What Are The Chances
Thursday, August 30, 2007
♥ Thursday, August 30, 2007
What are the chances of life pulling you a fast one?What are the chances of you getting into a car accident today, and another one tomorrow?What are the chances of not being a sports player and winning the sports pageant?What are the chances of coming home only to find that there is a new golden retriever puppy at home?What are the chances that happy events happen 2 consecutive days in a row?
What are the chances of you doing 5 tutorial questions and your lecturer asking you instead for the sixth?
What are the chances of not bringing the umbrella for all those days that rained, and bringing for those days that didnt?What are the chances of being where you always felt you belonged?What are the chances of blowing away every single chance you've got?I could go on with more and more ludicrous examples. And in it... is a reflection of some peculiar cosmic marvel at the coincidences and not so near misses. See the problem with all these examples of what if, is that they arent as peculiar and ridiculous as it sounds. It happened! For a person striking a lottery twice, or being hit by lightning, or recovered from serious case of leukaemia, probably these occurrences are nothing.However, to the common man, the chaplam omnibus person (using some law terminology) the average person on the street who goes about his life without the slightest clue of the tiny miracles that whiff past, these are opportunities to wonder. To wonder simply how did that happen?? To wonder whether life is really generous to those who love it. To wonder whether something bigger could happen to me. To wonder whether there is more! Yes they call it luck, serendipity, murphy's law, coincidence, fortuitious...etc. I call it wonder. I believe terms like 'luck' and 'murphy's law' are just attempts to confine the unconfineable, and to give a language to what cannot be fully comprehended or understood. Yet, because it is a sui generis situation, one and only one like its kind, language demands that there be a separate term to describe this. Whilst others leave it in the abstract, unattainable realm of 'coincidence', i bring in the personal experience of it when i call it wonder. Because its the man who experiences these peculiar situations that has a deep sense of appreciation for it.Simply put, luck is the situation, wonder is the means of being IN the situation. So what appreciation am i talking about? That under the veils of routine and motion, of flow and daily grind, is a force that moves. A force that brings 2 together by chance. A force that moves through the minds and hearts and expresses a certain interconnectedness between "neighbour" and man, samaritan and jew (or isit gentile and jew?). A reality that grants circumstances to make hearts leap, or weep. That you can hear earthquakes happening week after week, that you can conduct a missionary trip and end up being held hostage, that you can be on a holiday for a moment, and in a tragic accident the next... Yes, there is a morbid appreciation for these moments as well. Its quite beautiful if you really think about it. That on one hand you cant be in control of just about anything, but on another you're actually a part of everything. Perhaps thats what mystics or a desert fathers or some sages have achieved. To be in a constant state of awe, to be in a certain spiritual cosmic flow that binds all, that time ceases and heaven is seen in a wild flower (william blake).Or maybe, just maybe its a small part of the human experience. A very fortuitious, serendipitious, wondrous one that is. :)
Happy 21st Bday!!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
♥ Saturday, August 25, 2007
I wont be mentioning a name.
But just to let u know, ppl who get on my blogs are generally pretty significant. So hey, what could be more apt than to post one about her on her birthday? Much more its quite an overdue post.
Now, ladies and gentleman, i got to know her when i was in sec 4? Ya. In church. Haha and she was already nice then. 'Sweet young thing' my dad loves to say. So well great..i joint this group and as a result got to know her. Or was it the other way around? hahhaa.
You know those birthday wishes where they reminisce the past and wonder how you all got where you all are? I think i do that quite often with her. Like how did that happen man? Trust me, she aint perfect. Got on my nerves countless times. Though of course i din tell her that. BUT BUT then again, there were countless moments that we shared that i was pretty grateful for.
See..you wouldnt know it unless i told you how special those moments were. Those phone chats. Simple but hilarious. Of course, i always got the upper hand. Cant help being smarter right?? haha.. Also, that one year we brought a friend's 8 year old cousins out for movies and shoppping..think it was christmas. And those deep important melancholic sharings of course...one could never forget that even if he tried. One time i practically dragged her over the phone to meet me for macs breakfast! Wah and she did. How nice was that. And well she has this unattainable chao ji wu di like calligraphic handwriting that can only be read using a mirror or a very imaginative mind. And my birthday present was her magnum opus la! Now, dont i feel proud to have such a friend.
Hahhaa... but then, she also gets her pms periodically. And oh man, i think this is somehting guys face. We guys can never understand how girls can be so friendly one time, and such a.......the next. And when she's hostile, i am like...what the.... Not forgetting her stubborness! Man you cant ask her to do something she didnt wanna do beforehand. She just doesnt budge! Whats with her?!! I mean something as intrinsically good and innocuos as a movie..and she'll be like "doooonnntt waaaannnnt". And i'll be like " oh well".
So weighing pros and cons, between canonizing and condemning, where does she stand? She stands as a friend i've known for about close to 5 years now. A friend that i know something about, and a friend that knows something about me.
And it wouldnt be fair to say that the 5 years was a breeze. haha i didnt exactly make it fantastically easy for her to remain in the friendship- I had my idiosyncracies and my unfair expectations. Of course, there were certain points in time where it got bleak. But well, we still made it didnt we? And THANK GOD we did. Look where we are!
She is still that sweet not-so-young thing, that i constantly find a joy to be with. From watching movies, to attending sessions, to making fun, to being on the bus, to joking about our potential other halves, to letter writing, to deep serious chats, to canoeing, to cycling along east coast, to sending friends off, to praying together... it was wonderful and somewhat touching, really.
So Happy 21st birthday to you. And for the moments that we both shared, thanks. :)
Thursday, August 09, 2007
♥ Thursday, August 09, 2007
The Challenge of Teaching Ministry.The election of the head took place without discernment or prayer, without even the toss of a coin or an argument, not because the choice was crystal clear, nor was it because we were such faith filled people. The election and its subsequent results began simply as one person suggesting another, and that other being resigned to it. That was our rough start. We're a team of 3 men. We're people who on paper, believes conversion begins through teaching. We're the ones to look at vatican documents and prayer notes and testimonials and sermons, and we're the ones who're suppposed to make it interesting to the rest. The ministry is to set the grounds and environment for challenge and discussion, of prayer and sharings. And is it as simple as it looks? Perhaps you've not read in between the lines. We have to plan sessions which have to have the right speakers; it musnt be something remotely similar to what we had in the past for fear of you sleeping, it must be fresh! There are those themes that we got to think about, since theres not much point in forming you if its stuff thats irrelevant isnt it? So we've gotta figure the topics, the subthemes and the details of each subtheme. Getting complex yet? See, its no point just having theoretical knowledge, as what many would agree. So we try to appease you. Give you an avenue of service, to practice what you preach. This begs the question of what avenues do we create? Does everyone fall under the same category? Is everyone as receptive? What are the consequences if we simply compel all to do the same thing? Taking into mind our resources, time, and abilities to commit etc..it doesnt leave much room for anything creative. Oh... so we go through the arduos task of asking what you feel. What you think is relevant to your lives, and what you particularly need. Perhaps its prayer? Perhaps its just more time, perhaps its just rearragning of your priorities etc. Thus, one of our techno-savvy members came out with an online survey. Which only approximately 1/3 of the members participated in. Its ok, we understand you've got too much work at hand. OR wait! wasnt that one of our survey questions? Oh ya..i forgot. You din do the survey!Now, we've only scratched the surface of session planning. Then there's that FLOW. One session gotta lead into another..otherwise you'll be like "huh? whats going on?"Now the challenge with this FLOW is that for a person who has been there from the start, its all well and nice. But for the half hearted, lukewarm, non-chalant "i'll come when i feel like...so stop asking" person, who steps in right smack in the centre of this FLOW, we'll face this "huh? whats going on" thing again. And so when you feel lost, it just becomes another pathetic excuse for you to leave and not turn up for subsequent sessions since it "doesnt make sense". Rest assured your accountability (or lack thereof) is well scrutinised and followed up by the more dedicated members. Well well, after we've achieved what could be a vague semblance of a flow, we have yet find the speakers. And wait, its not just any speaker. THe speaker must fulfil a list of criterion. He must be charismatic, have a prayer life, must speak with relevance so on and so forth...rather virtuos qualities. Probably a priest or a seminarian could do the trick. But wait... let me correct that, not just a priest or a seminarian, one whom the OIC approves. (pardon the usage of acronyms)And why do we have to do all these? Because we're Kingdom Builders, Soldiers for Christ..."go out and baptise the nations", church enthusiasts? Hmm..possibly.More probably.. So that if you didnt experience God, it wouldnt be on our consience. Haha..our raison de' tre is simply to make sure you will have no excuses to yourself or to God. That if we set the platform and make it ludicrously easy for you to step up on that platform, you'll have only yourself to blame if you dont. This is all politically insenstive of course, and might even make you cringe. But its just a matter of speaking the truth without the facade of 'tact'. And so i am personally excited about heading this ministry. Haha 'bringing the community to new levels of spiritual growth and development, challenging sharings to be of a depth like never before and to nurture young spiritual leaders to handle the every dynamic movements of community.' Noble enough? Change the positions of 'L' and 'E' in "noble", u'll get the name of a reward the ministry deserves!
