Last weekend was our Sub-District retreat at the Salvation Army at Bukit Timah.
It was the 2nd year we held our retreat there http://the-first-garden.blogspot.sg/2013/09/sub-district-gathering.html but this time round, the unit we got #04-01 was slightly bigger.
Most of the team (Danny, Prisc, Aun Leng, Ferlene, Yao Rui, Ah Yeo, Chris, Meiling, Wifey and Myself) arrived at 12pm punctually and we all had lunch together. Thanks to Aun Leng who ordered 933 Golden Pillow (curry chicken, fish, fried bee hoon and chicken wings etc…).
It was a really sumptuous and filling meal.
After lunch, we started our meeting with a worship and Danny began by sharing some of his thoughts and his personal learning points.
Some of the important points(which will later be repeated when the rest of the group come in for the later session) are
Some issues that plague us (in our Sub-D, LG)
- Unity
on the surface, things look fine but beyond it, people are holding on to their preferences and rights more and more
When people are united, we do not need a very god programme. Conversely, when there is disunity, the best programme will never be good enough
- Spiritual complacency (our private life)
We cannot walk with God while still holding hands with the devil
In order to walk with God, we need to come clean before Him.
Our outward actions have to propelled by
1) Upward reference
2) Inward experience
Ultimately, in order to sustain in our walk with God, whatever we do, it has to be out of gratitude instead of out of duty. We probably start off with an intentionality, then we build commitment towards the cause (our effort) and the progress to surrender when we have nothing to hide, nothing to prove and nothing to lose (our gratitude)
Just like when we were young we do things for our parents out of duty and at this phase of our life, we do things for our parents out of gratitude.
We started our discussion after Danny’s sharing at about 2+pm mostly facilitated by Jas and Prisc.
It was a time where we all spend time exchanging our thoughts in the various aspects of LG. it lasted for about 3 hours.
Liyin arrived quite early as were finishing and got some of them a much needed dose of caffeine
We then wrapped up our first session as the rest of the group started flowing in.
When most of the people had arrived. we started our buffet dinner followed by praise and worship. Danny then shared to the group on the same message hoping to get people to join him in this journey to build an Acts2 like community, to be a carrier of this vision. He also encouraged us to start a bible reading plan (Simplify) together from the “app”.
We ended at about 9pm.
That night, wifey and I decided to stay over to extend the fellowship and to intentionally participate in community living.
We spent the night chatting with the rest and Aun Leng also used wifey as her TCM demonstration.
I went to bed around 2am that night and woke up about 7am to have breakfast and go to service together.
On Sunday evening, wifey and I went to her favourite dining place at Ichiban Boshi (Vivocity) to have our much treasured private time as we slowly wind down a rather tiring weekend. (lack of proper sleep)
There is a time for everything
It is very important to be engaged and involved in our community, it is also very crucial that as husband and wife, we purposefully create our time of romance and privacy. Too much of one extreme at the expense of the other will be unhealthy in the long run so we want to be intentional to do both well so that we can go a long way together as we refresh and refill one another's tank in the community God placed us in.
It was the 2nd year we held our retreat there http://the-first-garden.blogspot.sg/2013/09/sub-district-gathering.html but this time round, the unit we got #04-01 was slightly bigger.
Most of the team (Danny, Prisc, Aun Leng, Ferlene, Yao Rui, Ah Yeo, Chris, Meiling, Wifey and Myself) arrived at 12pm punctually and we all had lunch together. Thanks to Aun Leng who ordered 933 Golden Pillow (curry chicken, fish, fried bee hoon and chicken wings etc…).
It was a really sumptuous and filling meal.
After lunch, we started our meeting with a worship and Danny began by sharing some of his thoughts and his personal learning points.
Some of the important points(which will later be repeated when the rest of the group come in for the later session) are
Some issues that plague us (in our Sub-D, LG)
- Unity
on the surface, things look fine but beyond it, people are holding on to their preferences and rights more and more
When people are united, we do not need a very god programme. Conversely, when there is disunity, the best programme will never be good enough
- Spiritual complacency (our private life)
We cannot walk with God while still holding hands with the devil
In order to walk with God, we need to come clean before Him.
Our outward actions have to propelled by
1) Upward reference
2) Inward experience
Ultimately, in order to sustain in our walk with God, whatever we do, it has to be out of gratitude instead of out of duty. We probably start off with an intentionality, then we build commitment towards the cause (our effort) and the progress to surrender when we have nothing to hide, nothing to prove and nothing to lose (our gratitude)
Just like when we were young we do things for our parents out of duty and at this phase of our life, we do things for our parents out of gratitude.
We started our discussion after Danny’s sharing at about 2+pm mostly facilitated by Jas and Prisc.
It was a time where we all spend time exchanging our thoughts in the various aspects of LG. it lasted for about 3 hours.
Liyin arrived quite early as were finishing and got some of them a much needed dose of caffeine
We then wrapped up our first session as the rest of the group started flowing in.
When most of the people had arrived. we started our buffet dinner followed by praise and worship. Danny then shared to the group on the same message hoping to get people to join him in this journey to build an Acts2 like community, to be a carrier of this vision. He also encouraged us to start a bible reading plan (Simplify) together from the “app”.
We ended at about 9pm.
That night, wifey and I decided to stay over to extend the fellowship and to intentionally participate in community living.
We spent the night chatting with the rest and Aun Leng also used wifey as her TCM demonstration.
I went to bed around 2am that night and woke up about 7am to have breakfast and go to service together.
On Sunday evening, wifey and I went to her favourite dining place at Ichiban Boshi (Vivocity) to have our much treasured private time as we slowly wind down a rather tiring weekend. (lack of proper sleep)
There is a time for everything
It is very important to be engaged and involved in our community, it is also very crucial that as husband and wife, we purposefully create our time of romance and privacy. Too much of one extreme at the expense of the other will be unhealthy in the long run so we want to be intentional to do both well so that we can go a long way together as we refresh and refill one another's tank in the community God placed us in.
