Bombastic verbosity = intoxication

The title for this blog entry occurred quite by chance. I was at a training session organised by my church's Sunday school ministry. If truth be told, I was a tad reluctant to go for it at first, as I felt rather strongly about having 2 consecutive Saturdays 'burnt' from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm just to attend a training session. Rationale? Sundays are a lost cause for 'personal' time, as I practically spend the bulk of the day at church. Hence, I always cherish my Saturdays. I mean, apart from cell group meetings (which I, sheepishly admit, have not exactly been a regular attendee), the rest of the day is up to me to plan. Totally delightful.

Anyway, apart from that, I was also having some problems with my stomach.......churned a bit, and rather uncomfortable. So you can imagine, the idea of dragging my butt to go for training and sacrificing my 'ME' time was not exactly met with thunderous enthusiasm on my end. Somehow felt I had to be more selfish with my time.

I prayed for an open mind and heart, and a teachable spirit, so I decided to head down and check it out. The trainer conducting it was one of the pastors in charge of the Sunday school ministry. Kudos to Ps Linda for doing her best to engage all the participants. What floored me was when she told us not to use 'big' words when talking to the kids....so as not to get them 'intoxicated by the bombasity (sic) of our verbosity'. Whoa.....I was like, "Cool!"

I have always respected Ps Linda but this brought it to a deeper level. Come to think about it, the pastor who's the 'chief' for Sunday school ministry had previously taught at the British Council (or so I heard), my team leader for Sunday school ministry speaks eloquently and Ps Linda as well. Even my network pastor, our dear Ah Kong speaks really well too. Needless to say, I've always been tagged the 'favourite student' for my English, General Paper and English Literature classes, thanks in no small part to my command of the language (ok, I have to display some humility....Jacq will say there's too much pride at play here). Amongst other things, my teachers have told me I needed to tone down on my verbosity and preference for complex and bombastic sentences. Obviously I have not made much progress in this aspect. Put me in a room with any person who speaks clipped English and I am all systems go. Ha ha....I think I can still do a rather mean Australian twang, and go all hoity-toity...(ok not trying to be a 'poser' here).

The point I am trying to make? Somehow I have made a conscious effort to tone down the level at which I speak English, primarily cos it's hard to make myself understood when some of the people I deal with do not really speak it well. So now, whenever I meet someone who can speak well and at that level, the whole 'anal-retentive' bit about English will surface. Hmm, maybe deep down I still harbour ambitions of cutting it as a news anchor, or lawyer?

=)

Going strong....not

A little blog entry to remind myself....

Easter Sunday. Went for service, and felt that there was something God wanted to tell me. The moment they flashed the scenes of Jesus' sacrifice, my eyes turned watery and to quote Lynn, the tap was spoilt. Then came altar call.

Felt a prompting to go for it, though I cannot exactly explain it. As I walked forward, I could not help but cry. The moment I knelt down at the altar, there went the tap. Bawled uncontrollably, and my pastor placed his arms around me and told me, "Son, it's ok."

That did it. Totally wrecked by sobs. I could not explain it, except that it had been a while since I totally let go and let the Holy Spirit speak to me. Upon reflection, I realised there are some areas in my life I have to work on. Since the beginning of the year, I have not 'let go and let God' in many aspects of my life. Honestly, I guard my independence fiercely. I tend to rely myself a lot, and the idea of not being in control of my own life and destiny absolutely freaks me out. I know, O ye of little faith.......

So I figured there have been quite a few situations where, in my quest to control my life, I became rather wilful and headstrong, somewhat unteachable. And it was a good time to remind me that I ought to rely on Him and not on my own strength. Even now, there's this issue that I hold close to my heart. As much as I have supposedly 'surrendered' the outcome to Him, I realise I tend to 'de-surrender' ever so often.

Need to work on this more......but still it was a good Easter. Cos I heard Him loud and clear that He still loves me, despite my headstrong wilfulness.

'Pah'-able Songs

Jacqueline (Jacq) , Christine (Chris) and I met up for dinner today. It was to celebrate Chris' birthday and baptism, so it was a jolly occasion. All belated, but what matters is the thought that counts. So anyway, we went to this restaurant and ate. Man, I'm duly impressed by Jacq's ability to polish off the food. She can really pack it away. I gave up after a while, and it was not because I was being a wuss. I figured I'd better not pig out as I am still recovering from a spate of food poisoning that hit me a few days ago.

So there we were, chatting and eating, and gradually the topic veered towards worship songs and Encounters. And there and then, Jacq and I came up with a 'hits' chart of the 'Pah'-able worship songs. 'Pah'-able songs refers to *ahem* songs that can cause the listener to be so overcome or overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit that he / she usually ends up tearing or bawling like a baby.

And there we went, and managed to come up with quite a few. All worship music and songs are good, but there are always those that 'speaks' to each of us, and perhaps allows us to be vulnerable with God, and be open and let healing and deliverance take place. Quite apt considering tomorrow is Good Friday.

Good Fridays and Easter Sundays usually 'speak' loads to me, so this year should not be any different. Perhaps He has something He wants to deal with in me, and I must do business with Him. =)

Jumble Mumble

Ok, a rambling of sorts, here goes.....Caught The Magic Fundoshi with an ex-colleague. Got 'caught' by another church friend whom I'd thought had cell group already after the show was over. In fact, saw quite a few people on Friday night. Anyway, the play was rather risque, in that the sexual overtures were none too 'discreet', for want of a better word. I was kicking myself inwardly for actually daring to suggest this play. I mean, I expect anything by Hossan Leong to be raucous, but seriously I had no idea this was so 'in-your-face'. I am not a prude, by any account, but to bring a girl to such a play when I was not exactly pal-ly with her smacks downright of stupidity. I wonder why I am not that consoled when she told me she was ok with it and enjoyed it. I was like, hmm...right. Why did I not research properly before suggesting to her?

On another note, today 2 of the guys in my kids ministry today came up to me and told me they did pray for me, as I requested.....so touched. BUT they prayed against the thing that I had requested them to. And like they say, kids' prayers are powerful. As much as I have let it go and let Him, I was like, errrr.......go figure. They were so gleeful about it when they told me. Serves me right for thinking it would be nice to pre-empt them so it doesn't drop like a bomb on them. One of them even deigned to remind me that "God listens to kids, cos kids' prayers are sincere." How do you beat that? He even rallied the rest to pray daily. I need to do a double or triple dose of praying to 'counter' the kids' prayers. Ha ha.

Oh, and I joined a super-duper expensive gym near my workplace. So in order to milk it for its worth, I have been going at least twice weekly. Truth is, I think I need to go daily, to just get the value I paid for. Anyway, attended this Body Balance class....really liked it. I'm aching all over, even in places I never knew I had muscles. But that's ok. Though I daresay some of the moves resemble yoga, and I am not too sure if that's agreeable by my pastor.

=)