took leave for 3 days to attend the Gateway Cities Youth Convention (GCYC) held over 31st jul to 2nd aug and it was really an amazing time. the theme was celebrating the nations. it was a gathering of youths from all round asia, coming to share about their countries and the issues with the youth in their countries presently.

was very excited abt the convention and i thought that most of my cell sisters would have taken leave to attend it... then i realised on monday itself that i was the only one who took leave! and i was like thinking... sheesh... i'm gonna be sitting all by myself throughout the convention... and i thought to myself... maybe i shouldn't have taken leave coz i don't have that much leave to begin with. but all thanks to God that it was a very blessed time. and thank God too that i wasn't sitting all by myself throughout the convention... had an SM2 (term for scholars from china) attending it with me, which made it all the more meaningful.

at the convention, many nations went up on stage to present their country and share abt the challenges they face in trying to reach the youth in their nation. and after all their presentations, i realise that most of the issues stems from root causes like the absence of a father or fatherly image (either due to death or neglect or abuse), war, competition... and all these leads to emptiness, hopelessness, loss of meaning in life, absence of a moral compass... of which hopelessness really caught my attention...

in ps khong's monday message (from 1 thessalonians 1:3), he spoke abt dreaming big dreams and having the faith to work out the dream with God, love that prompts that work and finally the hope that endures and perseveres through that journey. and he made mention of a quote he heard saying "where there's life, there's hope". but many times we can see there when there's life, hope isn't always present... and so he re-phrased it to "where there's hope, there's life."

where there's hope... there's life
how true that is.

and after that night... this word "HOPE" has been hanging on my mind and on my heart... and i keep thinking how different life would be to many people when they have hope... but what do we hope in? and i was brought back once again to romans 5:1-6, the verse read at my wedding.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

hope is the thing that causes us to continue labouring or even live because we can see a goal and believe that it will be accomplised in God's time and that causes us to know that we're not labouring or living in vain. that's hope. in a dictionary definition, it is defined as a desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment... it is a desire... not only is it a desire but it is accompanied by confident expectation... the key word is confident and expectation... when there's no hope, there's no trust, no confidence, no expectation...

so do you have hope today? if you do, what do you hope for? or should i ask... do you have a dream?

during the 2nd day of the convention, ps julie shared from exodus 2... of how God prepared moses to set His people free from the slavery in egypt... moses was the prince of egypt and knew he was hebrew and he probably also had a dream of setting his people free. but because of a moment of folly and in a fit of his anger, he murdered an egyptian guard and ran for his life and ended up staying in the desert for 40 yrs. was that the end of his dreams? did he just murdered his own dream as well? but thanks be to God that in His grace, moses was still the chosen one to set his people free. but why wait 40 yrs? i guess we can see that these 40 yrs were not wasted... it was a time of preparation...

and preparation is always for something (er... not sure if you remember a post i put up previously abt preparing for things... think it's called "looking forward") and i told God "i wanna be prepared to be a bringer of hope to the nations..."

finally on the 3rd day, ps eugene shared abt the greatest commandment... yes, it is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength... and the 2nd is like it... love your neighbour. he pointed out that the verse didn't say "the 2nd is..."... it says that "the 2nd is like it...". yes, we should love God with all our heart, mind and strength but the means through which it is expressed is by loving the very people God loves and that is your neighbour... and now, i could sense God replying what i said in day 2 "ok, you've gotta start by loving people around you... start there... i'll prepare you from there..."

that's really a challenge for me... knowing my character... very selfish... calculative... pessimistic... fearful... to be a bringer of hope? and to start right here right now? well, guess this's gonna be some kind of journey...

during this convention, God also used it to remind me of how blessed singapore is... i really feel blessed... blessed beyond measure compared to what the other nations are going through... and i also learnt to celebrate the nations... finding something to give thanks to God for for that particular nation.

God also used this convention to teach abt forgiveness. we all saw that during day 1 where the japanese and chinese delegates gave each other a warm embrace and each asked the other party for forgiveness for the pain caused through war and bitterness and hatred.

oh, and the worship sessions was amazing... the songs chosen was so apt... of which 2 have been replaying in my mind non-stop... and i shall end this post by sharing the lyrics with you. hope you've been blessed =)

To the Ends of the Earth
by Hillsongs

Verse
Love unfailing
Overtaking my heart
You take me in
Finding peace again
Fear is lost in all You are

Pre-chorus
And I would give the world to tell Your story
'Cause I know that You've called me
I know that You've called me
I've lost myself for good within Your promise
And I won't hide it
I won't hide it

Chorus
Jesus I believe in You
And I would go
To the ends of the earth
To the ends of the earth
For You alone are the Son of God
And all the world will see
That You are God
You are God

We Speak to Nations
by Israel Houghton

Verse 1
Hear the sound
The sound of the nations calling
Hear the sound
The sound of the fatherless crying

Who will go for You
Who will shout to the corners of the earth
That Christ is King

Chorus
We speak to nations
Be open
We speak to nations
Fall on your knees
We speak to nations
The Kingdom is coming near to you

O We speak to strongholds
Be broken
Powers of darkness
You have to flee
We speak to nations
The Kingdom is coming near to you

We speak to You
Be free... Yeah... Be free

Verse 2
Hear the sound
The sound of the nations worshipping
Hear the sound
Of sons and daugthers singing

We will go for You
We will shout to the corners of the earth
That Christ is King

{ Thursday, August 3 }