Grace Retreat
I must say that this year’s Grace Retreat was the bomb! The jammed pack activities were both exciting and shameless in every way. But the one thing i thought i really enjoyed the most were the times where i could have HTHT (heart-to-heart-talk) or just a nice chat with both the youths and close friends that i have not met in a quite a long while. And i do hope to do that soon enough again. 
I signed up for Grace Retreat this year longing for a good getaway – From work, from responsibilities, from family, from Singapore. But due to the nature of this year’s youth program, it was impossible to really get a good retreat. It felt more like a youth camp actually! I had a pretty tough time handling the 4 + 1 (1 extra boy kept coming to join the rest of his friends) sec2 boys. I had to manage their over enthusiasm, their indifference, their lack of involvement, their lack of tact and so many more things at the same time. Sounds tough? Yeah it was! But i still enjoyed the process because it left me with a change in perspective – To just enjoy their presence and love them. Through this retreat i could sense the growth that each of them have gone through ever since last year. And it isnt just subtle growth that requires immense eye squinting, but it was obvious growth. Above all it reminded me that they were just sec2s wanting to have some fun – harmless fun. The only harm they did was to my expectations of them which i quickly learnt to manage. These boys are hungry and genuine in relationships. How to not enjoy their presence and love them? 
Fathers’ day preparation and celebration
The day after the end of retreat, the plaster leaders came together to bake cupcakes for the fathers of Grace Assembly as we were involved in a special project with the children’s church in blessing our fathers. It was really nice to kick back and just enjoy each others presence as we ate, baked and most importantly – played. We finished baking, icing and packaging all the cupcakes by around 10pm and by then we were all very worn out. But our Super Andrea had to continue with the Fathers’ day video back at home till 3am. I really admire her passion and the amount of energy that she so willingly puts in in service. I am so grateful to have her on board leading the sec1s and befrienders ministry alongside me.
Fathers’ day came and boy was it exciting! The sight of the children rushing out to bless their fathers with a hand made key chain, a pretty cupcake and awesome Neutrogena body foam wash was plain precious. How i wish i was a dad then! 
I am very sure that the fathers felt very appreciated and that they enjoyed the gifts that they received. We blessed our physical fathers with such gifts. But we praised and worship our spiritual father with our acts of love and service.
Shepherd’s Retreat
Day 1
Bro Joey and i had to rush to the ferry terminal immediately after the second service and i must say that Uncle Patrick Toh is an angel sent from God. Just when we needed to teleport to the harbour, he appeared and offered a ride. God provides in amazing ways!
The boat ride up to Batam gave Bro Joey and i a good time to HTHT and catch up. We had so many good laughs! I thank God for such an awesome mentor that really believes in me. As always, even though the time spent together was not intentional, i always have something to take away and think about and i thank God for that as well.
Hitting the hotel and meeting the rest of the shepherds, i vividly recall telling myself that, “Its about time that you can retreat Keith. WHOOO!”. And that is where my crazy sanguine appeared. Lately i feel that my sanguine has been diluted due to the amount of things that i have to concentrate on – now this isnt bad at all. But the opportunity to just let loose felt really nice.
That night, David and i led the Shepherds to a small roadside BBQ seafood place just behind Nagoya Hill shopping mall. Though it was smokey and reeked of fried belachan chilli, i enjoyed the good food, the really good teh botol (we candidly pronounced it Boh-Toll the whole time. HAHA.), and the really awesome company. Not to mention that we only payed a remarkable S$10 for a really good spread!
We headed back for the hotel and started the first of our reflections. Dials on a Dashboard required us to look into our lives and begin compartmentalising them. I came up with 16 different dials -
1) Faith life
2) Media life
3) Teaching life
4) Mentoring life
5) Relationship life
6) Brotherhood life
7) Leadership life
8) Physical life
9) Social life
10) Leisure life
11) Financial life
12) Family life
13) Competency life
14) Reflective life
15) Evangelism life
16) Emotional life
We had to give a grade ranging from A+ to F for each of the dials and write down truthfully why we gave ourselves such grades. We then wrote down around 1 to 3 steps to up(a)grade. This process was very painful to do. Honestly i did not enjoy it as it plainly showed me that there are so many things in my life that are just not where they should be. Also it reminded me that i’ve gone through this evaluation before whether consciously or not. The problem is that there has not been any change since then. Though i did not enjoy it, i have to embrace it to grow in the Lord. Change is always uncomfortable but it is needed!
I had a very good chat with David that night about how we felt where we were. Though it was a chat that only 40year old men would have, i think it was good because we needed it. We havent had such a good chat in quite a while and it really revealed that we both clearly wanted more. But to give more, we need to continually return to the source of all life. Our God. Imagine being in a place where you are and you know that you are right smack in the centre of God’s will. How amazingly joyful that would be! Everything would come because you know that God is in charge. WOW.
Day 2
The next morning, devotion was done on Heb12:7-13, a verse that Yixian shared the night before. The one thing that really struck me was that God allows every Christian to go through hardships not because He enjoys to see us struggle but because He loves us and does what is necessary for us. There is practically nothing to gain for God in doing these things for us. It is plainly out of His immense love that he has. It is wonderful to know that when we go through struggles, we are never alone in it. God is always there.
The rest of the morning was spent over a really good breakfast and another time of reflection. We evaluated the achievements that we have individually accomplished over the past 6 months. We also then shared on how we felt about our achievements. It was obvious that there was regret in everyone’s voices as we all believed that we could have done more. The ‘gek’ (stuck) feeling that we all felt from the night before returned. I believe that in the presence of the Lord, there is both judgement and healing. It was there where we felt the presence of God in our hearts and where we supported one another.
That afternoon, Dave, Bradley, Melfam, Melwee, Yixian and i head off to play water sports! Though the cab fare was costly, i thank God that the water sports were not. We managed to go on the exciting banana boat ride which landed all of us in the water. Sitting all the way at the back, i was shouting out directions to lean to so that we would not all fall off. But i was secretly already bracing for the fall. Just before we fell in, i put both feet on the same side that we would fall into and dived gracefully into the water. I think the rest had quite an impact overturning into the sea. HAHA. A few of them went for the jet-ski ride and then we all went canoeing together. Being in the most competitive boat with Melfam, our main goal was to ram the other 2 canoes and splash as much water as possible at them, then rush off to safety. I think we did a pretty good job at that. (Hi 5 mel!)
Night came and we were once again in hotel room 710 for another reflective time. This time we sorted out our achievements in chronological order and we labeled them Building (activities that builds the church up), Equipping (activities that equips our sheeps) and Winning (activities that win souls). We came to the common agreement that we were lacking Winning activities. We also learnt that in the process of winning, the other 2 would have to be done as well. It was a really good shift in perspective and i dare say that we can look forward to more of such activities soon enough. EXCITING! We then spent the night intentionally encouraging one another. It was such an insightful time where many of us got to hear compliments of ourselves that we were not the least bit aware that we were doing. We did that all the way till 3am and though we were all very tired, it left everyone grateful for we knew that we had the grace of God in our lives.
Day 3
That morning after breakfast, we finished the time of reflections with a topic on reconciliation. We thought of the people that we have either offended or been offended by. It was a really tough moment for me as i’ve a few of such broken relationships. I would really require the grace of God to start this process of reconciliation.
The trip ended with a bit of shopping, then the boat ride where we played Dixit and finally a dinner back on home ground.
Overall, the retreat was a time that i thoroughly enjoyed spending with this family that God has given each of us. It was very nice to know that we have all grown together, better, stronger and more united than before. It felt really easy to relax with one another without any pretense or agenda and at the same time, speak life into one another. This is what a family should be like! I thank God for this group of beautiful and exceptional people that i can serve alongside with. (this includes all the bros and sistas that were unable to join us! WE MISS YOU!) I now feel that we are all more ready to advance for the kingdom of God. I cant wait for the next time we go for another retreat. Indeed we are family.
