Manna In The Wilderness

Royal Rangers - after 8 years

Royal Rangers is a ministry that provides numerous outdoor and indoor activities and the study of God’s word to bring young boys and girls and the youths closer to God. I have joined and served in this ministry for more than 8 years and in this 8 years I have learnt and gained so much.  The bonds between me and my friends and commanders had grown tighter over these years through this ministry.  "This ministry does not only run activities, but it changes the lifes of the youths" said our camp commander Mr Peter Wong during the closing ceremony of our probable final camp for this ministry.  How true this is…

I would have missed so much if Royal Rangers had not exist.  If RR was never introduced to me, I would not know how to love the outdoors, nor would I know how to prepare a camp fire, to compose yells and songs, build towers, handcrafts and banners, make bolo ties and sew badges, maintain a bicycle, learn about space exploration, apply first aid, use toolcrafts, shoot a rifle, pitch a tent, to canoe, perform absailing, flying foxes, obstacle courses, river crossing, rock climbing, mountain hiking, lead a patrol, join bible quizes, cook outdoors, marching…and many more.  In this year itself, I was made a commander to guide and teach the younger Rangers of age ranging from 8 to 12 years old.  Because of this opportunity, I have learnt to have little kids as my dear friends, to love them as I would love any of my peers, to care for them as much as I would care for my closest companions and to understand and pay more attention to them as how a loving parent would do to a son or a daugther.  More importantly, this ministry had taught me how to cherish and appreciate each and every one of my friends and commanders, and most of all, to always live a life in Chirst.

How much I am going to miss this ministry if it closes down next year.  I do hope and pray that God will make a way for this ministry that has blessed many youths to continue to flourish instead of what has been planned earlier on. 

"Oh Lord, you have kept us going for more than 8 years, you have blessed and encouraged so many people, both young and old through Royal Rangers.  Surely you would not want such a great ministry to die down due to circumtances that hasten its fall, which none of it you cannot overcome, my Lord!  We pray with all our heart, mind and soul to you that you would continue to keep us going, always to your direction, your ways and your will.  It is not by might, nor by strength but by YOUR SPIRIT that hope and help comes to us, and right now we ask that you sustain this ministry through thick and thin, brings us over the deep and wide valley of discourgement over to the other side of determination, encouragement and success in the name of Jesus!  You are our Jehovah Jireh, our provider!  Provide us O God with all that we need to push forward and persevere, to keep the fire burning, the fire which lies in the Royal Rangers ministry that touches, transforms and changes the lifes of our society!  O Lord, the battle is yours. Help us to do all we can and leave the rest to you.  We are nothing without you O Lord, and there will be no eternal accomplishement if we press on by our own strength.  How earnestly we pray for your guidance and grace for we believe that every time we pray we move the hand of God!  Continue to mold and use us for your glory, and use our lives as a blessing and testimony about your goodness to other people.  But most importantly O Lord, may your will be done.  Whatever your plans for the Royal Rangers may be, we accept it with a surrendered and faithful heart, for we believe that you see from the end to the beginning, and that your plans is always the best for us.  Amen."

I will surely miss you RRangers and the 8 years you have blessed me with.  Always strive for the best for the Lord, and continue your mission to touch and transform lives for the glory of God!!

ps:                

To my commanders :

Eddy Chong, K.G. Tan, Wai Kin, Peter Lim, Soh Meng and Bro. Lim.

Thank you for all you have done for me, the time and petrol you have used to send me for hikes and trips, the teachings, devotions and games you have prepared, the camps you have planned and most of all your encouragement to me to serve our Lord Jesus Christ.

Always the best from our Lord,

together serving Jesus,

-cALVIn-

Dear CA seniors,

The time has come for you to sit for your final exams, and after that it would be time for you to fly to your respective destinations.  How fast the 4 1/2 months pass since I came to join you here.  Surely God is going to use you to bless many other people, just as you have blessed me.  Go with God. 

Thank you for being such a great blessing to me, especially during the early days. 

Thank you for even introducing yourselves to me, letting me know that being in INTEC is not that bad after all, and that I am not alone to face all the challenges that awaits me. 

Thank you for acknowledging me, calling out my name and shaking my hand when you see me around. 

Thank you for the hours you have spent just to invite us to CA meetings, the effort to drive us all the way to church and back, and the fellowship you have brought us into. 

Thank you so much for giving us something to look forward to every week, although how lonely, depressing and messy situations may be.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve our Lord Jesus Christ, to know and love Him more.

Thank you for all that you’ve done here.  May God bless you everyday and guide you all the way. 

GOD will be ABOVE you to PROTECT you

                  BELOW you to SUPPORT you

                  BEFORE you to GUIDE you

                  BESIDE you to COMFORT you

            and INSIDE you to SUSTAIN you

All the best to you.

I will miss you.

-CALVIN LIM-

This song is dedicated to all my CA seniors.

"This is not goodbye, it is just a seperation of the visible contact between your eyes and mine."

There’s something you’ve said

That made me wonder

          "There’s someone who paid the price

          And lifted my sorrows"

And you’ve told me once

           "Forever and ever, the Lord is with you,

           Just praise Him and dance"

But now you will stretch your wings and fly

Away from us, we breath a mellow ’sigh’

Still we will say, this is not ‘goodbye’

And to you, we now sing

          "There is someone who paid the price

          Given you strength to journey on

          And this someone has lifted your sorrows

          Given you life, victory, and peace"

          You’re a blessing to me

This is my prayer

          "Lord, bless and keep them

          Safe in your arms forever

          Safe in your grace"

And if you would cry out

In desperation

           "The Lord is with you

           Just praise Him and dance"

And as your wings make you soar

In prayers we support you all the more

Forever we will say, this is not ‘goodbye’

Always to you, we will sing

         "There is someone who paid the price

         Given you strength to journey on

         And this someone has lifted your sorrows

         Given you life, victory and peace"

         "There is someone who paid the price

         Giving you strength to journey on

         And this someone has lifted your sorrows

         Giving you life, victory and peace"

         You’re a blessing to me

~JIM and CALVIN~

Oh no…

10 things bashed into my mind…

1)  I have a tendency to smoke.  I enjoy the smell of kampung tobacco!

2)  I love beer, yummy.  I once drank 3 cans straight.  Just drank one bottle, feeling a bit…ohh my…

3)  I can slog for days!  Gosh, what a waste…one week holiday gone…sigh, the gall of defeat!!

4)  For the first time, I am starting to dislike/hate certain people…no…got to love one another!!

5)  I want to enjoy my life too much, I want an extended holiday!!  GRRrrr…

6)  I am addicted to X-files…shit!

7)  I am starting to be addicted to O2jam!!  sigh…

8)  I am getting better at bowling and pool…hm, not a bad thing right?

9)  I eat more than I used to to…no, don’t wanna be fat…spare tyres don’t do you good now!!

10) TOMORROW I AM GOING BACK TO INTEC!!  NOOOOOOOOOOoooooo….bwahahahahah… =.(

gOd BlEeezz…

Zzz…

My friends,

Have you ever walked on smooth grass, knowing that they will not hurt you?

Have you ever tread on shallow waters, knowing that they will not drown you?

Have you ever touched white snow, knowing that they will not burn you?

Have you ever hear beautiful music, knowing that they will not weaken you?

And have you ever been in the midst of loved ones and companions, knowing that none will harm you?

Have you?  If you have, your faith is strong.

But,

Have you ever walked on sharp thorns, knowing you will not be hurt?

Have you ever tread on deep waters, knowing you will not be drowned?

Have you ever touched fierce fires, knowing you will not be burned?

Have you ever hear quarrels, knowing you will not be weakened?

And have you been in the midst of loneliness and desperation, knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is with you always and forever?

Have you?  If you have, your faith is much stronger.

God is real, and He loves you, no matter who you are, no matter how you are.  For He sent his one and only Son to die for your sins, so that He may draw near to you.  Draw near to Him, trust Him, for He is God and He loves you just as you are.

-calvin-

AHhh…

The soothing feeling of a happy sigh,

             where in each ray of morning sunlight, I fear no congestion, no anxiety, no supressed feelings,

just the thought that I am in safe hands, in the vicinity of peace, joy and love…

and in the atmosphere of cloudy, mysterious, debussy-ravel watery music, gently from the harps, organs…strings, winds….ahhh, do you feel it?  Oh yes, I do…

For so long this moment I have awaited, and now it is just beside me, how then would I be able to face the moment when all of this will be no more?  No…in my life, everything good seems to stop for a moment, and I will be among the angels, swarming in the whirpool of peace…And for every bad moment, my life will carry on, as though these events never happened.  Not that I am to dismiss anything bad nor to take anything for granted, but only to gain what is good from all that my life here will encounter. 

Hi guys. 

Just came back from Shah Alam, at 12.00am!! Damn tired.  Today is friday and my first C++ test, and also the very first time I have to sit for a test at night!!  Haha, didn’t expect things to turn out this way.  Also, I am still not sure why they arranged the test to be held tonight, 8 to 10pm, weird…some say they put it this way so that all are able to sit for the test…huh?  Anyway, my life in INTEC has improved much, things are getting in order in my hostel, college, class, friends, leisure time, Campus Alive (yeah…), food, and others.  One thing they really need to work on though is their freaking useless bus system!!  One for the bus driver got me really pissed off this morning when he literally shooed me of the bus because it was ALMOST full…grr…Good for the bus driver that brought me to INTEC this morning when he did not kick me off the bus after it got almost full too, or not he was really gonna get something big from me…grr…But I cannot blame them lar, they were just doing their job and abding to the rules on the road at the same time.  But what about the poor polite and courteous students who always won’t get a chance to board the earlier busses?  They really gotta do something…Today, I got up at 6.00am, went to the bus stop at 7.00am, but was only able to reach INTEC at 8.15am…sigh…bad day, at 9.30am when I wanted to have something to eat, I realised that my wallet wasn’t with me, thanks to my HT friend who was kind enough to belanja me.

Nothing much to say la, so i’ll just stop here.  Cheers!

++calvin++

I am so alone,

           where are you my dear

                                             companions?

Have you not heard my cry for

                         fellowship and companionship?

Have you not know, that my suffering is

                                             leading me to despair?

You have left me so silently.

           telling me silence as you left.

You left no marks,

                                       no whispers,

                                                                     no meanings,

when I did not hear your footsteps, shaded by

                               the shades in the dark night;

for you wore shoes and sandals of farewells and goodbyes…

- I will miss you still, although you are far away; our memories together shall live in me, ‘where dreams have no end’ -

                                                                                                     Calvin~~sad

How is it that a person can persevere through thick and thin?

How then a person like me can overcome the storms and soar on eagle’s wings?

Can I persevere?

Would I break down one day? 

"Would I some day feel the icy coldness of the night desert wind, the cruel heat of the day, and the thick swarming dust of all time…and bend, fall, crawl to my knees, cover them with my arms to keep the small flame that is now too faint to show me inspiration?"

The fire was burning like a flame that consumes lifes, a fire that touches and changes them.  Now, at this moment that anticipates despair, the fire is dim, faint and no longer showing me the way I am to tread. 

Now, I am weak, for my fire is weak. 

Hi guys!

Today is friday, so my dad came and picked me and 2 of my friends (Ryan and Eu Jeen) from Kolej Cendana.  Beforehand, he planned to send Ryan to the Shah Alam train station when he changed his mind and said that he will send us to Taylor’s College to officially sign me off from Taylors, and then send Ryan to the Subang Jaya train station instead.  My heart jumped and sank at the same time.  I became anxious and afraid, and for sure as I have expected, I was not able to overcome the depression and the longing to be in Taylor’s again as the car passed through familiar roads, builings, foodstalls and all of those sorts that I come to be familiar with during my 5 1/2 months stay in Subang Jaya SS15.  But still, I was excited to walk into Taylor’s again with my ex-classmate, evoking each other’s memories during our stay there. My dad parked the car at the place he usually parked to pick me up every friday evening while i was studying in Taylor’s College.  Almost suddenly, all the happy and sad memories came rushing into my mind, and my heart cried so desperately as I walked beside the curb leading to the college.  That cry in my heart, the hope to turn back and study in Taylor’s again, all of it was blind hope.  The fact now that I am studying in such a dull environment, doing a boring yet stressful program only made it worse, what is more, now that I am officially OUT from Taylor’s?  I need to learn to move on…seriously, or I will literally die out of sickness of heart, mind and soul, only because I am not able let go of the past.   

While walking to the Cambridge A Levels Administration office, the many memories I have compiled in my heart seemed to make itself real. Each and every memory passed through my mind for a swift moment as my eyes roll from one spot to another.  After doing the neccessary paperwork for the withdrawal, I went straight to the lecturers’ room, but was greatly dissapointed because none of my lecturers was there at that moment.  I was hoping to say goodbye face to face and thank them for all they have done for me.  After that, we bumped into Su Yoong, whom at first shouted my name from the D floor while we were at the front gate.  I cannot help myself, the depression and longing was too great.  I plunged my arms around her and gave her a hug, and the cry in my heart only grew stronger.  We talked for about 20 minutes, shared my feelings about my stay in INTEC, my heart’s cry, my longing…about everything basically.  How I miss my dear friends and lecturers there, who had been a great blessing to me…guess that I am not doing as well as Ryan is, he seems to be more determined and focused, unlike me, whom until now is still finding my passion and heart’s desires (career wise)…although that, God will always always be, now and forever my greatest passion and all that my heart wants and needs.

We did not spend much time there, only showed Eu Jeen some of precious Taylor’s facilities including the toilets, haha…!  No matter what, I should be glad and happy, for the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to be in Taylor’s, though how short the period may be, and also for providing for my studies locally and abroad.  What kind of a person I am and will be, if I’d continue to complain?  Complain for being blessed?  How could I? 

Well, though my heart is heavy, I do pray for you so that your heart though heavy too, will find peace.  God bless you.