A retreat at a Balinese villa...

Ok, not.

One of our church's elders very kindly offered us the use of his place for our DG's annual retreat. A gorgeous Balinese-style bungalow so artfully surrounded by foliage as to conceal its location right in the heart of Singapore.

The retreat was great. (Even though a few of us did doze off post-lunch while pondering over a list of tough questions taking stock of our spiritual journey thus far.)

The questions included:

+Am I Ensuring That I Am Disciplining Myself In The Things That Are Important To God (a difficult two-parter if there ever was one, cos you gotta first establish what's important to God)?

+Am I Reaching Out To People Even When It Is Difficult?

+One Word/Phrase To Describe Where I Am Now.

They will probably be fuel for more reflection, prayer and discussion in the days ahead, hopefully.

Today's sharing session, however, was pretty honest, illuminating and bittersweet. As one of the Watersiders put it so succinctly in his soul-baring remarks, the relationship between faith and application really all boils down to the question: Do I live this life to please myself, or to please God?

All in all, it was a good time to take stock of the past year *assorted moans and cheers*. Now we can say to 2005: Bring it on.