500th post is made on 2010.01.01!
Countdown at SACM was quite different this year. We got to stay overnight in church and saw the Marina Bay fireworks from the south lawn. Starting the year with praise and worship in the morning was special – it consistently reminded me of how the Lord has made everything new.
Most of our youths didn’t sleep, as usual. (Even if they wanted to, there isn’t anywhere in church that is sleep-conducive.) Many of the older youths (yours truly included) slept in the basement classrooms and thus got at least a few hours of uncomfortable, yet precious sleep. At least we weren’t completely brain-dead like many of those who didn’t sleep.
I let the youths know that we have praise and worship 8.30am in the morning – so they can decide whether they are going to catch some sleep or pull out through till 10am. They also know that we have to restore the place to its original look the next morning. So the onus is on them to decide what they want to do – I told the committee that I don’t wish to run this event like an army camp with somebody to “enforce” rules. It is a fun event and people should be responsible for their own decisions.
Previously I wrote some thoughts on the only unhappy episode of the event, then I decided to take it out. Instead, I want to give thanks for the brothers and sisters who helped in the clean-up. It was during an unscheduled window of time in the morning and I thought I should just start doing some rearranging, to minimize the work that we have to do after worship. Eventually more people came and helped, many sleepy and brain-dead, but nevertheless helped to restore the various venues to their original look. I was pretty amazed when everything was in order before worship even started – I thought, Wow, it was like we were never here! Encouraged by that, it took most of my mind off the little unhappy incident earlier on in the morning.
Uncle Michael (duty verger) was very happy and he said it was to my credit that it’s so tidy, but I told him, no, people just started packing up – we planned to do clean-up only after worship, but apparently it’s all done early and nice. Even if I had the heart, it takes the efforts and love of everyone else to have done it all so quickly. It’s already difficult for our vergers to have stayed overnight for us and it would be downright unloving if we left the place in a mess for them to clear. I like seeing our vergers happy. It means we have done our best in loving them.
(After I had gotten to know the vergers, their names and even talked to some of them at length, I feel a personal closeness and responsibility towards them and respect for their jobs. They worked on low pay, long hours, dealing with black sheep members of the church who made trouble for them, simply because they loved the Lord and the church. They have to be fierce sometimes, but it’s all part of the job. Beneath their gruffness they are very nice men. So now when they complain to me about how people under my charge are using the place, I don’t feel irritated like some others thinking that they are giving us trouble and making fusses, but rather some form of empathy and understanding because I know how difficult their positions are. )
This new year, I recommit myself to Youth Fellowship and CVCF service, my school work, my volunteer work and family life. May the Lord continue to use me through doing His work and simply being a living testimony for Christ in how I live my life. May He bless us with the wisdom to live a life full of Christ-like wisdom.
