Paul amongst the kids (KidsGames Day 2)

Whew, it has been a busy few days. Once again I have to restart the writing engine. Fortunately, or rather by God's grace, the old-er engine is still in mint condition. :)

So where were we? ... Ah, Kidsgames Day 2. Ok let me try to recall what happened. Haha.

So, day 2:

The children arrived very early that Saturday and it was a crisp, sunshiny day. I was informed by the Dwelling Place prayer committee that as they were finishing their prayer for the morning, the children were already there, and that was at about 7.30 - 8am. Wow. Talk about enthusiasm. Praise the Lord.

The programme for the day started at about 9am with Welcome and Games. Talking about games, wow, anything you put to the kids they would play with, they would have oodles of fun with. You will see what I am talking about. Welcome included singing the, by now, very familiar KidsGames song and doing the Kidsgames Cheer. When voices of children, of excited children are raised in song or praise, the roof trembles. :) After welcome, we proceeded to games. We had two in store for the kids:

(i) Toilet flushing game (giggle) - essentially a game of tag - you're it, only that the tagged person has to sit-squat like a toilet bowl with his/her arm lifted up like a flush. To be saved, another person would have to sit on the bowl and pull the flush. We released all 160 plus children into the hall and had all the helpers be 'taggers'. You can imagine the scene that ensued.

(ii) Monster - a variation of the AEIOU game. For those my age and above, you would remember the game and how it works. The 'monster' stands in the front of the hall while the villagers (or children) start from behind. Once the music plays, the villagers make their way to the monster who is asleep. Once the music stops, the monster awakens and nobody (children) can move, they are frozen. Any giggle, laugh or movement of any kind would be detected by the monster and they would carry the children away. Basically it is in the monster's best interests (haha) to get the children/villagers to laugh, move, etc without touching them. Let me say I underestimated these children. Even with a few monsters, those children were as still as statues.

Must be experience from 'perhimpunan'.

After the games, we proceeded to break into the four colour teams for Experience It!, a portion of the Kidgames' curriculum that provides experential games for the children. What happened is that we allowed the children to play a series of games where they would experience difficulty, only 'overcomable' by effective teamwork. After the games, the children are sat down and their situations were discussed. 'Being positive' was the word for the day. The kids enjoyed it so much that the next agenda - a scavenger hunt, had to be put aside for lack of time.

Following that, the first of two parts of Paul's story with the people of Iconium and Lystra was acted out by the A Plus Kids of Dwelling Place (from the book of Acts), telling the children the story of Paul's experience in spreading the Gospel in Iconium and being faced with opposition and after that in Lystra, where the same group of Jews stirred trouble. In all this, Paul was bold, courageous and steadfast for the Lord (... You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, ... 2 Timothy 3:10-12). Point to the children is, put your trust in our Lord Jesus Christ and He will be with you through anything, no matter how bad, in life. Amen. The story stopped halfway and continued after lunch. Good job kids.

(ring) Lunch Time! - a meal of KFC, burgers and nasi lemak.

During lunch, there was a huge number of children clamouring for face painting - as done by our lovely sisters Yung Ling, Jia Hua and Charmaine. They were assisted, eventually, as demand overwhelmed supply, by a few other kind people from Dwelling Place. Flowers sprouted on children's faces, the sun dawned on some and a few other pictures (I hope this is the nearest these kids get to tattoos, haha) decorated the arms and cheeks of delighted children. The lines were 'mile-long'.

After some order had been restored, Paul's story continued. The teachers and helpers (some of us) then led the children through some activities based upon what they had observed during the play, including the memory verse "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." (Ephesians 6:10). Amen, something I need to remember always. Board games and questionaires, including prayers were done in groups, all to God's glory. It was God who kept the children attentive and interested.

After Paul, it was time to travel to a field nearby (or relatively nearby) to demonstrate the waterbucket challenge (whee) and to practice yesterday's relay. Oh were the children excited at the prospect.

The sun was hot, the field dry and children restless. Thank God there were shady trees though.

Under the mid day sun, we set up the relay track and allowed the children to run the race (as it were). Such great kids, they understood what to do, and they wanted to do it twice! It was as if the heat did not bother them, oh well, twice it was.

The waterbucket is something everyone in KidsGames looks forward to. I mean, they even have the world championships and all results from around the globe are posted on the KidsGames website. It works like this. One bucket full of water is placed on one end of the line of children (standing shoulder to shoulder within 5 metres) and at the other end, an empty bucket. At the whistle, the first child scoups water in his/her cupped palms and passes it, only using palms, to the next and so on until it eventually drips (uh huh) into the end bucket. This madness goes on for 3 minutes and there should not be any pauses in between. Woo hoo. All in preparation for the big day: day 3. The children enjoyed it so much and FUN is all I can say.

Slices of watermelons, cakes and drinks were given to the children to end the day. And after all that I needed to get some 'zzzzz'.

Day 2 had come to a close.

KidsGames for Christ's glory.

God bless you and all the children.

This one's for the KIDS.

'KidsGames, everybody jump up,

KidsGames, we're here to have FUN,

KidsGames, doing it together,

Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahh ...'

Children ... the apple of God's eye.

With so many sporting events either coming or have come this year: World Cup, Winter Olympics and the Commonwealth Games, one wonders is the world missing out on celebrating what it is to be a child? After all, only adults can compete worldwide in fiercely competitive games, right? Wrong (buzzz). KidsGames is an entirely revolutionary sport - for Kids!

Yup, for kids... and not only that, it is a superb way to spread the Gospel. What could be better than that? According to a Children's ministry trainer that I had the pleasure of listening to, humans are more receptive to the Gospel message between the tender ages of 5-12 (if I am correct). Once they hit those teenage years and beyond, their minds get more and more clouded and they are more set in their ways, i.e. it is more difficult, as it were, to break through. Children are our future, so they say, and rightly so. Mould a child for God from a young age and fruits will be aplenty. Thus, the great importance of children's ministry and KidsGames.

KidsGames celebrates childhood and youth. You may be wondering by now what exactly KidsGames is. Well ..... "The KidsGames in each community are a multi-day, multi-group, sport focused, value-based, global initiative for children aged between 6-14 years. KidsGames provides a means for all sorts of groups to work together on an ongoing basis, serving children who learn and compete together. There are KidsGames happening on every continent and in a large number of countries. After launching in the year 2000 in seven countries, by 2003 over 75 countries had participated. This number is quickly growing. In 2004/5 it is believed that over 140 Countries have participated in KidsGames and well over a million children. Describing KidsGames is like describing a tree. Every tree has roots, branches, leaves and a trunk. But what those elements look like in one part of the world will be very different to how they look in another but both will still be a tree. In the same way, KidsGames varies greatly in different parts of the world." (please feel free to visit the website at www.kidsgames.com)

Cool huh?

You have to experience it to know what it is all about. I am going to share my experiences of KidsGames right here in Malaysia (my church, Bandar Utama Chapel has held it three times already :) ). Two weekends ago, it was a wonderful combined church effort in the Kota Damansara area and last weekend it was also a combined effort in Bukit Beruntung (somewhere near Rawang). Ok, I shall now present ... KidsGames 2006: Day 1.

Day 1: 17/3/06

There were two churches involved in KidsGames Bukit Beruntung: Dwelling Place and Bukit Beruntung Chapel (I serve in the work and in Children's ministry in BBC). BBC is planted by Bandar Utama Chapel (BUC - my church). Before this there were weeks of preparation and prayer and lots of meetings between the leaders of the two churches.

Day 1 finally arrived. Oh the kids were so excited (some in BBC had been to their first KidsGames in PJ about 2 years before) and the whole situation was abuzz. It was somewhat chaotic also. There I was, slightly nervous as I was handling the area of sports (with a good friend and ministry mate, Sahaya) and games (my first time). Ok, public speaking (check - should be ok), games in hand (check, all ready), first sport demonstration (check, whew). On to Kidsgames.

It started at about 4pm with the arrival of participants, so many children. We had a good number of about 160 plus kids from all over Bukit Beruntung. Registration was loud and messy. Hehe. We even had to entertain the children who had been waiting after being registered. We started with a game of 'Simon says', to which the chidren responded quite well (and we used it henceforth to get them to sit, be silent, etc).

Soon, at about 4.30pm, the games officially started with the March in parade of the four houses - four colours: red, blue, green and yellow, to the music of Kidsgames. After that, the planting of the Malaysian and Christian flags, the national anthem and the lighting of the torch (an actual fire). This was followed by the opening message by our emcee John Yip (you can find a link to his website: TheWallah). The Kidsgames song was then sung (look as above, complete with actions and more lyrics) and then John taught the children the Kidsgames cheer.

Pastor David (of Dwelling Place) opened the ceremony with a prayer, followed by the declaration of the opening of Kidsgames by BUC's Elder Christopher Leong. Yayy.

With Kidsgames officially on the way, the children took to stage to sing (Sunday School songs: Jesus Loves me, etc) and perform a scarf dance too (quite a spectacle).

Soon the time came for the demonstration of the first of two sports played in Kidsgames - the 12 x 10 Relay (results from KidsGames worldwide are posted on the website). The children were to form groups of 12 (6 boys and 6 girls, of mixed ages), 6 per side (boys and girls opposite each other, separated by 10 metres of track). The rules are a bit complicated to narrate here but it was basically a passing of a baton with differing racing styles: running, side stepping and hopping on one leg. The children took to it with hardly any trouble: good for you kids!

A leisurely (but loud) game followed where the children were given beach balls to keep in the air following music, for fear of a penalty. The hall was resonant with the delighted screams of children. Sigh .....

The day ended with a closing prayer and a reminder to the kids to prepare for the next two days of fun, learning and more fun.

Whew.

Truly all glory to our Lord Jesus for His strength and grace. KidsGames for God's Glory!

Days 2 and 3 to come ... but now, I have a class to teach. :)

God bless you.

Aquarium moratorium

It is good to be writing again after a few days rest...actually not really rest, more like a few days of catching up with lectures, tutorials, revision classes and church activities (the subject of my next post - Kids Games!) and oh yes, recovering from the flu, human flu mind you. Hehe.

I have got some news to share, and yes it concerns an aquarium, or intended aquarium, mine or will be mine eventually.

I have for the longest time ... this year .. wanted to get an aquarium. Every now and then before this, I toyed with the idea of getting a little place for fish to be objects of art and objects of 'petly' affection, but always came to the conclusion not in favour of getting an aquarium because:

(i) my track record of successfully keeping aquaria was nothing to shout about, and
(ii) time, space and money.

So, for some time this year, ever since the interest was ignited anew, I have been tirelessly surfing the internet for aquarium care, set up and the various interlacing topics and of course the different type of fish (mostly goldfish) and browsing and reading books at bookshops about the topic. I think I have become, haha, quite the fish enthusiast (well not exactly a pro - I have much to learn, but if I were a green (raw) before I started, I should now be quite red (ripening well). Having also made several visits to pet shops big and small in KL and PJ, I have come to a few conclusions about fish rearing:

(i) it is costly,
(ii) it is a delicate affair, as fish are living organisms and deserve care and attention, and
(iii) oh so fun.

As for (i), the cost of an averagely good aquarium should be in the region of low to mid hundreds. I saw one that caught my eye at a local pet shop in Taman Mayang (yup, the really big one) selling for RM115 (with pump) and another at RM 138 (with pump) but larger. That was not inclusive of the stand, which is needed if I prefer my aquarium to remain standing. Good foundational support is also crucial for the fish you know?

As a rule of thumb, consider first the budget, and within that budget, get the largest aquarium. Like most beginners, I was holding the mistaken thought that the smaller the aquarium is, the better. Wrong (can you hear the buzzer?). It is less fatal to the fish for mistakes to be made by first timers or beginners in a larger aquarium. Also since oxygen exchange takes place on the surface, a larger surface space is better. Fish also need oxygen, right? So wide as opposed to long/high tanks are more appropriate. See, knowledge demonstrated. :) (Where is my gold badge?). Getting back to the lecture, oppss... I mean my post, hehe, I decided on the larger. Oh by the way, a minimum for beginners should be a 10 gallon tank or more. The larger contained about 11 plus gallons. So, the aquarium plus stand alone (RM100) would cost me about RM238. Oh brother where art the fish?

Ok, I thought about it and decided not to rush into it. I would save RM100 a month to accommodate this hobby. Oh but it would take ages I thought...at least 3 months.

The most pleasant surprise came on my birthday. Some of my ministry mates and good church friends got together and collected some money to help me on my way to getting my aquarium. Wow, does God grant us the desires of our hearts or what?

Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).

Thank You Lord Jesus for the means to start this hobby. All praise to You Father.
Thanks guys for helping me start: Yoke Kheng, Christine (and Seng Chor), Yung Ling, Sahaya, Moh Nee. I sincerely appreciate it. God bless you all.

So now I have to use the money wisely (a wise steward of the Lord's things is truly wise) and be ready to be a pet proprietor. Wheeee.

The aquarium moratorium is coming to its end. :) I will put up pictures as soon as I start. Keep posted.

God bless you all.

Landmark movies (post 2)

Had a very blessed CF meeting today with a special guest: Mr Pollock from Australia who spoke to us on faith and hope. His message was inspirational in its simplicity but deeply profound. He spoke of the miracle of the healing of the woman with the bleeding. How her faith healed her because she heard of Jesus and had the hope and faith to just reach out and touch our Lord's garments. He also said that faith is already within us, we have put our faith in Christ as Saviour. We have to exercise that faith for it to increase. Just like the muscles we have when we were first babies, our muscles do not increase in number but it does in size and strength if we exercise them. So it is with faith.

Yes Lord, give me, us all, the hope and faith to reach out to You to receive Your promises. Amen.

Also thanks to all the CF members for the birthday cake and celebration. And to my two favourite students .. hehe .. thank you and God bless you for the very thoughtful gift. :)

Let us now return to the top 2 landmark movies for 2005.

2) Cinderella Man

Woo hoo. This movie packs a mean punch ... pardon the obvious pun. Haha.

Going into the movie, I realised that it would be a memorable one - looking at the pedigree of the cast and people behind the film, but I did not expect it to be that good. The storyline is simple enough, James Braddock, one of the boxing greats, starts his career in fine form, getting better with each match and garnering a name for himself. In the process, his career comes to a stop due to injuries and the great depression. It is an inspirational story of faith, the drive to excel, the instinct to survive, family values and even prayer. Acting wise, top notch, storyline wise good, action wise totally credible. There is even a scene toward the end of the movie where many citizens of the town come together in the church to pray for Jimmy Braddock. Whether it is appropriate for the town to come together for prayer for one sportsman and having a radio transmission in the middle of church is questionable but the point here is the power of prayer. Prayer changes things and the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16)

Toward the end, at the climatic boxing match scene, I wanted to stand up and cheer and this should sum up what I feel about the movie: I told my students at the end 'This is the first time I have enjoyed boxing' (or something to that effect). :)


1) The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe

Wow, wow and again wow.

What other good things can I say that has not been said about the movie? It was a cinematic triumph. In addition to being a great epic, it presents the Gospel. Who can ask for more?

A most powerful movie (the most powerful I have watched would be The Passion of the Christ) that deals with so many issues and the fact of God's love for us at its heart. The chronicles tells the story of four children who stumble upon an old wardrobe that doubles as an entrance or a doorway to the magical world of Narnia, where the Gospel story is being played. At the centre of it all is the kingly and kind Aslan, the Lion, the very picture of our Lord Christ. His return to Narnia, now enveloped in a magical winter (a picture of Christ coming to Earth as a man to redeem a sinful world), his sacrificial death for Edmund (who had broken the law in Narnia) (a powerful picture of the sinless God taking the penalty for a sinful world) and Aslan's miraculous resurrection (Christ's victory, in His resurrection, over sin and death to prove that He is God and to redeem us: the completion of His salvation work) bringing to the redemption and restoration of Narnia - all tell of the wonderful, true Gospel story - the Gospel truth (please feel free to read and meditate upon the four Gospels in the Holy Bible: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - and be transformed).

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:7-8)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

'Wow' says too little. It is by a mile the best, most powerful landmark movie of 2005.

There you have it. There have been other good movies but those are my personal favourites.

Have a great weekend. All glory to our Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit.

God bless you.

Landmark movies

It has been a few days since I last updated this site. I have many excuses .. hehe ... the conventional 'busyness', deciding on a topic to write on, deciding how to make it interesting, work, socialising and more work. This is a topic I have thought about before and since the time is opportune, let me proceed.

The topic for the day is 'Landmark movies of 2005'.

Oscar has just made his appearance, albeit a brief one; the awards, kudos and pats on the back Hollywood bestows upon its elite (and not so elite) yearly. Whether deserving awardees or not, that is a matter of debate that will continue until the next event, and will start anew once that too passes by. This year has been a year of controversy but it has also been a year of applaudable film making. Let me now present to you my choices for 'Landmark movies of the year 2005'... (the choices are personal, of course). Feel free to agree .. haha (please also take into consideration the lack of choices in our cinemas and lack of funding for cinema-visiting). In ascending order, the top 3 are ...

3) Pride and Prejudice
Ok, before the gasps and the tomatoes start to sprout wings, I would like to say that this was my favourite period piece last year. I had heard of the much praised BBC version of Pride and Prejudice from an old friend of mine, so I decided to give this movie a try (Keira Knightley also was a source of attraction :) ). I have yet to read the book by Ms Austen but knowing it was an Austen adaptation and having enjoyed thoroughly two previous adaptations of Austen (Sense and Sensibility and Emma) I had little qualms about watching this. Needless to say it met expectations ... and more. From elegant sets to luxurious castles and manors to three dimensional characters (although the actor playing Mr D'arcy was in danger of sprouting mushrooms in the beginning - wooden) and the almost impeccable script, it was two hours well spent. Keira, rightly, went on to receive her first Oscar nomination. The movie however, did not get its reward. Oh well.

What can we learn from the movie? It is hardly surprising that people in those days treated other people differently based on their social status and gender. The rich were exalted, the richer even more so. The poor were mistreated and looked upon as things to be used by the affluent of society. Women who were married had little say, women who were single were in a tight situation such that as if it were not bad enough that they had no one to support them, they could not earn a living either. Prejudices abound in the movie, they seemed to have life and pride seemed to be the root. The question remains: is it right to judge others by extrinsic appearances or social status? After all humans are created in the image of our Lord God (Genesis 1: 26, 27: Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.) Let us not judge others, lest we be judged (Matthew 7:1).

Lord, I repent of judging others. Please forgive me for judging.

God bless you.

(Top 2 tomorrow) :)

Gems - the everlasting variety.

Good day, good day to you. And you too. :)

I woke up this morning, looked about and gave thanks to the Lord for another day. I think that was something I had taken for granted for some time. Giving thanks for just having another day on Earth. The Lord gives and He takes away, but always blessed be the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Job 1:21). Small things, gems of things, like the ability to awaken each morning, to buy food for the day, to see, hear, taste, touch and smell, to laugh, to cry, to empathise, to symphatise and to appreciate all of God's wondrous creation and blessings, including brothers and sisters in Christ, family and friends - all can be taken for granted. Forgive me Lord for taking such precious gems for granted. I repent of such a sin.

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever." (1 Chronicles 16:34) .

Well I know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning. And hopefully, with God's gentle reminder, every morning until He calls me home.

Speaking of gems, Pastor Peter Tsukahira, the author of good Christian books such as 'My Father's business' and 'God's Tsunami' will be speaking on 'Integrating Business and Ministry in the 21st Century Marketplace' on the 1st of April 2006, from 9am to 5pm at PJEFC, Heritage Centre. At its most general level, this seminar (I think it is a seminar) will 'focus on creative ways to integrate business with ministry and effciently mobilise an army of Kingdom Professionals.'

I have been to one of Pastor Tsukahira's talks and he is a very anointed speaker. Highly recommended. To me, most of us are professionals and we know that every child of God is called into some sort of ministry. Ministry is not just limited to Sunday or things like Children's, Youth or Worship (Music) ministry but we can also make our marketplace (where we work) a place to minister. :) So if you are free (it's a holiday), take the time to listen.

There are gems everywhere. We just have to look. See that sparkle?

God bless you.