Bond. JC Bond

It was so great to once again be involved in camp this year.

I remembered that at the very beginning, no deacon was willing to take up the camp. After much deliberation, I took it up (even though I was extremely busy), and then we had trouble finding a chairperson for the camp. It was so great to see God's provision at work, with the formation of the committee, and through the organisational process. Even though we seem disorganised at times, it was a great opportunity for alot of the younger brothers and sisters to be involved and to understand how much work goes in to organising such a camp.

I really treasured the time I have at camp this year. After a recent issue at church, our church seems to be divided again, and it was timely that our camp theme this year centred around the concept of bonding and unity. I had a time of prayer with a fellow deacon in which we prayed for the unity of the church. I had a talk with a fellow brother and it was one of the deepest conversations we had in years. Sitting around a campfire singing songs of praise to the Lord was also very encouraging.

Staying with the younger people, and getting to know them, made me realise how "old" I am. One incident I recalled was putting out the camp fire, as some of the junior high people were playing with the fire in a way which may cause danger to themselves or others (by swinging a lighted branch in the air, there may be a chance of amber falling unto them and hurting them in the process). Afterwards, a university guy told me that I should not have put out the campfire as it would have given some of the guys somewhere to go later in the night to chat. I told him my concerns about the young kids to which he responded that the risk is low. I then explained that I had to do it for caution and I have a responsibility that he was too young to understand. His response was "You are too old to have fun". It was interesting to see the different perspective at play. I guess that as we get older, we cannot be as "carefree" as we were when we were young, and young people may not be as sensitive to dangers and risks as we are.

My personal relationship issues were bothering me as well during the camp. Comments from people actually made me think about alot of things. Am I becoming a person I loathe, whose actions mislead others? Do I have too high expectations? This is the weakest area of my life and I have always not been able to handle this area as well as other areas.

As I shared at the sharing in the camp, I really hope that the camp can be a beginning for our church to experience unity and bonding, and that we will be able to apply this in our church to overcome any issues we may have.