Christmas with the Community 2011 organised by Tabernacle of Praise (TOP) Church, Penang has been the pinnacle event for my group of friends this year. It is truly an honour, joy and such a blessing to be able to play a small part in joining hands with the TOPians in serving the community in Jelutong town.This year, my friends together with their families and I had the opportunity to man a game stall ( Game Stall No.11 ) and also helped out at the Registration Counter. It was fun shopping for the gifts for our stall and we got shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, badges, puzzles, tumblers, mechanical pencils, lots of sweets and chocolates too. It was really fun being able to bless the children and the people who came to our stall to play the game. I guess, the real blessing is seeing the deep upwards curve lines of smiles on the faces of the people. From the young to the elderly, the smiles were infectious and this was also evident in the faces of the wonderful volunteers.
I guess, this great reaction of smiles and hospitality starts early with the great P&W and short sharing before the start of the event. Inspiring words from Commander-in Chief, Rev.Gideon Lee helped a long way in provoking good thoughts, good will and positive vibes for the carnival-like event. I guess, for us ( Jason, Shirley, Bryan, Timothy, Errol , Jessica, Jocelyn , Josephine, Lih Gin, SLing, SYuen and myself ) our blessings started much earlier that day. Upon arrival in Penang, we headed straight for Beng Teik School to get a glimpse of our stall, helped out where possible and got everything in order before heading off to Vive's house for a quick shower. With 16 of us including JWee and Adeline plus Vive & Sathy, taking turns to bathe and getting ready was a real comical extravaganza but fun. Our destination was Cheng & Kuna's place for dinner. Once again, Cheng's culinary skill shone like the stars in the sky. I tell you this, her food spread easily could have earned her 3 Michelin stars in my books. The food spread was simply delicious, awesome and inspiring fresh! From the salads to the lasagna , the roasted turkey & stuffing to the oxtail specials were heavenly inspired creation! Like I said, it started off to a great start of the holidays and we had the best time of fellowship with everyone including BA, Jessy, Rev.Gideon and his family. I was so blessed and I realised that things like this happen because the hearts had been set right on a good solid ground of hospitality, blessings and good grounding of the Word. I am truly very thankful to Cheng & Kuna for hosting us with great food and fellowship. They are simply humble,big-hearted and genuinely awesome people.
Coming back to the CWC event, it was good to see so many youths taking part in helping out the event. Again, their raw talent of spicing and making things in a happening manner works in sprucing up the upbeat of the event. As for me, being able to see familiar faces at the CWC event makes me happy. There are so many familiar TOPians and it was a joy greeting each other and worked hand-in-hand to give our best to the community that day. I guess, in many ways, TOPians and the community were painting the Jelutong town in the multi-facet colours of red, white, blue in synchronised colors of the Malaysian flag. People from all walks of life, shapes, colors, creed and in all ethnic races i.e. Chinese, Malay, Indians, Nepalese and others were walking into the CWC event with all sorts of contorted facial expressions but one thing is sure that is :- they ALL come out of the event wearing a big smile on their faces and bags of goodies in tow. I really wish that churches in our country today would just rise up and take up the challenge of reaching out to the community today like TOP Penang rather than fattening their own kitty , wallow in their own sob -story of excuses or even coming out with outdated phrases like "every church has their own ways of doing things" mentality. It doesn't take a genius to understand the idea of reaching out to the community. Even an idiot/vagrant on the street understands the meaning of food and what it meant to re-live the joy we once felt in our hearts. It's Christmas. Think about it! That's the whole message of Christmas! Look, ruthless society practises, relentless pursuit of wealth plus the outrageous practise of stinginess and harshness of life has robbed the people of the simple joys of life. If we , as people of God could somehow use whatever opportunity to reach out , play a part and restore the joys that God had intended, it would be awesome. Instead, some churches still languished in the same old verse that " we would always have the poor amongst us" ( we know this already by hard as we are drilled day in and day out! ) and thereby, do nothing but fattened our butts on the pew seats of our congregation, fattened the accounts in our banks and let others do the job of feeding, nurturing, reaching out and helping out thus limiting our perspective and very existence with God. Harsh it may sound but this is a hard reality that we have to accept and change for the better lest we continue to lack and languished in the black hole of complacency and the killer "feel good" factor . I guess, the direction taken by the church and its leadership is important in ensuring that we reach out to the community when others fail to see that need. God bless the TOPians and their leadership for this great event and fore sight. I know, I have been blessed not because my friends and I are guests/helpers but because we are first and foremost the community and then, helpers and friends. That's what I learn over this richly blessing experience and I know that my friends and I would cherished this memories a lot. I was indeed very blessed in my heart when I saw some of the poor folks whom I have met last year and to be remembered by them is a great honour indeed. As usual, the games stalls were a great hit while the hair cut area was equally busy. The busiest stalls were easily the food stalls while PAP Smear Test Room and Blood Donation Room were also prepared. There was also a Health Talk Room and the crowd was easily in the region of 1,700 to 1,800 in count. That, to me, is a grand success indeed! All Glory to God!
As the day died down towards the closing time at 2.00pm, our game stall were still having a long queue. Not to disappoint the young & the old, we continue to give out as much gifts as possible and we still have plenty to give away. By the time, we finished the last participant to our stall, it was easily at about 2.45pm. Our children were exhausted but happy to be part of the great event. As we cleaned up the stall and do our part to help out where possible, smiles were posted on our faces. The smiles were smiles of gratitude, smiles of happiness and smiles of satisfaction that we have completed our task and be a part of this event to reach out to the community. That's one big great satisfaction feeling,man! Well done, people! I am so proud of the team from Melaka who did their best for the people of Jelutong. It was a great honour to be given the opportunity by the local church, TOP Penang to participate in such an event. Thank you, TOPians for this opportunity. Just wanted to extend our heartiest thanks to Vive, Sathy, BA & Jessy too for taking good care of us , feeding us well and ensuring that we had a great time out here in Penang! THANK YOU SO MUCH!Will we be back if we are invited again? SURE, we will be there. Wouldn't miss it though. What an event! What a joyous occasion indeed! What a great day for HIM! Amen!~
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