Are you still waiting? That's a very good question!
That was the theme that Wendy Lee (the organsing chairperson) chose for the Easter Celebration Night held at IDK8 yesterday. A lot of people turned up for the event.
I went there at around 7.30pm after dinner. As I offered myself to do the ushering, I needed to be there one hour earlier. So my duty was to welcome those who came for the event and directed them to the registration counter handled by Carlie and Melody Hor. Of course, I have several helpers with me.
It was very quiet in the beginning as no one was seen around the area. But I carried on with my ushering. I guessed most of the people were still having dinner and probably they will arrive around 8.30pm. Some people turned up early and registered themselves first. But they were told that they will only be allowed to enter at 8.30pm. So some of them went somewhere else instead of waiting aimlessly there.
Approaching 8.30pm, as expected, more and more people came for the event. My friend Ms Elizabeth Lee, a lecturer at FBF faculty, came and dropped by for the event after she finished her class at around 8pm. At 8.30pm sharp, the participants were seen rushing into the lecture hall.
The event was chaired by two lovely girls Melody Leong and Gan Ziyin. They welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming. Then, they passed the time to Wendy to lead in worship. She only chose one song (Who Am I) for this event.
Then it's back to the MCs. Without wasting much time, they handed the stage to the drama team. Ada Yeoh was the director while Shu Jian narrated the story. And the plot was based on the story of the prodigal son found in the Bible.
The story began with a man (Steven Lew) in a wheelchair waiting every day at the window, wishing that his son would return to his side. His children came in and asked if he's still waiting for him. He replied yes and the eldest son Matthew (Roy Ong) commented about what his younger brother Max has done to the family. But the man still treat Max as his son.
The scene changed to a flashback of 10 years ago. Matthew was having a meal with his father when Max (Kelvin Wong) returned with injuries and bruises on his body. Matthew commented that it must be from some "stupid gang fights". Max begged his father to give him money as he was in debts again, owing them $20000. Max even said that his father would share half of his money when he's older. But Matthew strongly objected, saying that he's still behaving as a brat. But in the end, their father had no choice but to give in to Max's request. He wrote him a cheque with a large sum of money.
The next day, Max quickly disappeared from home. He squandered all his wealth into gambling, clubbing and even drugs. And soon he has spent all his money, but he needed more money to buy more drugs for himself. He made a return home.
While back at home, Max desperately search for money in the house. His sister and father noticed him and tried to stop him. They even grabbed him tight but Max struggled to break free from them. When they refused to let him go, Max grabbed a stick and hit his father until he broke one of his legs. He managed to escape.
Max has a little money with him. His friends who used to hang out with him soon left him one by one. Max became a lonely person and soon lived a poor life. He languished around the streets and even got his food from rubbish bins. Poor Max! He also experienced some kind of hallucination because he was too high from taking esctasy pills. Soon, his imagination vanished and he pointed to the sky and said "it's all your fault".
Two police officers who were on patrol finally tracked him and brought him to the police station. Max was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and sent to rehab centre after his jail sentence. Max suffered a lot and he was in desperate need of drugs. And there's one scene where demons came to taunt him. But Max remembered what his father always told about the Heavenly Father and cried out to God asking Him to save him from all the troubles he got himself into. He even promised that he will do good and spread the gospel.
Max was getting much better but soon he has forgotten his promise. And one fine day, he got to know that a pastor (Jensen) came to conduct Bible study and decided to check it out. When he got there, the pastor noticed him and asked him to join in. Max was reluctant at first but the pastor persuaded him to come.
Since then, he has been attending Bible studies. And one day he decided to consult the pastor. The pastor confessed that he was just like Max too at one point. But God saved his life and the pastor believed God will save Max too.
And soon Max was finally freed from the rehab centre. He wanted to get home to see his father but was hesitated to return home. He regretted all his past actions and feared that his family wouldn't forgive him. Anyway, he decided to go home.
Back at home, his father was still waiting for his son's return as usual. And suddenly he saw someone familiar and asked, "Max? Is that u?" Max was standing at a very far distance but he rushed to his father's side. But he was shocked that his father was sitting on a wheel chair and asked why. But the man replied that "it doesn't matter and the good thing is that u're finally came back, Max". Max asked for forgiveness from his father but his father has already forgiven. Max wondered "how could this be? After all that I done to u, u forgive me just like that?"
Max's father said he always told Max bedtime stories where he mentioned about Jesus Christ dies on the cross and forgives all those people who has sinned. In the end, the man sang the song So You Would Come and the rest of the cast soon joined him in singing the song, while Max continued crying. The drama came to an end with Steven getting up from the wheelchair and he bowed together with the drama team. Well done, peeps! U all did a splendid job!
Actually the whole drama was recorded and uploaded to YouTube by tyshu.
Then, Ziyin was back again and she introduced the speaker for the night and welcomed Pastor Nicky Ling of Praise Community Centre to share his sermon. Pastor Nicky has nothing much to share and he showed a video of who God really is. Then he received a token of appreciation from Mr Andrew, CF co-advisor. Oh, another advisor Bro Marn Foo was there too but not Mr & Mrs K. Then there was a dance performance by some of the dancers.
Then several annoucements were made by the MCs before refreshment time. All the students and lecturers were mingling around and chatting with one another while enjoying the sandwiches, hot dogs and the drinks. Crazy photo sessions even took place mostly outside the lecture hall while some photos were taken in IDK8. Several EL students were seen interviewing some people for their newspaper assignment. For more photos of this event, pls refer to the following albums by CF Kampar: Easter Celebration part 1 and part 2.
I was touched while watching the drama. I almost cried but managed to hold back my tears. The drama reminded me of the Easter drama which I was involved in Campus Connect 2 years ago. The storyline of the drama was exactly the same one from the Bible and slightly more simpler than the one mentioned above. I was taking up the role as the elder son to a rich tycoon (Richard) in Kampar that sells min bao kai (a famous delicacy in Kampar) while Eugene was the younger son. Shirley Lee was the narrator.
That's all I have to say about the CF Easter Celebration.
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