July Ends

What alot of stuff. Confessions. Regressions. Impressions.

So I dropped by Singapore for 17 days, and did quite abit of stuff - in fact, I think, just a tad too much. Surprise midnight rendezvous w ol pals, prata suppers, Fire conference, cellgroup chalet (guest appearance for 20 mins), a birthday dinner with shofar blowing, played for service, worship practices, lunches w working friends, family dinner, thursday morning prayer meetings, meet missionaries for tea, wedding, graduation party, amazing worship/jam session w ACSCF friends - thats w dear folks last jamm'd in 1995, slapstick dinner w the ol ACS gang, cellgroup meeting, worship gathering, dinner w two friends and their respective spouses - that makes 4 and a 5th =) arriving, recording session, and a cookout.

And then coming back to a frigid Sydney, to be picked up by friends (quite the nicest thing, really), tossed back to life 'as usual' (whatever that means for me). Been back in the lab chugging away and cranking up to pre-break levels. Takes sometime for the momentum and adrenaline to pick up, but pick up, it will. It Must!

On a side note, last sunday was the Sydney Coffee Festival - a wonderful collective of some 30 gourmet coffee roasters offering cuppas for $1! Well, I had great coffee, and great company. But I think my best spent buck for the month went to an unsuspecting cup of Second Flush estate grown Darjeeling (Margaret's Hope 2005). The stuff to wafte on. It was strong enough to wash down the lingering coffee taste from my previous two mochas and cappucino, and leave a rich, lingering taste on the buds. Clean, clear, and delicate enough to be classic darjeeling. On the market, a typical 1kg pack (if you can find it at all) of such darjeeling would go for some 140AUD. To contrast, my cuppa tea was a lovely one buck =), and I went back for hotwater refill as well! Great company too, I might add.

August, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, remains five more months of the year. What alot will happen, must happen. Breakthroughs in research, in lives, in ministries, in nations. How I need more grace, how we need more favor. Oh Lord, will you move, stir us afresh?

Seasons: Morning by Morning

Friends. Life-story-community. We live in an oral fabric. Experiences are transmitted through sound and images. Community: collective experiences and fellowship. Community and meta-narrative is inextricably bound for that is the framework with which we understand the world and what we take to be reality.

Filters. We suffer a 5-degree level of separation from perceived reality as shared in community stories:
0. an event occurs, perceived by the source speaker
1. the source speaker experiences the event through a filter dependent on his senses: perceptiveness and subjective perspective.
2. he process the sensorial information shaped by his values, culture and perspectives he's internalized - the second filter
3. Third filter: he shares this experience aurally and visually, relying on his ability for precision and clarity
4. the receipient receives aural and visual account through his senses - another filter
5. Lastly, he processes the received information against a worldview shaped by values, culture and perspectives

Can we know anything at all? Who am I? What am I doing here?

Still, meta-narratives, the Myth is important. It provides a sense of belonging in the scheme of things - our place in the network, our walk that goes ever on, Mr Gamgee and Mr Frodo. Our Hero that has come for us, dashing through the clouds, crashing walls to rescue us. Issues of existence and purpose.

So we live in the moment, for the moment. For it is the present moment which seems most tangible. Sort of. Tanglibly fleeting. We pass through an infinite number of miniscule moments that hurtle us inexplicably through that one-sided dimension which is Time.

Teach us to count the days; teach us to make the days count. Time is our currency, and spend, we must. How we spend is ours, but once we spend it never comes back.

For as characters in the meta-narrative, that eternal Storyboard, we must walk out our roles, our days, our choices - both freewilled and proscribed. Yea, we are no mere random product of butterfly wings, but we are the very created will and purpose of a transcendant Creator, yet the choice is ours to walk away. We know so very little, and so trust we must, for there can be no other way. Only His goodness and grace can sustain us.

Oh, for strength for the seasons! Oh, for grace to hold us. Oh, for assurance to keep us through the changing tides. Thank You, thank You, thank You!

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain

Humid Spore

Keywords: Ywl, shwpr, commanded blessings, community, promises

So I'm back for abit, on assignment. Glad to be back, and glad to be gone in a way. Things to do, people to meet. Weddings, Mongolian reunions, Levitical unction, bbqs, Thai greetings, daily scoops.

If you're around in town and free on the 14th July, do drop by for The Worship Gathering at Boy Brigade Headquarters. 8-10pm. Free! Soak, rest, minister, intimacy with the Father.