Friend’s Day

November 21, 2004

From the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 8:3, man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the Lord. Besides providing food that feeds our hunger, God in His wisdom, made us a friend, someone on whom we can depend. A loyal friend, who would understand and would always lend a helping hand. He knows we need somebody who can comfort us when we feel blue, whose special warmth and happy smile will make us feel that life is worthwhile. Everyone needs a friend and genuine friendship in this world. In the Bible, many friends and friendships were told, and we are shown how to build true friendship with the truth and the love of God.

Praise God for the warm sunny afternoon with a perfect temperature of 23⁰C, 300 brothers, sisters and friends participated in the picnic after the Sunday Service. After arriving at Tai Mong Tsai, Sai Kung, Pastor Gavin gave thanks for the special occasion and the sumptuous food. The commencement of the picnic was pronounced. During the picnic, the ordinary ‘blessings’ were crossed presented by representatives of each group to one another; Group 2 (Professional Group) blessed Group 6 (Family Group) with a dish composing of three different varieties of food, symbolizing blessings to the body, soul and mind. A touching Mandarin love song was also performed by Group 2 to bless all members of Group 6. Then, Group 6 blessed Group 3 (Youth Group) with a song, ‘We Love You G3 Deep Down in Our Hearts’ together with a tray of sweet coconut pudding. After the inter-group blessing amongst Group 1 to 8, we could feel that God’s love and friendship were being built in everybody’s heart.

After sharing of the food, Sister Rosanna and Sister Louisa conducted the highlight of the day. Each Group was given a piece of cardboard, a pair of scissors and a roll of sticky tape for the reproduction of the Hope of God Church Hong Kong logo with any materials we could gather from the nature. Congratulations to the three winning teams: Group 6 for winning the Best Design; Group 2 for winning the Best Creativity, and Group 3 for winning the Best Teamwork. As the sun began to set, we started our journey home with a thanks giving heart that God is always our everlasting friend.