this morning is such a killer...
thank God still for bringing things and myself through.. still got hiccups here and there but felt things could have been done better.
can tell my colleagues wasn't very happy but still nice enough to advise and stood in the gap for me.
felt so challenged today but things will be better..
Monday, September 14, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Farewell
Just managed to send Maria and Carlos off as they are flying to meet Jing in Melbourne for a gd 10 days!!
So jealous!!!
I also wanna go holiday too!! Roar!!
Maybe i'll go diving with Li ting they all at the last wkend of Sep? Haha.. I wanna have a break from work, getting more and more stressful but definitely it's not the end solution coz i still got 2 more yrs with them!! I need a new found passion!
Anyway congrats to one more Ra to the Rara family.. Rayanne!! Haha.. Shall viait them soon and in the meantime, it's back to work tmr, had encountered a huge obstacle but things will still work together for those who loves Him!
I shall make it happen!! :)
In the meantime as well, enjoy guys!! See u guys back on 21st ya? Hee!!
So jealous!!!
I also wanna go holiday too!! Roar!!
Maybe i'll go diving with Li ting they all at the last wkend of Sep? Haha.. I wanna have a break from work, getting more and more stressful but definitely it's not the end solution coz i still got 2 more yrs with them!! I need a new found passion!
Anyway congrats to one more Ra to the Rara family.. Rayanne!! Haha.. Shall viait them soon and in the meantime, it's back to work tmr, had encountered a huge obstacle but things will still work together for those who loves Him!
I shall make it happen!! :)
In the meantime as well, enjoy guys!! See u guys back on 21st ya? Hee!!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
UM - My life then and now
time for some short update haha..
Was just thinking recently how my life had been full of ups and lil' downs but they are the tougher ones ard. :P and thinking of how my life would be if i hadn't step in to answer the vision to enter Usher Ministry back in Nov 2005.
I remembered back then i had only joined church for 6mths probably when Pst was mentioning in one of the svcs that we would be shifting to a new, temporary hall called Singapore Expo. Being the nerd me, i wouldn't know where it was but it was like, oh ok! Haha..
Strangely enough, Pst was encouraging ppl to enter ministries to serve esp when we shift to the new hall. At the same time UM was having a recruitment but it didn't really occur to me then to join this ministry.
However about the same wk, out of nowhere I had this strange vision of me looking towards Echo from the main stage and i was serving as an usher then!! (the features of the hall i saw in the vision reflects EXACTLY as what u see in expo today)
So being the young and excited boy, i quickly called and told Vic of the vision i had and asked if i could join and after she said yes i was like over the clouds! Lol..
Anyway then i just signed up and they said i will hear fm them in 2 wks so i was like ok.. Then 2wks passed, no news, then 1 mth and 2 mths, no news!! I was like am i not selected for an usher and was so anxious about it that i kept pestering Vic (practically disturbing her too) asking did the ministry mentioned anything or gotten back to her etc and whenever i hear a 'no', my heart just sank deeper than the Titanic did. Oops!
Then came 2mths later when I saw Hui Erl then popping by during my cg debrief, asking Vic to sign a ministry form. Iwas so delighted to see her coz finally i'm entering into ministry!
Tada and there i was in the first lesson and my trainer happened to be the super-tall and handsome Peng Boon who did an orientation with us. Being communion wk, the trainees (me, pin de and josephine) helped out in communion as per norm and after debrief, we were told to return same time next wk.
Anyway the following wk, we returned same time, same place and when we approached Hui Erl, i rmbed her expression then as she found out she had forgotten to call us up for training and no arrangements were made then! How funny was it? But being in the last svc, there were bulletins to be prepared and so we helped out while Hui Erl thought of sth for us to do.. It was then 11 inserts to slot into the green A4 bulletin and it was CRAZY with the no. Of inserts and not to forget, 2000 bulletins to do! Haha.. Here comes the best part, when we gathered for briefing, we were introduced as NEW ushers to Sect 11! (imagine untrained ushers becoming new official ushers?) haha.. I could rmb still the dress code then was blue and there was agnes, jul and shirley standing in front of me talking and giggling as we were being introduced.
(dun ask me why i rmb the, but i just did)
So there we go, my first official duty as an usher given to the last svc in JW! I was serving under Joelle then in Echo i rmbed too..
It was great fun overall till then! Haha..
Then came to the early days of Expo when chair arrangement was common, adding chairs during svcs like nobody's business and sweating and bleeding was a common sight! Haha..
But the best part about those days were the Support on Sats when ushers fm all groups would come together to slot in inserts into bulletins etc.. (that pt of time per svc need to do about 8K ++ bulletins and inserts were still as crazily many then)
It was the time of knowing diff ppl fm diff grps and svcs and crapping, seeing everyone working together to complete the tasks at hand and all the fun and laughter fm jokes and fellowship! It was really great and the whole UM was like one big family! all the happenings that took place in Conf Rm area where there weren t fans and all that was free and in abundance was the sweat fm everyone, esp the bros! Lol..
Because at that time attire would be formal with tie for ur duty svcs, i bought 2 formal tops (blue shirt with blue tie and brown shirt with brown tie) for that reason only.
Being new to the place, we had to serve every wkend etc and it was real tiring plus dun really get to sit with cg! So u wld find me wearing on one wkend a blue shirt and the other wkend the brown and vice versa. The whole process lasted for 6mths before it was more settled down.. Haha..
Well it was then my breakthrough came too.. I was asked if i could help more at team level and i was promoted to helper then, June 2006, just before my bday. Haha.. That was when my capacity was challenged to take on leadership roles and to handle things fm what i could do as an usher.
It was then when i had to juggle between NS and ministry and cell group in church... Pretty hard but all came up strong.
However being young and straight in thinking, i was very into the idea of promoting to TL at that time, as slowly i transited away, slowly fm serving God to serving for that posn.
You could say at that pt of time i was super availing for ministry and would fight to do this and that. It created a gd impression for my ministry leaders but it upsetted the balance i should have for my cg and i started to neglect it. How hurting it is to hear that 'Oh Junius is in ministry, so he's not sitting with us, every wk' that it became a routine. Ministry started becoming a substitution for my 'cg' which i would devote my heart and soul to, for the wrong purpose as i lost sight of God in the ministry.
So came the time when i would compare with people also why are they promoting faster than me and i would not let it go etc.. (quite silly as i come to think of it now hahaz) jealousy and envious-ness took over me and i started to feel sour towards things but i still continued to serve.
Only different is, i was stagnant. Whole process lasted for 2 yrs and whenevr my ldr would ask Vic for my promotion, it was voided straightaway and that upsetted me even more.. But the passion to serve continued.
To expedite, along the way God did some things that changed the way i see things:
1. Arrange for ldrs who became my close friends and mentors me.
2. Halted my promotion and brought me to square 1 in ministry all over again.
3. On June 2008, he gave me a revelation to be more people oriented. *the word in season for me then was 'People'*
4. God started putting ppl in my life that values my existance and touched me with their love.
So in that season came 2 other revelations as well, the story of Mary and Martha when Jesus was in the house and the word 'Ministry exists when there is people. Without ppl, no ministry will exist'.
And all these things slowly brought me out fm where i was and it was then things started became more bright for me as i start to take on mentor roles, exposed to event plannings a d being a PA to a section ldr.
Being a PA to Karen was a great breakthrough for me as i could really see how she had trained me to be where I am, the sight, planning and paying close details etc. She had a plan for me, just like God did! And she had absolute trust in me, protecting me like how Jesus did for His disciples then. I had never experienced such a great ldr and fren like her. :)
Then came my first big day event which was Asia Conference 2008 Logistics when I had the chance to be made IC for the Logistics Ops, with the most 'zai' ldrs like Tze Hwa, Jeremy and Karen overseeing and guiding me altogether!
That was when i felt my capacity exploded too, the planning, coordination between depts in church, working close with other ldrs And the stamina to last through 6 full days (inclusive of support day) of ops! Not to mention the heavenly numbers of counting in tens of thousands etc etc etc...
think at then i started to earn the trust of ldrs and i was involved with many other things too.. I was at that time feeling compromised because of the appt barrier between myself to other ldrs who are higher in rank than i am..
Being limited in your thinking limits your capacity for greatness.
Thank God for Yonghui then to constantly reaffirm me, that being a helper doesn't mean I cannot do great things for God, even as compared to other Team ldrs etc.
That came as an encouragement and it brokethrough my thinking to just serve with ease and because of all these events, my attn turned towards serving God and meeting the needs of the ministry once again. More powerful, i had in my mind that i cannot neglect my members! Haha..
So that's when I start to see my life being changed and as a bonus because of the change, i had the affirmation fm my zone ldrs like B.Darren and Phoebe who believed in my talent for ushering and event planning!
Yea.. So 3 yrs of my ministry life all summarised in this story.. Wonderful now looking back at my joruney and wondering how the next 20yrs of my life will be in this ministry that's for God and for ppl and how lives will be impacted because of such!
I'm still in awe of how much I had grown because of what God you did for me and the people who believes in me!
I never regretted stepping in since the day I'd decided to lay down my life for this ministry and church!
Thank you God!
Tata!!
Special credits to go to: B.Darren, Victoria, Phoebe, Adeline, Yonghui, Eugene, Karen, Jeff, Peifen, Hwee Tze, CS, Ee Rong, Eliz, Tze Hwa, Eric, Alan, Yew Weng, Jeremy, Agnes and many others...
You are the reason why I'm still here today, serving God like never before... Thank you all..
Was just thinking recently how my life had been full of ups and lil' downs but they are the tougher ones ard. :P and thinking of how my life would be if i hadn't step in to answer the vision to enter Usher Ministry back in Nov 2005.
I remembered back then i had only joined church for 6mths probably when Pst was mentioning in one of the svcs that we would be shifting to a new, temporary hall called Singapore Expo. Being the nerd me, i wouldn't know where it was but it was like, oh ok! Haha..
Strangely enough, Pst was encouraging ppl to enter ministries to serve esp when we shift to the new hall. At the same time UM was having a recruitment but it didn't really occur to me then to join this ministry.
However about the same wk, out of nowhere I had this strange vision of me looking towards Echo from the main stage and i was serving as an usher then!! (the features of the hall i saw in the vision reflects EXACTLY as what u see in expo today)
So being the young and excited boy, i quickly called and told Vic of the vision i had and asked if i could join and after she said yes i was like over the clouds! Lol..
Anyway then i just signed up and they said i will hear fm them in 2 wks so i was like ok.. Then 2wks passed, no news, then 1 mth and 2 mths, no news!! I was like am i not selected for an usher and was so anxious about it that i kept pestering Vic (practically disturbing her too) asking did the ministry mentioned anything or gotten back to her etc and whenever i hear a 'no', my heart just sank deeper than the Titanic did. Oops!
Then came 2mths later when I saw Hui Erl then popping by during my cg debrief, asking Vic to sign a ministry form. Iwas so delighted to see her coz finally i'm entering into ministry!
Tada and there i was in the first lesson and my trainer happened to be the super-tall and handsome Peng Boon who did an orientation with us. Being communion wk, the trainees (me, pin de and josephine) helped out in communion as per norm and after debrief, we were told to return same time next wk.
Anyway the following wk, we returned same time, same place and when we approached Hui Erl, i rmbed her expression then as she found out she had forgotten to call us up for training and no arrangements were made then! How funny was it? But being in the last svc, there were bulletins to be prepared and so we helped out while Hui Erl thought of sth for us to do.. It was then 11 inserts to slot into the green A4 bulletin and it was CRAZY with the no. Of inserts and not to forget, 2000 bulletins to do! Haha.. Here comes the best part, when we gathered for briefing, we were introduced as NEW ushers to Sect 11! (imagine untrained ushers becoming new official ushers?) haha.. I could rmb still the dress code then was blue and there was agnes, jul and shirley standing in front of me talking and giggling as we were being introduced.
(dun ask me why i rmb the, but i just did)
So there we go, my first official duty as an usher given to the last svc in JW! I was serving under Joelle then in Echo i rmbed too..
It was great fun overall till then! Haha..
Then came to the early days of Expo when chair arrangement was common, adding chairs during svcs like nobody's business and sweating and bleeding was a common sight! Haha..
But the best part about those days were the Support on Sats when ushers fm all groups would come together to slot in inserts into bulletins etc.. (that pt of time per svc need to do about 8K ++ bulletins and inserts were still as crazily many then)
It was the time of knowing diff ppl fm diff grps and svcs and crapping, seeing everyone working together to complete the tasks at hand and all the fun and laughter fm jokes and fellowship! It was really great and the whole UM was like one big family! all the happenings that took place in Conf Rm area where there weren t fans and all that was free and in abundance was the sweat fm everyone, esp the bros! Lol..
Because at that time attire would be formal with tie for ur duty svcs, i bought 2 formal tops (blue shirt with blue tie and brown shirt with brown tie) for that reason only.
Being new to the place, we had to serve every wkend etc and it was real tiring plus dun really get to sit with cg! So u wld find me wearing on one wkend a blue shirt and the other wkend the brown and vice versa. The whole process lasted for 6mths before it was more settled down.. Haha..
Well it was then my breakthrough came too.. I was asked if i could help more at team level and i was promoted to helper then, June 2006, just before my bday. Haha.. That was when my capacity was challenged to take on leadership roles and to handle things fm what i could do as an usher.
It was then when i had to juggle between NS and ministry and cell group in church... Pretty hard but all came up strong.
However being young and straight in thinking, i was very into the idea of promoting to TL at that time, as slowly i transited away, slowly fm serving God to serving for that posn.
You could say at that pt of time i was super availing for ministry and would fight to do this and that. It created a gd impression for my ministry leaders but it upsetted the balance i should have for my cg and i started to neglect it. How hurting it is to hear that 'Oh Junius is in ministry, so he's not sitting with us, every wk' that it became a routine. Ministry started becoming a substitution for my 'cg' which i would devote my heart and soul to, for the wrong purpose as i lost sight of God in the ministry.
So came the time when i would compare with people also why are they promoting faster than me and i would not let it go etc.. (quite silly as i come to think of it now hahaz) jealousy and envious-ness took over me and i started to feel sour towards things but i still continued to serve.
Only different is, i was stagnant. Whole process lasted for 2 yrs and whenevr my ldr would ask Vic for my promotion, it was voided straightaway and that upsetted me even more.. But the passion to serve continued.
To expedite, along the way God did some things that changed the way i see things:
1. Arrange for ldrs who became my close friends and mentors me.
2. Halted my promotion and brought me to square 1 in ministry all over again.
3. On June 2008, he gave me a revelation to be more people oriented. *the word in season for me then was 'People'*
4. God started putting ppl in my life that values my existance and touched me with their love.
So in that season came 2 other revelations as well, the story of Mary and Martha when Jesus was in the house and the word 'Ministry exists when there is people. Without ppl, no ministry will exist'.
And all these things slowly brought me out fm where i was and it was then things started became more bright for me as i start to take on mentor roles, exposed to event plannings a d being a PA to a section ldr.
Being a PA to Karen was a great breakthrough for me as i could really see how she had trained me to be where I am, the sight, planning and paying close details etc. She had a plan for me, just like God did! And she had absolute trust in me, protecting me like how Jesus did for His disciples then. I had never experienced such a great ldr and fren like her. :)
Then came my first big day event which was Asia Conference 2008 Logistics when I had the chance to be made IC for the Logistics Ops, with the most 'zai' ldrs like Tze Hwa, Jeremy and Karen overseeing and guiding me altogether!
That was when i felt my capacity exploded too, the planning, coordination between depts in church, working close with other ldrs And the stamina to last through 6 full days (inclusive of support day) of ops! Not to mention the heavenly numbers of counting in tens of thousands etc etc etc...
think at then i started to earn the trust of ldrs and i was involved with many other things too.. I was at that time feeling compromised because of the appt barrier between myself to other ldrs who are higher in rank than i am..
Being limited in your thinking limits your capacity for greatness.
Thank God for Yonghui then to constantly reaffirm me, that being a helper doesn't mean I cannot do great things for God, even as compared to other Team ldrs etc.
That came as an encouragement and it brokethrough my thinking to just serve with ease and because of all these events, my attn turned towards serving God and meeting the needs of the ministry once again. More powerful, i had in my mind that i cannot neglect my members! Haha..
So that's when I start to see my life being changed and as a bonus because of the change, i had the affirmation fm my zone ldrs like B.Darren and Phoebe who believed in my talent for ushering and event planning!
Yea.. So 3 yrs of my ministry life all summarised in this story.. Wonderful now looking back at my joruney and wondering how the next 20yrs of my life will be in this ministry that's for God and for ppl and how lives will be impacted because of such!
I'm still in awe of how much I had grown because of what God you did for me and the people who believes in me!
I never regretted stepping in since the day I'd decided to lay down my life for this ministry and church!
Thank you God!
Tata!!
Special credits to go to: B.Darren, Victoria, Phoebe, Adeline, Yonghui, Eugene, Karen, Jeff, Peifen, Hwee Tze, CS, Ee Rong, Eliz, Tze Hwa, Eric, Alan, Yew Weng, Jeremy, Agnes and many others...
You are the reason why I'm still here today, serving God like never before... Thank you all..
my life in a twist
I ever wonder how my life can be so full of colours and twists with the many turns at unexpected corners and sometimes God can just catch you by surprise...
Recently quite I have been talking to many people on the topic of 'relationships' and realised that I hadn't quite gotten why the previous had failed and the consequences were quite dire...
It only boils down to one thing: Vision.
I was a t a loss of words when someone asked what vision do I have for myself and for my partner?
What am i good at that deserves that someone?
Funny but it served as a revelation for me. I could have sarcastically passed it off saying my way of doing things is taking one step at a time but we all know how important it is to plan and having a vision is part of the planning!!
And it do hurt seeing all the damage done and how much i desire the hurts can be healed through time and exponentially but that isn't quite possible.
How sad it is to break a person's life because you fail to visualise and plan for the future, worse still being ignorant about it.
That's sth I got to do before continuing to move on.
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