“To Every Thing There Is a Season”

FEBC’s 10th Annual Retreat@ Resort Lautan Biru, Mersing, 9-12 May 2011.
A Testimony by Lo Su Shiang (2nd Year MDiv Student)

 

“To every thing there is a season” (Eccl 3:1a). There is a time to work and a time to relax. After FEBC’s whole semester of hard work, a week of Daily Vacation Bible College in commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible and the celebration of FEBC’s 36th Graduation Service, the school headed to Mersing Lautan Biru Resort for her 10th Annual Retreat. The once-a-year retreat is a time of spiritual feeding, fellowship, relaxation and recreation. When our Lord Jesus was on earth, after a whole day of hard work, He said to His disciples: “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).

The four-day camp with a total of 76 campers started on Monday 9 May 2011. After praying to God for journey mercy in FEBC compound, the FEBC family set out at 8.30 am heading north to Mersing. Two buses were hired to bring the campers to the resort. The travelling took approximately four hours from FEBC to the resort. The Lord was gracious to answer our prayer and to protect our going out and our coming in. We arrived at Mersing in time to have our lunch. After lunch was a time of settling down followed by a time of singing praises to the Lord. In this camp, we sang through the “Old Testament History in Song” and the “Magna Carta of God’s Saving Plan (Romans I to XI in Song)” written by the late Principal Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow. These special singing sessions throughout the camp saw us singing through a total of 245 stanzas of songs. It was quite an accomplishment when we finally completed it!

The camp officially began on Monday night with the Principal’s address, special items prepared by students, the President’s address followed by the watching of a video. The theme of the camp is taken from Philippians 2:16 and Titus 1:9: “Holding Forth the Word of Life” and “Holding Fast the Faithful Word”. The 10th Annual Retreat was truly a time of great rejoicing with the final verdict of the Court of Appeal in favour of FEBC. Indeed, truth never fails; it always prevails. “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” (2 Cor 13:8). Man may fail but the truth of God never fails. We thank God for His faithfulness to His children “for He is faithful that promised”. Therefore, “let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering.” (Heb 10:23).

By God’s providential leading, the Tuesday night video “Candle in the Dark” was screened on Monday. To me, the movie marked the beginning and set the theme for all the subsequent messages and morning devotions. The spiritual lesson God impressed upon my heart throughout this camp is summed up in Hebrew 12:1. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us”.

Christians are the light of the world because we are the only people who have the truth. No man lights a candle and hide it. We who have the truth cannot hide the truth for ourselves. We are commanded to “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt 5:16).

The thematic messages were based on the cloud of witnesses of Daniel and his three friends (Dan 1-3). Having been exposed to the truth, they purposed in their hearts not to defile themselves with the worldly way of life. Their inner determination was translated into action to stand up for the truth they had believed. Similarly, believers constrained by the love of Christ must have a purposeful heart to be faithful to Him from the beginning till the end. Having purposed in our hearts, we must maintain our purposeful heart. Our lives must be consistent with the theology we believe in. Without proper theology, we would not be able to withstand the fiery furnace of persecution. The purposeful heart must be translated into every aspect of believers’ life including Boy-Girl Relationship (BGR). In this camp, there was a special workshop on BGR for full-time workers. Through which, the lecturer also shared a part of his private life with the students.

Closer to the modern day, we have a great cloud of witnesses of the early missionaries such as William Carey who sailed to India in 1793. He brought his reluctant wife and two children together with his wife’s sister. Words fail to describe the extent of suffering he went through both without and within. Besides the hardship of a new culture, new language, new environment and the tough mission work, William Carey also had to face the consequences of mistrusting his friend. Within his home, he had to face the blames of his unsupportive wife for the hardship he brought to his family and for the death of his son. For six long years William Carey toiled in such hard ground and loneliness. Yet, he never abandoned his mission and his calling. Facing insurmountable odds, he pressed on and ran the race before him with patience and endurance. William Carey demonstrated how a purposeful life dedicated to God and obedient to His calling can have a profound influence even in this unbelieving world.

There is also a great cloud of witness of men raised by God to protect the Bible, the indestructible book and to carry its message of hope and salvation throughout the centuries. There was the witness of John Wycliffe who stood against the host of opposition in his time. There was also a great cloud of reformers during the time of reformation. We also witnessed the mighty power of the Bible. Just a single copy of the Gospel of John which came to the Hmar tribe of Northeast India transformed “the worst head-hunters” to become harmless and loving people. We had the witness of Chawnga who influenced his son Rochunga to go to the outside world with the sole purpose of acquiring education in order to translate the Bible for his tribal people. We had the witness of Rochunga’s endurance and dedication in finally completing the translation of the Scriptures into the language of the Hmar tribe. With such a great cloud of witnesses, let us all lay aside our sins and everything that would hinder us from our race. Let us run our race faithfully to the end for God’s glory.

 

In this camp there was much laughter from the three skits put up by the students. Tears were shed when the seven graduates shared their testimonies. We the FEBC family rejoice with them in their success and weep with them in their sorrows. We thank God for the whole camp, and for bringing us back in time for the inspection of Beulah House. With the semester now officially ended, we look forward to the new semester where we would “expect great things from the Lord and attempt great
things for the Lord” (William Carey). May God’s name be praised!