This will be a long post about the final internship meeting on Wednesday, 14th December 2005.

Everyone in the internship knew it was gonna be the last internship meeting that we'll ever have but nobody knew what was gonna happen. We didn't have a meeting in the morning at the Kew Building as usual 'cause Ps Chad messaged everyone telling us to meet at his place at 7.30pm. There was such an air of mystery. Not even Ps Tiffany knew what Ps Chad has up his sleeve for us! I left the church office with Ps Tiffany and Ben Hallam at 6.30pm and we drove to Ps Chad and Tiffany's house. We reached there at about an hour later.

Ps Chad and Tiffany has got a very nice-looking house, a lot of green around it. Drive another 20 minutes and you'll reach Ps Russell's house. Walk around the corner it's Ps Ben's house and furthur down the road is Ps Mike Gugs' house. Another 10 minutes down Maroondah H'way, make a left turn, and it would be Ps Matt's. Some refer to it as the 'holy-zone'. haha! At about 7.45pm everyone was there. All 21 of us. It was amazing just seeing everyone again. Although there were some that were not there, like Ashley who went on a holiday and Jamaal who's in US now, there was something about all 21 of us there sharing the last few moments of internship together with Ps Chad and Tiffany.

When all of us were gathered together at the living room, Ps Chad was saying that he was planning to do something special for us since it'll be the last internship meeting we'll ever have together. After that, we all hopped on the 20-something seater bus, the ones they usually use for Boom. We were all so excited and everyone had a smile on their face. We looked as it we were going for an excursion. It was cute. One of the intern girls who only joined us in June and will continue on internship till July '06 was driving the bus. We were in the bus and nobody had any idea where we were going. Until about 30 minutes later, we figured that we were going up to the top of Mount Dandenong! :) The ride up there was fun, we were all wondering if the bus could handle all of our weight 'cause the bus was moving so slowlyyy. But thankfully, it did and before we know it, we were up there. When we got down the bus, it was almost sunset. It was beautiful up there at that time. We walked up a flight of stairs and on the grass area, Rudy was already there much earlier setting up the place. There were rugs on the place, and 2 chairs with a guitar.

It was about 8.30pm, the sun was setting and Ps Chad began to share with us for one last time. Rudy was playing the guitar softly the whole time. I have to admit that the combination of all that really stirred up an emotional mood for all of us up there. Ps Chad began to share while we were looking at the sunset. He was sharing on how as we're looking at the sunset now, it's figuratively speaking the sun is setting in one chapter of our lives. All of the time we've spent together this year have led up to this.

"I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!

I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven."

- Philippians 3:7-14 [NLT]

He went on sharing about how whatever that we do from now, depends on us. When Elisha was separated from Elijah, it was all up to him. He picked up the cloak and struck the river with it. As the internship draws to an end, we gotta pick up the cloak, the mantle, the deposit that God has given us and run with it. Although we don't know where we're heading to yet, it doesn't matter, 'cause God will reveal that as we remain faithful in Him. But all we must do is to hit something.

Ps Chad ended his sharing at about 8.45pm, and that was when the sunset was right at the horizon, when I looked back, I saw the full moon to my amazement. All the trees, shrubs in front of the sun began to fade into a silhouette. It was wonderful to see God's beauty overshadow everything else. We sat there for at least 20 minutes quietly absorbing the final moments of the internship in that beautiful moment. Looking at the sunset. Nobody said a word, but yet it was so filled with awe. As the sun finally set in the far horizon, it was like 'That's it... That's the end of internship.' Yet in Ps Russell's words it isn’t the end, it's just the beginning of our lives. At that point of time, sitting on the hilltop of Mt Dandenong, there was a tinge of sadness knowing that this was gonna be the last time the whole group was gonna be together in a setting like this.

We packed up at about 9.30pm. All of us hopped on the bus again and we headed back to Ps Chad's. Along the way, there were hilarious moments that totally cracked me up. We stopped by Domino's to take-away 6 pizzas. The wait grew so long that Justine was saying that if she ran from here to the house, she would reach there earlier than us. Ps Chad dared her to do it for $50. Sarah later joined her and they started running into the darkness (literally). haha! How I love random and spontaneous moments like that! Finally when we got the pizzas, we raced home. Man! It wasn't near at all! We were swaying from side to side, cutting corners and all. It was all fun.

We hung around Ps Chad's and demolished all 6 pizzas in less than 5 minutes! hahaha.. Is it really true that interns are always hungry?! Funny as. Some of the guys were later playing Sting Pong: a variation of ping pong. Let me explain briefly, basically in Sting Pong, two people will play a 5-point ping pong match. The person who lost by having a score of nil or one will have to be 'stung'. In which, he will have to lift up his shirt, face his back on the other opponent and that person will hit the ball as hard as possible with his bat onto his bare back. There you go - The Sting Pong.

As I was saying, since the interns are always hungry, some of the girls later drove to Coles to buy some snacks, chocolates and ice cream. Which were also all demolished in a flash. We spent the night chatting away, watched and laughed at random TV programs. He sat around till almost 1am, when we decided that it's time to go back home. Sarah Dwyer (who's going back to Sydney this Saturday at 10am) drove Vonnie and I back, with Bettina and Kanna in the car while chatting and listening to a Dean Martin Christmas carols (goood sounding carols) heh ;)

That was the account of the final internship meeting that we have. For everything that has taken place this year, good or bad, there is nothing that would make me wanna trade the internship for anything. How God has shaped me and dug deep into my foundation has been a milestone in my life and for 2005. So, bring 2006 on! Because God's saying when He's done with fixing and building the foundation, it's time to build!

Thank You, Lord for bringing me through internship. It has changed my life and thank You for all the fellow interns that You've placed around me. Each of them are precious and I know that we all will be shaking the planet for You!

Thank You, Lord!