It's holy matrimony, not happy matrimony....

When I attended/sneaked in for one of my pastor's marriage at church today, there were two key messages ringing in my ears as I left.

1) It's more important to love, than to be right.

2) Sacrificial love is not just about giving, it's about laying down your rights.

I'll leave the interpretation part to everyone's private rumination (i.e. What's wrong with being right? And, are you asking me to give up my basic rights?) but it strangely makes me feel a little more optimistic about marriage. I mean, it dashes the whole romantic/fantasy notion that marriage is all about being happy. It's not - it's about being holy.

But before anyone starts challenging that point of view (i.e. You crazy Christians are such killjoys! Can you stop trying to make life miserable? Do you mean to say that we can't even be happy in marriages?!), there's another statement that follows - It's in becoming holy that leads to true joy.

How interesting - very few ppl on this planet associate holy with happy. Food for thought.

Anyway, congratulations to both couples, ZY & LY and Pastor S&A! May your marriages be greatly blessed and be a beautiful testimony to the world that love does still exist in this broken world! Stay strong, fall deeper in love with each other and be an inspiration to others to lead victorious lives!

Thanks for inviting me to the ROM! I was happy to join the parents' table too. LOL


Thanks for allowing me to sneak in! LOL

*****************JAPAN MISSION TRIP*******************

~ House Church~

I suppose it's called a house church because of its size and the general setup. There are no drums, no stage, no pew, no huge cross at the background, no fancy setup with ushers.....The attendees are a small group of believers who gather together to worship, study His Word and fellowship with one another.

This greatly reminded me of my City of Blessing days - those days where we (students) got together every week with dreams to build a church. To make the story short, we tried hard, never got anywhere and eventually dissolved.

As I sat through the 'service,' I wondered to myself if we (CoB, I mean) missed the whole point of church-building. I will firmly say this - I'm not impressed by numbers and I'm totally against the foolish mindset that success is measured by the size of your congregration. I know how it feels like to serve in church and to never have true fellowship with your fellow servants at all.

Trust me, it's a very sad and disappointing feeling. Very little joy there.

Who cares how big the group is - if the hearts are truly hungry for His Word, His Love and His Mercy, God will be there and that's all that matters.

Who cares how humble your musical equipment or worship location is, Baby Jesus was born in a smelly old manger. Think about it.

So, having sat through two worship services at Amuzing Grace (I'm a bit amused by the name. Pun intended. I just couldn't resist. XD), I thought to myself that this is something I can do. Been there, done that - I feel comfortable in this setting. I pray that anyone who is not comfortable in "humble" settings will discover the true joy of worshiping anywhere, anyhow...

On a more positive note, do recall that God's ppl in Acts started off in house churches and grew from there. I have nothing against big buildings, music bands on stages, gigantic crosses/stained glasses at the background - just don't forget the true meaning of church.

~ Old Folks Home Visit~

The first trip I made with the Japan Mission team is to an old folks' home. Since I haven't been around long enough to participate in the skit, I hopefully made myself useful by being the unofficial video camera person and photographer.

My main regret in this session was the language barrier. I mean, you can't expect the older folks to know any English. Never mind the language barrier, there was also a cultural and generational barrier. All I could do was smile, listen politely (nodding my head) and help around in the background.

I suppose I could have felt disappointed with myself but I understood that the old folks had tears in their eyes when we left. Did that mean we made some connection even if we couldn't talk to them? Were they lonely? Did we remind them of their own children/grandchildren? Were they sad to see young ppl leave? I can only wonder.

Personally, I wished I could have had more interaction with them. There were so many barriers and yet, when we look at each other, we're essentially the same: Human beings with dreams, emotions and souls. I resolve to continue studying Japanese.

Next: University Students...dun dun dun