Random Monday Moments

Today was a continuation of yesterday's sporty activities. Darren, Amelia & I crashed a condo at Bedok Reservoir (ok lah, his fren stays there), and spent an entire afternoon splashing around in the pool, watching Darren perform stunts on the slide and having a yummy zhi char lunch beside the pool.

It was interesting to observe the difference between our personality types. Amelia is such a good girl, who abides by the rules. Like when this guy was cleaning out the pool with his tools n pipes, Amelia guai guai steered clear from the area he was cleaning. Darren and I on the other hand, wanted to just swim to that area, and only if the guy scolded us, then we would go away. Don't try don't know right? Haha! No wonder they say its not easy to lead musicians. They just want to test the limits/ break all the rules.

After our late lunch, we headed down to Ikea for more food (lunch wasn't enough for Darren), and fun! If only everyday could be so relaxed. We didn't have no schedule to follow, so we just followed our whims & fancies, and enjoyed each other's company. :)

Darren found a fren at Ikea after we 'deposited' him at the kid's play corner.

Under 'quarantine'? haha!

Ladies having tea

The wee little soft toys that Amelia forced Darren & I to buy at 90 cents each. Darren named his mini alligator, "Michelle Chooi." So annoying right? So in turn, I named my hippo, "Darren Pink"! ha!

They wanted to make my head look like a garden. No my ears aren't really that big...that's Amelia behind me.

We couldn't leave Darren out. Here he is with his cake-hat! Poor Amelia kena cut out of the frame by Darren.

Welcome to Darren's magic show, "Please check to see that the hat is empty."

The magician concentrating hard...

Ta-dahhhh!!! See the rabbit!!

Darren is pleased as punch with his trick. I love this series of photos! haha! Cracks me up.

Amelia and her ginormous TOOF! That's my new fav word. "GINORMOUS!" :)

Sunday Afternoon @ ECP

Muffin & Darren, with his signature pose. I don't know why also.

With service cancelled, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to head down to East Coast Park for some healthy recreation & fellowship. After I woke the boys up bright and early (Darren actually asked in his groggy state, "Can I snooze you?" To which I replied, "Of course you may not!!! WAKE UP NOW!!), we headed down to Macs for brekkie. The weather was perfect- sunny but breezy! :) For 2 lovely hours, we cycled (Darren bladed), chatted and enjoyed the fresh air. Definitely a welcome change from our usual routine. As soon as I got home in the late afternoon, it started pouring, providing some cool relief! Thank God for a gorgeous day with great company. :)

With Amelia. The guy at the bike shop automatically handed me a pink bike! Yay! :) The svce at the bike shop was quite good. $6 for an hour, the next hour is free + free water. They fetch and collect your bikes too. Not bad!

Our rest stop cos Bedok Jetty was too packed.

Svce by the beach! haha! Marcus sang "You'll Come," pretended to give announcements, and we contemplated having Holy Communion with ribena & prata.

Erm...our very own Beachside Boys. Colour coordinated in blue too!

Muffin succumbs to peer pressure and does Darren's signature pose. Alamak!

We like being random. :)

Amelia's epic battle against whaling. Read the t-shirt, "Whaling Sucks!"

With Hearts As One

With staff working from home, church svces and activities all suspended due to H1N1, our usual flurry of activity in church has come to a standstill. Overnight, my calendar went from super packed to almost empty. As I was sadly cancelling out events on my planner, I felt a bit lost/bored...and so did a few others I'm sure. After all, we're a team that's gotten used to juggling multiple events and tasks.

But interestingly, with all that free time on hand, we've found ourselves meeting up with each other more. We're going cycling, swimming, having dinners, worship sessions etc. Within this short week alone, I've had more deep, lengthy and meaningful conversations with different ones in church, than I've had in months.

And yes, it gives me warm & fuzzy feelings to know that these existing friendships are becoming richer....but I think more importantly, this week has reminded me that ministry is not about about running from one event to the next, it's really about building and nurturing precious relationships. It sounds like so duh rite? But it really is an easy trap to fall into when you're so busy you don't even have time to run personal errands.

We build God's church by coming together "with hearts as one." But if we don't deliberately carve out space for these relationships to grow, how can our hearts be knitted together? I think this whole H1N1 thing has made us appreciate the community we have in church a lot more. :) And I think when svces resume, our people are going to come back with a greater spiritual hunger as well. Looking forward to next Sun!!

7 Keys To Becoming An Effective Leader Of Worship

I just read this from Carlos Whittaker's blog...and it made me giggle. haha! Yeah..with his mix of truth, irreverence and humour.

================================================================

By Los Whit

It seems like posts like these are all the buzz right now.
8 Keys to this.
7 Principles to this.
5 Lessons from this.
21 Ways to Fail Proof that.
And 9 times out of 10, there is usually a good nugget or two in those.
So I thought I would try my hand at one.
These keys have helped me tremendously in my leading worship and I read them everyday.
I give you the 7 Keys To Becoming An Effective Leader Of Worship…

1. Stop thinking there are actual keys to this and just read your freaking Bible and meditate on it so that it pours out of You on Sundays instead of You pouring out of you.
2. Stop thinking there are actual keys to this and just read your freaking Bible and meditate on it so that it pours out of You on Sundays instead of You pouring out of you.
3. Stop thinking there are actual keys to this and just read your freaking Bible and meditate on it so that it pours out of You on Sundays instead of You pouring out of you.
4. Stop thinking there are actual keys to this and just read your freaking Bible and meditate on it so that it pours out of You on Sundays instead of You pouring out of you.
5. Stop thinking there are actual keys to this and just read your freaking Bible and meditate on it so that it pours out of You on Sundays instead of You pouring out of you.
6. Stop thinking there are actual keys to this and just read your freaking Bible and meditate on it so that it pours out of You on Sundays instead of You pouring out of you.
7. Stop thinking there are actual keys to this and just read your freaking Bible and meditate on it so that it pours out of You on Sundays instead of You pouring out of you.

There you go.
Los

The Ang Moh & The Ah Lian

This is how Dawnie makes my day! :)

Mich: I'm going for the Hillsong United workshop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! :)
(Thanks to the awesomeness of Darren Peh, who got a fren in New Creation Church to get tix for us. And Darren, just for this weekend, Henry Seeley rocks!! haha! Yes indeedy, I think we have both come to an understanding that Joel Houston & Henry Seeley rock.)

Dawnie: Hey I'm so happy for you!!! It's Fluffy time!!! Hey Fluffy u're so fine, u're so fine u blow my mind, Hey Fluffy! *clapclapclapclap* Hey Fluffy! *clapclapclapclap*
(From one groupie to another: Dawnie thanks for totally GETTING IT! haha!)

=================================================================

Dawnie: Hey, remember the Acoustikers United recording of "Love will keep us alive" that we did? I let my colleague listen. And she said, "I like the girl doing the harmony. She sounds like an ABC."

Mich: Awwwwwwwwwww!!! So sweet! Tell your colleague she made my day!
(Dawnie is a self-confessed Ah Lian at heart, while I'm clearly quite Ang Moh at heart. haha! But we're both fwens!!)

Dawnie: Yah you see....its a sign that you're meant for Fluffy! :)

In A Heartbeat

I saw this beautiful pic on Brooke Fraser's blog and it made my heart go "Ahhhhh!!!" Yeah, I'm missing Sydney again. The 'waves' hit me every now and then. Look at that beautiful pool! It's probably Bondi beach where she stays.

Photo credit: Liew Tong Leng

Sydney...the land of Krispy Kremes, Valley Girl, weekend markets, quaint secondhand bkshops on Oxford St, Creme Brulee shower cream (from Cole's), rooftop possums, wild mountain kangaroos and of course....Hillsong church where all good stuff flows. I'd fly back in a heartbeat!

Acoustikers United Jam

Acoustikers United (Dawnie, Nigel & myself) had their 1st jam cum recording session at my house on Friday. After pizza, they trashed my room (ok only a bit lah! haha!), then we got down to some super fun music making with gorgeous numbers like "Heal Over" (KT Tunstall), "Bless the Broken Road" (Carrie Underwood version), "When you love someone" (Bethany Dillon).

Just before we called it a night, Nigel convinced us to jam one more number....so we launched into The Eagles' "Love will keep us alive." What a magical moment that was....we kinda stumbled into it, but I'm so glad we did it. I think we all felt a big 'click' within our hearts....like we KNEW this number was the Acoustikers United anthem. *goosebumps* I guess its a song that resonates with all of us in this season.

It really was a beautiful night of "creating & relating." So rare to find fwens who are in sync with you like that. All in all, I was inspired & rejuvenated. :) Thanks guys! So after the music-making...we 'cam-whored' until midnight using my Macbook's photobooth. And these were the fantastic results! haha!

I'm imitating Nigel Old Soul's classic singing pose. hehe!

Dawnie's Ah Lian pose! Check it out! hahaha!

Nigel trying to make me look bloated through the glass; Dawnie sipping 'milk'.

The Jason Mraz pose

Click here to view the full album

'Loosed' in London

Reading Abi's latest blog post filled me with an ominous sense of dread & worry. (ref. below)

"i have done it ONCE and AGAIN. i've lost my wallet. this time my damage is far higher than previous time it goes into the hundreds. damn freaking winner. i'm quite upset cos i thought i was over this. i seriously thought so. now i'm living on good graces cos i can't withdraw any money what so ever. cards should be coming in maybe only like on wednesday. sucks."

I've seen her lose her hps before....one of the occasions included our KL trip. She left her hp in the office...and I had to make sure she stayed close by. I'm supposed to go London/Scotland with her in Aug. Righhhttt....I have a feeling she's going to lose a hp/wallet/ticket or worse still....ME. Yes, lose me in the U.K, and I'll get eaten by hounds & horses.

And you know what Abi said in response?? "I will not loose you lah!"
She said LOOSE!! What am I??

No Fluffy For Mich

"Though I have not seen him...my heart knows him well."- 'Soon' by Brooke Fraser

I have a stellar history when it comes to unfortunate timing with concerts.

• The Police & Switchfoot concerts (note plural) clashed with my Sydney/Melb trip in Feb 2008

• Singfest 2008 (featuring Jason Mraz) clashed with my KL trip for the Passion Conference (featuring Chris Tomlin) in August 2008. And Reuben Morgan ALMOST came to RiverLife during that eventful weekend too.
  

• My cell member's wedding dinner (Seng) clashed with the Hillsong United concert in May 2008. (I badly wanted to go watch Joel...but I asked myself, "What Would Joel Do?" and figured that he would want me to attend my cell mber's wedding. And so...I went for the wedding dinner while I wistfully smsed Glenn for live updates from Expo.)

• Rewind to 2006<<.....my birthday celebration clashed with the Hillsong United concert at The Rock Auditorium. There was no publicity for this one...so I really found out very last min.

• Fast forward to 2010>>....The church is supposedly scheduling Cheryl & I to go for the Willow Creek Arts Conference. BUT...Hillsong United are the featured band THIS year. In fact, my colleagues are watching them there right now.
  

Looks like this year I won't get to see Joel (aka Fluffy) live for the umpteenth year running. :( I was anticipating 25th July for many months....but I recently found out that it clashes with RiverLife's Young Adult Outreach Event, which I'm singing for. In fact, everyone whom I was looking forward to attend the Hillsong United concert with is pretty much stuck in church with me.

And so...my anticipation turned to deep sorrow. Maybe I'll never meet Joel this side of heaven. Will never get to hear and sing "Tear down the walls," Solution," "With Everything" live. *sobz* Such is life. I'll have to ask myself, "What Would Joel Do" AGAIN this year. And yes...Joel, who believes in the power of the local church, would want me to support my church in this impt event. Having caught the heartbeat of Hillsong United, its time for me to live it out and put it into practice.


Still...my heart is aching, especially when I listen to Hillsong United songs. Only Dawnie understands and doesn't think me nuts. Thank you gal! And for those of you who think that I'm so crushed simply because I won't get to see Joel....it's really more than that lah. The vision and music of Hillsong United has always inspired and ministered deeply to me....perhaps more than any other Christian music. And worship experiences with a Hillsong team have always refuelled me the most. So yeah...I was really looking forward to that.

There's nothing I can do now except to add more 'woh-oh-ohs' into the choir arrangement for next wk's set, in tribute to Joel.

What People Are Saying:
=====================
Rox: Am I just gonna have to admire him on youtube for the rest of my life?!?!?!

Dawnie: You have to fight for Fluffy!! Can you pontang? Or take leave lah! Or swop with someone!

Cheryl: Let's ask Jackson to change the date of the outreach event!

Glenn: When I'm in Hillsong College next yr, and I get the chance to make friends with Joel, I'll make sure he knows about you. Then when he visits S'pore, we'll take him out for local food.

Darren: Ehh....but Joel Houston's quite ugly leh. (so says the Henry Seeley fan)
Mich & Nicholas: *drop jaw* BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!!!!!
(Marcus said: Only Darren has the guts to say this kinda thing to you. He never die before!)

Leaning In

My way is guarded by His angels. I'm leaning in...towards faith.

"Help me see the light
I'm reaching through the fight
Yahweh, show me the Kingdom
Arms open wide
Death swallowed up by life
Yahweh, show me the Kingdom."
- 'The Kingdom' by Bethany Dillon

Songwriting Tips with Fee

I got this from Carlos Whittaker's blog. Funny stuff! Heh! Somebody sure is jealous of them Aussies. (Steve Fee's the one with the blue speech bubble, Carlos' is in grey)


Reckon they have it made mate.
Los

"Love Will Keep Us Alive" by Alarice

Alarice and Nigel performing a cover of The Eagles' "Love Will Keep Us Alive" at No Black Tie, Kuala Lumpur on June 1 2009.

Abi and I had this discussion the other day. We asked each other, "Bright & shiny" or "dark & twisty"? (For those who don't watch Grey's Anatomy, it's a reference that's often used in the show to refer to the core of your heart, who you are. I.e. cheery optimist vs. moody emo type)

Interestingly, Abi, who is like all energetic and zany, decided that she was "dark & twisty"....and I, who may appear very reflective & emo, concluded that I was "bright & shiny." haha! Its funny how who are deep inside, doesn't always match up to how the world perceives us. :) Anywayz...I really love this cover of "Love will keep us alive" by Alarice, because it reveals my Disney, "bright & shiny" heart..and got me all teary. I feel like 'life has meaning' once again. haha! Enjoy! It's a beautiful one.