Combined Cell, Sunday morning, just before service

We had combined cell with the other zone 2 folks, including the JC’s and our beloved sister (note that I used “SISTER” and not “BROTHER” here) cell Kingfishers at Adam, where all the other poly’s are, and where all the “Gina’s” (Hokkien, or Malay? For “kids”) are collected at, waiting for their posting results. Gel lead by Bro Andrew was... ahem; out of the ordinary. Although come to think of it we have never had any ordinary games before. In a huge circle of 40 over people, we were to turn into “rams”. Each player had one hand on their head, and their preferred hand free to deflect other oncoming “rams” or to touch the elbows of other “rams”. Of course, we couldn’t have everyone play at one time, so we numbered off, and Bro Andrew would call numbers to send 2 victim rams into the ring to battle out with each other. It was entertaining, really, until my number got called at round 2, when the target was knees instead of elbows, and Net happened to be my opponent. So Halleluyah, we approached and circled each other menacingly as the cat fight unravelled, neither willing to lose to the other. Cut the whole story short; till now, the result is still uncertain. =)

Then Pastor Andy got us to form a double layer circle, and the inner circle was instructed to face the outer circle. There was this murmur of excitement which P. Andy appreciated, by declaring that he liked noise, because it meant life in the place. He went on to emphasise on how much he appreciated the family spirit we had, as a Zone 2, and how we could and should be open with sharing with each other, which we did, later on, with different people, as the inner circle was to rotate in a clockwise direction, stopping at one person at a time. The newly formed pair would exchange on God’s latest revelation to them. That was pretty cool, since I got to hear from a JC kid and other kids I wouldn’t normally get to hear from, by virtue of my cell’s constraints.

Finally, P. Andy ended by sharing his heart. It’s always so intriguing and fun to hear P. Andy share his heart; because he speaks from the ground level, in that realistic, down to earth, yet especially amusing fashion of his. He charged us, as the Zone 2, to set the culture for the younger ones (Pri 6 to upper sec), within our cells. “You know what makes us attractive to people out there?” he exclaimed. “It’s that family spirit; that warmth, that openness to share!” (okie, I admit here that I can’t recall his exact terms; but here’s the gist of it anyway.) Because, according to him, the truth of the matter is that it’s a cold, hard world out there. It’s especially so, in Singaporean culture, where it’s a “you keep to your space, and I keep to mine” kind of unwritten social rule.  After all, it seems silly to help a friend with studies if it means more competition for yourself. Out there, we can’t do much about it, but in here, amongst our cells, we can take down the walls we’ve built up for ourselves, and share and encourage each other. Not just to attract new folks, but to spur each other on, amongst ourselves. It’s not about competition and self protection here; it’s about helping each other and going up together as a family.

Taby.