Preaching Like a Pro

Today my son preached at the University Covenant Church.  It is very exciting but as his mother, I was concerned in the last two days and even waking up at three o'clock this morning wondering how he was dealing with the pressure of writing and delivering an appropriate sermon to a relatively big church - three times. 

When we saw the video later today, my husband and I were not only relieved but delighted. He is engaging with a good amount of humor. He has the characteristics of a good teacher. 😊   

The unexpected effect of seeing my son preach is the reminder that my husband and I are growing old - really growing old.  And so we must now consciously take on this journey with grace...😉

Sunday: Observance of Rest

 

This is the second Sunday, in the last six months, that we get more hours of rest than activities on a so-called rest day.   So far I like the current arrangement but I still feel as though it is unreal.  Just like breaking any other tradition,  the mind voluntarily complements the change with a moral guilt.  I'm still trying to depart from this ghost-like remorse that comes out of nowhere but immediately disappears when I flood my mind with reason.  This brings me back to the early days of my marriage.  For months after Tim and I got married, I used to wake up in the night and realize that I am sleeping next to a man.  "This is wrong!  I should not be sleeping next to a guy!"  Tim would then remind me that we're married - everything would be fine again - then I'd go back to sleep. It is ridiculous but that's how I feel sometimes about not attending the morning worship service at Cornerstone.  We attend the evening service at Folsom Community Church now as part of the service we want to do this year.


Rest is intentional loosening-up.  It is not inactivity.  Our family schedule is often bombarded with the daily, immediate, and superficial demands of life.  Rest should provide a temporary relief away from our attempts to fix the world so that we could have the time and attitude to appreciate what God has been doing all along.


This may sound counterintuitive but some of my most restful moments have often been shared with my husband while taking our morning walks and sharing our spiritual reflections with each other.

"Be still and know that I AM God" ~ Psalm 46:10

VBS 2011

"Train a child in the way it should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." ~ Proverbs

Vacation Bible School is a church tradition that my family get involved in.  Every year our church opens her doors to small children - teaching them about God and his love.

We just completed this year's VBS.  All of us were involved except Tim who is currently on a back-to-back business trip (Raleigh, North Carolina, and San Diego, California.  Shannon and Brahms played in the VBS band while Miriam is worked as a crew leader.  I, on the other hand, am taught 3-4 year-olds and was a crew leader to some them.  

In terms of weather, I could not imagine any better week than this week to hold a VBS.  High temperatures are in the 70s and 80s.  Children and adults are mellower when the surrounding temperature is pleasant.  Smiles, kindness, and silliness prevail over stress, and complaining.  Reason and purpose have a greater chance of remaining intact when everything else is favorable. This is an important consideration especially when dealing with the vulnerable species of mankind, whose brain-wirings are currently in the process of completion, called children.  After all, VBS is all about  positive stimulation of the young brain to give the spiritual side of their minds a chance to be exposed to the right early experiences.  The book of Proverbs simply says, "Train a child the way it should go and he will not depart from it."

I like teaching and caring for little children.  Children are beautiful people.  They are charming and full of surprises coupled with energy.  Their innocence and dependence coupled with their honesty grant them the license to be so adorable.  VBS gives us the chance to connect with kids which we wouldn't normally have the opportunity to connect with.  However, I regret that the structured nature of the VBS leaves very little time to make real personal connections with them.  Every minute is dedicated to something that needs to be done.   With this age group, half of that time was spent in herding them to the right corral.  One might say that "They have to hear this and that."  but the thing is - these kids have very short attention span.  On the third day for example, snack time was not just distributing the food; leaders were also asked to paint every kid's arm with the wordless gospel symbols while carrying the bottle of ketchup around and running to fetch water at the same time.  It would have been more meaningful if the crew leaders sat down with their kids and had one on one conversation no matter how short it might have been.  But then again, that's just a thought.

Overall, the VBS went well.  It was fun getting to know the different kids and learn about their idiosyncrasies.  Some of them reminded me of my own children when they were small.  I got to work with and know Linda (from Lake Hills Church), Alyssa Moser, James Wu, Joel Henry, Ethan Keen, and most of all my own daughter - Miriam.  All of these crew leaders worked hard to make sure that the kids were safe and in the right place.

Julie Gillham, did a great job organizing the whole project.

Commitment etc.

Brahms (April 1, 2011)

Today marks the day when Brahms played bass with the Praise Team at church as Brahms instead of substituting for someone else.  Denise Danberg, the Praise Team director, was telling me that it was his debut - which probably means that his involvement will somewhat appear on the regular schedule.    He played really well and I was very happy for him.  Mother's pride, I guess.  I continually marvel at his willingness to take on more responsibilities; he seems to love being able to do something or help others.  In that - I see his father in him.  However, my poor son took some of my negative genes - at times he gets overwhelmed by the amount of work that he has to do at one time.  When this happens I see myself reflected.  As I have learned over the years, he needs to calm down and list down his tasks bit by bit.  There is a sense of progress derived from knowing that one item is crossed out as opposed to waiting for the whole project to be done.  It's easy for me to say this when I am calm but the idea escapes me when I am stressed.

A week ago during the Robotics competition he was assigned to make the video for his team, "Circuit Breakers".  He planned his time well but as they say, the worst always happens at the worst time.   He planned to spend Thursday night to finish the video to be ready for the next day.  But then at four in the afternoon of that Thursday, one of his teammates calls him to say that the video was due that day at 6 pm.  So now he had to work on it in super high-speed.  That would not have been so bad if the computer was working.  The computer was not cooperating and usually when we have technical problems in the family, we have Tim to help us.  This time he was on his way home from a business trip from Seattle.  At this point Brahms was stressing like Armageddon was coming in the next thirty minutes.  Whatever we (Shannon, Miriam and I) said added pain to his struggle. All of us kept quiet as we watched him agonize over this deadline.  But his teammates kept calling him to ask about his progress.  He finished the video at 5:50pm but the agony is far from over.  Now he had  to send it to his team who are at that time at UC Davis by email.  His computer wouldn't send it.  At this point his hair looked like Albert Einstein's, he was sweating, and as if he was not breathing anymore.  Had we said anything at that time he would have bursted into tears.  The pain has not spread to us.  Shannon quietly suggested that he used her computer to send the file.  She also suggested copying the file into a USB then copying it into Shannon's.  All these things did not occur to him; hopelessness was the only reality that filled his senses.  Five minutes before six...tick tock tick tock... Then he finds out that he does not have the email address to whom he would send it to.  So he calls his team.  He gets it.  Sends the file...and it was sent. Whew!  Now he is done!  Wait...not quiet.  His teammate calls him and said that he will have to wait to see if they can get it in on time.  He sits, he paces back and forth - not knowing what to do and very worried. 

"Breath now.  You are done!" I said.   "Whatever happens now is not within your control.  You have been stressing your energy out and forgetting to depend on the ONE who can help you." As if he was awakened from a terrible nightmare.  It is hard to let go but when we think that we have done our best, the only thing left is to WAIT.

The good thing about Brahms is that he learns from his mistakes.  He is willing to go back and point out where he blew it.

All Done!

Under God's Sea in 3D.  Miriam was one of the major characters in the play 'Under God's Sea in 3D" under the direction of Kerry Hossack and Allie Gove of Cornerstone Christian Church.  She played the character 'TJ the Fret Meister'.   In the photograph above, she is exceedingly happy that the play is over.  It is like the end of a long arduous journey.  She felt that she, along with everyone on the play, finally arrived!  Sunday evening practices are over, the dress rehearsal is done and most of all the play has been performed, twice!   She had fun all along and yet she's happy that she's now free to face the promise of new opportunities.

AWANA.   As AWANA volunteers, every Sunday during the last nine months our family would spend about two hours doing our different responsibilities.  Miriam the only clubber in the family got her second book award.  Now that the year is over - we all get a break.  We are also being slowly released from our regular commitments as the kids are winding up with school and adjusting to our summer schedule. Last Sunday I cooked (appreciation luncheon) for the AWANA volunteers.  I grilled tri-tip steaks, chicken, made the famous 'Lewis Family Potato Salad' and bought Costco dinner rolls.  Angela made a healthier green salad while Nancy and Michaela made cookies and peanut butter brownies.  Yummy! 

Good Experience

I survived!  Planning the Ladies Tea and preparing for my speech took a lot of my free time during the last two weeks.  It was good to speak in a crowd again, I enjoyed it a lot.  After all I used to be a good speaker in my own right.  :)  However I am not sure if I will organize and speak at the same event again.  I just didn't have time to gather my thoughts in an organized way until the night of before. 

"Growing Together by Design" was a fun topic to develop. I was reminded that I do better without a script. 

I thank God for all the people who worked with me and the way it all came out.  It was humbling to see everyone's servant attitude.   The sight of ladies enjoying themselves was most rewarding.

To God be the glory!

Current Project: Ladies' Tea

I have not been blogging lately.  Some of my time has been taken up by planning and preparing for the Cornerstone Christian Church Ladies' Tea which will be held next week on May 1st.  I am the project leader for this event.  In addition to that, I am also the speaker!  That's right, I will be speaking at the Ladies' Tea on gardening.  Based on previous years' records, 100 ladies are expected to be at the party. 

I need to do some thinking and writing soon.  Not that the ideas that I am going to say are not already in my head but those thoughts have to be organized in a presentable form.  So if my blog seems 'cobwebby' at this time it's because of this project.  Expect me to post at least a couple of topics related to this undertaking soon.

Whenever we push ourselves to accomplish a goal, we trigger the awakening of a dormant ability that is hidden behind fears, lack of purpose and complacency. ~ Helen