


This was followed by the combined ministry day cum AGM at Sentosa. All crusaders from all regions gather here today!

Welcome to CCC@NUS Engine Region! We have a legacy of being... l a m e

the tassels are actually edible, made from jelly beans and fruit snack rolls (those long long sour stuff)
get the full recipe of these "Graduation Cup-caps" at kraft food:
http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=recipe&m=recipe/knet_recipe_display&recipe_id=74542
My Child,
You may not know me, but I know everything about you. ~Psalm 139:1
I know when you sit down and when you rise up. ~Psalm 139:2
I am familiar with all your ways. ~Psalm 139:3
Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. ~Matthew 10:29-31
For you were made in my image. ~Genesis 1:27
In me you live and move and have your being. ~Acts 17:28
For you are my offspring. ~Acts 17:28
I knew you even before you were conceived. ~Jeremiah 1:4-5
I chose you when I planned creation. ~Ephesians 1:11-12
You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book. ~Psalm 139:15-16
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. ~Acts 17:26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made. ~Psalm 139:14
I knit you together in your mother's womb. ~Psalm 139:13
And brought you forth on the day you were born. ~Psalm 71:6
I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me. ~John 8:41-44
I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love. ~1 John 4:16
And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. ~1 John 3:1
Simply because you are my child and I am your Father. ~1 John 3:1
I offer you more than your earthly father ever could. ~Matthew 7:11
For I am the perfect father. ~Matthew 5:48
Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. ~James 1:17
For I am your provider and I meet all your needs. ~Matthew 6:31-33
My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. ~Jeremiah 29:11
Because I love you with an everlasting love. ~Jeremiah 31:3
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. ~Psalms 139:17-18
And I rejoice over you with singing. ~Zephaniah 3:17
I will never stop doing good to you. ~Jeremiah 32:40
For you are my treasured possession. ~Exodus 19:5
I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul. ~Jeremiah 32:41
And I want to show you great and marvelous things. ~Jeremiah 33:3
If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. ~Deuteronomy 4:29
Delight in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. ~Psalm 37:4
For it is I who gave you those desires. ~Philippians 2:13
I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. ~Ephesians 3:20
For I am your greatest encourager. ~2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. ~2 Corinthians 1:3-4
When you are brokenhearted, I am close to you. ~Psalm 34:18
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. ~Isaiah 40:11
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. ~Revelation 21:3-4
And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth. ~Revelation 21:3-4
I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus. ~John 17:23
For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed. ~John 17:26
He is the exact representation of my being. ~Hebrews 1:3
He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you. ~Romans 8:31
And to tell you that I am not counting your sins. ~2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. ~2 Corinthians 5:18-19
His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you. ~1 John 4:10
I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love. ~Romans 8:31-32
If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me. ~1 John 2:23
And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. ~Romans 8:38-39
Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen. ~Luke 15:7
I have always been Father, and will always be Father. ~Ephesians 3:14-15
My question is… Will you be my child? ~John 1:12-13
I am waiting for you. ~Luke 15:11-32
Love, Your Dad.
Almighty God
Was there ever nothing?
A thought journey on the beginning of time, the origin of the universe and the question of intelligent design...
Have you ever thought about the beginning? What is that, you say? You know - whatever it was that showed up first. Or whatever it was that was here first, at the earliest moment in time. Have you ever strained your brain to think about that?
Wait a minute, you say, isn't it possible that in the beginning there was nothing? Isn't it possible that kazillions of years ago, there wasn't anything at all? That's certainly a theory to consider. So let's consider it - but first by way of analogy.
Let's say you have a large room. It's fully enclosed and is about the size of a football field. The room is locked, permanently, and has no doors or windows, and no holes in its walls.
Inside the room there is... nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a particle of anything. No air at all. No dust at all. No light at all. It's a sealed room that's pitch black inside. Then what happens?
Well, let's say your goal is to get something - anything at all - into the room. But the rules are: you can't use anything from outside the room to do that. So what do you do?
Well, you think, what if I try to create a spark inside the room? Then the room would have light in it, even for just a moment. That would qualify as something. Yes, but you are outside the room. So that's not allowed.
But, you say, what if I could teleport something into the room, like in Star Trek? Again, that's not allowable, because you'd be using things from outside the room. Here again is the dilemma: you have to get something inside the room using only what's in the room. And, in this case, what's in the room is nothing.
Well, you say, maybe a tiny particle of something will just show up inside the room if given enough time.
There are three problems with this theory. First, time by itself doesn't do anything. Things happen over time, but it's not time that makes them happen. For example, if you wait 15 minutes for cookies to bake, it's not the 15 minutes that bakes them, it's the heat in the oven. If you set them on the counter for 15 minutes, they're not going to bake.
In our analogy, we've got a fully enclosed room with absolutely nothing in it. Waiting 15 minutes will not, in and of itself, change the situation. Well, you say, what if we wait eons? An eon is merely a bunch of 15-minute segments all pressed together. If you waited an eon with your cookies on the counter, would the eon bake them?
The second problem is this: why would anything just "show up" in the empty room? It would need a reason why it came to be. But there is nothing inside the room at all. So what's to stop that from remaining the case? There would be nothing inside the room to cause something to show up (and yet the reason must come from inside the room).
Well, you say, what about a tiny particle of something? Wouldn't that have a greater chance of materializing in the room than something larger like, for example, a football?
That brings up the third problem: size. Like time, size is an abstract. It's relative. Let's say you have three baseballs, all ranging in size. One is ten feet wide, one is five feet wide, and one is normal size. Which one is more likely to materialize in the room?
The normal-sized baseball? No! It would be the same likelihood for all three. The size wouldn't matter. It's not the issue. The issue is whether or not any baseball of any size could just "show up" in our sealed, empty room.
If you don't think the smallest baseball could just show up in the room, no matter how much time has passed, then you must conclude the same thing even for an atom. Size is not an issue. The likelihood of a small particle materializing without cause is no different than a refrigerator materializing without cause!
Now let's stretch our analogy further, literally. Let's take our large, pitch-black room and remove its walls. And let's extend the room so that it goes on infinitely in all directions. Now there is nothing outside the room, because the room is all there is. Period.
This black infinite room has no light, no dust, no particles of any kind, no air, no elements, and no molecules. It's absolutely nothingness. In fact, we can call it Absolutely Nothing.
So here's the question: if originally - bazillions of years ago - there was Absolutely Nothing, wouldn't there be Absolutely Nothing now? Yes. For something - no matter how small - cannot come from Absolutely Nothing. We would still have Absolutely Nothing.
What does that tell us? That Absolutely Nothing never existed. Why? Because, if Absolutely Nothing ever existed, there would still be Absolutely Nothing!
If Absolutely Nothing ever existed, there would not be anything outside it to cause the existence of anything.
Again, if Absolutely Nothing ever existed, there would still be Absolutely Nothing.
However, something exists. Actually, many things exist. You, for example, are something that exists, a very important something. Therefore, you are proof that Absolutely Nothing never existed.
Now, if Absolutely Nothing never existed, that means there was always a time when there was at least Something in existence. What was it?
Was it one thing or many things? Was it an atom? A particle? A molecule? A football? A mutant baseball? A refrigerator? Some cookies?
Stay tuned for the next article called: Something