One Short Day In The Emerald City

One Short Day In The Emerald City
"Come with me to the emerald city."

one short day in the emerald city.

"hope. i've always wanted to see the emerald city!"

one short day in the emerald city.....

one short day in the emerald city,
one short day, for there's so much to do!
every way, that you look in the city,
there's something excusite.
none to visit, before the day's through.

there are buildings tall as quats with trees.
dress salons, and libraries!
palaces, museums, 100 scrons.
there are wonders like I've never seen,
it's all grand!
and it's all green!
i think we've found the place were we belong!
i want to be, in this hoyologe!
so I'll be back for good some day
to make my life and make my way,
before today we'll wonder and enjoy!

one short day in the emerald city.
one short day, to have a life time of fun!
one short day,
and we're warning the city,
now that we're in here, you'll know we've been here,
before we are done!

"Elphee, come one! we'll be late for wizamania!"

whose the sage, whose savior?
aterararius! making all us marrier!
whose the sage? who saved me?
tell them to save, artararius!

whose a doose provide,
air baloony.
as all of us funny moonie!
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
isn't he wonderful?
our wonderful wizard!

part 1&2

part 1:
one short day! in the emerald city!
one short day to have a life time of fun!

part 2:
whose the sage, whose savior?
aterararius! making all of us marrier!
whose the sage? who saved me?
tell them to save, artararius!

one away to be seeing the city!

where so many rome to,
we'll call it home too!
then just like now, we can stay.

we're just 2 friends,
2 good friends.
2 best friends.
sharring a wonderful one short...

"The wizard will see you now!"

Dayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

When Elphaba and Galinda arrived at the Emerald City to meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, they were filled with expectation and awe. Hence the above upbeat number "One Short Day In The Emerald City". However, with out spoiling the story, they were met with disappointment. The highly anticipated wonderful wizard was not who they though would be.

Both Elphaba and Galinda thought one day they will return to the Emerald City for good: "so I'll be back for good some day // to make my life and make my way". But just as most self-proclaimed, exceedingly high expectations will eventually come crashing down, this was truth for these two best friends.

I have had the songs for Wicked in my mind all week this week, and this serves as a reminder for me not to place exceedingly high expectation on things of the world. More precisely, similar to Elphaba and Galinda, not to place high expectations on a certain trip in July. Yes, it is exciting and I look forward to this trip with high anticipation for various reasons. I must focus on the task and calling I have at hand and "Be strong and do the work." (1 Chronicles 28: 10 ff)

Intentionally Relational

Now as my life mainly revolves around seminary, the church and ministry, I always feared about losing touch with the secular world. I often asked myself, who are my non-Christian friends?

Who am I going to witness to when I have no contact with my non-Christian friends? The key to "friendship evangelism" is "friends". But am I so focused on friends that I'm treating friendship evangelism as the "silver bullet" of evangelism?

And is purposely making friends for the sole purpose of evangelism doing justice to that particle individual? When happens when that individual accepts Christ? Do I move on to another friend? NO! That's not how love your neighbours mean.

What should I do? I have given much though about the past few months and what Darren deGraf of BCOQ said during lecture today rings closely to the thoughts in my mind. Be intentionally Relational. Start a routine, and meet acquaintances and witness to them...

This echoes what Rev. Lau has been saying all along: "Be informal yet intentional."

Am I Real?

"You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
~Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

Life is a process of becoming. You either become who you were meant to be, or you become who you were not. One way or another, you become somebody. And this process of becoming is a long process.

Today, I questioned myself how do I become a footnote in the lives of those I minister to?

I have to be vulnerable, be transparent, smooth out my sharp edges, and open up myself to be loved. This process is usually painful -- most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But his is the only way to become real to those who I minister to. In order to touch the lives of my congregation with my live, I stand vulnerable, exposed, naked. It might not be a pretty sight, "but these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

What is in Tomorrow?

13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
~James 4:13-17

In my preaching class today we were practicing our exegetical skills by extracting the subject and the compliment from a passage of Scripture. I love this class for the new insights I am getting from the Scriptures. As we were flying through verse after verse, James 4:13-17 stopped my right in my tracks.

In the recent weeks, I was so preoccupied by the future, I fear that I was boasting and bragging about it. I need to be more sensitive to the will of God.

Joel the Footnote

Some must have wondered why did I change my MSN name from Joel the Barnacle to Joel the Footnote.

From www.dictionary.com:
foot·note /ˈfʊtˌnoʊt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciati[foot-noht] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, -not·ed, -not·ing. –noun

1.	an explanatory or documenting note or comment at the bottom of a page, referring to a specific part of the text on the page.

2.	a minor or tangential comment or event added or subordinated to a main statement or more important event.

–verb (used with object)

3.	to add a footnote or footnotes to (a text, statement, etc.); annotate: to footnote a dissertation.

Learning from the experience in Urbana, coming back home to be a mobilizer to my congregation. I want the Lord to do great works through the members of my congregation.

He must become greater; I must become less.
~John 3:30

As I am call to disciple God's servants, I don't want them to me like me. Through my ministry, I want my congregation to become like God. I just want to be a minor or tangential comment or event added or subordinated to a main statement or more important event. That more import event is God's story unfolding in their lives. So that I will be forgotten as a mere footnote while the Gospel is glorified.

Not About Me

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
~Rom 12:1

I must admit in my ministry there are times that I just want to step back and lay-low. For example, at Urbana, I wanted to room with people outside from my church. For one week, I did not want to be a leader. For one week, I just want to be like the common denominator. For one week, I just want to be like everyone else... But I soon realized, Urbana is not the only time I felt this way. Many times on Friday night I have a similar feeling...

Reflecting on Dave Overholt's lecture yesterday, ministry is not about me. It is about God who wants to use me. I think my old high tech full-time mentality has gotta the best of me. Yes, I am called into full-time ministry. This does not mean that I put in my 40, 50, or even 80 hours a week and that's full-time ministry. Full-time ministry in the Lord is a 24/7 calling. Whether I like it or not, it's not about me. Yes, there are time to step away and rest, but it is my attitude the needs to change.

"Offer your bodies as living sacrifices." Merely putting in 40 hours a week is not a sacrifice. It is just doing what's "convenient" for me. If my attitude were to change, I need to treat everything I do as ministry.

It is not about me.

The Journey... springboarding from Urbana

Learning from my experience in Thailand and Vietnam, I purposely let several weeks past by before composing a reflection on my experience on Urbana 06. Sorry for those who were looking for my thought on Urbana over the past weeks, but I realize that if I wrote something right away it will be mostly hype and emotions. Therefore I took the past few weeks to let the whole Urbana experience sink deep into my core.

As mentioned in Jenny's reflection on Urbana, the two of us had the unexpected yet delightful opportunity to spend the Urbana week together. We were prepared to not see each other through the whole week, but for some reason we ran into each other in the mist of 22,000 people and we had the opportunity to have our daily walk and chat - on what the experience at Urbana means to our relationship. Throughout the week, I also had the opportunity to witness how Jenny works and interact with her fellow student workers. This was refreshing and comforting because through her stay in Toronto she was the one meeting all my friends and family and it was good to see her with her friends and the chance to meet her friends.

Also, being part of the pastoral track and choosing to focusing on mobilization in my seminar selection, I was blessed with wonderful messages and challenges. Okay, by this point you are wondering and questioning: "Joel, what was God's calling for you at Urbana." This is my cope out answer - I realize that God is calling me to mobilize my congregation while waiting for God to lead me to my next step.

That is all I am going to say about "my calling", because I realized that is not the most important thing I got out of Urbana. While I would continue to encourage those in my congregation that was challenged and was called at Urbana, I would also remind them that a calling is a process - a journey. In seeking God's purpose for you, it is not like "BOOM!" and you suddenly know what God has planned for you. And even if you realized God has call you into a ministry, it is rarely you move from "minding your our life" directly into "fully immersed in ministry". Usually it is a gradual process - a process of patience and wrestling.

On realizing this, it made me take a step back. This was exactly what Jenny realized when we were sharing on the drive home from Urbana. Man, that is why I'm falling in love with her! God uses her to challenge me and my ministry. She was able to discern this immediately at the end of Urbana while it took me 3 week. :P

How many times I have heard these words:

• "I wish I can be in China right NOW serving the Lord."
• "I wish I can drop everything I'm doing and serve the Lord."
• "Why cannot our worship at church be better NOW."
• "Why can't I know NOW exactly what God wants me to do."
  

Yes, it is great to get direction from the Lord on where He wants you to be. But IMHO, I do not think that is God's biggest concern. He knows you will get there eventually. What He IS interested in is your journey, how you will wrestle and struggle on this journey, and how you will grow. This is why God rarely waves His magic wand and changes an individual immediately.

To struggle and to wrestle...

"You have a calling..." But in order to "live worthy of your calling" involves wrestling with the Lord and asking Him to bend you and break you so that you will fit into the calling God has for you.

God is interested in growth. But as a church leader we have a tendency to focus too much on facilitating on this growth. Let God worry about the growth. He is the master gardener. :) Learning from Rick Warren at Urbana, we don't have to worry too much about the grow. Just keep you congregation alive. And all living things grow!

On a final note. We are back in Toronto. The youths are back into their normal lives at school. And Jenny is back in Vancouver. I am glad that Jenny is back in Vancouver. This gives us a chance to wrestle with what God has given us.

A New School Term... A New Beginning

It is the second day of school and I'm already feeling I'm falling behind.

More reflection from the past month to follow...