Christmas season!

Christmas, Christmas...

God has been so good to me. He is faithful. I woke up today with something amazingly good. The assurance that He cares for me, and that He knows what is best for me. You know, I always have a hard time when is time to buy gifts for someone (or even when is time to buy something for myself! wahhh so stressful!). Of course I love gifts... but this week I caught myself thinking of priceless gifts: 

 1)the greatest gift of all: Jesus. =)

2)a new born baby (blessings, baby Osaki... my lil sister - yep yep, I'm the adopted sister, HAHAHA).

3)the assurance that God loves me, hee hee hee

4)honest and pure love (from the Youth kids....)

5)prayers and blessings

... soooooooooooooooooooo priceless... I love that....

Ok, random moment. My roomie had a pair of sleepers that she says  it matches me really well....

 So, I've been using it.... it's actually really nice and warm. =)

Merry Christmas!!!!!

I love Singapore la! =P

So, yep.

Last week was awesome! I went to Singapore for 5 days.

Basic missions:

1)buy books

2)buy games

3)attend a conference

4)meet a friend

5)go to a Casting Crowns' concert =)

what I ended up doing:

1)Got encouraged by God

2)Met some really neat ppl!!!

3)ate lots and lots and lots

4)accomplished everything on the previous list

I don't think I can write about everything that happened there. But just being reminded of Roger's teachings, not with the mindset of a youth helper/volunteer, but as a Youth Leader, wahhh such a difference. It's like, if before I was one being lead, now I'm the one taking the lead. Different perspective, you know?! It's like, before I was the one being encouraged, and taken care of, and now I look at others, and I want to see them growing, and stepping up... not out of the fact that I have to do it, but because I want to.

I realized that listening to testimonies is encouraging. Mark Hall, lead singer of Casting Crowns, shared about his 16 years as a Youth Pastor. He shared about the meaning of some of the songs... it just felt real. It's not about the band, or the music that they play, but about the ministry that they have. Have you ever heard that song "Praise you in the storm" ???

Praise You in This Storm
words by Mark Hall/music by Mark Hall and Bernie Herms

I was sure by now, God You would have reached down
and wiped our tears away,
stepped in and saved the day.
But once again, I say amen
and it's still raining
as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain,
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away.

Chorus:
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to You
and raised me up again
my strength is almost gone how can I carry on
if I can't find You
and as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
and as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise
the God who gives and takes away

Chorus

I lift my eyes unto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth
I lift my eyes unto the hills
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth

Chorus

"Praise You in this Storm" (also known as "Erin's Song") was written for 11-yr.old fan, Erin Browning, who was diagnosed with bone cancer shortly after the band met her at a show in Feb. 2004. Through e-mails and phone calls, Casting Crowns walked with Erin's family through this unimaginable storm, and lead singer Mark Hall was so deeply touched by the unwavering faith of a heartbroken mother that the lyrics to "Praise You in this Storm" were born. Erin passed away in fall 2004, but others are now inspired by her story and the message of hope and strength in this powerful song.

If you have the chance read the article in http://www.christianitytoday.com/music/commentaries/hegivesandtakesaway.html

It's not about what we sing... is about what do we mean when we sing, with our hearts. The lyrics are not only beautiful, but scriptural. (Job 1:21 ,Psalm 121:1-2)

I'll try to share more, when I have time.

And a quick random story:

I met 3 really cool singaporeans. They took me to eat all different kinds of dishes. SOOO YUMMY. If you didn't know, singapore is all about food, and shopping. We hung out a lot, and on the last day they gave me....

 And I was having a hard time to name it. On my way home I had 5 hours to think about, on the airplane... so, I introduce you Bak kut teh (literally means meat/bone/tea in Hokkien;  it's a singaporean dish). Why?! Because, as I told you before, 3 singaporean friends, right?! 1 guy is chubby, the other one is thin, and the girl is sofisticated. =P HAHAH nvm. Gonna sleep.... Bak kut teh is sleeping in my bed. It's actually getting crowded there. Maybe I need a bigger bed... HAHAHAH zzzzzzzzzzzzz

A short one

HAHAHA, Follow the steps:

1)Su is sick - had coffee - took medicine = a little hyper

2)It's cold - she makes some tea - go back to computer

3)clumsy as she can be, spills tea at the keyboard - oh, boy, what to do?!

4)towel and hairdryer... and she discovers a new way to use them!

5)hey! Hairdryer blows hot air... la la la la la it feels good when your feet are freezing... la la la la la

6)And the end... ops, keyboard needs more hairdryer job... kinda wet. =P

"And I thanksgive for..."

Yes... I guess a lot of the Youth (including me!) would love to have been with the guys in U.S.

Too bad we can't fly one day and be back on the other (we could, but I guess we would be sooo tired). I don't know if the Youth leadership ever had a thanksgiving celebration here, but we had a good time. Good food (turkey, gravy, ham, mashed potatos.. Yummy... I loved it, and I'm not even american, haha =P) and random fun games.

Of course, the main purpose is truly to think thru the things that we are thankful for. (a side note: I guess I've been creating my own language.... different from Al, who is creative, my new vocabulary comes from my always-used excuse: "English is not my first language". If you didn't know, to thanksgive (for) is a irregular verb (thanksgive, thanksgave) usually used during Thanksgiving Day. Ex: I thanksgive for my family, my friends and the delicious Moon River turkey".=P).

On sunday it really struck me... although things are not always smooth or nice, God is still the one taking care of me. I know He put me here for a reason, and each person that is around me is here for a reason, and each person that passed thru my life for the last year contributed somehow to the way that God is dealing with me. I'm talking about this last year because I've read Alice's, Cindy's, Tia's, Kenny's, Jonathan's xanga... wahhhh all the memories.

You know. It's not easy to be thankful for every situation. But I can see how God is building up my character. For the past year I had to go thru so many situations that I hated, confrontations, humility, things that were painful for me to say and do. And I noticed something. There is freedom in Him. Once I start to trust in Him, and trust that He is in me, once I lose the fear of man, and the fear of being judged by others,  wahhh He gives us freedom for us to discover who He is. I'm not saying that everything that comes out in this situations are good. Not really, but realizing that I have to go thru this with my eyes focused on Him gives me the willingness to move forward, let the good and the bad come out, and let Him deal with me.

Oh, well.. not only hardship... good things too. Youth, good friends, family... blessings!   

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It's getting late... I just want to say: I miss you guys (you, who are not here). We can't substitute anyone. You are special (did u hear me, Jon? hee hee hee). Being apart makes getting together something that we long for, you know?! Makes us value every moment, whenever we get together again... I'm looking forward to see some of you soon. And for those who are not coming, time will just make the next encounter more exciting. =) 

Hillsong United - Do it!

Yeah... it went like... vrooooom!! So fast. hehehe soon was thursday, we in the theater, equipment getting there, ppl getting there.

We probably had around 750 ppl at the night. It was a cool night. Although some, let's say technical problems happened (like, the keyboard that they rented stopped working; Will had to run and get the church's keyboard! It was almost 6, I think...), God took care of everything. We were concerned about the numbers (670 seats; 900 tickets given away), the rain made everything perfect, not empty, not crowded. Praise God!

As for the concert, I was running around here and there, and sometimes I would just stop and enjoy the praise and worship session. The message was given ( Jesus got more famous that night by the nickname JC and "just DO IT" is no longer Nike slogan,  but the same thing as wanting to know God more, and/or having a relationship with JC). I'm sure a lot of ppl left Lyceum Theater with something new to share, with a new decision made, with a great memory. It was cool just to see that happening here....

Dinner was good to have some small talk with the band and crew. It was actually fun for me to be in the same table as Debs, from SMIC. HAHAHAH Can't stop laughing...

Friday we went for a city tour with them. The boys stayed with the band (Dan Osaki became their little mascot, hee hee hee), and the girls with the documentary crew. Xin Tian Di, Yu Yuan, Pearl tower... they needed some images, but the weather wasn't helping. In Pudong we had coffee at the river. Let's say.... mmm United guys are kinda... mmm crazy. Nothing terribly bad, but you know (it might be a guy thing! Ops, fine... don't get me wrong, heheh), doing stupid/silly/"funny because it's not me doing it" stuff. I was talking to Char Char last night, hee hee hee for the peers it might be like "wahhh, you are corageous" kinda attitude, and for the parents it's probably like "stop it, you are gonna get hurt" kinda thing. HAHAHA I'm getting old. hee hee hee hee i'm more like a parent now. =P

Another point that also made me think is that, even for a christian artist (young or old), he/she will have to deal with fame and glorifying God x gloryfing themselves, you see. The question would be "would you still be singing/writting songs if nobody knew who you were, or if the credit was given to someone else?!" Guess what?! The credit is from Someone else.... just thoughts... just thoughts. We will always face this kinda questions in our walk with God. Heart scan. And that is actually a really good exercise.

 I think about Jonathan, Dan Chao, Kenny... your songs are so precious to God, you know!? hahaha No matter if they are in a cd (hey, Jonathan also have his songs in cd, right!? with video files and everything. Wow! HAHAH), or not.  

In the end, I've got to one simple point: Keep our eyes in God and follow Jesus. =)  

p.s.: Wahhh thanks for the "look the same" posts. HAHAH It will be freaky if, in 10 years for now, you guys keep on saying the same thing... hahah will see. By then, something cooler and newer than Xanga will come up.