waketh in vain

"Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." says Psalms 127:1.

At late night last Saturday, the sound of an alarm came off from a car seemingly close by. I was waken up by it. My car was set up with an alarm system with the same sound. I was worried that someone would steal it. So I went to the living room to take a look at it from the window.

I saw no one around the car. As I was staying at a friend's place and most people were asleep, I didn't want to trigger any beep from the house alarm in such hour. Therefore I didn't get out of the place to take a closer look. The above verse came to my mind. I knew that I didn't have enough trust in Him. Rather, I held with one hand the remote control of my car and with another hand a cell phone with which I planned to call 911. By the window I sleepily stared at the surroundings for a long while.

At 3am, someone who was invited to the place was leaving. I took the opportunity to get out to check my car. Then I noticed no flashing red LED light from it. Its alarm system wasn't activated. So the alarm sound I previously heard must not be from the car. It didn't proof that there wasn't any car thief but there wasn't enough proof that there was either. I turned on the alarm system and went back to bed.

The next morning when I headed out for Sunday service, I came to realize that the car wasn't locked for the whole night. And nothing in it was stolen. I was watching over my car that night. How much difference did that make?

"Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." says Psalms 127:1.

Memorial Day

I didn't have much clue about its origin. Google nailed it down for me. www.memorialdayorigin.info

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank you today for your providence. I have a job that provides me a decent place to stay and a decent living. I have many friends whom I care for and who care for me, so that I do not feel alone. I was like a mouse in a 2-D maze. Often I put confidence in my own judgement, rather than yours. Too many times I thought I did the right thing. At the end, not a single thing I did turned out the way I wanted. I had to admit that only you should be relied on. You showed your mercy on me through your miracles. You gave me support through my family and my many friends. I doubted you, hurt you, and sinned along the way but you didn't leave me. You were determined in reshaping me. I am weak. I do not know much about anything. I sin. And yet you showed your plan on me. You reset my goal of life. You prepared every step I took. I have been worrying about my next step and you know it. Today, you showed me a vision once more. A vision more vivid than ever. How privileged I am! How shameful I am! You know that I fear you but I fear you not enough. You know that I listen to you but I still listen more to myself. You know that I am earthly, self-centered, unworthy of your banquet. You are my staff. You know how grateful I feel.

Yours,

DanDan

70 words

I handed in the following:

短宣課程收獲多　輪流讚美領詩歌
齊代禱關注時事　同上課事奉坐席
技巧知識來裝備　靈命更新由此起
學運用福音工具　師徒前輩同出隊
願傳福音到地極　履行主賜大使命

100 words

Those who attend the mission class are asked to hand in a short essay of no more than 100 words about their feedbacks on the course. I just came up with the idea of writing a poem but I scratched my head again and again and still no good rhymes came into mind. Help...

Confirmation? Re-confirmation?

Praise the Lord! My brother called me tonight and in our conversation, I figured that he confirmed to be a Christian, together with his better half a couple of months ago. And they have been going to church and reading bible ever since. I have been praying for them and have been mentally picturing how to speak to my family members about the Good News. The couple were at the bottom of the "hit" list as I thought they would be the most difficult to convert. This news was really great joy and great relief to me. God has shown me great grace. My brother and his wife accepted the best gift possible on Earth, though I didn't ever say one word to them about the gospel! Though I used to take it upon myself to tell my family about the gospel, the Lord proofed to me that He surely is the one in charge and by His hands nothing is impossible. Don't I feel ashamed about my ego! Their names can now be crossed out from my list. That said, I'll pray for them even more, for the sake of their spiritual growth.

There is a side story to this memorable moment. I called up my sister and told her about my joy and this great news. She sounded surprised as she thought my brother had been a Christian long ago. She said she vividly remembered that once upon a time years back he told us the gospel. But I thought, "no way!" because I just got the news today. She said that he had to be trying to say "re-confirmation" in the conversation I had with him earlier. Man, I surely don't remember such an event in the past. I know that I don't have good memory. But this is just too weird. I made the decision to accept the gospel 13 years ago. Why would my brother then try to tell me the gospel again and why didn't anything about that register in my mind? Now my mind is filled with doubts. I really want to ask him next time.

At any rate, I really rejoyce over the great news. Thank our Heavenly Father for His amazing work.

Upcoming events

I am swamped with what's going to come in the next couple of months. First of all, my sister's daughter is becoming 3-year-old. I'll need to figure out what gift I should buy for her. Then I'll be attending an important graduation ceremony. Then I will need to prepare for the fellowship meeting the next day. And then I'll need to attend class the day after. And then on the same day, I will need to head back again to attend the first post-ACM meeting. While the Sat class won't end until the end of June, I'll need weeks to prepare and to demostrate how to evangelize on the street for the SeaFair stall that our fellowship will host in July. And there will be two more weddings that I'll attend in that month. In the meantime, a few of us will need to practice for singing a quartet in late August.

Lecture recording

Since I went to be a helper for a buddy's wedding on May 14th, I didn't attend class that day. A sister in Christ kindly offered to bring a tape recorder to where the class was held to record the lecture, since she would be on the same way that day. Over MSN Messenger, a classmate also volunteered to record the session for me. He did so and also sent me a digital copy before the next class. The recording was so complete and clear that I didn't miss out any word from the instructor. Thank the Lord for such kindness His people extended to me. And thank Him for the important message in the lecture.

Wedding & Reunion

The last Saturday marked the wedding of my old buddy. Because of that, I had to skip my mission class for one week. The new couple have been dating for years. Still the fact that he was starting a new life "without me" wasn't easily believable. It almost seemed that I was marrying my own son to someone. :)

There was a pleasant surprise in the wedding ceremony. I was reunited with my primary and secondary schoolmates! It's been such a long time I have seen either of them. And they turned up as a married couple! Both were kind and smart people. It was like a dream that comes true. We chatted and chatted during the ceremony and the banquet and came out to chat some more the next day. Who knows when I will see them again after this? They headed back to where they lived earlier today. I hope they will continue to grow in their relationship and their faith in the Lord. Thank Him for such a great time.

An eventful week -- ACM was finally here

It's been an eventful week for me. So I haven't really got the time to think through everything.

Last Thursday marked the long-awaited rehearsal the choir team had with the ACM performers who came from a handful cities in North America and from Hong Kong. Together with two other friends, I had to leave work early in order to beat the traffic on the freeway to get to the church. It took us more than an hour to finally get there. During the rehearsal, a couple more moves were introduced to enhance the visual experience. And we were taught signs so that we could tell when to repeat a section of a song, when to move on to the next song in a medley, when to swing while singing, etc. And we discovered that we had to stand on the platform most of the time. I have never participated in any other formal choir. But IMO ACM has relatively high requirements about musical talent, strength, spirit, and smile on the choir team.

The tenor had made many mistakes (as usual) in the rehearsal, but things otherwise went smoothly. However some doubts came to me during the practice.

1. I grew uncertain how some of the new moves relates to serving our God.
2. I allowed myself to believe that direct envagelism would be more effective than spreading the gospel in such way.
3. Also I recalled the question I raised upon myself weeks ago that whether having someone come from a distant city an effective way to evangelize in terms of resources.
4. Lastly the doubt came back to me again -- whether unhappy incidents happened before or during the tour on the ACM coworkers were all Satan's road blocks?

A certain part of me knew it wasn't good to discuss the above matters with another choir member the night before the actual performance. However I was fuelled by my urge so that I still discussed with them in three occasions that night. Either I was stupid and inconsiderate to the event, or I was set up to cause myself and my fellow choir members to trip over. I was grateful that my brother and sister in Christ sincerely listened to my view and woke me up to realize what I should have done.

So, my answers to the above issues:

1. I didn't see the whole picture until I was performing for the first night of the actual event. What seemingly unnecessary fuelled the audience with awe, energy and excitement. When serving God, someone needs to take the role a the center of the stage. But also, many others need to take the role on the side or at the back of the stage. I have to learn to be conscious about what I do but at the same time put more faith in the leadership.
2. I learned that often music touches a person's heart easier plain works do. And God provides different visions to different people. And I saw with my own eyes that many, especially those who worked for the event, were touched by it. Their hearts were rekindered.
3. ACM Canada is a Toronto-based organization that is composed of volunteers of a past ACM event. It is a proof that ACM's work successfully brought up new blood which served God in the destination city. This week's event was also made possible by ACM Canada. God was the one who gave the vision to ACM. Let those who have the vision serve God that way.
4. I've asked my instructor in the mission course how to tell whether an incident is Satan's doing. She said I would know if I kept reading the Bible.

I am happy that I am now over these issues and I can move on my spiritual path. The ACM tour truly had a big impact on most of us in the choir team. Sisters in Christ resolved their differences. A sister decided to serve God in full time. Many were willing to be further used by God for the mission to spread the gospel in Seattle and even North America. Lord, thank you for letting me experience your grace in this eventful week.