2009 FCBC Walnut Church-Wide Family Retreat

By Peter Chow (staff writer)

(Psalm 95:6-7 NIV) “Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.”

It’s retreat time!  From the Thursday afternoon of July 30^th to the Sunday afternoon of August 2^nd, FCBC Walnut hosted a church-wide family camp at Idyllwild Pines Camp And Conference Center. The underlying theme was: “Worship Beyond The Worship Service.”  More than 300 brothers and sisters took time off of their busy schedules just to find more about what the above theme was about, to enjoy God’s beautiful creations, and to simply get away from the stresses of everyday life.

All campers were totally blessed by the messages presented by the speakers, Jerry Hwang (English), Peter Mah (Mandarin), Timothy Chang (Cantonese), Mat Pau (Junior Highers and High Schoolers), Casey Woo (Children), and Christine Kwan (Children).  Special thanks go out to our Camp Director, Peter Gin, for all his countless hours, hard-work, and dedication, in making this long awaited retreat a complete success!  Let’s give Peter a round of applause!  Also, thank you’s go out to Elmer Indrawan, Erwin Edillon, and Aaron Lee, for organizing The 2009 FCBC Walnut Church Family Camp’s version of  “Saturday’s Family Fun Night”!  And everyone was blessed by the testimonies (each language or age group had their own sharing time/meeting place) after the fun and games!

From a personal standpoint, this retreat didn’t exactly begin the way I could’ve imaged, especially when my head met up with the buses’ cross bar.  Fortunately, God, Peter Gin and Lily Lau took real good care of me.  Some other personal encounters at Idyllwild Pines:  (1) Squirrels both climbing fast up a pine tree or chopping away at an unopened pine cone, (2) Rabbits (one that looked like Bugs Bunny) hopping around the campgrounds, (3) A Baltimore Oriole standing with it’s head tilted up (possibly looking up at The Lord), after something caught its eye, (4) Big ants, (5) Two small bridges (one enclosed and the other not) that were built above small creeks, (6) A rope-challenge type of obstacle course (that was not that far away from my cabin), like the one up in Pine Summit in Big Bear. We really missed having Jerry Gee around!  When our family camps were held in Pine Summit, Jerry was the biggest promoter of the obstacle course challenge. Instead, the course in Idyllwild was just in a remote/quiet/peaceful location, with no activity whatsoever, and (7) Some were both refreshed and cooled off by their dip in the pool.

Ultimately, however, we were all up here to draw closer to God and to each other.  So, what can all the participants and the brothers and sisters who were unable to attend take from this retreat?  Here’s a sampling: (1) Worship is not confined to a set time. (2) Do we have a teachable heart to grasp the joy of God’s love and instruction? (3) Do we draw on God’s instruction, during good and bad times? (4) Is the word of God a blessing or a burden? (5) Do we surrender and submit ourselves to the Lord, not just to do good to prove ourselves as good people? (6) Is God really in control when what we feel is painful? (7) There is a sovereign God who is in control. (8) God invites you to surrender all of your honest feelings, the positive and negative, to Him. (9) Being a man or woman after God’s own heart requires honesty and letting God work through you to develop your faith. (10) David shows us how we can move from experiencing depression to praising God. (11) No matter all the sufferings, your prayers will eventually turn to praise to The Lord.  Finally, (12) Worship means total dependence on God.

As a few campers had noted, “Idyllwild Pines Camp And Conference Center reminded them of a ‘Mini-Yosemite,’ for it’s really tall pine trees and wilderness feel.”  Yes it did, which provided the right atmosphere for everyone to experience a spiritual renewal with God and feel totally refreshed to continue to live a life full of worship and praise for The Lord!