Angry Birds at Youth Camp

Some days you think the sky is falling...

and it's raining Angry Birds tchotchke. At least one stall in every pasar malam and mall a gaudy display of soft toys, electric fans, bags, files, pens bearing the images of the rotund birds in primary colours.

We rode the wave with an Angry Birds-themed Revision Party just as the craze was cresting. In the playing-with-your-food department, a lazy google already turned up:

• playable Angry Birds cakes - commercially from Bake-A-Log and A Cake Life LLC and out of fatherly love from Electricpig (Youtube)
• Angry Birds cake toppers from Artisan Cake Company
• Angry Birds cupcakes
• Angry Birds sandwiches
• Angry Birds pizza

The choice to go with Angry Birds cake toppers (with Green Pigs in Kit-Kat structures - cos, well, "Take A Break") to cut through the monotony of study seemed a good one. The fondant excited the campers (several of whom confessed an Angry Birds obsession) and was certainly more appreciated than if the Rovio game had been made retro a la Penney Design.

Being fairly contentless, save for a rather loose back story involving egg-stealing Green Pigs and kamikaze Angry Birds, the theme was open to having all sorts of stuff imposed on it without being untrue to author's intent. Stayed true to the original fonts though - Feast of the Flesh by Blambot and OnomatoShark!. Passed on the lovely downloadable wallpaper from here.

The erstwhile Irate Aves did not quite follow the bird sounds of the game, claiming that their version was correct. For the record, the sounds on the iPhone game appear to be:
Red Bird: ahhh..heehee....haaaa
Yellow Bird: oi oi...weeeeeee
Black Bomber Bird: hahahahahaaaa.....weeee
White Bird that drops egg-bombs: paka! weeeeeee

Nevertheless, the masks they made were excellent and the campers, politely bemused by the breakfast and supper entertainment which included Mr. Quadratic Equations Tan attempting to explain the formula for catapult launching, a Miss Universe Contestant attempting a Peas Treaty and a crusty old British general Mighty Eagle. (We also had the services of a crazy-good pianist who could play variations on Ari Pulkinnen's Angry Birds theme song (and more besides) after just one listen.)

This cumulated in the Wide Game where campers had to help the Angry Birds get, well, something so The Mighty Eagle might save them from the porcine scourge. One camper with a "Latitia" accent threatened TME with no ice-cream if he didn't provide assistance, another used his vague knowledge of United Nations conventions to Promise the old bird an early extinction if help was not forthcoming. Hilarious. But it's very important to know what someone wants when trying to please (or threaten) him... The Man With The Tie and Yam Ah Mee hair read out the Golden Egg Awards pursuant to Section 49, Sub-section 7E, Paragraph (a) of the Piggymentary Eradication Act.

Long Beak Species

Happily, no one was too precious about non-essentials like the entertainment or the food (yummy as usual - babi assam, mustard chicken, pasta bake, apple crumble, banoffee pie etc), though these worked agreeably as white noise, so everyone could concentrate on what mattered - the gospel. Personally, this seemed the most unmuddied proclamation of the good news at camp in recent memory. Particularly enjoyed Stuart Morgan's exposition of the Book of Esther concerning God working even amongst the Jews of somewhat nebulous character, who had not bothered to obey the command to return to God's land. The Times of Quiet Luke 22-24 (x Exodus 12 x Jeremiah 31 x Psalm 22) passages worked well with the Luke 18-19 ones in the Main Talks. The forums about English comprehension and Bible-reading, and the recent devastating earthquake in Japan instigated quite a few good questions from thoughtful campers.

The scamper book club book, Greg Dutcher's You are the treasure that I seek (but there's a lot of cool stuff out there Lord) co-operated with the theme by featuring a golden egg (Golden Egg!!) on its cover. The juxtaposition between the eagerness of the first witnesses in proclaiming the risen Lord and the stubborn lusting after idols in our own lives was quite stark. As the senior campers went about their menial tasks, it became apparent from their attitude (and, if they were not given to much self-control, from what they said) that they would need to grapple with the practical concept of Christian service - that if upfront teaching and leadership roles or tasks that get them the attention of the campers or leaders are the only serving they are interested in, a good re-look at Jesus' own life is necessary. A problem of idolatry that we all face.

Happened upon other stuff on Jesus' death and resurrection:
Notes on the crucifixion (Mark 14:26-72) from St Helen's Bishopsgate RML Mark
Sovereign Grace's new-ish album, Risen, which celebrate the "realities, experienced and enjoyed by all who place their faith and hope in Jesus Christ". Especially fond of the Evanescence-ish "Risen", slightly Tori Amos-ish "We Will Rise" and "Behold Our God".

If graffiti wasn't illegal in Singapore, we would do Angry Bird ones like this!

Youth Camp and Growing Pains

A whirlwind snowed-in-at-some-European-airport-type week at youth camp, bookended by fortifying good beef shabu-shabu and lovely handmade tofu, and photog duties at a fun wedding where the newly-weds were their own emcees and reviews from friends were warm and glowing. Camp recovery was also aided by champagne and chardonnay on one night on the occasion of Christmas and birthdays and retro sing-a-longs, and jugs of honey beers by a river on another on occasion of it being too early to go to bed when there were new friends to chat with.

Greatly glad for the opportunity to do some work at camp and be partnered and encouraged by the hard work of others - the without-fanfare kitchen slog that produced delicious pots of picky-camper-approved spag bog, curries, mustard chicken, babi assam..., the determination with which campers were served by leaders bearing food, water, good cheer.

The holiday camp menu may have lacked the medieval culinary delights of roast swan and pig on spit, but the knights of 1395 were tearing up Project Run-Away with spaghetti pot helmets complete with the latest in wireless pink remote-controlled water guns, vital-parts-endangering bubble-wrap armour, insectile gold 4G antennae for communication with headquarters and Saturday Night Fever dance moves.

During the day, even without skateboard steeds and horseys to pull them, knights made short work of each other at the jousting tournament with pool noodles chalked with plain flour. The presence of a style judge ensured there was neighing and grunting before the joust, with one horse deciding to buck and run away altogether.

Defending the Castle against the Dastardly Dragons was a tower defence game with flour and water catapults clearing their columns of the jumping fire-breathing overgrown lizards who sometimes managed to retrieve the medieval explosive devices and fling them back at the catapults. Loads of work to be done on gameplay but glad the boys were immensely happy to be throwing flour and water around.

Later, the dragons decided they had enough of all that white powdery stuff and made off with a princess from each of the four kingdoms. Kingdoms were to retrieve their princesses by collecting power cards hidden in locations around Changi Point during the wide game. Since only one princess could be rescued, the kingdoms then fought each other by attacking with weapon cards or weighing down a gluttonous enemy princess with cake cards so she'd be too heavy to be saved. The smack talk was hilarious.

One of the most powerful weapon cards was a Grow Your Own Giant kit which had to be used together with a Plain Water card. Before receiving a kit, Giant Protection Laws required kingdoms to demonstrate the ability to care for their giant by identifying flavours of jelly beans (a Giant's staple food). All teams managed the 70% pass rate but all failed to distract attacking enemy giants with the requested jelly bean flavour at the Final Battle.

The next day, we held a jelly bean tasting session for the remaining half-kg of gunk made from artificial additives, chemicals, preservatives and flavours held together by a strong binding agent. (Candylicious at Resorts World Sentosa supplied flavours not found in Cocoa Tree stores. Who can resist the ironic simulacra-referencing-simulacra of Jelly Belly jelly beans!)

Pants and Lions around the Fairy Point Chalet were ace, though nothing more than a variation of hide-and-seek, and so brought to mind a chapter in C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters that we were speeding through for book club, in which Lewis describes the sincere enjoyment of things as almost a matter of virtue/godliness. Lewis Carroll too, in his Easter Greeting in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, praised the simple joyful reading of his literary nonsense which like the merry voices of children as they roll among the hay, as pleasing to God as "the grandest anthem that ever rolled up from the dim religious light of some solemn cathedral".

The romantic childhood of happy innocence is neither corroborated by experience nor by Scripture: the selfishness of toddlers is apparent as soon as they are able to articulate their thoughts, though any damage to others is limited to the toddlers' inexperience in being cunningly charming and relative powerlessness; and Jesus' injunction in Matthew 18 to become like little children seems to have more to do with their utter dependence on others rather than their innocence.

As we see repeat campers grow up and chaff at additional responsibilities and turn all emo about the lack of a boyfriend or girlfriend, we wish, not for them to return to a time when all they cared about was playing their favourite card games while drinking Ribena. We wish for them to grow to maturity, that is, to find true joy and satisfaction within an intimate relationship with God our Father and Jesus our Saviour and Brother and Judge and King.

*********

Thanks to a worldwide fascination with the Middle Ages, on-theme board games were easy to find:
- The Hobbit
- Lord of the Rings (Reiner Knizia's)
- Settlers of Catan
- Citadels
- Carcasonne
- Kingdoms
- Sleeping Queens? (requested by a camper for nostalgic reasons)
- Saboteur?

*********

Naturally, we had an appropriate camp song ("with warfare toms") to go along:

(ignore the visuals)

O Church Arise

O Church Arise and put your armour on
Hear the call of Christ our Captain
For now the weak can say that they are strong
In the strength that God has given
With shield of faith and belt of truth
We'll stand against the devil's lies
An army bold whose battle-cry is Love
Reaching out to those in darkness

Our call to war to love the captive soul
But to rage against the captor
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole
We will fight with faith and valour
When faced with trials on every side
We know the outcome is secure
And Christ will have the prize for which He died
An inheritance of nations

Come see the cross where love and mercy meet
As the Son of God is stricken
Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet
For the Conqueror has risen
And as the stone is rolled away
And Christ emerges from the grave
This victory march continues till the day
Every eye and heart shall see Him

So Spirit come put strength in every stride
Give grace for every hurdle
That we may run with faith to win the prize
Of a servant good and faithful
As saints of old still line the way
Retelling triumphs of His grace
We hear their calls and hunger for the day
When with Christ we stand in glory

by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend (a delightful pairing)
© 2005 Thankyou Music

Games and Wide Game Preparations - Underway

It's that time of the year again when philosophical questions about the pedagogical value of games arise amidst the increased pressure to complete preparations for the upcoming youth camp.

For the Pensieve, to be taken out and considered at a more opportune moment:
1. At the very least, games are required in any camp for the element of fun. This relaxes campers and ensures that they are not brainwashed or pressured into making any important decisions. The fun is multiplied, I think, by the whole atmosphere of the camp - hence the themed booklet and time-table, quirky morning announcements in costume, evening entertainment and the angle used in the exposition of the passage (within the bounds of the text itself of course). Reports are that the Titus Trust camps do not go to such lengths to do the good work, however, to Jews...

2. Games create opportunities for relationships to be built and also demonstrate character. The wide games, especially, are meant for chats about what has been taught and for questions from campers, if any. No pressure of course since the Spirit blows where he will, though we must be faithful in proclamation.

3. Modern pedagogy recommends games as effective teaching tools. One notes, however, that God employs practices and ceremonies as mnemonics and Scripture (the word) as weapon. (Have been thinking for some years about the validity of board games as effective means to teach God's character and man's dire need for salvation but drawing board is still cluttered. How to demonstrate not just need for salvation but also grace freely given, faith not works, and need for perseverance concurrently? Love Andy Geers' brilliant idea for Bible-teaching computer games. Enjoyed Monkey Island very much for its humour. Reading through the Bible with two people now is fantastic not only for what we learn about God, but also the LOL yet all-too-understandable moments in the Old Testament, so that should translate easily... A biblically-accurate Old Testament adventure game would be utterly cool.)

4. Since it makes an appearance only toward the end of camp, the wide game might be used as a revision of things learned - recall and reinforcement. Naturally, it'll always be about the need for/importance redemption rather than being huge (and useless) on morality. Would rather have this subtly in gameplay rather than crudely in clues (too ed psych!). However, difficulty lies in getting the exact facets from speakers beforehand.

5. For future reference, previous themes, entertainment, games and wide games off the top of my head, alot of misses but a few near hits:
Revision Party 2006 (Singapore International Campus)
Theme: there wasn't a theme.

Games: Debut of the flour and water game at the BBQ at the international hostel. But the mix of the heady aroma of meat roasting and groups of strangers ravenously attacking whatever came off the fire and the lack of tongues wasn't much use for the game.

Wide Game: There wasn't a wide game. There was only one camper and he "forgot" to bring his revision. There were also four or five rather tired tween-companions.


December Holiday Camp 2006 (Costa Sands Resort, Sentosa)
Theme: apparently it was pirates. We had pirate hats, a swashbuckle and a hook for announcements. Monty Python's Parrot Sketch in the heat and mozzies failed, mostly because we were both reading off the same script. Parrot (really a bobble-headed toucan) nodded through a talk perched on the speaker's Bible.

Games: Debut of the Chair Game; Giants, Elves and Wizards; and Dan Young's Crocker.

Wide Game: Amazing Race round Sentosa - luge rides, blue tongues from 7-eleven brainfreezes. Complaints that the clues were too intellectual, even though I'd thought it was already much simpler than the excellently fun Casino Royale Game. Also, ability to identify GPS co-ordinates and GPS-enabled devices were not common amongst campers then, even amongst the Mainland Chinese PhDs.


December Holiday Camp 2007 (St. John's Island)
Theme: The barbed-wire fencing surrounding the campsite inspired the prison-freedom theme. We need to be freed from guilt, righteous judgement. Booklet had handcuff, barbed wire and birds (= freedom or lack thereof) motifs. Bird looked like it was flying through the pages. Songs = songs of freedom.

Games: Chair Game; Crocker.

Wide Game: C sent us on a photo and bible verse treasure hunt around the island. Mozzies galore.


Revision Party 2008 (Prince George's Park Residences, National University of Singapore)
Theme: Choose Your Own Adventure - ending in either eternal life or eternal death; choose wisdom or foolishness. Proverbs and 2 Corinthians. Booklet resembled retro cover page of a CYOA book and used a CYOA font which read "The Search for Wisdom: Choose from 2 possible endings".

Games: G, S and Z's flingo bibs + scoopball scoops + old tennis balls mash-up in the basketball court.

Wide Game: Aim was to show-up assumptions involved in living in this world, that we are choosing all the time - decisions are made minute by minute whether to follow erroneous assumptions:
1. No instructions were given that the Wide Game was at all competitive. Yet, the participants assumed it was, so much so that the leaders of each group refused to share their half of the ice-cream recipe: one group held the ingredients for making the ice-cream from scratch and the other held the instructions. One group ended up with salty ice-cream....*bleah*

2. Instructions were to check with me before setting off. Some clues were deliberately vague. Yet, the participants assumed they knew where they were going so decided to start off before calling back, to save time and to ensure that the other teams didn't know their whereabouts. One group's assumption that they were headed in the right direction landed them on the wrong side of campus completely.

The homemade ice-cream (the one that wouldn't make unsuspecting livers do overtime) was a great hit though. This might have had to do with the calvados in an old vanilla essence bottle.


December Holiday Camp 2008 (Fairy Point Chalet 7)
Theme: Beijing Olympics: "One World One Dream". Booklet cover was a tweak of Beijing Olympics logo - the stick man had his hands raised and was white against the background of a red splatter... Font looked like Chinese brush-strokes. Opening ceremony, closing ceremony and unpaid foreign talent. ;-)

Games: Round-robin table tennis with plastic plates. Didn't get to implement other table tennis games, which then featured in the next year's December holiday camp. Observation-logic games.

Wide Game: Around Changi Village and over to Pulau Ubin. Clues revolved around what had already been taught during camp: the Garden, the Fall etc. Prophet Notes, like Old Testament prophets, would pop up now and then to tell/remind participants that a great chasm had opened up between them and the Safe Haven (FPC7) and that they needed someone to save them. They were stopped at the gate to FPC7 for the Final Challenge, which involved St. Peter (yes, yes, dodgy...we needed someone!) asking them why they should be let in. This drew out the participants' old assumptions about how they could be saved/get to heaven, despite the talks thus far.


Revision Party 2009 (NACLI)
Theme: Love Scandal (Ruth and idea of redemption). Booklet font was suitably lurid. Dried pasta given out for good behaviour etc could be used to redeem sweeties. Unsophis.

Wide Game: From Kent Ridge Park to Mount Faber. Having recce-ed the route, thought this a very pleasant walk indeed but there were complaints of untoward physical exertion by the time they got to Hortpark. Again the clues were meant to reinforce what had been taught at camp. Very unsophis. Debut of hilarious homemade charade clues - unfortunately, they'd taken so long to get to Hortpark that we didn't have much time to do this. The charade cards have since been misplaced.


December Holiday Camp 2009 (Fairy Point Chalet 7)
Theme: Movies. Finally got closer to what one would imagine a themed camp to be. Campers were to be woken up by a sqwaking rubber chicken (referencing Chicken Little). Had willing participants to do morning announcements in costume - we had a leviathan and pirate, and a geography teacher ("Where is this?") and Spartan ("This is Spartaaaa!"). Talks and the forum were based on certain movies and the booklet showed one scene and used the marketing font for the relevant movie (the credits were fun to do). Songs = soundtrack. Evening entertainment was quite a failure though due to the female scampers not wanting to embarrass themselves and the staid teachers being aghast at the star hair-sculpting with whipped cream (some of the campers liked it though and one started eating the whipped cream off his friend's head...) in preparation for The Golden Raspberries. The Mobile Movie Director Academy yielded one giggle-in-office-inducing short movie involving a fight between Stitch and The Chicken.

Games: Along thematic lines as well - Balls of Flurry (pingpong dodge ball, pingpong air-hockey), Jerry Maguire (American football), Lords of the (Flying) Ring (frisbee), The Great Lebowski (bowling), Not Quite 2010 (flour and water game with blindfolds and obstacles to demonstrate that listening to the right voice is important).

Wide Game: Hastily completely overhauled during the camp... Involved tim tam slams on Pulau Ubin and many incriminating photos with The Chicken. The Golden Raspberries award ceremony was really laugh out loud funny thanks to the MC.

Revision Party 2010 (Prince George's Park Residences)
Theme: Detectives (the importance of truth and evidence). Murder mystery in parts over several evenings, cumulating in the Wide Game. Ms. Poncey de la Woncey's birthday party on her private island ended with Ms. P in a pool of blood and no heartbeat. There were potatoes and an ugly red dress. Each character had an Obvious Characteristic and a Deep Dark Secret. The campers (detectives) were allowed to ask pertinent questions of the characters and examine the pocket contents of the characters to determine the killer. Ms. P had a death threat (a Shakespearean quotation) in her pocket. All suspects had some sort of white powder (sodium chloride, detergent, flour) on their hands or in their pockets. Ms. P's body disappears the next day...

Wide Game: To find Ms. P's body and the killer! Each group was given a potato. Clue in (yes, *in*) potato sent groups to a uni sitting room where a book containing a play by Shakespeare lay amongst the newspapers. There was an email address on the page which contained the quotation in the death threat. Secret question to access mailbox was a math question. Mailbox contained co-ordinates and photo of a place in Labrador Park. At spot in Labrador, there were plans for a catapult to fling Ms. P's body into the sea. To calculate the distance of Ms. P's body from catapult, they had to solve a physics question...or so it seemed... The physics PhD later realised that there was no distance given between the counterweight and the fulcrum, thus making calculation of the answer impossible. Someone else noticed the more important calculation error in the diagram. :-) They found Ms. P's body covered with white powder. A simple positive result on an iodine test determined the identity of the powder and therefore the murderer. A talk was then given on importance of evidence to determine what really happened. If we do that before we decide whether a person is guilty or not, it would be of greater importance to examine the evidence for one's beliefs.

God Does His Own Work at a Youth Camp

The presumption might have been that youth camp would be easier now after all the years of running such camps. And what with all the detailed planning months in advance this time round

and the overnighters (fuelled by Chocodates from Dubai) for last minute stuff just before camp.

But the parable of the sower (Luke 8:9-15 via William Taylor's Midweek at St. Helen's city podcast) scoffs at such dangerous complacency. For Jesus warns us that wherever God's work is done and where the word is preached, Satan waits to snatch it away. So Christian gatherings - church or such youth camps are particularly vulnerable.

Even before being faced with the discouragement that is the natural consequence of the sinfulness of others and of self, the modus operandi should have been prayer. John 17 (via this past Sunday's sermon at The Crossing Church) shows us that Jesus' priority when faced with the conclusion of his mission on earth was prayerful dependence on God, even though he himself was part of the godhead. How could we mortal men then have foolishly assumed that by planning better or trying harder, we might have more success in the doing of God's work.

But God was gracious so that even in our stupid relative/reluctant prayerlessness, he gave growth to the repeat speakers in their handling of God's word, the repeat scampers in their understanding of him, lovely scampers and campers, health and safety (other than a few funny tummies and a scrapped elbow), and fun to be had by all. He also brought us Rory Shiner from St. Matthew's Unichurch in Perth, who provided much refreshment in his talks on the resurrection ("THE resurrection, not necessarily Jesus'").

We had a bumper crop of boys this year so it was great that the ideas God had given were mostly rough and tumble, and slightly gross.

We started off with pingpong air hockey and ended with a rather wet dinner table that needed a wipe-down with disinfectant. It would have been grosser if the i/c for the game had agreed to go along with my variation of having the competitors chew on a crumbly cookie before each game. Pingpong dodgeball after featured some terrible strategies (sticking together in a bunch) and some slightly sneaky ones (pretending to be the wallpaper).

That afternoon, there was ultimate frisbee Aerobie flying ring and then, when a flying ring had been stuck up a tree, scoutball (which the professional PE teacher explained was really tag rugby and yes, they did play that in school).

It was gloriously sunny on the first day, and then on the second, when there was blind water volleyball complete with a temperamental net that got rather bored and decided to wander off at some point, leading to an all-out waterbomb fight.

While everyone was nice and wet, the flour game was introduced. It was meant to illustrate the importance of knowing which voice to listen to in the cacophony. Doing the really sloow commando crawl was probably the worst tactic evah.

The wide game, hastily put together to take into consideration the different proclivities of this year's campers, got everyone on a bit of a high so there were many incriminating photos of people doing rather strange things with the unofficial mascot, a rubber chicken with a loud squawk that I intended to use as a morning alarm (hereinafter known as "The Chicken"). There were very good imitation of animal noises, worrying You Jump I Jump scenes with The Chicken on the bumboat back from Pulau Ubin, and the horde arriving back at camp singing "When the Saints Go Marching In" at the top of their lungs. The Golden Chicken Awards after tummies had been stuffed with good barbie was a great way to round up the evening.

On the indoor games front, the usual camp favourites of Saboteur, Sleeping Queens and even Cranium fell by the wayside in favour of:


Blokus for the senior campers (scampers)


and Apples to Apples for all, to be blamed, no doubt, on the preponderance of ACS boys and other waffley types. ;-)

It was good fun making silly announcements at breakfast with loads of dressing up: there was a cute little leviathan, a surly pirate who kept giggling and a spartan dude who needed his six-pack drawn-on.

With all that was going on at camp - the talks, the studies, book club, cooking, games, chatting, singing, playing musical instruments with varying degrees of competence, it was good (and in fact necessary) that we started each day (at coffee-fuelled 7.45am) with 2 Corinthians 4 and prayer to set and/or straighten up our priorities with God's help.

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written,"I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4)

While the scaffolding (teacher-speak apparently) helps set the tone for camp, I pray that though now we strive with much sweat and tears, it will always be my prayer that in 5, 10, 20 years from now, the participants remember neither the fun they had nor the great brand name we've given the camps nor even the people who've told them the gospel but God whose glory we preach. For this ministry is his and sustained by him.

"May they forget the channel, seeing only him."

Bicycle Polo

Some Day, this will come to fruition.

It seemed a brilliant idea fished from the murky polluted-river-y depths of my mind: bicycles + upturned umbrellas as mallets + a ball = bicycle polo. Brilliant!

A google of the term revealed, of course, that the too-poor-for-ponies-much-less-a-pachyderm Indian commonmen invented it about a century ago when horse and elephant polo were the games of choice of British colonials and the Maharajah respectively.

And apparently the depths of people's minds are murkier than mine because real bicycle polo cycles come with no brakes. And even braking facilities did not prevent me from tripping over and almost impaling myself on the pointy end of the brolly, so probably vastly more refinement needed before throwing some youth at this game at camp.

Some Day...

Youth Camp Love Scandal

You know how it is with youth camp romances: boy meets girl, they fall in love, get married, have kids, live happily ever after etc.

This youth camp just past was no exception.

Fortunately, there were no irate parents to appease, the boy and girl in question having returned to their Maker several thousand years before. The Book of Ruth was a great book to preach through. The campers seemed especially attentive to the narrative that, prima facie, concerned a topic that pre-occupied their angsty tween hearts. (However, the Mariah Carey references in the talk on Ruth 3 - "Dreamlover, come redeem me", were lost on the Strawberry Generation, but should have given the Generation X-ers fair warning of the cheesiness of the karaoke song requests to follow.) Lurve aside, it was great to revel in the great care and protection shown by Boaz to Ruth, his overwhelmingly tender, merciful and generous love that exceeded the strict requirements of the OT law; a picture of God's own dealings with his people in saving them from their sin-induced emptiness and disaster.

A direct descendant of Boaz and Ruth was a chap named Jesus. So to see God's scandalous love fulfilled, the camper and scamper bible studies focused on the death and resurrection of Jesus - the need for his sacrificial death, the responses from those hanging around him as he hung on the cross and the necessity of his resurrection. *Insert man vs bear story here complete with sound effects of mauling and gunshots.*

The leaders' and scampers' Focus talks were on the Gospel of Mark. Summaries later.

Keith Richards as Gecko

The NACLI campsite was shared with scampering squirrels, iguanas and geckos, rotting mangoes and unidentified birds that fluttered like pheasants. On the first night, there were also live chickens at dinner. We didn't eat them.

To reinforce the idea of redemption and because people tend to be snacky in revision camps, there was a redemption system for sweeties, Tim Tams and Marmee using dried pasta shells as payment (because they were made of (durum) wheat, said the Principal). This was in addition to the copious amounts of tea, coffee, milo, brownie, orange pound cake and delish lemon pound cake freely available for the nom-ing.

Tried to summarise some of the main ideas from the talks in the Wide Game, a time for campers to take in the fresh-ish air, lush greenery and sunshine along the Southern Ridges walk and chat about any questions they might have. Hampered by prior complaints, the clues were roll-eyes easy-peasy cheesy, which would have taken the fun out of entire enterprise...if the aim had been the game per se. But "to a Jew, I become like a Jew, to win the Jews" (1 Corinthians 9:20) and loftier goals were, err, afoot.

The intensity of camp compressed time so it seemed that changes to mindsets, worldviews, Bible-reading skills and even gospel-living-out that would usually have been wrought over a lengthy period were observed to occur within a few days amongst the campers and leaders, PG.

I wonder if the encouragement of camps oughtn't be the increase of attendees but in light of the immense love of God himself, the increase of love for God and his people - the visible work of God in confirming his people as his own.

A Death, A Wedding, A Youth Camp, A Good Dinner and Inagiku

An eventful week: news of a friend's wife's meaningless death at the hands of Pakistani terrorists in Mumbai (refusing to accept the meaninglessness of a life suddenly ended, some have tried to paint her as a martyr or a heroine),

followed quickly by a most delightful wedding (featuring hilarious speeches by best friends, a groom who managed to insult the bride's sister, the bride and his own mother in his speech and a demonstration of why masking tape is better than sliced bread), whose intimacy was a marvellous celebration of relationship (cf the usual Chingay parade) and great reminder of much-awaited union of Christ and the church,

then immediately on to a week of youth camp. At the well-appointed Fairy Point Chalet 7, an old colonial bungalow overlooking the yachts moored off Changi Beach Club, with Pulau Ubin on the horizon. There was a field at the front of the house for a bit of football, a room equipped with table-tennis tables, nests in the surrounding trees to amaze visiting toddlers, a huge kitchen to the delight of the camp mother (inhabited, unfortunately, by huge hardworking ants), 4 toilets, 3 showers, 9 beds...

Because this was a holiday camp, indoor games included Cranium, Saboteur, Sleeping Queens (bought on a whim and has proved absurdly popular so far!), Taboo, Rush Hour, River Crossing, real-life Scrabble, Gift Trap ("I am really not a bimbo ok? I'm not! I...oh! Professional make-up lessons!"), Shadows Over Camelot - a co-operative board game, Citadels, round-robin table-tennis (with plastic plates as bats) and wave-boarding while clutching to sofas and walls.

One night, the boys went fishing. Another night, there was a rainy barbecue at the side of the bungalow, where there was an umbrella boy to shield the fire from the rain and wailing cats fanning into flame the, erm, charcoal provided by God. Then, there were observation-logic games (Open or Close?, What Number Is This?, Bang Bang Bang Who's Dead? Crossed-Uncrossed) and the bad jokes:

Which is the biggest city in the world?
Dublin. Cos it's always doublin'.

How is Ironman a woman?
He is an Fe-male.

What did Sushi A say when it saw Sushi B?
Wassup, B! (wasabi)

Man tou and siew mai went to watch a sad movie but only siew mai cried. Why?
Cos man tou didn't have filling (feeling).

Groan.

All this play was sustained by good meals from the kitchen (the cheerful servant-hearted kitchen assistants had strange fake Indian accents) and from visiting wives and moms: chicken stroganoff, beef stroganoff, babi assam, beef bolognaise, pasta with porcini mushrooms, fried beehoon, beef hash, mandarin trifle, banoffee pie, brownies, hot chocolate.

The theme for the camp was the recently-concluded Beijing Olympics. The main talks were centered cheesily around the One World One Dream theme: ie, One World, One Dream? (Ephesians 1:9-10), One Garden (Genesis 2:8-17), One Mistake (Romans 1:18-19), One Saviour (Romans 5:9-11), One Decision (John 14:5-7 and a can of Anything and another of Whatever), One Life (Ephesians 4:17-24). The focus talks on Amos for the leaders and scampers were a real treat: standing on the shoulders of Hugh Palmer, L preached faithfully on God's judgment, his salvation and the terrible danger of presuming that past rescue meant exclusion from present judgment.

We read Vaughan Roberts' Battles Christians Face for the scampers' book club. Chapter 8 was a particularly good reminder of the God-instituted media by which we keep on keeping on in the faith: by his word the Bible, by prayer and by the encouragement of the other members of God's church.

In the same way I wondered why repeat campers still didn't quite get the gospel but continued to idolise Jay Chou, why professed Christians didn't see the need for Bible study, so I realised that I hadn't quite grasped the concept of primacy of God's word either despite understanding it intellectually. Instead of relying fully on the Word to save, was nervous(?) enough to try to contextualise too much in the seminars. Repented of not trusting in the Word to do the job it promises to do: being the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17), quick and powerful, sharper than double-edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). It is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). It is the things that look weak and foolish in this world that God uses for his kingdom (1 Corinthians 1:27).

The leaders' morning meetings at 7.45am-ish were good times to review the previous day and preview the new day and to express our dependence on God for all things.

Sent the camp to Old Changi Hospital and Pulau Ubin for the wide game: a time for the campers to get out of campgrounds, run about in packs and have opportunities for good conversations. The ones who bothered to check with the Gamesmaster got useful hints about taking the van, the ones who'd gone off on their own theory of where they were supposed to be heading ended up cycling (they said it was very nice) and one fell over and had to have dirt scrubbed out of her wounds back at base camp later.

This wide game was less Amazing Race and more of a build up to the Final Challenge. The clues were meant to reinforce what the campers had learnt about eg. the garden, the fall... One of the teachers said it was useful. Throughout the game, I also gave out "Prophet Notes". Like the OT prophets, these popped up in their own time and told the camp their current status: a great gap had opened up between them and the Safe Haven, they needed something to bridge the gap, or someone. The Final Challenge consisted of us locking the main gate on them and preventing the tired, sweaty, mozzie-bitten, hungry people from returning to Safe Haven. J totally relished his role as St Peter With The Keys. One leader irritated by the heat time being of the essence said he was going to go off if the gate wasn't opened by 7pm, other campers tried (with big Bambi eyes) pleading, alternately, their good works, the Virgin Mary and unsubstantiated grace. Finally, a designated saviour revealed himself and upon hearing that he had to die for them to enter the gates, the mob ran towards him screaming,"Get him! Kill him!" So much for that Messiah.

After camp, stumbled home and konked off for the rest of the day, waking up just in time for a delicious meal of in-bone ham, applesauce, beef short-ribs, mash and salad with 3 types of dressing, and Ironman on HD for dessert. Grateful for the generosity and hospitality. The host had more bad jokes of his own:

Who is the most business savvy woman in the Bible?
The pharaoh's daughter cos she went down to the banks to get a little prophet (profit).

Who is the most famous orphan in the Bible?
Joshua, son of Nun (none).

Who is the shortest man in the Bible?
Nehemiah (knee-high Miah).

Sigh.

The next day, a surprise birthday party for a big boy (who did not look the least surprised), a real life roti prata man, kiddies being introduced to beer (they weren't too impressed and wisely decided that the ice surrounding the cans and bottles was more fun afterall), after which I was thankful for conversations on dealing with sin, frustration with the self-centredness of professedly sorted people and the lack of good conversations on things of eternal value, they preferring to waste time and energy either promoting themselves or fawning over "senior leaders"zzz, and dealing with own sinfulness and the sinfulness of these people in humility and grace.

On Sunday, Joshua Ng preached on Haggai at Bethany Trinity Presbyterian Church and Hosanna Baptist Church. The prosperity gospel, he noted, is only half right. Hillsongs and the mega-churches in Singapore are getting God's timetable wrong. And Satan's strategy has always been half-truths. Of course health and riches are good but God promises them only for the future. And just as we do not expect them now, we also should not expect our labour for the Lord to bear fruit immediately or ostensibly. We can work hard at it but our Bible study groups might keep shrinking; we can prepare to meet up with a young Christian and change our schedule to fit him but in the end, he may stand us up for a soccer game on telly.

Later, a belated birthday lunch at Inagiku where the sashimi and wagyu beef and garlic fried rice and tempura were ok, but the news of another person setting foot in the kingdom of God was terrific indeed! Told people at the table about Haggai and thanked God for his grace in keeping me in him. The effort I put into his work has borne little if any fruit and much as I want to save family and friends from their certain fate I've achieved nothing, yet despite my obvious disinterest in my career, God has provided a boss who thinks well of me and colleagues who don't have too much of a problem with that. If God had let me be too tempted by the path of less resistance, I may not have stood.

Altogether a very humbling and therefore refreshing week, PG, lived in light of major awareness of the suddenness at which the light can be switched off on life. Yes it was more than worth missing Kraftwerk for.

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

[Edit: a self-appointed regulatory officer has pointed out a lack of transparency in the matter of bad jokes. So in interests of full disclosure, I hereby declare that I too contributed to the bad joke fodder with the following stinker thought up during the talk on Amos 9:

Moses warned Pharaoh of all the disasters that would befall his country if he did not let the Israelites go and Pharaoh saw that God did indeed do as threatened. Yet, he did not believe (in) God. Why?
Because he was in the Nile (denial).

And later, because the skin on my ears and knees was sunburnt from sailing and peeling, I was proud that I was a-peeling (appealing).]