God With Us...

while teaching yoshimi about some examples of speaking during worship, one of the examples i went back to was the album God With Us by Don Moen.

and while listening to it again after a long time, firstly i was touched again. and it brought back memories... a familiar feeling.
that musical was performed in church when i was 13. and i remember how amazed i was. and as i watched, i was touched and so the seed of the worship and music ministry was planted.

that's where it all started.

to able to come to where i am, its God's gift. i can only hope that i have used it wisely and to the best and not for my own gain.
i wish i can go further with whatever preparation i can do but that's for God to put me.
will continue working on stuff...
wedding songs, anyone? hahaha...

after one week...

well well... this is 5 days of work. this weekend is only my 8th weekend. its only 2 months! it felt so long. perhaps with my packed schedule and keeping myself busy.

today the Putra LRT stopped working. so, its chaos for everyone. i remind myself to just relax, and get going. i still had the car to drive to the STAR line to get to work. that's good news.

so after one week, can feel the strain on the body. got to get use to the cycle and lifestyle. now i get to practise my piano everyday. what a blessing. getting my hand muscles toned again. hahahaha... get to spend more time for the other instruments also. can't wait to get a guitar. but first month's salary go to God so it'll take longer before i can get a guitar.

i do realise also that i've been attacked more frequently in the mind lately. i've been getting quite a number of tests too. i struggle. i quickly shout out, 'God! please protect my mind and my heart! please protect my mind and heart! please!' i repeated many times.
i made sure i turn back to God. don't want to make the same mistake of running away on my own thinking that i am so great to handle it.

i'm called laksamana or admiral in office now. since long time ago, i see this joke never ends. who can resist not mentioning it the moment they hear my name? hahaha...

ministry...

i remember to pray about being faithful and obedient to God. and prayed for jobs.

but i forgot to pray for which ministry to be in. aiyah...

i was exploring the various ministries. there's so many things i could choose to do. i so wanna do all of them also. haha... but that's not how the body of Christ works. its not a one-man show.

God made each of us for a purpose.

work....

well, started on monday (yesterday). i start at 8.45 a.m. but i was an hour early much to the surprise of my colleagues. they must be going, wah... this feller so semangat. i was actually wanting to miss the LRT jam. i finish at 5.45 p.m. but stayed to work till 6.30 p.m. to miss the LRT jam again.

its been good. trying to learn a software as fast as i can. my boss is nice. my colleagues are too. they even msn each other at night. okay... maybe this is my first 2 days. been observing. trying to catch as many clues as possible. oh yeah, one more thing. there are so many girls (no, i'm not looking). equally sporting and will be interogating me for the whole week.

okay... i'd really love to share more but i may get into trouble if i unknowingly post stuff which may be sensitive to others.

at the moment, i'm falling sick. just got a fever. i think i worked myself a bit too hard + the cold + lack of water. trying to do my best.

Florida Baptist Convention 2006....

on thursday and friday, i attended a course about worship leading. i just applied and went for it myself. not really knowing what i was doing except that the group that was coming was from florida.

and God just amazes me.
the 200 member choir spent a week in sydney and dropped by malaysia. of the 200, 85 were teaching the courses in their respective expertise. they come from the baptist churches all over florida. most of the teachers come with 25+ years of experience in the music ministry. they're worship pastors or the music director of their churches. they each have formal training in an instrument and most are trained singers. they're professionals.

during one of the courses about Worship Planning, the teacher asked, 'how many of you here have an orchestra in the church?'
we were looking at each other and going, 'huh?'
in another class, the teacher said, 'he comes from a church whose choir is quite big. about 500-600.' what the? that's HUGE.
another displayed multimedias of high creativity and quality.
there were lots more of course.

they really shared their experiences. of course its not possible to teach all in just 2 days. but they gave all they could. there were the mega churches of 10,000 and also the churches of 200-300. they shared with me their preparations in terms of practising and also for the travelling.

i got to meet and take a picture with Camp Kirkland. i didn't know he was there. he's one of the pioneers of instrumental Christian music. he has worked together with Integrity Music a lot. most of the musicals that you have watched or orchestral arrangements for christian music are done by him. i grew up reading his name on most of the musicals that i was involved in or while doing some personal research.

well, the classes are full on. i got to mix around with the teachers as well. and they're people with the heart for God. the heart for the music ministry in Asia as well.

friday night, the florida baptist convention presented a musical and worshipped. after praise and worship, the musical started. and quite a number of times i was close to tears. i was just so amazed and in wonder. imagine, a 170+ choir singing together, both mightily and gently, with a 20+ orchestra playing alongside. how similar is that to heaven? it is only just a touch. we read in the bible about multitudes worshipping God. when you hear the choir and the orchestra, you see these people just giving to God. so majestic, so inspirational, so organized, so controlled and precise. that is really true quality and standards.

my father asked me where i stand among them... uh... i'm nowhere anywhere. there's so much more to learn. i'm only touching the surface. i hear of these things overseas but never had the chance to learn. but now i learn and i see.