The Big Rocks

The past two weeks have been crazy busy! But super fun and, more than that, empowering! Parachute Band, Zone Camp, Getting Started, great weekend services, preparation for the upcoming events in December, etc., etc., etc.

After stopping to thing for a while, I am remind me of a short story I once heard--something that has helped me over the past years during busy times like this.

One day a wise teacher was speaking to a group of his students. He pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed mason jar and set it on a table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placedthem, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, heasked, "Is this jar full?"

Everyone in the class said, "Yes.""Really?" he asked. "Let's see." He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Looking carefully from face to face, he smiled benevolently and asked again, "Is the jar full?"

His class was catching on quickly. "Probably not," one of them answered."Very good!" he replied. He then reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel.

When he was finished he onceagain asked, "Is this jar full?""No!" the class shouted. "Excellent!" he replied. Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and poured it in until the jar was filled to the brim.

Once again looking intently into the eyes of each student, he asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit some morethings into it!" "Aha, that's very good!" the teacher replied, "But let us look a bit deeper. This illustration also teaches us a higher truth: If you don't putthe big rocks in first, you will never get them in at all!"

This week, I'm excited to have all my big rocks in place--a very long time with God during rest day, some EV/integration outings, preparation for VBS and some other things. It's going to be a great week ahead. =)

Upsize 700! Breakthrough 1000!

okay, so I haven't written in what seems like ages, it's been busy but I'm going to make up for it. This is the first of many entries...

In faith we wrote down in the order of service last week that we would announce this weekend that we would breakthrough 700 in the youth attendance... God is truly a God who can do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think...

Last weekend we not only Upsized 700 with an attendance of... wait... drumroll.... 747(!!!) but the whole church broke past 900 with an attendance of 950!!! Woohoo! Not only are we celebrating a milestone victory but 1,000 is so near--I can almost taste it!

The thing is, it's not about the number and yet it is--facts and figures can be done by many people... but every number is one life closer to God--a seed sown, a heart touched, a life changed. I do this because my life has never been the same since I met Jesus. It's been one exciting journey and what's even better is the present will pale in comparison to the future. Most importantly, we are not just focused on getting converts here, we are talking about disciples--people who are growing in their walk with God, people who will give up and sacrifice for God, people who will live their lives surrendered to and radical for God.

Just a little bit more, we will soar through 1,000. Pastor shared recently that many years ago, in 2004, when we were still maybe around 200-300 youths (?) and still in Henderson, he marked down in one of his sermons that the church would breakthrough 1,000 in 2007... Wow... =) What an exciting time to be in--I am glad to be here to see that prophetic word come to pass! =)

On to a church of 3,000 strong!

A Close Encounter

My mom came down last week and shared with me something about the explosion in Manila a few weeks ago...

It all started when my very talented and artistic but not very financially-aware sister wanted to deposit a check into someone's bank account. She didn't know that a check could be deposited at any bank branch and thought that she had to go all the way to the branch where the person opened the account; so, she borrowed the family driver and my dad had to drive.

My parents headed to Ayala Mall where my mom got off to buy some groceries. For some reason, she did not feel like going to the grocery because there was too little on her list (you must understand that my mom likes to grocery shop for fun and does so every other day, so this in itself is very unusual).

My mom went to the mall area thinking that she would shop for some shoes instead but she again decided against it--another very unusual thing. She then called my dad who was driving around the area and told him to hurry up and pick her up. My sister then called to say that she was done with her banking and would drop the driver off at the mall area. The driver came followed by my dad.

Both my parents were looking for a toilet, but the only one that was nearby was in this small restaurant called Luk Yuen. My mom, being the ultra-hygienic person that she is didn't want to go so only my dad went in for a quick trip to the john. The guard on duty told the driver that he couldn't park there, but he bargained to say that it was only for a short while. Sure enough, after a few minutes my dad came and my parents left the vicinity.

Just a few seconds after the car turned the corner (which was surprisingly free of cars that day) a loud explosion sounded from the area where they had come from and a tower of smoke billowed in the air above the mall. My parents would later learn that the explosion had come from just beside the restaurant where the car was parked just a few seconds before. The car that was just behind ours was completely destroyed. The parking space where the driver would have parked the car if my sister did not use him that day was destroyed as was the bridge that led to the shopping mall. At least 7 people died that day, many more were injured; but my family was safe.

My mom says she felt a prompting in her heart to quickly leave that place that day. It was definitely the Holy Spirit.

How can people say there is no God?