This post is my birthday entry. Just turned quarter a century old last week, and am really thankful for the people who celebrated with me in this little island away from home. Am thankful for the numerous messages, calls, and Facebook wall posts too. :) I had three cakes of exotic flavours this year! The first is a mango yoghurt cake made by Jon in the wee hours of the morning. The second was a green-tea red bean cake slice bought by my colleagues at work. And the last was with Campus ministry at church, a nutty banana cake.
I think what made me happiest in this birthday celebration was actually the fact that we managed to put this picture together.
This is a picture of some peeps in our Campus ministry, taken on Sunday. Not everyone is here - Simon is still in the Philippines, Boss and WM not around, and some guys I used to be with years back have left campus (like Kailing and Alvin), others have 'graduated' into Young Adults. But do you know how hard it is to have this number of people taking a picture and celebrating an event together nowadays? Almost all of us are working and we seldom meet together like this - although we sporadically meet a few out of the group here and there. It's so rare that everyone happened to be around for lunch (and there's even Irene, Gerald and Chris who were with us that day but not in this picture).
Stacey told me she was happy that there was such a big lunch outing and I was too. Especially since it was partially for my birthday, and I usually don't get to have such a long lunch outing on Sundays. I would either be knocked out after night shift, or leaving a bit earlier to work on afternoon shifts. But it so happened that last Sunday I shifted down into night shift to support my colleagues in the next team which lacked manpower. Hence I was able to sleep properly and have a nice long lunch with everybody else.
I think this made me happiest as it brought back a taste of what campus used to be like in my year one. Just that during that time I was not that close to most people (we only meet once a week after all), and my affections were more towards my hall mates. But as years grow by I found myself getting more attached to the people in Campus, and it was such a joy to serve together and grow closer to each other in the Philippines. Technically most of us have graduated, but we haven't officially 'left' Campus group yet.
Most of us have changed so much even across these few years, and I really thank the Lord for Simon's ministry in Campus. Students pre-occupied with studies in a competitive country are really hard ground for the seeds of change - but through love and patience and being a wonderful example, Simon has impacted our lives in many ways, and helped us to grow. There is no short cut to nurturing spiritual growth in others - and I have really Simon and Campus Seniors to thank for keeping me in the faith across my uni years and working life. I wouldn't have 'lost faith' in God in a sense, but to keep growing, and loving God, and loving God's Word, and finding opportunities to serve is not easy when there are other things that always seem 'more important'. Simon is a busy man in his profession and has set such a wonderful example to us to seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness. Thank God for him.
Thank God for Campus Ministry, the way we've grown and our love for each other. The above picture still stirs surges of emotions in my heart, because Campus has left a mark that will always be a part of me, although it was so gradual that it was hardly felt across the years. We've been through a lot together, and I hope we still get many many pictures of Campus-ers together in the future.
