Crazy August

yes, August is going to be a crazy month. behold the schedule:

Aug 3	Speaking at Rawang SCF
Aug 4	National BK Oral Quiz
Aug 6	Speaking at St. Paul's Seremban SCF
Aug 7-18	ON Institute
Aug 18-21	Young Writers' Camp
Aug 21-25	Visiting Parents in KK

ON institute is a training programme for new SU staff organized by SU East Asia. it's a great opportunity to grow and learn as a staffworker and also to enjoy international fellowship with other SU staff from Korea, Mongolia, Cambodia, Kyrgystan, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Laos, and etc. i think i'd be much more excited and happy about it if it didn't mean an extended separation from The Wife, though.

also in the midst of all these, our house in seremban 2 is ready. we'll be getting the final set of keys soon, and will be arranging for the installation of grills and kitchen cabinets (we've already met the guys in charge to discuss designs and etc) and hoping to move in by early september... not to mention fixing up the lights and fans in our new home, which Chen May thinks we can do on our own rather than hiring people to do it for us... CRAZY! SO MUCH TO DO! AAARGH!!!! =P

also lurking at the back of my mind are the SU Youth Database... keeping it up-to-date is a real headache, i might blog about that one of these days... and my assignments for Biblical Interpretation and Pastoral Leadership, still mostly untouched... oh dear, oh dear...

obviously as i'll be away for most of august, i won't be able to keep up the incredible frequency of posts (that's sarcasm, in case u can't detect it) so i hope u readers won't forget all about me and my blog... do pray with me thru this crazy month. i'm counting on that to be one of the factors that will help me survive it. =)

what was and what will be

taiping was great! =)

our hosts in taiping were the brothers lim, both doctors, who have their houses side by side with a corridor connecting the two. their hospitality was simply wonderful. and one of the best things about it was that i got to know ern wei, chien wei, yew wei and fern yi (the older brother's children). another good thing was that i got to read 'the rest of the robots' by isaac asimov...=)

in terms of ministry, we had a good time at each of the meetings. i feel that we could do better though, with more experience. there were various aspects that could have been improved. nevertheless, all went well and i'm thankful =)

that was 'what was', now for 'what will be':

tomorrow night i'm having a young writers' camp meeting. we only have 4 campers, and the camp is next month! please PRAY!!!

this thursday i'll be having breakfast with a camper who's left secondary school and is now in a college in kl.

this friday i'll be speaking at an SCF in Seremban... and it's a free topic again! aiyoyo...

and this sunday i'll be going to kajang for prison ministry.

till the next post... =)

Taiping

no time for much of a post, just a quicky to let u all know what's up this weekend: the SU Youth Team and i will be in taiping!!!

we'll be taking a session with St. George's SCF on friday afternoon; Jason (my boss) will be speaking at Taiping Wesley's Renewal Meetings on friday and saturday night; saturday morning we have a combined SCF meeting where we're hoping to meet students from 4 or 5 schools in and around taiping; saturday evening we'll be taking a Youth Fellowship session; and Jason will be speaking at Taiping Wesley's sunday service.

pray for us! pray hard!!! =P

double trouble

this weekend, i have two speaking engagements on (hence the title). i'm doing a session on friendship for an SCF in rawang, and speaking at a YF (youth fellowship) in seremban.

the main worry now is the latter; the person-in-charge informed me yesterday that it's a free topic. so, i have to crack my head about what to speak on!

really, i wonder why SCFs and YFs like to give free topics. 'let's just invite speakers and let the talk about whatever they want!'... it just doesn't seem (to me) to be the most effective or systematic way to build up the faith and understanding of the young people in their care.

anyhow, please pray for and with me as i go and interact with the youths in these two settings. and pray especially for inspiration about what to talk about at the YF. thanks! =)

singapore makes me sick.

no la, actually it's not that bad. it's just that i went there over the last weekend, and i've come back with a little sniffle in my nose that threatens to develop into a full-blown flu if i don't take extra care to get enough rest for the next couple of weeks.

The Wife and i were in Singapore to visit The Bro-in-Law, and we met The Parents-in-Law there too. The Bro-in-Law's a 3rd-year pharmacy student in NUS, and we stayed in the guest rooms of his residential college, King Eward the nth (can't remember how many-eth). i suspect that the powerful aircond and thick comforter in our room was a major culprit in my present sniffliness. i found it hard to sleep at night, because if i slept without the covers it was too cold; but if i slept under the covers, it was too hot. The Wife slept like a baby, though. =P

i enjoyed my trip to singapore pretty much. lots of walking, which was good exercise, and pretty good food. unfortunately everything was expensive, because of the conversion rate. and although it wasn't always easy, it was a good chance to bond with the In-Laws. hopefully if this cordiality continues, we will not end up considering one another Out-Laws. =)

one of the great things about this trip was that i managed to meet up with some old friends from sitiawan days who've been working and/or studying in singapore. after so many years, it was really wonderful to re-establish the bonds of friendship and catch up with the many events and developments that we'd been thru.

so, to contradict my post title; no, singapore doesn't make me sick. it does, however, leave me with a distinct impression of syntheticity (is this a real word, or did i just make it up?). everything there feels like it's man-made. seriously, even the trees there somehow manage to look more glossy and less natural than trees in malaysia!!! also, from conversation with my friends, i gather that it is terribly stressful to study in singapore and more stressful still to work there. as my father used to say, 'that place is like a pressure-cooker'*.

not a bad place for a short vacation. but as a place to live and settle down in? i'm not so sure. i rather suspect that malaysia, for all her shortcomings, doesn't do too badly in comparison.

*after obtaining brilliant STPM results, my dad won an Asean Scholarship to study medicine in NUS. this explains why his statement has credibility. and that was about 30 years ago; the stress and pressure are probably much more intense now than they were then.

meetings

a meeting
just sitting
and listening
to reporting
from departments
about developments
exchange statements
discuss arguments
-----------
a meeting
i'm doodling
and thinking
'so boring'
drink coffee
so not sleepy
just simply
write 'poetry'
----------
a meeting
not connecting
relevance? questioning
really wondering
is it necessary
to ministry
this prodigality
of temporality?

meetings. can't live with em, can't live without em.

i don't enjoy long meetings. i tend to lose focus as the meeting goes on, and i end up doodling and amusing myself in my own little thought-world until something happens to pull me back into the discussion.

but in an organization with a number of departments doing different things, how else can everyone be aware of what's going on and what everyone else is doing? how to ensure that the departments remain united as a whole, and how to maintain the sense of camaraderie and morale if people of different departments never meet face-to-face?

i guess meetings are a necessary evil. personally, i'd keep them to the minimum length possible. but then again, if everyone has something to say, on every item that's brought to the table, then how? and can good fellowship and friendship develop if everything is business only?

it's a conundrum. but as good stewards of the time that God has given us, i think it's imperative that we (especially in church and christian organisations) keep meetings to a minimum length and maximum relevance to ministry. then hopefully guys with short attention spans (like me) won't end up doodling, writing poems, and composing blog posts during the meetings.

note: i should really pay more attention during meetings, and i don't condone my own actions in letting my thoughts wander like this. it's a personal weakness that i'll have to work on. this post is a general reflection on meetings and is not meant to disparage or misrepresent the meetings of any particular church or christian organisation. actually, in some ways, the problem is more with me than the meetings. =)

preaching

preaching in bethel baptist church last sunday was... not very good.

i felt better about my first time preaching at seremban efc about 3 months ago. i'm not sure if it was actually qualitatively better; just that it felt better. i think that's because it was my first time preaching - psychologically, there was a sense of taking the leap of faith, stepping into new uncharted territory, breaking out of my comfort zone and overcoming my fears victoriously (or nervously).

i added the word 'nervously' in brackets because i got the recording of that first preaching and listened to it, and i sound incredibly nervous. rather like a small boy who's been caught for doing something wrong. and i kept on saying 'err, yeah'; a nervous vocal tic that i have to watch out for in future.

anyhow, there was a sense of euphoria and victory after that first time preaching; like, 'yeah! i did it! i preached my first sermon! woohoo!!!'

i was actually less nervous this time 'round; however, i felt worse after the event. the message seemed so much better when i was preparing it! i guess that, with this second-time preaching, i am no longer have the position of 'mr. first-time preacher' to buoy and support me; now, i am merely a young, inexperienced, rather unskilful preacher. what a letdown.

this preaching thing is difficult!. i bet some of you readers have thought to yourselves before, 'hah! i could be a pastor; it's so easy! just talk for half-an-hour to forty-five minutes once a week. no problem!' well, fyi, the pastor has A LOT of other duties apart from preaching on sunday; and even the preaching part of it isn't as easy as it looks!

this passage from the introduction of F.B. Creddock's book 'Preaching', sums up where i am now: "...learning to preach is difficult, and the difficulty is not greatly relieved by having a skilled instructor or by the discovery that one seems to be naturally a 'good talker'. the fact is, preaching itself is a very complex activity...". sighz...

please pray for and with me as i strive to learn and grow in this area. i trust that, by God's grace, even i can learn to preach... and preach well.