rationed food- Dry biscuits and bread which make up our breakfast lunch and supper. Maggi mee, unccoked rice and lotsa canned food for dinner. Such unhealthy food! Thankfully I wasnt on a strict diet. We were afraid that food wouldnt be enough and hence everyone was quite particular about the food distribution. Anyway much to be learnt about my group mates. And.. I was sabo-ed into being grp IC also. Arghh. We were briefed in our groups also, by DD, about the usual stuff. Interesting how I never knew how successful this camp would be, to me. I thought it was the good old boring camp with a little kayaking, and rockclimbing, with the random cheers and campfire. Haha, boy was I wrong. OBS is so much different. And it was, what I would call, tiring. Due to lack of proper rest and food that my body, in particular needed. Looking back , I made a severe mistake into thinking how slack this camp would be.

One thing I'm glad I learnt was tent-pitching. We proceed on to pitch our tents, not those ready made ones, but those that provide only two tent poles and tent pegs. Everything else was manual. Not those which we could fix and slot them nicely into the holes and finish. But I am qutie glad that I mastered tent pitching quite well because I was the one in my group who constantly pitched the tents quickly and of standard. :p We then learnt kayaking, not say learn but we learnt the steering, turning on spot, turing while moving, backwards paddling and also kayak rescue when the kayak capsizes. Interesting. I'm beginning to love to kayak, except the fact that day 3 made me realise that it requires lots of strength and not to mention, muscles. It was quite fun. Day 1 dinner cooking made me realise how, in desperate situations, men's heart show the ugly side without even being conscious of it. God made me understand that for a reason, and I will explain it when I come to Day 5. Selfishness, greed, agressiveness comes when people are desperate- in this context- famished- and the sky was not helping when we had to cook in the dark with wet and sticky bodies fresh from kayaking. I notice none offered food to share. Everyone grabbed food for themselves, hide in one corner with a group and started gobbling them up. Well, people who are more outspoken and with more "power" (if I may use this word) with definitely be fed well while others watch and starve. I'm quite disturbed by this sight. As for me I didnt exactly "kop" food for myself, but I'm just thankful that I was filled and welcomed to joined by people. Nonethelss, I feel very disturbed and upset at my inability to do something about it and to condone such a sight!

The first night circle saw DD sharing with us about the medical pouch which we were suppose to carry about throughout the journey. Interesing stuff learnt.

Did you know?

+ Bees when chasing will only chase up to a distance of 800m? A radius of 800m is their protection area. So for those mid-distance runners who can outrun bees, haha. Safe?
+ However 4 or more stings by a bee on the back of your neck will cause death in less than 2 mins.
+ Wild boars can bring down a strong standing tree and open a durain with its teeth
+ But when being chased, throw yourself away to the side, because wild boards can only look at thing directly infront of them and not at their side.

We proceeded to pack our backs for the trek to the next campsite the following day before snoozing off.


Day 2 - 10.05.05

Psalms 55

So I said, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off, And remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape From the windy storm and tempest." (v6-v8)

As for me, I will call upon God, And the LORD shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice. (v16-17)

Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. (v22)

The day begun very peacefully and nicely. With me sitting at the beach facing the sea and the morning sky, praying and looking at His wonderful and beautiful creation. I stand awed. Even though all may seem like I'm enjoying camp. However this is merely a reflection of what I went through. I had truly such a great time with God but I felt so bad and so tired, hungry and worn-out and longed to be home with my comfy bed, hot chocolate and warm baths. Humming the tune of "We Walk By Faith", meditation on the lyrics, gave me such peace and also the Psalm on that day was so fitting appropiate that day. "No gracious words we hear... but we believe Him near. God was near me, and I could feel and sense it. "prepare us for the journey Lord, And may we know Your pow'r and might" How I was praying for God to see me through this day, not to mention, the week ahead. And as Psalms 55:6-8 expressed what I felt. That if I had wings I would soar and fly away and be at rest, away from this mosquito filled place which I dread. But God comforted me with v16-17 and v 22. I will
call upon Him and He shall save me. As I cry out to Him morning, noon and evening, He shall hear me. And by casting my burdens onto Him, He shall sustain me, never permitting the righteous in Christ to be moved. O what comfort and assurance. That morning, I understood what back to the basics meant. God's word can be ever powerful without music, as long as I thirsted for His Word and His truth. (:

The day saw me physically exhausted, strained, hungry and almost breakin down. On the level of 10 I would rate myself only 3 for the energy level I had left. I really wondered how I was to survive the camp and thoughts of giving up filled my mind. The rain dampen my spirits and made everything seem worst and gloomy. 3 more days with this amount of energy left?!?! We did belaying practise in the morning for the High Element course on Day 4. And I dread trudging 5km in the rain with my 10kg OBS bagpack containing the next 2 day's supplies and life jacket, poncho, helmet and harness. Plus we were walking towards a campsite without water supply, toliet, and really nothing except trees and rocks.Not to mention the number of mosquitoes flying everywhere. Every 1 sec I see at least one mosquito fly past me, and by now I think I had become a professional mosquito killer. That night alone I killed more than 10 mosquitoes and had blood spat all over the tent net. It was really dreadful. But in the midst of tragedy, I had to thank God for an opportunity to talk to a guy whom I knew not, but was Ernest's friend. He is called, Ren Yang, table tennis player. He's really a nice guy whom I felt lacked something that was most important- the gospel. I didnt share the gospel yet. But since then, we talked and became good friends and were quite close. I was literally complaining about my circumstances. About the tiring trek with my bagpack, the mosquitoes and the empty campsite and the lack of toliets which means no shower. We almost were allowed for quary dip but time didnt permit. Well, the thing that struck me was when DD mentioned that girls schools went through exactly the same thing as us. And with my man's ego at stake, I had to say that I simply kept quiet and had to be contented with my circumstances. Dinner saw greed, selfihsness once again, but this time milder. Dinner was more organised and cooked! Haha no more crispy rice. We had maggi mee and grouped together to cook. But there was still element of selfishness and greed. The mosquitoes really were the ones which spoilt my mood and night there. Of all things I forgot to use insect repellent and we didnt get to shower but had to content with powder bath. That night's sleep was dreadful. The ground was to hard to peg out tent pegs into so we had to use stones to hold our tents. But in the middle of the night our tents were already on the verge of collapsing. We were rudely awaken by the police at around11pm that night. They warned us about the wild boars because that campsite was a wildboar infested area. Well, if police had to come and tell us that I think it was really serious. Imagine in the middle of a night 20 over wild boars come charging at all our tents and we are stormed over that night. There was an element of fear and threat. DD had to ask us to do guard duty which I didnt do. Haha. I was too tired so I had to sleep. Well, after the first hour, the enthusiasm of the people died and no more patrol was done. I had the assurance and peace of protection from God that night so I slept soundly. Only to be irritatingly disturbed by moquitoes buzzing at my eyes and itching all over. I had the record of minimum 3 mosquito bites the first day but second day reached another record of 20 plus bites that night alone. Argh!

Day 3 - 11.05.05

Psalms 56

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His Word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? (v3-4)

For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, That I may walk before God In the light of the living? (v13)

Whenever I am afraid, I WILL trust in You! Started the day afreshed with God's comforting and assuring words, guarding my heart through the day. Day 3 was the most tiring, but what I would call, the day I enjoyed the most. We were to kayak from this campsite to the next campsite, which is the main OBS campsite. Well furnished and with hot cooked food provided. The kayak was to be a journey under the blazing sun and to be cross island through the swampy areas. We set off at 11am and by then we purpose to make it out into the other end of the island by 3 so that we could catch the tide and not be going against it. Hoping to get a good tan, I armed myself with sunblock lotion. And I was so afraid I would go hungry that I brought all the supply of snacks I found in my bagpack with me. Boyy was I too greedy. My partner and I struggled to keep the kayak going straight, but soon realised that me being the back person could steer the kayak in any direction I wanted. Well, we had unfortunate times when we would crash into the branches of that mangrove swamp and cut ourselves. Fortunately we werent seriously injured. After a long a tedious paddle in, we encountered a bun which we were suppose to carry our kayaks across it to the other side. I made a mistake by planting my feet into the ground which found me sinking right away. I almost thought I was going to lose my shoes because I couldnt lift my legs at all. Finally we took about 30mins to cross that small bun and we had to raft up and make a boatage sometime later. We carried our kayaks across a main road into the other side of the river. It was to tedious. After paddling for some time we were out in the sea once again. but unfortunately found ourselves paddling against tide. IT was really so tiring and burning that I almost thought I was going to be stuck in sea for the whole time, because I couldnt bring myself to paddle anymore. The choppy waves brought our kayak back every time we paused to rest. We were literally paddling for 10 mins and resting the next 20. Haa. Finally, I say finally we reach the campsite, exhausted and reaally tired. And I realised that I lost my cap in the sea. haha, thats so... Our campsite is worst laa, such a beautiful campsite saw us camping amongst the trees with red ants, mosquitoes and bugs and insects as our companion. Argh. But dinner was comforting, the best meal I had for the past few days?

DD spoke to us after dinner and explained many things about why we do what we do in a very nice manner. And I begin to see the bigger picture laa, no longer complaining but trying to enjoy myself. And I found DD a very nice guy. Yupp. The thing I wonder when I look at these instructors is that how can they survive doing this ever single week? They claim that they like challenge, well I dont deny challenge as something good, but what about "peace" that we hardly find in them. It just reminded me of howmany nice people out there have not and may not ever hear about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love, joy and peace that He offers.

Day 4 - 12.05.05

Psalms 57:1
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trust in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.

3 am: I was sleeping soundly and peacefully with the gentle sea breeze singing me to sleep when I was suddely and rudely awaken by the winds fierce howling and the shaking of the tent. Water began to leak into the tents and I found myself shivering with 3 other friends. We know not what to do. We didnt want to stay freezing and sleep in the tent, neither do we want to go out and suffer the beating of the heavey rainfall. I remembered the verse, "When I am afraid, I will trust in You" and I really prayed for God to send help. I was sure am not able to continue sleeping in that weather. Soon, DD came to evacuate all of us because really, the downpour was one which I would look out and fear even if I was under the shelter of a nice home. I wore my poncho and carried my bag, and I was really shivering all the way as I trod back to the main camp. I felt as if I was in some artic country. Oh, I was in my single somemore. Thankfully I manage to catch some rest in the MPH with DD giving us some dry clothes to wear for the night. I slept soundly for the next 3 hours on my unseperatable bible.

DAy 4 was the High element course. Nothing much to say but I'm glad I completed and reached to the top. There was one super challenging rock wall which only one guy made it to the top. I couldnt, unfortunately, cause my hands were literally sore halfway up that rock wall. Other than that Day 4 ended with lots clearing up and packing after we trekked back 3m to our old campsite. Because we had to pay for every lost item, the last night saw a series of "kopping" to put it in a nicer term, but in actual fact, stealing from other groups items we missed out. I was not very pleased with what they did, but I am upset that I couldnt do anything to it again. However, I manage to pursuade some of them to return some items which some people "kopped" for themselves. Ohwells, it was not a pleasant sight. I slept soundly that night, with no mosquitoes :) and with a well pitched tent and airy night.

Day 5 - 13.05.05

Last day, I was both happy and sad. Happy to leave, sad also to leave. The usual logistical stuff, of clearing up area cleaning and sharing from our group. And also presenting each other certificates of completion. When our valuables were returned I was proud that I survived 5 days without my mp3 player and handphone! Anyway on my way home, the first song I heard "We Walk By Faith" left me realising that I have taken my mp3 player for granted. Listening to it without sometimes understand and thinking of the lyrics. But after such a long time of not having it, it was a blessing to be able to hear beautiful music and lyrics again.

Presenting Raffles:




Conclusion:

It was an enjoyable and a camp which I learnt much- both about how to survive outdoors if I need me a missionary and also to understand how much the human heart needs God's purifying.