iBasic

So we had a most stellar retreat this last weekend. All church in fact... almost 400 people (inc youth and kids) showed up, though, strangely, it was about 250 or so by the last day (which still included 2 of the 5 sessions...) I'd have to admit that Hong Kong is the only place that I've ever been where it's normal to leave retreats early so you can work on a public holiday... or even to answer your phone in the middle of a teaching session with 300 people.

But yes, the Adults were doing a series called "Basic Life Principles" founded by Bill Gothard. The core of the teaching revolves around 8 "Principles" of life ie. Authority, Design, etc. and how they relate to the Bible and us. It's actually pretty good stuff at that level, however BLP takes it a step further, often declaring certain things as sin which the Bible does not ie. that rock music is inherently evil, or that TV makes you an enemy of God. While a strong argument could be built to support such a thesis... to declare something as sin which is not shown thus in the Bible... well that smacks of religion to me... but yes

Also the delivery was eight 70 minute video sermons by one white guy who was dubbed over in Mandarin.

But just to reiterate... I don't hate or even dislike BLP, the people are REALLY nice and obviously take the super safe approach with life, which is by no means wrong for them personally. I just disagree with some of their doctrines... and that's why the Youth decided to run with

iBasic =P

Yes... I stole the i concept from a friend of mine in the States... but iBasic does have a nice ring to it, and we did want to cover the basics of being part of a church, if not life as a whole.

So the sessions were pointed and convicting, Dan lead them all, which was fine by me cause I had to worry about the games and the worship (and eventually lost my voice) and general all round direction of a group which included lots of middle school boys. (and rather argumentative 14 year old girls..). We played night games, started fires (for a BBQ), did trivia, organized 400 people to compete against each other in physical activities (which was also quite tough), chatted heaps, played euker, did archery (and I AM getting better! Sweet!) and all round had a great time!

I also forgot to take photos for the most part... which means that I'll have to rely on others to make a slideshow... hmm.

Anyway, I was super tired, but after two days of sleeping, reading, DVDing and eating, I'm feeling better. Looking forward to seeing AP on Saturday (for like 3 hours or something) and also to October... THAT's gonna be a crazy month... camps, extra sermons, M coming, packing... *sigh.

Craziness!!

Man, who would have thought my last 2 months would be so busy? Last night was at my flatmate's studio for ages, working on some upcoming video clips for a conference we're doing... it's a fun concept, which I can't write about until after I post the first one, (don't want to spoil the surprise for the youth that read this). Still only 45% done too... hmm.

So now I've only got two months to go, and to be honest, it's a bit sad... but at the same time, I'm really looking forward to going home. I'm suddenly very homesick... which may be why God has chosen to give me this break before speaking about the next part of my life. Some of my friends over here are starting to receive some awesome callings by God, and soon they will be scattered to the four corners of the globe, feet bringing the gospel of peace, winning our world for our God!

I see such an amazing picture, such a grand scale... yet I think this year has changed me. For the first time ever, I'd be equally content staying in a tiny village imparting into a small community of believers as I would be crossing the earth to speak to millions. (Ok well maybe not a TINY village... that'd be quite tough for me... unless there were lots of horses, mountains and forest...)

Anyway, the end of my time here approaches... and strangely I can't even visualize much of what Melbourne is like. I remember faces... but places are starting to fade... I barely remember life outside of HK, lol. This city is crazy.

Oh ps. If anyone wants me to get them something from HK, please let me know soon! I think I'll be sending back some of my stuff with M, so I'm trying to balance it all out cause I don't have many KG for my trip back.