Seniors Got Tortured

After Baccelorette of the 2009 Seniors, we had a chance to come back to campus and enjoy dinner together. SBA requested me to be the chairman of the Games, so I had a chance to come up with some good games and the purpose of the game was to make sure we (lower classmen) torture seniors for the last time before they leave us. In other words, make them remeber us.

( I have to remind that the seniors and the students are pretty much full because they just finished a delicious BBQ's and some other good foods.)

First event was relaying Onion Rings with the straw.Oh, you can't really see how the game work?

Here's a little bit more clear to see.

After The Onion Ring relay, then it was a pudding feeders. The good thing about this is that it exercises your geometry or blind targeting.
It tests your estimation toward your target after blindfold....
It test your teamwork skills....

It tests your communication......

It test your obedience, like Joe telling Ned to open wide and Ned of course did an outstanding job.
It test the strategies that you and your partner have built together over four years.
But sometimes.......


Things don't go your way.

After the pudding, it was a peekaboo box. In order to win this game, you have to name all the items under each boxes within 15 seconds. Before those 15 seconds are over, you should be on the 5th box to meet peekaboo in order to win this game.
Like this one.

And the last event that happened this night was to determine who was going to be the winner for tonight since the seniors, lower classmen and the staffs were divided into two groups.

This last event was of course, another eating contest. We had to torture seniors before they graduated. The rule for this came was to consume any type of food that you pick inside the box. Once you consume it, then you run to your next partner in line to come to the box and do the same until each team have done two rounds on the box. Whoever finishes first is the winner. Well.....
The good thing about this game is that a person can choose whatever item to consume.

But he/she has to remember that he/she must come again for second round.
Remember, They just finished dinner.
The food in the boxes are either too sweet or too dry. (Like biscuits, Kisses, Reese's, etc.)

Some are just huge to consume, especially when you are full from BBQ's

All in all, everyone were winners and there were no losers. But the mission was well accomplished.

"TORTURING THE SENIORS"

In other words, make them fat before they leave PIBC.

Finally

This semester was a little bit rough on some of the students and staffs because of some students that had "Unpleasant Goodbye". It was hard for those students that were leaving, and at the same time, it was hard for us the students that remained in campus because a little part of our family was leaving us. At the same time, it was hard for staffs because their expectation toward these students just ended in a sudden. Toward the end of this semester, we started hearing that some of the staffs were leaving for their new assignments or mission, but we did not know that one of them was not leaving to the new mission but was leaving because her mission has been completed. Humanly speaking, it was like an arrow that had been penetrated into my flesh and protruding on the other side of my skin slowly. But with all of these, I know that there is a good reason for it. I have experienced suffering blessings and I know really well the purpose of those hardships or suffering blessings.

Other than that, we are done, finally, with our school works and now, for me, I'm just focusing on our Thai Mission Trip. Beside on my focus, I want to report a little bit about the ending of our semester this school year.

Last Saturday, Seniors had their Baccelorette and we (worship team) had our last effort for the seniors and the school for this semester. Finally it's over.

Worship team

Seniors last effort of voicing out their vocals that are about to be missed.

Lower classmen's last special number to seniors.

Sonny and other brothers' last service for PIBC

Ladies and Gentleman, Seniors. (((applause))))

It's not a judgment

On Tuesday Chapel, president of our school, Dave Owen, gave us a final challenge before we face our vacation in summer. He was mentioning about an old man with a horse and a lot of people brought a lot of good and bad judgment toward this horse and even this old man's son. Later he told a little challenge that he faced in mid 90's about his house that he lost before Christmas. With these transitional stories, he led us into the word of God in 2 Chronicles 14 which was the story of Asa. At the end of this Sermon, he said, "I believe this is not a judgment. I know he is doing this for a reason. Am I concern about the future of PIBC? 'YES'. Am I worried? 'NO'."

Why am I pointing these out? I too am not worried about the future of PIBC/PIU. But I am just puzzled with the loss of our staffs. Losing Brad, Jens, Hiob from our PIBC Family is understood because somewhere in the line, I believe they will visit PIU in the future. But losing our beloved sister Kathy keeps puzzling my mind. I knew that she was going to leave our campus too. But the destination that all the students and staffs thought about was wrong and the date of her departure was wrong too. We all thought that she was going to leave our campus on May 28, 2009 to the States. Instead, she departed from us on May 06, 2009, not going to the states, but left to the place of rest.

I am shock and still puzzled, but I am not thrawing any judgment. I know God have a purpose for this and I hope all the brothers and sisters of mine (Students) on this campus also understand. I never had a chance to go to her class, but I had a chance to get some help from her regarding my registration and some tutoring in the Library. I will treasure those little help that I got from her.

I did research about Frederick Douglass and considered him and other people like Susan B. Anthony, Abraham Lincoln, Mary and Betsy from Holocost as heroes because of the things that are written in history books, but I want to announce that Kathy Newell's performance and her love toward us are to be remembered and has to be shared to others. Not only her words are her testimonies, but her actions that we see everytime she is in campus is her testimony too. I remember when Leah left to Philippine for funeral and she makes some food at her house and deliver them to Hiob because she want to make sure that Pastor Hiob does not get hungry. I am glad that she became part of my life. I remember her in my heart and will never forget about her. Her departure shocked me and puzzled me, but I will not thraw any judgment. Something good is going to happen in this very campus.

Ants Mission

My last sermon on preaching practicum was based on either poetic or prophetic passage and I chose to do poetic sermon. This was my last sermon for preaching practicum class and my passage was in Proverbs 30:24-28 that talks about four wise creatures. This is a very familiar passage to most Christians. On my preaching, when I described the characteristics of ants, I mentioned that one reason why ants are well prepared ahead of time, "yet they store up their food in the summer;" is because they do not really think much about playing around like grasshopper. Instead, only thing in ant's mind is mission for survival and planning ahead of time. Every opportunity that they get, they will grasp it. When a person eat bread and little particles or pieces of bread falls to the ground or table, ants are not anticipating or hesitating but just go right ahead to get those pieces of bread. Their mind is filled with "Grab the food for the future"; "Prepare the food for the future"; "Take any opportunity that comes your way." Some people might disagree with me when i said that ants' mentality is all about the mission and opportunity, but I can prove it. Look at this....
This is a picture of a bread that has been covered with soil by some effective work of ants. It was not the erosion or person that covered this piece of bread with these particles of soil. You still not convinced that ants are up to mission? well, look at this picture....
This is a picture of ants' kingdom that is built in front of our Connex. This picture is not zoomed and i am not tricking you with the picture. Look at the grasses. They are smaller than this ants' kingdom. It proves that ants are mission oriented creatures and they take any opportunity that comes to their ways. You're still not convinced? Well, put a piece of breath outside your door as i mentioned and wait for at least 10 minutes. make sure that your bread is sweet and not bitter. Ants do prepare things ahead of time while other creatures like grasshoppers enjoy their singing and not concern about their food until the time comes and they run to ants to look for food.

Creation of God

A lot of people say creation of God is beautiful but they do not really pay attention to its beauty. For instance, they say that the flower is beautiful when they see it on the street or on the sidewalk. But they do not really say that they are good for something. They do not really describe its beauty. But when they look at it on the picture, they will admire it more than they look at it live or with their own eyes. Like this picture:and this....

These are just a simple flower in front of the men's dorm that I took a picture with my camera. The sad thing about it is this... these two pictures that you are looking at are just the same as the ones on the outside of the Library. But because the camera already zoom enough to expose its beauty, we can appreciate it. What seems so sad about this is that we are too lazy to come closer and spend time observing the creation of God with our own eyes. Instead, we just look at the copy of God's creation (Pictures). Its beauty is still the same and we can see it if we really have patience to look at the creations of God slowly and carefully. But if we just look at it for just a minute or less, we will not be able to see its beauty and continuing appreciating the copy (Picture) of God's creation. Look at this picture that I took early in the morning one time when I was doing my devotion....
This is just a picture. I believe that if someone will wake up in the morning and look at this same tree beside our baskeball court, they will see these hornets buzzing around the tree. But i believe that people would not have patience to watch them sucking honey out of the flowers. In other words, they do not spend time appreciating the beauty that God present to us everyday. Watching these hornets early in the morning after my devotion is one of the thing that gives me sense of serenity and I can never get tired of doing it by watching these hornets buzzing and sucking the honey out of the flowers. It gives me a peace of mind and it makes me appreciate God more than usual.

Look at this next picture:

I saw this lizard in front of the classroom on one of those little palm tree on the morning of PIBC Day when we went to BAY VIEW for the field events. I bet if someone saw this lizard, either they throw a rock at it or do not take much time to observe its beauty. This is just a picture. I know that when people see it they will say that this is really nice picture. But that is not what i want. I want people to see and say, "God is so good." A lot of times, people appreciate the picture itself and not God. For me, I appreciate God for this beautiful creature. Its characteristics and structures are so perfect that if I had a power to change it, I would not.

So what is my point? SPEND MORE TIME OBSERVING GOD'S CREATION WITH YOUR OWN EYES AND APPRECIATE HIM FOR EXPOSING THE BEAUTY OF HIS CREATION EVERYDAY INSTEAD OF JUST LOOKING AT THE COPY (PICTURE) OF HIS CREATION. HAVE PATIENCE TO OBSERVE HIS CREATION AND YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.