When Its All Said And Done

Very very tired now. The past three days have involved me sleeping an average of 4 hrs per night, and standing around for almost 10 hrs per day. Was volunteering myself as an usher at the Eagles Communiations Leadership Conference. It was the only way I could have gone for the conference, since to register as a delegate would set me back abt about 350 bucks.

Yes, its super expensive.

But the last three days have really been something. 2 years ago, I was doing the same thing, and I was actually more attentive to the messages rather than busy really doing ushering duties. This time round although I was never able to sit through a whole message at all, I guess with the topics that were discussed, which were very much things on my heart about ministry, I really enjoyed myself very much. I seldom feel this way or say this, but the last three days I really felt God was speaking to me, and saying a lot to me about my state of service to Him, and examining it together with the state of my heart towards Him.

Was a really pleasant surprise to hear the song 'When Its All Said And Done" sung at the conference. It's not the most popular song in Singapore, but one which Henry and I hold very very dear. Its significance wasn't lost on me also, the lyrical content again echoing what God's been saying to me. Its actually a really simple song, with a very simple message. But timeless and true.

I guess a lot of things that were covered weren't very profound truths, but I suppose the difference is that when you hear it from a speaker, it sets off your mind thinking. But when you feel God Himself using the message to speak to you, your heart starts resonating. And its been so long since I've felt my heart beating with the anticipation of God's voice. The lessons were very simple ones too, and often issues I've been thinking about for a long time now. Hearing it from the pulpit on the one hand affirmed my own deliberations of these concerns, and on the other hand forced me to recognize that even by my own standards (God's standards notwithstanding), I still fall so terribly short.

Mark Chan preached about leadership grace, and how a leader modelled after Christ is one with that eternal faithfulness and commitment towards building up lives, instead of being quick to confront and tear down. Richard Mouw spoke at large of a christianity that needs to permeate into the existential reality of the world outside of the church boundaries, and to begin living out the love of Christ in it, 'that they may know we are His disciples by our love". He made a really interesting comment about how we mix things up so easily, by talking about "integrating our faith into our work". He reminded us that we integrate the smaller into the larger, not the other way round. In other words, we ought to think in terms of "integrating work into our faith", and remind ourselves that our faith ought to be the over-arching canvas upon which we place and align the other things in our lives. Em Griffiths spoke about forgiveness and building relationships, and I thought he was just about the best I've ever heard before on a subject such as this.

Can't wait for the CDs to be shipped in. Lots of stuff I missed, that I think I really would want to hear.

Grins. In the meantime, tmr's another long long day. Early day too. SMU prayer walk at 0930 in the morning.

Help.