Guys Flag Football

I can't help but smile when I think about how friendships come and go. Certain ones last for a lifetime and I won't go there because experts have spent countless hours studying that topic, and I'm not about to exhaust myself analyzing that. However, as a side note, I do have to mention that certain friendships that resurfaced recently, namely friends back in Malaysia. For some (ie: Mathan, Feli, Nicky, Jade, Laine, Chaiyen, Ting, Ewe, InnWinn, etc.) there was a period of silence but it's great to see how we just pick up where we left off. For others (ie: Kim, Viv, Diana, Derek, Chyihwang, etc.), these guys were buddies back in the elementary days. I have not seen or talked to most of them for almost 14 years and it’s definitely a surprise to connect with them again in the cybersphere.
That was a pretty long side note but I guess it’s something that I have been thinking about today after one of them appeared in my dreams last night. How odd.


So here are some new friends that I met recently. Interesting bunch. Not much time invested but who knows? These are guys from the Vineyard church here in Kenner during one Saturday morning playing some Flag Football, a game that did not quite make it to the shores where I grew up in. But the game is an addictive sports I have to say. I thought the camera man did a fantastic job capturing some cool shots that I will never in my life imagine possible for my less-than-physical-self doing at this time.





Priceless!

Here are some friends that I recently reunited with since graduating from college. It’s definitely been a while but it certainly was good seeing them!

Michelle Danica


Meagan!

7 years Departure

I had to write this down. It's a milestone of my life, an event that marks the start of a new beginning. It's not a glamorous change, or one of those huge ordeals. In fact, it has brought me back to my roots, back to my first love. July 31st, 2006. It finally happened. Never quite thought this day will ever come this way. I have always known myself. I was never a quitter. No doubt, everything in the flesh was screaming “quitter” but I recognize His voice, that peace. I have always envisioned that the only way I would be uprooted from my ministry is if God Himself moved me. Perhaps through my job which is very much at risk of a promotion to another city of some sort. For the longest time (approx. 3 years) I have questioned, “Is it time yet?”. The reply was often similar. A firm but gentle “No, not yet”. I have always wondered, what’s the “yet” for? After Katrina, again, “Is it my time?” “No, not yet”. For 3 years, I strived through the thick and thin. The bitter sweetness of serving His people. My people. My dearest ones. For 3 years, I was faced with situations that did not flow fluidly. The previous 4 years was such an awesome time of my life. Granted, it did not always flow fluidly, but day by day, I saw Him opening doors I did not imagine were there! Perhaps I was excited to be in a new environment. Perhaps the excitement of being in the different country hasn’t sunk in yet. Regardless of the underlining reasons, I can’t deny that I was right at where He wanted me to be. My passion met His opportunity. But those days changed when He removed the key leaders from my life, which was my ministry. God still remained faithful through these years. I saw the growth that came as little as there were. It definitely has been a wrestle. Starting a full time job did not help either. I have also considered my full time job. Could I possibly juggle both my full time job and my other full time job in ministry? I did it for the pass years. I surely can keep doing it.

But while I was away for both trips to Malaysia and my training trips, I was gone for a total period of 7 weeks. For those first 4 weeks in Malaysia, I learned a couple of things:
1) I’m dispensable
2) I’m replaceable
3) The best worship happens when I’m all poured out.

Yea, it does sound very negative and probably being too hard on myself. But until I was able to swallow these humbling pills, I couldn’t accept the fact that the ministry could go on without me. I was constantly fighting the thought of “what I would do if I was in charge”. Stephanie laid it out straight. She let me have it. She knew me long enough to know that I’m a perfectionist, a person who takes charge and expects nothing but the best. Sounds like good values right? Not in this context. It was hurting the people I was working with. I did not allow God to teach them and to work in them because I was in the way. Granted, I have done enough to establish a foundation but it’s time to go.

The following 3 weeks while I was away in the trip described below, I had a lot of time to think about this again. And somehow this time, it was a peaceful decision. I did not worry nor did I argue with Him. It was a simple…. “Ok Lord, here we go and I will just trust you”. I didn’t know where He was gonna lead me. I still don’t. But what I do know is I am first called to LOVE Him, and then His People. So for now, my job is to do just that.

It was difficult as I broke the news to Nick, the band, the leadership team, my life group and especially Mr. Russell. I felt like I was disappointing them because I had to let them down. But again, I knew inside what obedience meant. But it still didn’t make any sense. God knows how much I love these kids. God knows how much I loved what I was doing, my passion in seeing youth coming to know Christ and loving Him in worship. God knows how much I love playing the guitar. That very night on July 31st, 2006, I opened up Oswald Chamber’s writings. The following passage floored me to my knees again in humbled confirmation:

"He comes where He commands us to leave. If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. When you obeyed and left all the consequences to God, the Lord went into your city to teach, but as long as you were disobedient, you blocked His way. Watch where you begin to debate with Him and put what you call your duty into competition with His commands. If you say, "I know that He told me to go, but my duty is here," it simply means that you do not believe that Jesus means what He says.
He teaches where He instructs us not to teach. "Master . . . let us make three tabernacles . . ." ( Luke 9:33 ).
Are we playing the part of an amateur providence, trying to play God’s role in the lives of others? Are we so noisy in our instruction of other people that God cannot get near them? We must learn to keep our mouths shut and our spirits alert. God wants to instruct us regarding His Son, and He wants to turn our times of prayer into mounts of transfiguration. When we become certain that God is going to work in a particular way, He will never work in that way again.
He works where He sends us to wait. ". . . tarry . . . until . . ." (Luke 24:49 ). "Wait on the Lord" and He will work (Psalm 37:34 ). But don’t wait sulking spiritually and feeling sorry for yourself, just because you can’t see one inch in front of you! Are we detached enough from our own spiritual fits of emotion to "wait patiently for Him"? ( Psalm 37:7 ). Waiting is not sitting with folded hands doing nothing, but it is learning to do what we are told.
These are some of the facets of His ways that we rarely recognize."

Summer 2006 Trips

So it started on July 10th, Sarasota, FL. It has been some crazy weeks. Fun though. SJ brought me to the airport and we had coffee at 6am before catching the plane. I'm grateful for how much she helps me out. She's so funny and it definitely makes me smile when I think about her. Flight was rather boring and it was definitely interesting when I had to board a flight that I actually had to duck down low as I find my seat. (Needless to say, it's not a very common problem for me). This would mark the start of my summer training venture to interesting places in the US. I can't complain because I'm actually grateful to my company for investing so much into me. By the end of this blog you will find some interesting stats about my expense account.
Sarasota welcomed me with an interesting gesture....a marine tank filled with baby sharks. I couldn't pass it up but took some pics of it because I thought about SJ with her baby shark obsession. National Rental decided to be funny and gave me a friggin' purple chevy. What the heck???? That honestly messed up my roll. I was experiencing identity crisis. But I couldn't let that ruin the rest of my trip so whatever. The hotel was by the beach. It has a pretty cool view but I wasn't that all amazed by the condition of it.

Lido beach is a small beach community that caters to millionairs who have bad taste in fashion. However, I have to admit I did purchase a pair of sunglasses that cost me 300 green bucks. I couldn't passed it up because I needed a pair of sunglasses and the lady was kind enough to show me every pair of prada and bvlgari that she had...that would suit me.
The class was decent. Everything an inspiring engineer needs to know about Steam Turbines and Generators. I won't bother to put details here as it would definitely cause you to quit reading right here.

The night life: one would think that being a beach town in FL, many happenings could be found....I'd rather spent my nights in the hotel room if it wasn't for Donald who wants some company as he puts down 6 packs. I would have to say that there were many incidents where I met and chat with a couple of girls but it was just weird. There was Christy, Megan, Lindsay, and Michelle. All at different places and times but I guess it just didn't feel right continuing any long term relationships with them.



July 14th, 2006 - Head over to ATL to meet up with Josh and Tara. It was a good time as I got to meet up with Andy, Steen, Matt and Chelsea.
Spent Saturday night with Josh's best friend in his bachelor party. Don't worry, we split right after dinner before any typical bachelor party activities started. Had a good afternoon spent with Josh's parents.





July 16th, 2006 - Board the plane and flew to Milwaukee. Luggage was overweight so I had to cough up 25 bucks for the extra pounds, a mere 4.5lbs. That sucked. What sucked even more is when I got there at 10pm and discovered that they lost my luggage. So here I was, tired and nasty, spent the rest of the night without any change of clothes. My luggage decided to show up the next evening. I was grateful although it was just weird to have on the same change of clothes 2 days in a row. Class was a bore. By now, I had enough of Ray, our instructor. He's a roughneck and a half. Very knowledgable though. This is part 2 of turbine class. The best part of the trip is hanging out with the guys from work. I can't say they are exactly the type of people I will hang out with every weekend, but they sure were entertaining.



The last night in Milwaukee was cool as I got to go to an annual Italian fest and catch a reggae band playing at a local hang out spot later that night.

July 21st, 2006 - Packed up and decided to grab lunch before heading to the airport. "Simple lunch will do", I thought to myself. Although I hated the food in the hotel's restaurant, it would have to do for that day. But to my surprise, 3 of the patrons were the girls that we had met in the hotel lobby the last couple of nights. (met=hello goodbye). After much cool composure and exchange of smile, I had to go but decided to bless one of them and paid for her meal without her knowledge. So I left Milwaukee with that hanging in mid air because I don't think she even knew my name or anything else but the fact that I just paid for her lunch and we will never meet again...silly as I laughed at myself but I think it made her day regardless. So I headed to the airport with glee until I saw the plane I had to board to take me to my next stop.


9:00pm Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Sooner state. It was so good to see Steve and Kimber. Steve used to lead worship at our church and left for Taiwan as a missionary. They just had a kid. Ethan. Adorable. Kimber's gift is definitely hospitality. It's always such a blessing to visit with the Morrows.
I was able to visit the church that he was trying to get a job with. Definitely the city with the most beautiful God-loving girls, not that it has anything relevant but just a point that stood out. I guess it is the buckle of the bible belt.
I gave my presentation. It was a disaster because I choked. I was the 3rd speaker and the phone that kept vibrating on my side did not help either! But after that it was a breeze to sit through everybody elses' presentation. Ofcourse I was excited because I knew I was going to see Heather that night. It was a long drive down to Denton, TX but it sure was worth it. I missed her. She definitely has grown a lot and it was interesting to see how well she carried some matured conversation. Her roomate Jenn came with us along with her bf to the japanese steakhouse for dinner. Jenn is a cute little girl with a good
taste in her clothes. Heather has a keen sense of style that exerts enough energy to invite you to talk to her but yet maintaining her posture as a godly lady. hmm...was I trying too hard to come out with the last sentense or did it just come out like it sounded good?

Spent the last night with the Morrow brothers and we hung out at this cool little campus bar and cafe called 7:27. I absolutely love the theme of industrial stainless steel furnishing the rest of the cafe.

July 26th, 2006. Woke up late and missed my flight. That was just dumb. But I managed to purchase another ticket from Southwest. When I got to the counter, the lady with a puzzled look on her face asked..."sonny, are you lost?"
"no maam" I answer.
"I just need to purchase a ticket"
"How old are you? You have to be 16 to fly, sonny"
"(dead silence dagger piercing stare with dropped jaw)maam, I'm 25"

Nevertheless, I got my ticket eventually and headed back to New Orleans. SJ came and picked me up. It was very sweet of her but she got lost and was not able to wait for me. Instead I had to get her out of her lostness. Aw. I miss her. Home sweet home.