Camp-lag

"I miss camp so much and my heart, heart, heart is so camp-lagged."

It's the night after camp, it's Christmas eve, and what do we do?

We BAR-BE-CUE.

(it rhymes bytheway)

Okay then, pictures!

10x the barbecuing power you get at those Korean-style bbq places.

Playing with other ppl's kid.

Hot coals + raw food = barbecued food.

Worker 1: Sashi.

Worker 2: Zeph. (check out his pro skills, one hand tongs, one hand light)

Good food, ALL courtesy of Pr Cowan!

Smoky!

Worker 3: Julian.

Sashi at work.

Win Liang:)

Deswyn and Simon.

Long lost Aussie dude.

Yvonne with her Santa hat.

And HI Karin!

..another photo of the food.

Sad cause she had to leave early.

Oh yeah we had satay too. It was gooood.

Jonathan eating.
(sorry for the very uncreative captions.)

...think up your own explanation caption for this one.

Golden sticks of joy.

What happens when you don't use flash.

And when you do:)

So yeah, it was a night of food and food and talk. And see-saws and swings and slides.

Just the light-and-easy rest needed after an extremely awesome AYC.

A big THANK YOU to everyone who contributed in any way to our Annual Youth Camp 2011.

And also to Pr Cowan for preparing lots of food for that night. his expertise xP

Also a little apology for the lack of updates here. It's like y'know how newspapers take break for public holidays? We take break for AYC. sama konsep=)

Have a great new year, everyone!

Have fun going back to school, to most of you. Make the most of whatever year(s) you have left in school. Irresistible influence:)

Life :D

Hello and welcome back to another edition of the firBRANDS blog :)

So without further due, here's what happened last week.

Pre-service prayer.
Prayer points :

-youth camp

-Christmas

-service for that night

And next, you guessed it...........ICE-BREAKER!! :D


Here's how we broke the ice. Every get into groups. At least 5 people each and discuss what you all have in common. You know what you all have in common You're reading this post right now. Haha

After another successful breaking of the ice, its time for worship. And what can be better than feeling God's presence?

And here is Tania telling the chapters of the Bible that you should study for the upcoming youth camp. At this moment I can only remember one which is Genesis. Oh and if there are any girls who are interested in joining floor-ball, go and talk to Tania :)

And that night we had Andrew sharing about our Purpose in Life.

So for those who feel that you were an accident or something, here is something that will brighten your day and bring out the sunshine in you. As said by Andrew "You were that one cell that made it all the way and become what you are today". Well something like that :D

Purpose in Life

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God created you, you are not an accident and you have a purpose in life.

1. Your purpose in life is to know/get close to God 2. You are created to glorify God's name

-How to do things through Jesus

John 14:6 (NIV)

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

2. You are created to glorify God's name 3. You are created to praise and worship God

Isaiah 43:6-7 (NIV)

⁶ I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’

and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’

Bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

⁷ everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

3. You are created to praise and worship God

Psalm 86:9 (NIV)

⁹ All the nations you have made

will come and worship before you, Lord;

they will bring glory to your name.

Psalm 86:12 (NIV)

¹² I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

4.You are created to grow fruit of the spirit/to grow in character

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

5. You are created to spread the Gospel

-to tell others about Jesus' love

Psalm 96:3 (NIV)

³ Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

6.You are created to use the talents God gave you/develop your gifts

Romans 12:8 (NIV)

⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

In short life is:

-overcome jealousy and bitterness

-and adventure -overcome jealousy and bitterness

1 Corinthians 12:22-28 (NIV)

²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. ²⁸ And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.

So do not downplay the value of what you do cause, what counts is that you are faithful .

Matthew 25:14-30 (NIV)

The Parable of the Bags of Gold

¹⁴ “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. ¹⁵ To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,^[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶ The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. ¹⁷ So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. ¹⁸ But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹ “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

²¹ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²² “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

²³ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²⁴ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

²⁶ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷ Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸ “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹ For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ³⁰ And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

202nd post!! :D

Oh give me a home,
Where fireBRANDS roam,
Where the fun and the madness play,

Where silence is heard, a discouraging word......
WELCOME TO THE WEEKLY FIREBRANDS BLOG YO!! =D

Before darkness covered Penang Island and, (not much difference in Sanctuary 2, cos the lights are on)
Before service began,
Pre-service prayer; try to attend if can,
Led by Sarah Wong, we prayed for those still taking SPM,
And youth camp, not forgetting STPM.

So the ice took too long to melt, and Nicole decided that enough was enough. ICEBREAKER TIME!! Cool with that? :P

Here's how we broke the ice that day. 2 groups, guys and girls, seperated by a white cloth. Each group sends one person out to sit behind the cloth. The person has to say the NAME and AGE of the person in front of them when the cloth drops. Winner goes back to his/her group, and the loser switches to be on the winner's side.

That chaotic moment when your brain knows who it is in front of you but forgets the name and age
That awkward moment when you absolutely have no idea who it is and you stare and smile.
That moment of feeling great when you know that person but they don't know you.

That moment when a 2 on 2 round is going on and its louder than your average kopitiam.
And the ice was successfully broken. Connecting and getting to know people feels great. But what can be greater when connecting with God? What can be better than drawing close to our Father? Worship time. Or, icebreaker with God if you prefer. :)
And then comes the highlight of youth service, preaching/speaking.
Uncle Heok Hooi was there to shed some light on handling one of the most dreaded feeling. He stressed about managing stress.
Being stressed.. Is it a sin? Definitely not.
Everyone, at some point of their lives, goes through stress.. Even Jesus went through stress.

-Good stress, which is at medium level;
Enables concentration
Increases performance


-while bad stress, which is at excessive levels, leads to;
Loss of motivation
Reduces effectiveness

While we can't eliminate stress, we can learn to manage it by knowing the causes of stress.


Maintaining stress levels means you have to:
1. Share the problem with someone you know
2. Pick an activity that suits you
3. Change your diet, which means, switch to fruits and vegetables, drinking more water and avoid the bad stuff..
4. Have enough sleep, and if possible, get a power nap during the day.
5. Have realistic expectations
6. Maintain sense of humour
7. Don't keep it all in or you might explode. Share with a friend or family member
8. Don't try to control events or people.
9. Manage your time wisely
and 10. Enjoy music. :)

Phillipians 4: 6-8
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Oh, and reminder for those who haven't handed in their youth camp forms. The closing date is on the 11th of December, which is on a Sunday. If you can't pay the fees yet, it doesn't matter. You can pay later but the forms are needed first. Have a nice day :)