Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Diary of a Grumpy Mom : Retreat Report

not in a grumpy state because of a new haircut
Hello , my name is Chica Chan aka the grumpy mom. 
This year I made a terrible mistake which caused 
more grumpiness in my demeanor. 
Sorry hubby, sorry kiddos, just order a pizza, or chinese take out 
or run to the fast food joint. 
I have no time nor energy to cook 
because …I need to make this report about 
ICC Michigan retreat in Beulah Beach retreat center at Vermilion, Ohio.
these people had a delivery for dinner
I know I know, it is my bad, kiddos. 
Your grumpy mom did not exercise the power to say no to a request. 
But in my defense, who can say no to Pak Billy Gumulja. 
Especially when he asked you to do something with a smile on his face.  
Who has a heart to refuse such a nice guy ? 
Well, like the old saying in Indonesia,” Nasi telah menjadi bubur, 
which translated: the cooked rice has turned into the porridge 
which means what is done is done, I need to write the report. 
And yes, your welcome, dear readers…
Who can say no to Pak Billy
( I say yes to the fried fish )
I wish you enjoy my writing….
( hopefully my grumpiness is not imparted to you all. )

The ICC Michigan 2015 retreat’s theme was “ In His Design “, 
and here is the list of the sessions. 
I wondered if the Home Depot partially funded the retreat, 
since some of them sounds like a home makeover class to me.

1.       The secret rooms
2.       An Extremely Good Home
3.       Molded into the New Man
4.       An Irresistible Man
5.       Oneness
6.       The perfect Trees for you garden
ICC Michigan just confirmed : the retreat not funded by the Home Depot

The speaker was Mr. Arman Harijanto, who came far away from Indonesia. 
I hope he did not regret his decision to leave the warm Jakarta . 
Can you imagine visiting the mid west during a harsh, cold, winter? 
I bet he also fell under the smiling spell of Pak Billy Gumulja.  
Ok, let me begin.
Pak Arman came because he loves snow
The first session : The Secret Rooms
Families can have a miserable life or a miraculous life. 
It all depends on the rooms they build in their marriage. 
The families who have a miserable life, 
unintentionally built miserable rooms. 

John 10 : 10 said : 
The thief comes only to steal, and kill and destroy ; 
I have come that they may have life , and have it to the full.

Beware families, these are the miserable rooms which can steal, 
and kill, and destroy the beautiful life which you dream before you got married

a.        The Room of Steal
People were unaware that they build the room of steal to keep the evil things .
The envy and selfish ambition will steal away the miracles that God prepares for you. Store the envy and selfish ambition, you will guaranteed to have an empty and miserable life.

James 3:16
For where you have envy and selfish ambition, 
there you find disorder and and every evil practices. 

b.      The Room of Killing
In our life we are often killed and paralyzed by our fear. 
Fear precedents the action of dying or killing. 
Families, please do not build the rooms of killing 
by being fearful about anything. 
Just fear God, the One and Only savior.

c.       The Room of Demolition
      Humans are destroyed by their disappointment. 
      Not only that, the disappointment is also contagious. 
      Fathers or mothers can easily transfers 
      their disappointment toward each other to their favorite children. 

     The place that you keep the disappointment in your heart 
     will turn into a room of demolition which can destroy your life, 
     your health, your relation, or  your marriage.

The last sentence of John 10 : 10 said ,” I ( Jesus ) have come that they may have life and have it to the full. There are three rooms which the families should build in their life.

a.       The Room of Sacrifice
In order to have Jesus sent into the world, there were a lot of sacrifice going on between heaven and earth. Father in heaven sacrificed his son . 
( Don’t worry kiddos, your dad will see to it that you will be safe. 
One ultimate sacrifice is enough )

Jesus sacrificed his position. The son of God left his heavenly kingdom 
and went into the world. What a downgrade.

Following His example, we should also give up our ego and statutes 
when we serve others. That is how we built the room of sacrifice.

b.      The Room of Listening
Jesus is all knowing but when he was on earth, he listened to people. 
He communicated with them. He asked questions, he listened to their answer. 
He talked to the crème de la crème and the lowest of low .

( If I were Jesus I would not waste my 33 years on earth listening to people, I already know their answers anyway. Thank God I’m not Jesus  ! ). 

To build the room of listening , let us talk and listen to others.

c.       The Room of Forgiveness
The Bible said this should be a massive room ( 77 x 7 …7 being a complete number of the Bible means 77 x 7 is infinite ). Since God forgave all our sins,  we should also forgive each other especially those who are near to us .

In Jesus’ life, miracles always happened. Jesus had the three rooms in his life, room of sacrifice, room of listening and room of forgiveness. He sacrificed his life for us, he listened to the people who came to Him, and He forgives all our sins.Those are the secret rooms in our heart. 

I am just curious if the report will inspire people to build a secret tunnel or bunker inside their house. Hopefully not, I bet the readers are decent people. 
No, this is not the one meant by Pak Arman
( the images of hidden bunker taken from static.messychic.com
  the images of home depot taken from the internet
  other images taken from personal collections )

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