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prologue to the proposal story.
In the previous post, I appealed to you to help Huiyi and I win a photo contest organised by Perfect Weddings – a nifty local website designed to reach couples who are about to tie the knot. Huiyi and I thought it might be fun to embark on a project together so we signed up for a photo contest where we submitted a photograph freshly taken (by Gideon) immediately after the proposal. Like many FaceBook contests, the photo with the highest number of Likes will win the top prize. But I must say, it has been overwhelmingly encouraging to experience the unexpected amount of support Huiyi and I have received… (Do continue to spread the word for us, yeah?) (:
Well, Huiyi and I are about to participate in another competition also organised by Perfect Weddings, and this is one with epic proportions. In a nutshell, we are required to share our proposal story by using the Perfect Weddings website creator platform. And besides being enticed by the generous prize, I decided to try my hand at it simply because I wanted to relive and recapture the entire process of how I asked Huiyi to be my fiancée. After all, I did promise on this post that I would do write a detailed entry in time to come. And the time has come.
So I’ve been doing that for the last few nights, writing in as much detail as I can about almost everything that concerns the proposal… And I’ve thoroughly enjoying the walk down memory lane. So this is what I will do since it is an understatement to declare this project as a massively long article. Instead of posting the entire story in one gargantuan entry, I shall space it out over the next couple of weeks, and publish the epic proposal bit by bit, chapter by chapter. Well, since I went over-the-top in proposing to Huiyi, I shall do likewise in recapitulating as many moments as I can recall in writing.
I am relieved however, that unlike the photo contest which essentially is a popularity contest, (I hope) the eventual winner of this proposal contest would be determined by the quality of its content. And so, I shall take a short hiatus from posting fragments of my thought life and publish snippets of one of the sweetest memory of my life so far instead. This blog will conveniently mirror the pre-wedding website (which we have aptly titled ILYTTE) throughout the duration of this series, so you don’t even need to go to another webpage, unless of course you wish to.
Honestly, Huiyi and I have been tremendously blessed to enjoy the virtual support of family, friends and the R-AGE youths, as well as anonymous individuals from the world-wide web. Thank you, really, from the bottom of our hearts…
If there’s anything at all that we want you to remember from the upcoming series, it is how God’s grace has been so generously lavished upon two ordinary individuals who desire to love each other a little bit more every new morning, and who would say, “I love you ’til the end”, for as long as the Lord keeps them together on this planet. Love is indeed everyday.
I genuinely hope you will enjoy the journey that I’m about to take you on… (:
P/S: And if you’d like to, I’d like to (shamelessly) invite you to subscribe to my blog via email, so that you will receive every post in your inbox as soon as I publish it. Simply fill in your email address at the sidebar…
Next chapter: the elements of a memorable proposal.
enjoying a checkpoint before ending up at a checkmate.
By the time this post is published, I would have preached a total of 10 sermons since “Always And Forever” at Revival Service. I had the privilege to speak at two youth camps this month and I am penning this entry before my final session tonight. Frankly speaking, I am exhausted – physically and mentally especially – but I am reinvigorated spiritually, because of the amount that I had learnt through my preparation for these messages.
The weekend before Grace Retreat, I accomplished mission (almost) impossible and preached four freshly written sermons over three days. And in the past 30 hours, I delivered three messages. It was a grueling process (mainly due to the lack of rest and the constant demand to develop my content) and it forced me to change the way I normally delivered my content – by preaching without a full manuscript – and I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the change.
My dependence on the Holy Spirit to guide and keep me on track had never been higher and the sense of satisfaction had never been deeper. I felt a lot more natural when I’m not bounded by a manuscript; it gave me freedom, spontaneity of speech and truly allowed the Spirit to determine the words I uttered. This was a new milestone in my journey as a preacher and I thank the Lord for giving me the grace to grow into it. (There’s still a long way to go though…)
I preached “Leadership = Lead Your Sheep”, “Will I Catch A Grenade For Ya?” and “My Neighbour Is A Spy!” (twice) that weekend and I’d like to think I have made progress as a preacher. Shireen Lai once told me (perhaps prophetically), “Get used to this – it’s the life of an itinerant speaker”. I was a little embarrassed by that statement because I (still) feel severely inadequate as a preacher – I know I am a decent communicator, but I still lack (and long for) the connection of Ps Ronald, the relevance of Ps Benny and the profoundness of Ps Edmund; I strive (and sometimes struggle) towards these things as I attempt to grow into this role without any theological education (yet). The most common advice I’m given however, is to find my own style of preaching – something I’m still trying to figure out. It’s a steep learning curve so I thank God for His generous grace.
On a side note, what I also enjoyed about speaking at other youth groups, besides expanding my communication repertoire and gaining exposure and experience, is connecting with youths outside R-AGE. I try to add these new friends on FaceBook as soon as I can so that I am able to remember their names and my brief interaction with them. And at the end of each session, I will share the same sentiments as my Shepherds (who accompanied me to minister at these youth camps) – we are grateful to be a part of R-AGE that is now a part of us.
I also sense my heart for the Church (the body of Christ) being enlarged as I get a feel of the needs in other youth ministries – that is something that is definitely caught, not taught. However, I am just at the beginning of what (I hope) is a long and rewarding pilgrimage of preaching the Word… There’s so much more that I have and need to learn before I can call myself a proper preacher of God’s Word; this realisation keeps me humble in light of the applause that I receive from people; I must always remember to bring both criticism and compliments before the Lord, and to ask Him to help me make sense of it.
Well, it’s a relief for me to know that the next time I preach (in R-AGE, besides a session at another youth group in early July) is at the end of August so I’m going to make full use of this preaching hiatus to sink my roots even deeper into the Word of God. It’s also going to be a time for me to catch up on the Leading and Mentoring pillars of my daily ministry. And up(a)grading my Interceding life is part of what I hope to achieve in the coming months.
In the meantime, I’d like to direct your attention to Huiyi’s insights from “Will I Catch A Grenade For Ya?” Oh, and if I haven’t made it clear enough… I absolutely love preaching the Word of God – what an immense privilege to share His Word with young people! (: For now, I shall take Peter Chao’s advice to “Focus on the preacher [I] will become and not on the preaching [I] will deliver”. What a timely reminder for me to keep growing and developing!
And as always, I covet your prayers. (:
there’s only one place to be at this Saturday evening.
Pray hard. Bring friends. Turn up. Be excited. See you.
perth day 4: mentoring on the road.
I don’t normally fancy driving on road trips because I do not have good driving stamina; by about 60 minutes I’ll start to feel fatigued and would want to do a pit-stop – my last road trips from Shanghai to Hangzhou and from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur were no different. It certain didn’t help when my navigators started to sleep on the job. Haha. This time however, enroute from Perth City to Albany, I got past that dreaded hour-mark by singing to 五月天 music and engaging in good conversations with the rest of the passengers.
We discoursed a plethora of issues, be it inevitable topics like Grace AG, R-AGE and YAYP, to more interesting topics like:
- Mentoring is dynamic (i.e. organic), not decisive.
- Mentors are one-off, but mentoring is life-long.
- Mentoring is complex – both systemic and seasonal.
- Mentoring is about the process and the product.
- What happens when meritocracy creeps into mentoring?
- Who’s going to mentor those whose potential isn’t obvious?
- Could mentoring success be derived from duplicity alone?
- What is the sustainability and repeatability of a mentoring cycle?
- What is the optimum age gap for mentors to retain their relevancy?
- If Jesus had more than 3 years in ministry, would he have continued journeying with his 12 disciples or would he have “released” them to be disciple-makers and gone ahead to make 12 new disciples?
At the end of the day, I arrived at one conclusion, as cliche as it may sound, that human mentors are finite while God’s sovereignty is infinite. We as disciple-makers can only impact, invest and impart so much, and it’s not very much at all! Hence, I honestly opine that regardless of all the possible answers we could find from the above questions, it’s more important for any mentor to enjoy the entire journey, regardless of its outcome, and trust God to shape lives for His glory.
Well, back to the extraordinary mundane… (:
Today packed a straightforward itinerary; we had breakfast at home before setting off to Albany via a 420-kilometre/ 5-hour road trip; saw and fed Alpacas on our first pit stop; fed ourselves over lunch at Black Cockatoo Cafe; drove past Dog Rock and checked into our beach house destination at Barry Court; went for a walk at Albany Town Centre, had dinner of fish, squid and chips at The Squid Shack near Emu Point; went to Albany Creek to do some grocery shopping at Coles Supermarket; and finally returned to our single-storey bungalow. It’s 10:30pm as I write this entry and I am about to retreat to bed – finally, a good night’s rest beckons!
As usual, I always learn from Hunk (aka Chin Seng) every time we interact. This time, he imparted a life-and-death lesson into my system – about decisiveness on the road. Read that as metaphorically as you want… All I shall say is, by the grace of God, I thank God for allowing that overtaking incident to have taken place smoothly… (:
P/S 1: Huiyi and I celebrate our 40th month together today! It is a good Friday indeed. (:
P/S 2: We’re praying for “Never Let Go”! Keep up the good work, R-AGE! Invite friends!
P/S 3: I will post more pictures in my DSLR when I get my hands on a USB cable. For now, here’s what I found in a shop called “Thingz”. I didn’t buy it of course… Bottoms up!
have you considered switching lenses?
This entry is referenced from the book of Haggai, where we observe two types of workers in the church. The older ones had probably experienced some form of glory days before. Hence it would be natural for them to:
- Look backwards towards good old days
- Reminisce past memories
- Remember what it used to be, and
- Relive history
More often than not, this constant comparison would leave them disappointed and disillusioned. The younger ones, however, are anticipating their own days of glory. Hence you would expect them to:
- Look forward towards new beginnings
- Be out to create new memories
- Imagine what it could be, and
- Want to make history
So this would naturally result in them being energised and driven. The difference was that the younger ones caught sight of the future – a glimpse of greatness and a flash of hope! So I believe that at the end of the day, in light of positivity or negativity which would inevitably happen around us, it boils down to perspective!
Ed Silvoso once said, “The greatest hindrance to faith is not unbelief but memories.” I concur. Our memories can indeed become hindrances and limitations to what God can do because we have a tendency to repeat positives and avoid negatives. This causes us to be reluctant to embrace new ideas and initiatives. Let’s not get caught in the rearview mirror. We must learn to honour the past, cherish the present and anticipate the future. It’s not our past that determines our future but God’s presence.
My favourite footballer, Eric Cantona (whom I saw in person just last week!) once said this, after he returned from an eight-month ban from kung-fu kicking a fan who verbally abused him – “I use the past to breed a better future.” We must not compare the former R-AGE, e-Gigs, camps, conferences or any other events (or even people!) with the future R-AGE. Every year is different and quite rightly so! Instead, we must look forward to the future with hope and expect that God will bring us from glory to glory.
For the older ones – don’t dishearten the younger ones… And for the younger ones – set an example for your leaders by inspiring and motivating them with your energy! When the energy of the young and the experience of the old comes together, the youth group becomes a powerful place.
Instead of comparing today with what happened in the past, the older ones must instead:
- Remind the youths of their heritage
- Encourage them
- Rely on their strength, and
- Not be wet blankets and water down their passion
Most importantly, they must provide a platform for God’s purposes to be performed through the younger ones. In turn, the younger ones must approach the elders this way:
- Remind them of their destiny
- Enthuse them
- Glean from their wisdom, and
- Not be foolish and ignore the advice of the older ones
One of the best thing they could do for themselves would be to approach the older ones to be mentored by them so that God’s purposes in their life could be progressed. The most dangerous thing for us to do is to compromise and meet in the middle – we end up neither here nor there and result in dissatisfaction. We must dream together to birth what God has deposited in our hearts! Remember, it’s all about interchanging our perspective for a better one from God!
probably the best pre-valentine’s day, ever.
12th February 2011 marks a special milestone for R-AGE @ GII. I think any youth pastor would have been proud; I was delighted with the commitment of the young people, and I was filled with gratitude to belong to and lead this precious youth group.
The last time I preached at GII, I casted a vision of seeing 150 youths in service by the end of 2011; at that first service of the year, we surprised ourselves and counted an attendance of 135. This afternoon, we broke the record (by a mile!) and counted 162. Praise God for these mind-blowing numbers!
I also witnessed a new performance band rising up. New songs, styles, vocalists, musicians and anchormen only meant one thing – we are indeed regenerating. R-AGE, do you have any idea how much talent God has blessed us with? (And FYI, the band has only rehearsed for a couple of weeks!) I believe there’s so much more to come from these creative individuals. But the best thing for me was to see the band thoroughly enjoying themselves… That’s the way to do ministry – having fun!
It was also a sight to behold, seeing one of the highest attendances for PUSH; 20 youths praying until something happened… And I think God answered our prayer in His own special way. I was thankful that God held back the torrential downpour until service started!
And man! I haven’t even gotten down to the transformation of the GII Chapel – it looked so pretty today! Thanks to the commitment of the youths, this is the nicest I’ve ever seen the hall look. From the candle-lit structure to the tables and chairs laid out outside Chapel, to the paper heart behind the cross, to hearts and posters pasted on the walls, I was visually captivated and comprehensively impressed by the massive amounts of effort put in by the decoration team.
And speaking of pretty, did you all check out the lovely cupcakes? It was lovingly baked, designed, prepared and packed from 3pm to 2am the day before… And every single cupcake has a unique design – no two were the same – that’s how special each one of these youths are to God (and to me)!
Here comes the exciting part… In all my 14 years in R-AGE services, I’ve never seen so many newcomers before… Today, we said hello to 25 visitors! That’s an amazing count by any measure! I’m so proud of the youths for making such a genuine attempt to invite their friends. I remember saying this during the debrief – “We may have 25 newcomers today but considering how many youths have had their friends reject them, I am convinced, easily a 100 could have been invited.” The hearts of our young people are indeed in the right place. Praise God!
But the best part of today was reserved for the three souls that returned to God – two first-time salvations and one rededication! This made all the effort worth it… I remember sending an encouragement SMS to those who were serving – that “may the fruit of their labour result in souls added to the kingdom and lost ones returning to the Father.” We praise God for He is faithful indeed.
As I pen this reflection, I can’t help but to beam with pride – what a joy it is to pastor these youths… Without their commitment to God and to see lives return to Jesus, we wouldn’t have been able to pull this off. I am thankful for the following awesome groups of people – the service committee, publicity team, designers and decorators, photographers, lighting and sound crew, visuals team, the band, emcees, cupcake bakers and those who shared the Gospel… WOW – you guys make any youth pastor proud! (((:
I can’t wait for the next big event that R-AGE @ GII will plan – a revival that will take place in mid-May. This will be a combined youth service on a Saturday evening at the GII Sanctuary. Let’s look forward to an awesome evening of worshipping God at full volume with the entire R-AGE family… And perhaps with even more newcomers!
(On a personal note, and for journaling’s sake, I am thankful for my first attempt at delivering an evangelistic sermon… What I enjoyed most about preparing and preaching the message was how the Spirit used a familiar story to speak to me and bless my heart… It was a good learning experience…)
Praise God for today – His grace enabled us to pull off an event of this magnitude with limited resources, people and time. We couldn’t have done this without You, Jesus! (:
God: So, do you love Me?
R-AGE: Yes, we do and will feed Your sheep.
joey asher | misunderstoodsunshinekid 