Year of Sabbath 2008

Here are my thoughts about 2008, the Year of Sabbath.

it is a year of stagnation...

a year where everything you planned for were supposed to happen but didn't.

you go like, "WHAT???"

yeah... and it's true!

I was driving in the car just last week, asking Basia, "Just what have I achieved in 2008?" I felt like I was completely lost.

No don't be mistaken, it wasn't like I was sitting on my couch all day sipping magarita and watching DVDs the whole time. I was actually very busy. I was running road shows, meeting ppl for ministry and cell groups and my band, etc. BUT NOTHING PROGRESSED!

I really felt it! Maybe I was looking for something in a tangible sense, like maybe recorded a song or two at least for the band, growth in numbers in the cell, career taking off and flying... something established at least... but NO...!!! it was kapoot! zilch! zero!!

In the closing days of 2008, as I stood still before the Lord and asked Him what was it all about, He only told me one thing, "It IS a Year of Sabbath. I purposed to thwart all your plans, so you can seek Me and find rest in Me."

Ah... so that's what it's all about. Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain.

So here's some things I'd like to thank God for 2008.

1) I thank God that Basia and I got to know each other a lot better and grew a lot closer this year and we're doing our MPC (Marriage Preparation Course) We had our times of conflict and resolution which really helped us to understand each other better.

2) I thank God for His provision for the roadshow job. It really helped to tide me over.

3) I thank God for the bond we've built in my band. We're so good at talking crap that it feels funny if just one of us aren't around. Maybe they don't feel the same way towards me though.

4) I thank God that instead of the numbers, the ppl in the cell have grown in depth and love for each other. I see that especially among my Young Adults. Though the Lord removed many from the cell, the core group of them grew closer to one another. I also see the youths rising up, not just in running programs but in spiritual discernment and wisdom and favour as well.

All in all, it was a fruitful year, not in terms of the tangibles but in terms of what the Lord has done in the inner being of the ppl and in me as well.

2009

I am seriously still living in 2008.

it went way too fast!

My friends (namely, Chao Yang, Jeanie, Basia) and I had a short discussion about how 2008 flew by us (we even entertained the thought of an epic alien abduction of the whole planet earth), we came to a conclusion that somewhere between March to July 2008, things went into a spin and we lost those precious 4-5 months!! It's scary but when I did comparisons with some of my other friends on this subject matter, they too, had the same uncanny feeling! Which brings us very close to the possibility of the alien abduction theory.

Just today, Chao Yang said this while we were walking from the EXPO, "I still feel like I'm living in September of 2008!"

That said, I'm seriously still experiencing a TIME LAG. I say this cos even though I'm physically in 2009, my mind has yet to register that fact, and it's still screaming to me that I've only lived 9-10 months of a year.

I think I'm still trying to play catch up here; mentally, emotionally, physically (you bet! after the Youth Camp, the YA camp, and 2 'My Hope' Christmas Parties...) and even spiritually (in terms of hearing what God is planning for the year ahead)

need a breather... *phew... maybe I should take a holiday in Bali, it might help me to readjust back to the A.D. time line. Back there, it's still in the R.O.C. timeline (Relac.One.Corner)

So bear with me for a while if you still catch me mumbling stuff about 2008 as though it just happened or if you find me playing with sparklers at the beach in April celebrating the New Year.

I think aliens took my brains.