Every time the month of December comes around the corner, my family and I get excited as it meant that our holiday trip is just round the corner too. It is a time for family celebration and blessing others. I would consider my family to be blessed as we have a lot of "family members" in our close friends and the ones we had forged friendship with over the years. Praise God for good friends! Anyway, once again, this year, my family and our friends availed ourselves to help out in whatever small way we can for Tabernacle of Praise (TOP)- Christmas with the Community 2012. I must say that it is indeed a privilege and a great honour to be of services with the dedicated and heart-warming people of TOP to serve the community of Jelutong, Penang. To me, it is really heart-warming to know that there are still people out who cares for their community and the community of Tabernacle of Praise, Penang proved just that! My family and friends are truly blessed by the hospitality, care and blessings showered to us. Our special and heartfelt thanks to our family in Penang, Vive & Sathy plus a host of great friends in BA & Jessy, Kuna & Cheng, Esther & Darren, Bro.CK & Priscilla, Bro.Wilbur & Mary and a host of others who had blessed our lives tremendously over the years. Your great love, hospitality & generosity will forever be etched in my heart.
We started out by travelling from Melaka to Penang after work in the evening. By 8.00pm, we ( SLing, SYuen, LGin and me ) hit the highway after dinner. It was a smooth ride all the way to Penang while making stops only for petrol and bathroom breaks. We arrived at Penang sometime at about 12.40midnight together with some very blurry-eyed but happy passengers. For me, it was a good drive and earlier that day, I had driven to Muar to do my work and with a 30 minutes sleep at the side of the road for rest, I was ready for the drive to Penang. No worries, I am used to this already but the excitement of being able to serve in the CWC 2012 was far more an excitement over all the tiredness and long travels. 
After a good sleep and some good meals shared with good friends, we were all ready for our duties. At the same time, Jason Chiew and his family joined us the following day and our adventure trail begin. From meals to fellowship, it was fun all the way. At one of the dinners , we had Pastor Rachel who was formerly from a Melaka church joined us for dinner at Khuntai Restaurant at Teluk Kumbar. It was truly a time of fellowship, fun and laughters filled our days.
As we served together at the CWC 2012 event, my heart filled with joy as the crowd filled the registration stand. This year, the guys in our Melaka team were assigned to security duties while the ladies were assigned our familiar role of registration duties. It was fun all the way and there were plenty of smiles everywhere. Though I have seen all these excitement before as this will be my third year of helping out, but each year, the excitement is different. This year was no exception. From the brave barbers from TOPians themselves under the leadership of Bro.Rodney to every games stalls and food stalls plus the special Connect Room, Blood Donation Room and Health Talk Room, I just thanked God for their dedication and heart in serving. As I stood near the food stalls, I could see the crowd rushing for the food and you could see their "excitement" in that sense. Like I said, I have seen it all before in so many events over the years but there is one thing that makes it all so special, the smiles of the serving people and the contentment on the faces of the crowd at the end of the day. That to me is priceless in an event like this. Yes, we will have one thousand one type of characters and one million and one grouses as well, but at the end of the day, if we can make a difference in ONE life who came for our event, THAT is a success itself. Even if only ONE life is changed/transformed by the the goodness shown, that is the greatest success of this event. I take heart that these TOPians servers have such big hearts that it is shown in the duties they were allocated. Each and everyone of them wore a smile on their faces that day. Sure! There are tough moments and things to do plus teething problems to settle but it is all done in good spirit. That's the beauty of it all. There is so much co-operation and co-ordination were excellent. 
One thing that caught my attention a lot was the fact that the young people of TOP playing a more prominent role in the CWC 2012. From the early preparations to the Christmas carols singing to the dances and performances, they were great and outstanding. It is good to know that the young people are given that kind of liberty and freedom to help out in such an important event. It shows characters, upbringing of good leaders and moulding of young lives for service to the community. That is the epitome of a healthy church and a community-conscious people. I say BRAVO and WELL DONE to TOPians of all level. It was a really good and beautiful event.
This year, I had the opportunity to also serve at the lunch line where they were a little short-handed. I did not want to miss the opportunity to serve the people and I must say that these servers duties are huge. I tell you this, the food servers are fantastic people. Even in the midst of chaos, they kept it together and served the people the very best they could. At my food line, it was like robotic hands and factory production line serving the food. It was fun for me as I get to see all sorts of people lining up for their food. It was really humbling and so touching to see the servers trying their best to do what they can to serve the people amidst all the rushing, sometimes scoldings and unkind words being pelted to them. The servers were great. They did what they could to cater to the crowd.
At the end of the day, we were all exhausted but happy that we could do our small part in the event. We are just glad that we are standing in the gap for our Saviour. At end of the day, we sow the seeds of goodness, water the seeds and hope for a bountiful crop at the end of the season.Yes, that season will come and I pray TOPians will be proud of that sowing they have made as much as I am blessed by their sowing act efforts. To the TOPians, I humbly thank you and salute you for your efforts. God bless~!
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