Covenant Kidzcamp 2009-Oligopistos

The recent Kidzcamp from 10th to 12th of Dec was my “BreakThru” Weekend!

To be frank, sacrificing two days of precious leave for the Kidzcamp was not easy, but I now realise God has blessed me many times fold. Witnessing how God reached out to young tender hearts led me to a deeper realisation of how real our God is. The theme of the camp was “Don’t Worry”, “Fear Not” and “Trust Jesus”. Although there were no groundbreaking sermons preached, the message, in all its simplicity, was taught through interactive activities, games and stories. I often wonder how much of the message gets across when many children appear to be restless and not paying attention. But time after time, I am surprised by the children’s responses proving that something was deposited.

Two especially touching moments during the camp. First was during the end of an ice cream session, a P2 non-christian girl came up to me and asked me to show her the memory verses (1 Peter 5:7 and Psa 34:4) in the bible. My bible “just happen” to be lying on the table (brought it for the Amazing Race) and I showed her the verses, including John 14:6, explaining what did Jesus mean when He said he was the Truth, the Way and the Life. She was as responsive as I could ever expect from a non-christian and it felt as if I would get a straight Yes if I had popped the question of whether she wanted to accept Christ. But I held back as I thought it would be more appropriate to do it in a quieter environment and maybe use some materials targeted for children to guide her through. I asked Jade about it later and she said there would be another altar call the next morning. I was delighted and looked forward to it. By the way, she accepted Christ that next morning  I am surprised by my own sense of surrender in this. I am someone who works very hard to build bridges, sensing for people’s readiness and will not hesitate to share the gospel. But I do know that in my eagerness to seek to bring people to Christ lies some hidden self-motive for merit. Especially now when the church is encouraging us to believe in God to personally bring someone to Christ, I still have nil salvations and I feel discouraged sometimes! So, I was surprised by my own sense of release when I found myself looking forward to this girl receiving Christ through the next morning altar call and not through myself! I think my vision of God’s kingdom just grew a little bigger. Still have NIL salvations, but that is perfectly alright 

Next touching moment was during ministry time on the last day. A P3 boy whom I have always wanted to get to know better outside of Sunday school was in my group (God knows my heart). During ministry time when the speaker called for the children to rededicate their lives to God, I saw that he was getting ready to stand up and I slowly stood up too. My heart melted and I started to tear as he walked to my side. I placed my hand around him and prayed with him as he recommitted himself. He shared that he felt he wasn’t obedient and my heart was immensely touched by a young boy coming to this self-realisation. It’s comical how he shared with another teacher how he felt strange that he could feel happy yet tear. God manifested strongly throughout that session and I believe many children and teachers were touched. I received from God a release of my sense of performance during that session, especially as I saw the P2 girl standing up to receive Christ.

Back to the grown-up world, it’s interesting how I now sometimes see the child in people around me. Much of our personality is already formed as a child. In as much as how these children need God and increase in their knowledge and intimacy with Him, we adults are no different. The child is still very much in us!

I sometimes feel like I have missed out on so much time to know and grow in God as He found me at the age of 23. The corrupted values and habits that have been ingrained before 23 needs extra perseverance and deliverance to overcome. In one of my time with God in the morning before camp, I pictured myself like a little kid in the camp with a rested assurance knowing that God already knew me then. It’s strange but somehow I felt like I attended the camp myself as a little kid. There were actually pretty vivid visualizations (I sort of remember how I looked like as a kid, also long skinny face) of myself in a kidzcamp setting. How cool is that!

Gosh, I didn’t expect to write so much, but yes, it’s all because I have been blessed tremendously. The two days of leave couldn’t have been more well-spent. And guess what, I still have 6 days of leave left for the year remaining even after deducting those days which I will be using for a mission trip to Indonesia after Christmas.

Another fact about kidzcamp, children do wear you out, haha…..