hold on... focus on the end point...

so many things happened after we met up with the section helpers 2 wks ago...


some fell sick,
some were bitten by their own pets,
some become discouraged
some wanted to quit...


isn't the ways of the devil so familiar?
trying to pull the carpet out from our feet when we are feeling ready to start the year right?

friends,
its our decision to remain focus!
its our decision to lay hold of God!

remember the compass that i shared during the meetin?
North: God's promises to us
South: Our fellow leaders and helpers' commitment
East: Our goals
West: Our past achievements

we are a family!
let's not give up!
we can only succeed with YOU!

the journey may be hard.. even demanding..
but even in our real life, it take efforts and hard work to run 2.4km..
and will you quit?

if you won't quit in the natural world,
please.. my friends, don't quit the spiritual race..

we are running with you!

countdown 100 days!!

haha..
ROM is in less than 100 days...

100 days...
wow...

i am so excited to start a new chapter with her..

are you joinin the celebration on 1 Sep?

omg.. so creative right?

poor time management: failure of leadership

poor time management is the silliest thing that a leader can allow into his/her life.

whether is it in the ministry, workplace (study), or even in your own life,
if you fail to plan and manage your timing, you fail.
you will never succeed.

no matter how "spiritual" you are,
no matter how "loving" you are,
no matter how "helpful" you are.

if you can't even manage your time, you disqualify yourself to lead others.

lets' prepare to achieve!

shared the section's vision and goals during the group meeting..
and yet.. i cant help but wonder... how wonderful is our God..

i may have said this again and again..
that 4S2 started small...
but we have grew to the biggest section among all the sunday svc sections..
God has been faithful to us...

and how can we ever forget about the leaders who make it happened?

Shuzhen's beliefs in every usher, PH, helpers, TLs...
WY's motherly love,
Kristal's hardwork,
Natalie's love,
Xiao Lii's "every ok" attitude,
Joelle's quiet but excellent support,
Liting's personal touch...

we have celebrated...
and now.. its time to step up to the challenge that is laid before us..

among the 5 directions that 4S2 has set for ourselves,
2 are "giant" size...

35 new ushers by dec 08,
and 70 trained and passionate ushers by dec 08..

the growth is 2 x of everything that we have been doing..
is it impossible?

ya.. lets face it.. the number look "too big"..
the solutions seem little...

but i know my God...
and my fellow leaders and ushers..

lets' step up to leadership.. and journey together..
it will be tough, and we need to crack our heads to find solutions..
it will be heartbreaking to see our expectations not met,
it will be hot, when we squeeze each other for things not done...

but we will survive..
we will grow...
we will excel..
we will achieve..

we have done a miracle in 2007.
lets do it again!

true meaning of PASSION

wow..

it was only in Nov that the church decided to start the JW service..
and within 2 months, the JW service has outgrow the place, and the pastoral staff is committed to start the 2nd service...

and it just reminded me of how the church grew when we are at JW.

was the growth due to the heart tugging worship at JW?
no, as the worship team grew for strength to strength..

was the growth due to the anointed sermons during JW?
no, since Ps Kong is always guided by the Holy Spirit..

was the growth due to fact that JW was "our own" land?
no, since we also grew back at Hollywood..

so wat's the reason?
i believe its down to 1 word: PASSION.

passion to come with expectancy for God to move and touch

passion to come early not to play church,
but passion to come to wait and serve their CG by booking seats
(yes!! book seats.. something that ushers "hated")

passion to come and join the Q...
no matter whether is it in the hot spiral staircase at Hollywood,
or at 1 of the 4 enclosed aircon-ed staircases at JW..

passion to serve.
passion to learn.
passion to be disciple, even if it hurt.


PASSION.

PASS "I" ON

passing the "me" onto someone else.

passing the fire in me onto someone else.


when you pass fire to someone else, both candles are lit, and the room is twice as bright.
when you pass a flu (cold-ness) to someone else, it dim the whole place.

is there a reason why Expo is not growing?
becoz we have turned cold.
not toward God and His purpose...
(at least, that's what i will be hoping, and praying along with pastor)

but we have chosen to allow coldness to come into the church.
to dilute the faith atmosphere.
to weaken the commitment
to destroy the unity.


let's not just look at the success at JW and wonder how it happened.
lets start with ourselves and pass on our fire to someone else.

starting from our CG, our team.

are you passing yourself on?

a change of priorities...

as everyone may know, the day is drawing closer...

the day where boy become man,
miss become mrs,
two become one...

where its no longer myself, or at least, what is the best for myself...
its even not enough to think what is the best for the both of us "now"..

we have to think long term..

been thinking how it used to be 2 persons loving each other..
and its slowly changing to become us loving ourselves..
i have to love her, her way, and be sensitive to her..

its more than her love languages..
its also using words that is sensitive to her..

looking at the whole budget and i can tell you that my priorities must changes..
its time to work until i dropped...
and that is something we all have to do...
(err... but then.. isn't it normal? oops!!) haha..

aiya... why can't we just sit back and enjoy life?
without the pressure of money, time and status?

life is too short to rush through,..
we should be able to enjoy every single day...

are you?

i am so in love (again)..

haha...

so many people have been asking either Rach or myself on the proposal...
well... let's just say its between me and her lor.. haha..

confirming the guest list now for both ROM and wedding..
someone commented that the guest list is like a hollywood guest list..
well... let's hope that the guests will also be like hollywood..
all come early and we can start the celebration on time!
heehee..

anyway... the theme of the celebration is..
"a celebration of eternal love!"

are you ready to join in the celebration?

after 4 tries... finally.. mrs chua in waiting!

first try: Group outing (30 Dec)

Rach was already expecting something to happen on the 31, when she read my inbox and found someone replying me "wa.. so cool to go up the DHL balloon"..
(was plannin with EG, or rather Van, to bring Rach up the balloon and propose to her with the city view as background... and Van as the photographer!!)

but since she already expect something, i thought why not propose during the outing, after all, both of us knew each other in usher, work together in the same ministry, planning the first section, then group outing together...

Van ok-ed, Roger ok-ed..
but the rain wasn't playing attention... and it rained.. or rather, it poured... and everyone was wet and tired...

at the end, felt that the atmosphere wasn't good enough, so decided not to do so..

anyway.. Rach also guessed it when Van wanted to help me take somethin from my bag...
(i was running the outing events.. )


second try: EG outing (31 Dec)
preplanned with EG to go out and have dinner at bugis, so we can take the DHL balloon... but EG failed me lah!!

only FM, CY, SE and Raymond came...

Van had to rush home for family dinner (last min arranged), and since she was keeping my ring from last nite, we have to replan everythin for Van to pass the ring to myself or someone else...

in the end, she has to pass the ring to the manager at Fish & Co..

it was such a drama.. Van was walking back to the MRT when Rach and myself was walking toward Fish & Co.. Van was jus at the glass door, and i have to distract Rach from taking the external route in order not to bump into Van...aiyo... so dramatic... can star in Channel 8 liao...

anyway.. back to the plan...
after dinner, took the ring from the manager, and found an excuse to check out DHL balloon.
but the wind was too strong, and they are not flying... SIAN!!!!!!!

cant think of other plans, so jus try to drag time while i keep thinking...
was half heartly thinking of proposing to her in the middle of the countdown crowd, when the clock hit 12 midnite, but decide against it as its too.... unromantic...
heehee

passed the ring to SE to keep while we travelled to the cinema, and watch AVP II..
collected the ring back before we left..


third try: NYD (1 Jan)
went back to bugis... can't find excuses.. so just told her that i wanted to start the year with her with the world under our feet... knowing that she will be expecting the ring when we took the DHL ride, i purposed in my heart to do so when we take the nite ride.. (there is this package that we can take both day and nite ride, with a discount of $10 off the second ride)...

but the wind refuse to slow down, and the balloon is not cleared to go...

so.. nothing happened...


fourth try!!!!: MSG (my secret garden)
Rach liked the atmosphere of MSG, and after visiting them twice, i like it too...
in fact, we already shortlisted it as our ROM place..

runnin out of ideas (at least creative ideas), i was thinkin of bringin her up to top of the M..
knowing it will burst a gigantic hole in my pocket...
but after meeting her, i decided not to do so.. in case she become angry that i spent so much, instead of savin for our wedding and house)...

so i suggested MSG.. and she ok-ed it immediately..
turned out that she also wanted to try the food there, and she reasoned out in case i proposed, it will also be a nice place... (haha.. great mind think alike!!)

so off we went, and we had a nice dinner..
followed by a dessert.. and while Rach visit the washroom after the meal, i placed an order "Sin in love" (so "appropriate".. heehee.. madly in love with rach now!!), and ask the manager to place the ring on top of the dessert...

haha....

went on my knees, made my promises to her, and yes!!!!

i am officially and happily extinct from this world.

ms Alice Rachel Neo is now mrs Chua Alice Rachel Neo - in waiting..
and me? mr Ray Chua - madly in love...