The Gift of Friends

In Hope Ipoh’s first ever membership camp (applause! XD), Ps Daniel preached about the different spiritual giftings we have..eg are Encouragement, Mercy, Music…and the gifts that we received..eg are Salvation, the Lord’s eternal love, the gift of tongue (Holy Spirit Baptism)…and endless more.

Friends: can’t-remember friends, do-i-know-u friends, just-a-smile friends, hi-bye friends, hi-how are you-bye friends, gotta-go friends, Good friends, Best friend. and at the top of my friends’ list : Church Friends. For this article, i shall mention my uni friends from Hope Ipoh only, if not, i would drag on and on and on and on and on to cover up ALL my brothers and sisters in the church. So, (working adults, if u’re reading this, u won’t be left out =) there’ll be another article).

Hun Pin, Gek Ling, Set Lee, Kok Hock, Teck Kiong, Joshua, Eddy, Mei Fang, Wendy, Vern, Christon, Renae, Wong Ning, Kuo Chun, Javier, Witton, Richard, Jenny, Yen Pinng, Gowrie, Ajit and Jasmine.

* if i left out anyone, i’m very sorryyy…u can blame the time for being 1:54am (tired + sleepy), but i still wanna write out an article dedicated to this bunch of people brought together by our Lord. Brief summary : their rojak personalities are the very colours of a rainbow (multihued but perfectly beautiful as one entity). my friends at church is ranked #1 cuz they ARE the family of God. They may not realise it, but they ARE the church itself. As i learnt in the camp, definition of a church = Believers who meet together regularly in different areas to worship God, hear His word, fellowship, witness, participate in communion and pray, amongst other activities.

I can’t really describe what you all meant to me. All your quirky characters, distinct and unique, those warm hugs, your words of encouragement, the time u all share the gospel with me, the time u all praise God with me, the time we all sang so loudly to worship God, those occasional sweets and massages to keep me awake (oops!), the patience and love from P&W team, your desire to love one another in obedience to the bible, your prayers for me, your prayers for the church, your smiles and laughter, Yen Pinng’s tears of joy at her Holy Spirit baptism, the big and small things you all sacrificed for church events, your testimonies, Javier’s playing, Vern’s heavenly new songs, Christon’s humor, Richard’s singing, Witton’s smile, Kuo Chun’s initial D driving, Jenny’s first morning devotion, Wendy’s laughter and friendliness, Fangfang’s cooking and endless shopping and her wisdom in God……all these are just random thoughts about what I love about you all. But what i love MOST about u all is the way Christ works in you.

For me, the glue holding together the colours of the rainbow is our thirst to grow in Christ.

Meaning to say, the rainbow wouldn’t be a rainbow if the colours are missing here and there. A church isn’t a church if EVERYONE in the family of God is not glued together by our desire to seek His kingdom and serve Him.

My dear friends (big big hugzz to you all), thank you all for appearing in my life and bringing the gospel to me. i was water baptised yesterday (15/3/08), hallelujah! i think God planted you in my life so that i can grow more and MORE in Him. For every moment of peace and joy i’ve went through since i’ve accepted Christ, i owe it to GOD and THE CHURCH aka MY FRIENDS.

All i can say is,
Life hands us many different things, good and bad. One of the greatest gifts we receive is the love of a good friend.

P.S. Vern and Christon gave me a present that i’d like to think of as my baptism gift, though they claim one needs no reason to give a present to a friend. Wanna know what it is ?? =) *drums rolling…in a gift bag, is 2 small gifts. the 1st gift is a book. Title: “God’s Words of Life for Women of Faith” from Christon. it teaches about many devotional thoughts on many subjects based on scriptures. the 2nd gift is wrapped in red paper, tied in a big golden ribbon with a red envelope attached to it. i’m soo happy and proud to say that i’m the 1st person to own KookyMonster’s 1st KookyDesign. 100% handmade, thank you very much. those reading this, dunid to be jealous, vern said there’ll be more creative stuffs coming out (though i think she mentioned price…just joking). There’s a small handmade booklet for me. and tralallalalalaa, A BRAND NEW BIBLE WITH THE OLD TESTAMENT IN IT!! my current bible only has the New Testament in it. i’m not finished. IT WAS THE LAST COPY IN THE STORE. and also, IT IS COLOUR PRINTED. and also, IT HAS A SKY BACKDROP FOR ITS COVER. and SUMMARY OF EACH CHAPTER, MORE GUIDANCE ON HOW TO RELATE TO CURRENT LIFE and LIFE QUESTIONS and the OLD TESTAMENT IN IT! Thanks soo much, vern! it was just wat i needed for a new life in Christianity.

This article is inspired by the love shown to me by Vern + Christon + all my friends. One of the greatest gifts we receive is the love of a good friend. You see how blessed I am to receive the love of not only 1 good friend, but from you all? So for me, God’s gift to me includes the gift of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. =)