So today was Mr. ACI, which was totally hectic. I was in charge of curtains and giving signals to the contestants. With another person backstage, we were all in each others' face in a joking kind of argument. Then someone else came by and looked at me and was like, "yo christian, cool it!". Yeah, that shut me up. I was extremely taken off guard by that. So I know that I'm usually (hardly) ever the model Christian, but I've never actually had someone say something like that to my face. So I'm thinking "dang, this is the impression i'm giving to christianity?" Also, some of the contestants were commenting on how one of the judges (a teacher) was christian, and some were like "no waaaay, why is he so mean then?" After hearing both incidents, i definitely was more mellow after. Less yelling, more encouraging. It was really so much better after i chilled out because I was able to joke around and easily talk to the others backstage, and talking got just as much done as assertiveness. I've thought about my attitude before, but I've never really tried to do anything about it because I've just considered it a part of me. But now that it's come to my attention, I realize that I don't just make an impression on myself anymore. I make an impression on christainity as well. I'll take some baby steps eventually.
-sab.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
But seek first the Kingdom of God
brief blog. i wanna share about something we talked about today in our school fellowship.
so we were doing this Q&A session, sorta, and we had ONE question, but the answer of it came out to be an whole hour! so exciting! :)
so the question was: how do i know the will of God?
and to simplify the answer, no matter what you do, which university you go to, do it unto the Lord. :)
"Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you."
Is what im doing going to glorify God? I think that verse really struck me. Really, we worry about this and that, but ultimately, God's guiding our paths and he won't let anything screw us over. But if we seek His will first, something that honours him, we have nothing to worry about. It's kinda like that saying from some famous guy, "Aim for earth(ly things) and you'll get nothing (?). Aim for God/ Heaven, and you'll get earth thrown in." Someone correct me, cause i know i got it wrong. But it's something along those lines. If we strive for God's way, we'll receives blessings and joy and peace from Him that we cannot imagine. :)
That's gotta be my shortest blog ever. But it's straight to the point, i hope.
--a.
so we were doing this Q&A session, sorta, and we had ONE question, but the answer of it came out to be an whole hour! so exciting! :)
so the question was: how do i know the will of God?
and to simplify the answer, no matter what you do, which university you go to, do it unto the Lord. :)
"Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you."
Is what im doing going to glorify God? I think that verse really struck me. Really, we worry about this and that, but ultimately, God's guiding our paths and he won't let anything screw us over. But if we seek His will first, something that honours him, we have nothing to worry about. It's kinda like that saying from some famous guy, "Aim for earth(ly things) and you'll get nothing (?). Aim for God/ Heaven, and you'll get earth thrown in." Someone correct me, cause i know i got it wrong. But it's something along those lines. If we strive for God's way, we'll receives blessings and joy and peace from Him that we cannot imagine. :)
That's gotta be my shortest blog ever. But it's straight to the point, i hope.
--a.
Earth Hour 2009
Hi guys, I don't usually post here. But our upcoming Sunday speaker Pastor Ada Chung has sent out an invitation...so just want to pass along. She may ask what we actually do that hour, on Sunday. ;-)
I'd like to invite you to participate in this year's Earth Hour, where you would turn off your lights, or even better, all unnecessary appliances, for a whole hour, 60 minutes, for the purpose of raising awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It started in 2007 March in Sydney, but it became global, and Toronto is joining for the 2nd time this year.
"Earth Hour 2009" is going to be held on the last Saturday of March, which is THIS Saturday, 8:30-9:30PM (same local time around the world as well).
See what a difference we could make and what an unusual experience we would have. Turn off your lights, just for one hour. You could have a family gathering in the dark (you could use candles but please be careful =>), have deeper talks with family and friends, go to a park, star gazing, play music, meditation on the scriptures... yes of course, take a nap or just sleep early to prepare for Sunday worship =P... etc.
For more information:
Official Earth Hour 2009 Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CRs-7lRlPo
Earth Hour 2009 Toronto Site: http://wwf.ca/earthhour/toronto/
Thanks for your attention and time!
God bless,
Ada =)
I'd like to invite you to participate in this year's Earth Hour, where you would turn off your lights, or even better, all unnecessary appliances, for a whole hour, 60 minutes, for the purpose of raising awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It started in 2007 March in Sydney, but it became global, and Toronto is joining for the 2nd time this year.
"Earth Hour 2009" is going to be held on the last Saturday of March, which is THIS Saturday, 8:30-9:30PM (same local time around the world as well).
See what a difference we could make and what an unusual experience we would have. Turn off your lights, just for one hour. You could have a family gathering in the dark (you could use candles but please be careful =>), have deeper talks with family and friends, go to a park, star gazing, play music, meditation on the scriptures... yes of course, take a nap or just sleep early to prepare for Sunday worship =P... etc.
For more information:
Official Earth Hour 2009 Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Earth Hour 2009 Toronto Site: http://wwf.ca/earthhour/
Thanks for your attention and time!
God bless,
Ada =)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
i need to focus
So I'm supposed to post this verse from the bible from sunday school because Anthony said so. Unfortunately, i forgot what it was. My bad. I will find out later or if anyone knows from my sunday school class, please post it! Yeah, so I've finally decided to blog for my first time.
Anyways, for the past three months, or should I say from the first day Amy created this blog, i was really busy. I was busy with school, friends, family, and work. I was focusing on all these things and i have almost forgotten about God. I need Mondays for "family day", Tuesday for "friends day or alone time", Wednesday for "work", Thursday for "tutoring", Friday for "fellowship and boyfriend", Saturday for "work", and Sunday for "church and boyfriend later on". For everyday of the week, I do homework (yes i do homework at work because my boss doesnt care yay). So yeah, i have my whole week planned for the rest of my 2 years of high school.
Since Semester 2 started, i had way too much homework. I just didnt know how to manage my time. My friends come up to me and say "we don't hang out anymore, you're always busy. lets do something on this day." And my family says "we never have any family time. we always do our own thing." And my school says "you dont do homework, you fail." so what do I do? I squish everything in my schedule leaving out God. You guys may have notice that i skip fellowship and church sometimes. I really need better time management skills. I think i have pressed the paused button, with my relationship with God. I stopped reading the bible daily (it was my new years resolution :] )
Then, march break hit. TC started. I was so happy because i finally have time with God. I enjoyed every moment at TC because i didnt have to worry about anything. For those two days, i was just spending time with God, learning more about him.
So, after march break. I guess I've been trying to attend to church and fellowship regularly and also reading my bible when i can. Keeping up with all my homework. Keeping in touch with my friends, and family. And going to work as usual. Right now, i've decided to make room for God, just like i did for the other things i sqeezed into my schedule. So thats the reason why i decided to blog for my first time because it seems like I wasnt reaching out to God.
I'm sorry if this is too confusing, because i jumped topics for here to there, back and forth and everywhere. Now, i'm off to study my two tests on thursday and my two assignemnts due on friday.
p.s please pray for me for better time management skills :)
k. chan
Anyways, for the past three months, or should I say from the first day Amy created this blog, i was really busy. I was busy with school, friends, family, and work. I was focusing on all these things and i have almost forgotten about God. I need Mondays for "family day", Tuesday for "friends day or alone time", Wednesday for "work", Thursday for "tutoring", Friday for "fellowship and boyfriend", Saturday for "work", and Sunday for "church and boyfriend later on". For everyday of the week, I do homework (yes i do homework at work because my boss doesnt care yay). So yeah, i have my whole week planned for the rest of my 2 years of high school.
Since Semester 2 started, i had way too much homework. I just didnt know how to manage my time. My friends come up to me and say "we don't hang out anymore, you're always busy. lets do something on this day." And my family says "we never have any family time. we always do our own thing." And my school says "you dont do homework, you fail." so what do I do? I squish everything in my schedule leaving out God. You guys may have notice that i skip fellowship and church sometimes. I really need better time management skills. I think i have pressed the paused button, with my relationship with God. I stopped reading the bible daily (it was my new years resolution :] )
Then, march break hit. TC started. I was so happy because i finally have time with God. I enjoyed every moment at TC because i didnt have to worry about anything. For those two days, i was just spending time with God, learning more about him.
So, after march break. I guess I've been trying to attend to church and fellowship regularly and also reading my bible when i can. Keeping up with all my homework. Keeping in touch with my friends, and family. And going to work as usual. Right now, i've decided to make room for God, just like i did for the other things i sqeezed into my schedule. So thats the reason why i decided to blog for my first time because it seems like I wasnt reaching out to God.
I'm sorry if this is too confusing, because i jumped topics for here to there, back and forth and everywhere. Now, i'm off to study my two tests on thursday and my two assignemnts due on friday.
p.s please pray for me for better time management skills :)
k. chan
Monday, March 23, 2009
I went knowing I was looking for something, this is what I got
As promised, I'm back here blogging about my experience at the wedding.
So first off, the church is amazing. I only got to see one hall, but it was already enough to be impressed. The chapel holds 200 people, which is fair. But the sanctuary holds 2000 people with its 3 levels! Amazing. The church also holds a library, a bookstore, a children's centre, and a senior centre just to name a bit. I don't know how many youths they have, but it's enough to make a few soccer, baseball, basketball, and beach volleyball teams....which the church all has fields for. My family actually got lost outside of the church because its parking lot extends to 3 different streets.
As for the actual wedding, there's nothing like a wedding to make you believe in love again. The ceremony was beautiful. It was a Chinese/Scottish wedding, so it was interesting to see both cultural traditions being played out. They are both Christian though, so that's where I got a lot out of the wedding. I've never really got the whole effect of it being a truly holy ceremony until now. I realized that it's not just a promise between two people, but it's a promise to God as well. I can't even remember what it exactly was that helped me come to this realization, maybe it was the whole atmosphere. But it was really touching. And I'm really glad I got to experience this. Marriage really does seem like something that should be completely honoured and never broken. I find that i've fallen into that worldy view that divorce is okay, but after this, I don't know where i stand anymore. I'm a little less for divorce, i'll say that much.
All in all, before I actually took this trip, I kind of knew that I was going on a search for something spiritual. I've been to Memphis before, and I've noticed the religious aspect, but never really experienced it. That's what I was looking for, and that's what I got.
So first off, the church is amazing. I only got to see one hall, but it was already enough to be impressed. The chapel holds 200 people, which is fair. But the sanctuary holds 2000 people with its 3 levels! Amazing. The church also holds a library, a bookstore, a children's centre, and a senior centre just to name a bit. I don't know how many youths they have, but it's enough to make a few soccer, baseball, basketball, and beach volleyball teams....which the church all has fields for. My family actually got lost outside of the church because its parking lot extends to 3 different streets.
As for the actual wedding, there's nothing like a wedding to make you believe in love again. The ceremony was beautiful. It was a Chinese/Scottish wedding, so it was interesting to see both cultural traditions being played out. They are both Christian though, so that's where I got a lot out of the wedding. I've never really got the whole effect of it being a truly holy ceremony until now. I realized that it's not just a promise between two people, but it's a promise to God as well. I can't even remember what it exactly was that helped me come to this realization, maybe it was the whole atmosphere. But it was really touching. And I'm really glad I got to experience this. Marriage really does seem like something that should be completely honoured and never broken. I find that i've fallen into that worldy view that divorce is okay, but after this, I don't know where i stand anymore. I'm a little less for divorce, i'll say that much.
All in all, before I actually took this trip, I kind of knew that I was going on a search for something spiritual. I've been to Memphis before, and I've noticed the religious aspect, but never really experienced it. That's what I was looking for, and that's what I got.
i'm happy right now.
as you can see from my title, i am super duper happy right now. i will share with you guys why i am soooo happy b/c i haven't blogged since i don't remember when and even though i don't appear really happy i really am. but anyway it all started from last night when i went to sleep, i was lying there for like an hour and i still couldn't fall asleep and i think i was ready to fall asleep until i heard the phone ring. in my mind i was somewhat angry b/c i was close to sleeping and i let the phone ring for a few times and then i picked up. in my mind i was still thinking who can it be!? calling so late i'm trying to sleep. when i said hello, a voice said hey is this shermaine and i'm like ya it is and he's like do u know who i am. i said no and i was thinking to myself i'm trying to sleep here. i was kinda grumpy till he said his name. the moment he said his name i sounded soo awake.
here's a little bit on what happened to this friend of mine. at around a month ago, he auditioned to this dance school in new york and he made it in the school. i remembered that i prayed for him and i hoped that he'd make it in the school b/c i know that he's worked really hard for that audition and that he wanted it ever since i don't know when. well he told me about the audition way way before. i kind of had a feeling that he'd make it anyway b/c i know he's really good at dancing. after talking to him two days before his audition, i never talked to him again. it felt like he disapeered from the face of this earth, but i missed him a lot b/c i consider him as one of my closest friends. well actually the funny thing was that he didn't want people to know that he went to audition for that dance school, but everyone who knew my friend talked about his departure from the school for the whole week there were soo many variations on what kind of dance he was doing at his new school and stuff. but i think it's not only me who missed him.
but anyway back to the story. when he called i was shocked and surprised partly b/c i waited for that phone call from him for a long time and i thought that he'd never call me and he forgot about me and have his new friends. but i guess i was wrong. we talked for around 15 minutes. even though the time that we talked wasn't really long, but i was really happy and just surprised that he even remembered to call me. the funny thing about this phone call too was that i prayed for this friend before i got the phone call. after i hung up, deep down i was thinking thank you god. and well right now i want to thank him for everything. b/c i didn't think that i could still have a good friendship with someone who is not in toronto and not allowed to use the internet that often for communication. i even thought that he forgot about me. but i think god made it happen. and i hope that i could really continue to be good friends with him even thought he's in new york.
-sherm
here's a little bit on what happened to this friend of mine. at around a month ago, he auditioned to this dance school in new york and he made it in the school. i remembered that i prayed for him and i hoped that he'd make it in the school b/c i know that he's worked really hard for that audition and that he wanted it ever since i don't know when. well he told me about the audition way way before. i kind of had a feeling that he'd make it anyway b/c i know he's really good at dancing. after talking to him two days before his audition, i never talked to him again. it felt like he disapeered from the face of this earth, but i missed him a lot b/c i consider him as one of my closest friends. well actually the funny thing was that he didn't want people to know that he went to audition for that dance school, but everyone who knew my friend talked about his departure from the school for the whole week there were soo many variations on what kind of dance he was doing at his new school and stuff. but i think it's not only me who missed him.
but anyway back to the story. when he called i was shocked and surprised partly b/c i waited for that phone call from him for a long time and i thought that he'd never call me and he forgot about me and have his new friends. but i guess i was wrong. we talked for around 15 minutes. even though the time that we talked wasn't really long, but i was really happy and just surprised that he even remembered to call me. the funny thing about this phone call too was that i prayed for this friend before i got the phone call. after i hung up, deep down i was thinking thank you god. and well right now i want to thank him for everything. b/c i didn't think that i could still have a good friendship with someone who is not in toronto and not allowed to use the internet that often for communication. i even thought that he forgot about me. but i think god made it happen. and i hope that i could really continue to be good friends with him even thought he's in new york.
-sherm
Sunday, March 22, 2009
TC experience: the little bits aside from the main bits
tctctc...still recovering from it
ok since amy shared the main bits of our tc experince, and I shared another big bit of it @ fellowship, I'll just share the not so main but stuck me real good bits :P if that made any sence. well one bit that really struck me at first was the analogy when rebecca said. it goes sumthign like this: If I got $ 8548540869 (insert big number) everyday for the rest of my life, what would I do? my inital thought was " oh! another story about how not to care much about worldy things"
then she added that this after I;ve spent my money, each day, itll all disapear but thr next day I'll get all of this money again then I thoguht to myself seriously because I;ve never heard of this analogy. I thouht mayb if I gave it to sumone else, then that would help them since if I kept it, it would disapear Idont know :( then she goes on and relates this to time and our everyday. how everyday we have 4587238509(bignumber) seconds in ourlives and how we choose to spend it is our own choice but everyday, every second you dont spend, will be gone. and then it hit me! I thoguht that was the most brilliant thing. like my eyes have been opened. From this simple analogy I really learned how I should spend my time. everyday is a gift from God and he gave me this gift so I could do whatever, but why not give back? pretend you were stil young and someone you knew gave you a colouring book and a pack of crayons, what woudl you do? I'll ask them for thier favourite picture, colour it and give it to them to show a sign of gratitude. why not with God? he gives you each and everyday, why not just give back? yea this little analogy was an amazing breakthrough to my attitude on life its just that amazing
another little thign that really struck me was when pastor Colin said about how people broguht up in the church would feel that church life is boring. To tell you the truth, if you asked me a few years ago I would agree with this. Back then I felt chruch was like a weekly ritual. every sunday I would go to chruch and just listen and take it in and by the time I get home, I would have forgotten everything and feel liek I;ve watsed my sunday morning. for so many years thats been the case and I was so ashamed Think abotu it. you had the privilage to be born into a chritian family, you dont have the struggles others have to go to chruch and being in the faith. you would think that it would be much better for your spiritual growth. But this definately wasnt the case. to make it simple, my walk with jesus was just boring. I guess what really hit me though from what he said was how much change God can do when you reconnect. ok let me explain my christian life was boring UNTIL a few years ago after a whole series of event that I'll rather not talk about. Thats when I think I had reconnected to God. and from hearing what he said, it made me realize just how immportant is was for me to reconnect. because when he said it at first, I completely disagreed. I grew up in chruch and yes,it was boring for while until it kicked in but now my walk with jesus isnt meerly a walk anymore its more than a stroll through the park, its mroe of an adventure through thru the wilderness, with a goal with a purpose and best of all, it isnt boring at all! :) yea I find it weird how I get more thru the little thigns than from the bigger ones :P
hm....and other experince...I cant recall now, but I'll blog later if I does kick in
yea thats my tc experince of the little bits of tc
-arth
ps I guess amy would want me to say heer is to blog blog blog! esp bout YOUR tc experince not what you experince with other ppl and all but your own tc experiences
ok since amy shared the main bits of our tc experince, and I shared another big bit of it @ fellowship, I'll just share the not so main but stuck me real good bits :P if that made any sence. well one bit that really struck me at first was the analogy when rebecca said. it goes sumthign like this: If I got $ 8548540869 (insert big number) everyday for the rest of my life, what would I do? my inital thought was " oh! another story about how not to care much about worldy things"
then she added that this after I;ve spent my money, each day, itll all disapear but thr next day I'll get all of this money again then I thoguht to myself seriously because I;ve never heard of this analogy. I thouht mayb if I gave it to sumone else, then that would help them since if I kept it, it would disapear Idont know :( then she goes on and relates this to time and our everyday. how everyday we have 4587238509(bignumber) seconds in ourlives and how we choose to spend it is our own choice but everyday, every second you dont spend, will be gone. and then it hit me! I thoguht that was the most brilliant thing. like my eyes have been opened. From this simple analogy I really learned how I should spend my time. everyday is a gift from God and he gave me this gift so I could do whatever, but why not give back? pretend you were stil young and someone you knew gave you a colouring book and a pack of crayons, what woudl you do? I'll ask them for thier favourite picture, colour it and give it to them to show a sign of gratitude. why not with God? he gives you each and everyday, why not just give back? yea this little analogy was an amazing breakthrough to my attitude on life its just that amazing
another little thign that really struck me was when pastor Colin said about how people broguht up in the church would feel that church life is boring. To tell you the truth, if you asked me a few years ago I would agree with this. Back then I felt chruch was like a weekly ritual. every sunday I would go to chruch and just listen and take it in and by the time I get home, I would have forgotten everything and feel liek I;ve watsed my sunday morning. for so many years thats been the case and I was so ashamed Think abotu it. you had the privilage to be born into a chritian family, you dont have the struggles others have to go to chruch and being in the faith. you would think that it would be much better for your spiritual growth. But this definately wasnt the case. to make it simple, my walk with jesus was just boring. I guess what really hit me though from what he said was how much change God can do when you reconnect. ok let me explain my christian life was boring UNTIL a few years ago after a whole series of event that I'll rather not talk about. Thats when I think I had reconnected to God. and from hearing what he said, it made me realize just how immportant is was for me to reconnect. because when he said it at first, I completely disagreed. I grew up in chruch and yes,it was boring for while until it kicked in but now my walk with jesus isnt meerly a walk anymore its more than a stroll through the park, its mroe of an adventure through thru the wilderness, with a goal with a purpose and best of all, it isnt boring at all! :) yea I find it weird how I get more thru the little thigns than from the bigger ones :P
hm....and other experince...I cant recall now, but I'll blog later if I does kick in
yea thats my tc experince of the little bits of tc
-arth
ps I guess amy would want me to say heer is to blog blog blog! esp bout YOUR tc experince not what you experince with other ppl and all but your own tc experiences
re:connect
time for me to reconnect to my blogging time :)
Man, it's been a while since i've blogged. and i've decided to drop the formal language and just type whatever comes to mind.
I guess i shall share about my TC serving experience. Honestly, it was great. We had our very first TC training back in october, i think. and when i got there, i had NO friends besides arthur and 2 guys from my church . it was so sad. but it was great to see so many young people working for God :) So arthur and i decided on our name to be FISH cause of jonah and all. it was good. WE honestly didnt do anything til like mid feburary. And then it got really hectic. There was schedules to fill, games to think of, banner and team gears to make, cheer ideas to brainstorm... so much work. I honestly didnt want to do all of it, and i actually started to think if i should've signed up for this during gr 12. I already had so much to do for school and church. It got pretty crazy. I pushed most of the things back until the last weekend. AFter our sleepover, on the saturday, i spent ALL day making the team gear, our little "arm bands". it was hard, man! the stupid fabric was hard to cut and i had to cut every single piece one by one. that's 4 letters per person, and we made 30 of these arm bands. so that's 120 letters that i had to cut... it took me a long long long time. and gluing it was hard too cause it was flimsy and sticky and gross. But hey, i got it done. and it looked okay :) wohoo! Let's just say that as i glued, i watched two whole movies. JUST FOR GLUING! wow.
Anyway, the actual TC days were amazing. at 8:45am, i told arthur "omgsh, TC is in 15 minutes" and we had our little panic moment. haha. But everything was going pretty well! our banner looked AWESOME, our team gear was done, our coaches were encouraging. The energy filled the room. IT was great :) Then we started meeting our team people in the sanctuary. I was kinda awkward, cause i didnt know if i was supposed to make conversation or not. so it was pretty "hey.. team fish? yay!" sorta thing. It was good. the worship was good, the drama was great. This year, everythign ran so smoothly. Our team was actually really good, no one was those cool kids that were "too cool to listen". EVeryone got along well, and i felt so good. I felt pretty prepared and everything was well. We didn't win our first game for rec. I think that's when i started to get a bit down. But hey, it's just a game, right? I think eventually i realized that winning's not e verything, and then i really got to understand WHY we're playing these games. We're not playing to win, we're playing to build teamwork and friendships. That strike me pretty hard. I think from then on i had a totally different way of looking at my team. Sure, we sucked at some games, but everyone had fun. :) And our cheer kinda sucked cause we only practised a few times and no one would memorize the words, but who cares? It doesn't matter. AT the end of the day, i was already sounding like a man. I was half dead. I went up to the altar call and helped with the coaching afterwards. I really enjoyed it because it was an all girls group and we were just sharing how to rededicate ourselves to God. I realized that y'know, everyone of us are going through the same thing. They were saying somthing bout how church seems to be more like a ritual than faith, and how everything's the same everyweek. And in the end, i think we really got down to WHY we go to church, and WHY we serve. It really depends on our hearts and our motives for serving. the coach also said that it's okay to doze off during sermons, cause we're all humans, but as long as you let God speak to your heart, that's all that matters. I think that's really important.
Where is your heart? Why do you need to connect with God? I really liked the bible study. "Apart from Me, you can do NOTHING." Y'know, in this world, there's so many ways for us to pretend and even lie to ourselves and serve with the wrong purpose. But apart from God, we will not bear fruit. It was a pretty hard passage to "teach", cause i'm still trying to grasp the whole idea of this and follow through.
I'm writing too much. I dont even know what my point of this blog is anymore. But yes, after the second day, i totally lost my voice. I try to speak, but i couldn't. It was pretty bad. But i learned to be quiet and listen. Listen to others, listen to God. I was asking God to help me get my voice back so much cause i couldn't stand being so quiet; having things to say but can't. IT was pretty difficult. But it's also important to understand that if you keep blabbling on and on, you will never listen. Learn to listen and absorb yourself in God. :) During worship on the last day, i was pretty much just standing there half the time, feeling everyone praising God's name. It was pretty awesome. God was at work in TC, and you could totally feel hearts pouring out to Him. It was quiet the sight. But let's pray that this "TC high" isn't just a high, but the start of many Christian lives.
I think the followup work will be hard. Cause yes, it is "werid" to jump around and sing praises to God in our fellowship when we only have liek 10 people. But does it really matter? Why are you jumping and screaming? Cause everyone else was? Or was your heart pointed to God and just wanted to sing of how GREAT he is? And now that we know we're dumb, ugly, stupid sheep, what's next? How do we live our lives to be RED LETTER Christians? I really like that. I think we shoudl start something, guys ;)
more to come later.
I think everyone should blog on their TC experience :) I know there's so much that you wanna share. or questions to ask. Feel free. It's easier to blog than to ask in real life, right? Or ask in real life, i like that too. :)Dont be afraid.
--a.
Man, it's been a while since i've blogged. and i've decided to drop the formal language and just type whatever comes to mind.
I guess i shall share about my TC serving experience. Honestly, it was great. We had our very first TC training back in october, i think. and when i got there, i had NO friends besides arthur and 2 guys from my church . it was so sad. but it was great to see so many young people working for God :) So arthur and i decided on our name to be FISH cause of jonah and all. it was good. WE honestly didnt do anything til like mid feburary. And then it got really hectic. There was schedules to fill, games to think of, banner and team gears to make, cheer ideas to brainstorm... so much work. I honestly didnt want to do all of it, and i actually started to think if i should've signed up for this during gr 12. I already had so much to do for school and church. It got pretty crazy. I pushed most of the things back until the last weekend. AFter our sleepover, on the saturday, i spent ALL day making the team gear, our little "arm bands". it was hard, man! the stupid fabric was hard to cut and i had to cut every single piece one by one. that's 4 letters per person, and we made 30 of these arm bands. so that's 120 letters that i had to cut... it took me a long long long time. and gluing it was hard too cause it was flimsy and sticky and gross. But hey, i got it done. and it looked okay :) wohoo! Let's just say that as i glued, i watched two whole movies. JUST FOR GLUING! wow.
Anyway, the actual TC days were amazing. at 8:45am, i told arthur "omgsh, TC is in 15 minutes" and we had our little panic moment. haha. But everything was going pretty well! our banner looked AWESOME, our team gear was done, our coaches were encouraging. The energy filled the room. IT was great :) Then we started meeting our team people in the sanctuary. I was kinda awkward, cause i didnt know if i was supposed to make conversation or not. so it was pretty "hey.. team fish? yay!" sorta thing. It was good. the worship was good, the drama was great. This year, everythign ran so smoothly. Our team was actually really good, no one was those cool kids that were "too cool to listen". EVeryone got along well, and i felt so good. I felt pretty prepared and everything was well. We didn't win our first game for rec. I think that's when i started to get a bit down. But hey, it's just a game, right? I think eventually i realized that winning's not e verything, and then i really got to understand WHY we're playing these games. We're not playing to win, we're playing to build teamwork and friendships. That strike me pretty hard. I think from then on i had a totally different way of looking at my team. Sure, we sucked at some games, but everyone had fun. :) And our cheer kinda sucked cause we only practised a few times and no one would memorize the words, but who cares? It doesn't matter. AT the end of the day, i was already sounding like a man. I was half dead. I went up to the altar call and helped with the coaching afterwards. I really enjoyed it because it was an all girls group and we were just sharing how to rededicate ourselves to God. I realized that y'know, everyone of us are going through the same thing. They were saying somthing bout how church seems to be more like a ritual than faith, and how everything's the same everyweek. And in the end, i think we really got down to WHY we go to church, and WHY we serve. It really depends on our hearts and our motives for serving. the coach also said that it's okay to doze off during sermons, cause we're all humans, but as long as you let God speak to your heart, that's all that matters. I think that's really important.
Where is your heart? Why do you need to connect with God? I really liked the bible study. "Apart from Me, you can do NOTHING." Y'know, in this world, there's so many ways for us to pretend and even lie to ourselves and serve with the wrong purpose. But apart from God, we will not bear fruit. It was a pretty hard passage to "teach", cause i'm still trying to grasp the whole idea of this and follow through.
I'm writing too much. I dont even know what my point of this blog is anymore. But yes, after the second day, i totally lost my voice. I try to speak, but i couldn't. It was pretty bad. But i learned to be quiet and listen. Listen to others, listen to God. I was asking God to help me get my voice back so much cause i couldn't stand being so quiet; having things to say but can't. IT was pretty difficult. But it's also important to understand that if you keep blabbling on and on, you will never listen. Learn to listen and absorb yourself in God. :) During worship on the last day, i was pretty much just standing there half the time, feeling everyone praising God's name. It was pretty awesome. God was at work in TC, and you could totally feel hearts pouring out to Him. It was quiet the sight. But let's pray that this "TC high" isn't just a high, but the start of many Christian lives.
I think the followup work will be hard. Cause yes, it is "werid" to jump around and sing praises to God in our fellowship when we only have liek 10 people. But does it really matter? Why are you jumping and screaming? Cause everyone else was? Or was your heart pointed to God and just wanted to sing of how GREAT he is? And now that we know we're dumb, ugly, stupid sheep, what's next? How do we live our lives to be RED LETTER Christians? I really like that. I think we shoudl start something, guys ;)
more to come later.
I think everyone should blog on their TC experience :) I know there's so much that you wanna share. or questions to ask. Feel free. It's easier to blog than to ask in real life, right? Or ask in real life, i like that too. :)Dont be afraid.
--a.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The greatest things are what we can't see with our eyes
Hey y'all, i'm blogging from Memphis, Tennessee. So anyway, for school, I have to read a book called "Fifth Business" by Robertson Davies, and it actually kind of surprised me how much insight it gives into religion. I'm only about 60 pages (out of 300) in, but already I feel like I'm learning more and being reminded of things that i had forgotten. I want to share a few quotes about the way a child sees God:
"Our sense...is nothing to God's; and though big people have more sense than children, the sense of all the big people in the world put together would be no sense to His." ...Nothing seemed clearer to her than the reasonableness of one legend which taught that though God always answers our prayers, He does not always answer in the way we would like, but in some better way than we know.
So I thought that was interesting in how God is compared to everyday people. Even now, I still think, "yeah, adults are so much more knowledgable than youths or children". It seems easier to measure and compare the wisdom of physical beings, so I liked how God's greatness was being compared as more than everyone in the world put together- that's strong. And with the second part about how God answers our prayers, I simply love the insight that it gave. Often, I feel myself hoping for an obvious answer to my problems, but the greatest solutions are the subtle ones where I really have to pause and think about what just happened. That way, the answer's not just offered to us on a silver platter, but we actually have to reflect about how He works.
Anyway, on Saturday, my cousin's getting married in a church with a membership of 27,000. Even though I'm not going for a typical Sunday service, I'm really excited because I get to be somewhere where that many people come together and worship on a regular basis. And they do say that the South is big on religion, and yes, I notice it. I'll keep y'all updated!
-sabrina
"Our sense...is nothing to God's; and though big people have more sense than children, the sense of all the big people in the world put together would be no sense to His." ...Nothing seemed clearer to her than the reasonableness of one legend which taught that though God always answers our prayers, He does not always answer in the way we would like, but in some better way than we know.
So I thought that was interesting in how God is compared to everyday people. Even now, I still think, "yeah, adults are so much more knowledgable than youths or children". It seems easier to measure and compare the wisdom of physical beings, so I liked how God's greatness was being compared as more than everyone in the world put together- that's strong. And with the second part about how God answers our prayers, I simply love the insight that it gave. Often, I feel myself hoping for an obvious answer to my problems, but the greatest solutions are the subtle ones where I really have to pause and think about what just happened. That way, the answer's not just offered to us on a silver platter, but we actually have to reflect about how He works.
Anyway, on Saturday, my cousin's getting married in a church with a membership of 27,000. Even though I'm not going for a typical Sunday service, I'm really excited because I get to be somewhere where that many people come together and worship on a regular basis. And they do say that the South is big on religion, and yes, I notice it. I'll keep y'all updated!
-sabrina
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Taking a step back.
I'm really sleepy. But there's much to blog :)
So today during worship, I was very distracted because it's finally hit me that TC is in a week. 7 days. School's been pretty tough lately, especially after missing two days of school for a music trip. So I've been trying to cram everything this weekend. The worship was actually really powerful to me. Honestly, I haven't been singing enough to God lately, missing 2 fellowship weeks in a row. But today I felt so ...revived through worship. During the sermon, I think the thing that i remember most is how God puts us through obstacles to teach and discipline us. On Saturday night, I was thinking of a bunch of excuses of what to tell me teacher when I don't hand in my assignment at the end of the week. The best one I came up with was "family problems". But now when I think about it, why don't I at least try to do it? A lot of times, I think of ways to get out of something, but at the end, I end up doing it anyway. So then what's the point in wasting time and energy thinking of excuses? Through this busy time, I've learned that I'm not a person that gives up easily. If I try and fail, that's another story. But I won't walk away without at least trying.
Difficulties build character, my friend.
By taking a step back and learning to tackle the work one piece at a time, I realized the importance of my attitude in life.
BTW, please pray for TC :) officially a week from today!
-a.
So today during worship, I was very distracted because it's finally hit me that TC is in a week. 7 days. School's been pretty tough lately, especially after missing two days of school for a music trip. So I've been trying to cram everything this weekend. The worship was actually really powerful to me. Honestly, I haven't been singing enough to God lately, missing 2 fellowship weeks in a row. But today I felt so ...revived through worship. During the sermon, I think the thing that i remember most is how God puts us through obstacles to teach and discipline us. On Saturday night, I was thinking of a bunch of excuses of what to tell me teacher when I don't hand in my assignment at the end of the week. The best one I came up with was "family problems". But now when I think about it, why don't I at least try to do it? A lot of times, I think of ways to get out of something, but at the end, I end up doing it anyway. So then what's the point in wasting time and energy thinking of excuses? Through this busy time, I've learned that I'm not a person that gives up easily. If I try and fail, that's another story. But I won't walk away without at least trying.
Difficulties build character, my friend.
By taking a step back and learning to tackle the work one piece at a time, I realized the importance of my attitude in life.
BTW, please pray for TC :) officially a week from today!
-a.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
My List and Your Challenge
So as promised... Here is my List... again, i challenge you all to come up with a detailed list... like DETAILED... anything less than 10 is really unrealistic as to what you're looking for.... because let's face it, your standards can't be that low when it comes to finding someone to spend your life with... as well, I challenge and encourage you to offer to send your list to me or someone in Christ that you trust to hold on to it for you... i, or this person, will take the responsibility of keeping you accountable so you will find someone that has what you've looked for and that the feelings you have for the girl or guy is not strictly based on emotions but based on qualities that are important to you.... Christine has played this role for our fellowship many years back... probably from like highschool... and, i've formatted my comp so i lost it, i was able to recover it through Christine... i think it's a really good to keep each other in check like that.... it keeps you grounded so you wont settle for someone you're not willing to spend the rest of your life with...
Ideal Wife/Girlfriend
- Christian
- Optimistic
- Likes children and wants to have children of our own if biologically possible
- Independent and dependent at the same time
- Compromiser
- Outdoorsy
- Enjoys sports
- Enjoys spending time with me
- Supportive
- Argues with me
- Makes up with me after argument
- Speaks her mind
- Opinionated
- Creative
- Gets along with my friends
- Drives me to become a better person all around
- Shares ups and downs with me
- Someone I can share ups and downs with
- Doesn’t mind my shortness or is shorter than me
- Likes and gets along with my parents
- Is liked by my parents
- I get along with her family
- Likes traveling
- Share chores with me
- 100% Trust b/t us
- Is not materialistic
- Possess the Fruits of the Spirit
- Puts up with me
- Puts up with my corniness
- Puts up with my stupidity
- Laugh at my dumb jokes
- Have stupid moments with me
- Have nice hands
- Have same music taste as me
- Enjoy nature
- Makes good use of my shoulder and presence
- Looks at the future the same way as I do
- Finally, accepts my blankie
-J Lo
what does God want?
I feel so compelled to blog and not do my math homework.
So lately I've been extremely overwhelmed by deadlines and things that has to be done. First, there's school. I don't even need to explain that. Then there's TC stuffs. (Can you believe it? it's 16 days away!) And on top of all that, there's university applications. Oii. It's a lot of work.
About a month ago, I was worrying about getting INTO university. But now it's all changed. I don't know which one to go to. I feel like God's kinda playing with me sometimes, because i thought, "hey, western doesn't want me. Good, so I'll have one less choice." But now.. they want me. So that adds another door to my future.. which one do i choose?!
Honestly, I have no idea what I want to do in my future. At the same time, it's hard to know what God wants. There's so much that's being offered to me by "this world" right now. Where is God? I don't know. Someone was like "Go to UT, so you can come back to church still!" haha. I dont know! :(
Sometimes I wish i had less choices. Or, that someone will choose for me.
Pray for me, my friends :D
p.s. PRAY FOR TC. it's 16 days away! There's much to be done! :)
So lately I've been extremely overwhelmed by deadlines and things that has to be done. First, there's school. I don't even need to explain that. Then there's TC stuffs. (Can you believe it? it's 16 days away!) And on top of all that, there's university applications. Oii. It's a lot of work.
About a month ago, I was worrying about getting INTO university. But now it's all changed. I don't know which one to go to. I feel like God's kinda playing with me sometimes, because i thought, "hey, western doesn't want me. Good, so I'll have one less choice." But now.. they want me. So that adds another door to my future.. which one do i choose?!
Honestly, I have no idea what I want to do in my future. At the same time, it's hard to know what God wants. There's so much that's being offered to me by "this world" right now. Where is God? I don't know. Someone was like "Go to UT, so you can come back to church still!" haha. I dont know! :(
Sometimes I wish i had less choices. Or, that someone will choose for me.
Pray for me, my friends :D
p.s. PRAY FOR TC. it's 16 days away! There's much to be done! :)
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