]This is a testimony of what happened yesterday. Something that makes me smile all the way back home. I e-mailed this to my team-ic in usher and my w143 yahoogroup.
Here's it. Thought of sharing this here as well.
e-mailed typed yesterday. But i sent it out today :)
Hi.
I am sending this late in the night lest i forgot something special that happened today. :) I am really blessed by Ps Kong's mind-renewing message about "In-Laws" though i never thought In-Laws can be scary. :P
Well i am keeping this short. This testimony is really awesome and i really feel blessed by God's touch in the situations we face. Well it happened as i ministered to the crowd today. Today's a pretty challenging day for the ushers because before the actual start of the service, there is a cell group leader training meeting held in the hall (which is actually like a mini-service before the start of the service). So everything is pretty rush and we have less time to prepare than the usual services we have.
One cool thing i've realised is that as they were having the meeting .. there is a pretty strong presence of God all around the area. I din realise at the start but i felt a really big change in atmosphere through our service later on. :) And more about that.. i was ministered personally by the Lord about something in particular during the service.
I was acting as a Acupoint in the crowd. I played a pretty important role in controlling the flow of people up and down the terraces. When i was told to close the zone (so that the crowd can also occupy other zones that have more free seats. ), i have to kindly direct the people down the aisle to the next zone. It was going on pretty smoothly until an elderly man spoke and commented about the way i usher in a pretty condescending tone. He said that i shouldn't reject people and say there aren't seats on top when there is still plenty. "This would be lying!" he said. Well i might have said many things to the crowd to direct the crowd but i am not sure i told them if there are no seats on top. Nevertheless, i din respond to the remark. And the man began to comment and comment to his wife about ushers and stuff. I simply ignored him and continued to serve the crowd that was going by. But then, there's just this nagging feeling in my heart - feeling of sadness and well i can't remember what was it then. But through that service, i was pretty disturbed by what he said to me. I began to argue in my mind the things that he say when it pops up in my mind. *argue argue argue* . Nope i always serve with the intent of making sure everyone enjoys the service. I am not just serving people. I am ministering to them. and thru that i become a good servant of Jesus... Now what he says about ushers are the most unthoughtful things! How can he say things like tat. HMPH GRRR. *argue argue*
In short, my first impression of him isn't very good. It's horrible. And i can't help criticising him in my mind of his rude behaviour towards me. And the funny thing is... this simple incident doesn't float awaaaay in my mind. It bugs me when i least expect it through the service. I was like ... "why i still think about this ?? " every thought of it makes me even more upset.
Near the end of the service, God finally spoke to my heart.
"Jason apologise to him."
"what? why? "
"Apologise to him. Remember about what you've learnt these few days and weeks."
I've continued reading a book lent to me by Yijie about "Under Cover - John Bevere's book" It's about the importance of respecting Authority in our lives and how we can be cursed, or blessed - depending on the choices we make that shows our attitude towards our leaders (God's appointed authoruty over our lives).
Obedience has been the core focus and direction in my spiritual jouney the last few weeks. The information that i've received from man / woman / word of God has been convicting me to obey. To obey what? Obey my leaders. Obey them. Even if they do all the wrong things. Obey them. Disobeying God's delegated Authority is disobeying God's inherent Authority! In short, you are disobeying God himself!
I shared with my friends during our CG discussion that i lived by a principal in the past (some of you might know cos i shared this principal around before). That if you want to gain respect .. learn to respect others first. And learn to respect yourself. I shared this out of the bitterness towards my leaders in my camp. I can't accept them as my Leaders because of their attitudes and irresponsible behaviour! Then i start mocking the army slogan "Commanding Respect. Respecting Command". I would used to say to my friends - that is the most nonsensical slogan army man can ever think of! Respect is earned. Not given out because we are commanded to. Because all your get out of this would be hypocrisy!
But well.. i've realise the slogan is true in its own sense. ok i tink i side-track too much so shall cut tis part short. I've taken 1 whole hard year to learn this. It's true that True Respect is earned. But that doesn't mean you should ever stop Respecting people. Well you might argue that if you are being 'forced' to respect .. it'll be just part of an act.... No no it's not true. In fact, you should honour your leaders and elders. The greek word for honour is timao, which is to honour, to have in honour, to revere or to venerate. Whether it's your boss. Your Teachers. Your CCA leaders. Your Parents or your Elders. You should reserve a portion of intrinsic respect towards them. Meaning to say, you got to mean it with your whole heart and soul. That's gonna be painful sometimes. But trust me in this. It brings positive and the right results in your life.
So back to the service. I knew in my heart i need to apologise. But like any typical Singaporean.. i feel paiseh ( shy shy in another words.). And doing that in front of the congregation is not exactly cool. And when it comes to apologising, our brain has a flash efficiency to produce a 101 excuses why you shouldn't do it. Aiya very malu you know... Aiya maybe the person forget already. If that happens den how?? No face no face!! Hmm maybe he doesn't really put it in his mind le. Afterall we had an awesome preaching by Ps Kong. Why spoil the atmosphere with some simple unhappy incident of the past?
My spiritual conviction affirms me to do it. After a heart-warming end in the service. The elderly man and his wife was about to leave. As they step down... i approached them, tap them on their shoulders and say .. "brother brother.."
He turns around and gives me a surprising look.
"I'm sorry brother. I shouldn't have ..."
" It's okay." he smiled warmly and said. " I am just trying to be helpful and it's nothing to be worry about."
I felt alittle shock to be honest. The next thing that happen is probably the sweetest thing that happen in the service. He gave me a big friendly hug.
I never felt so different before. He and his wife smiled and walked away.
Mom, now you know why i wanna share? That is a pretty life-changing experience. To have a bigger heart in the least of things is what we always forget or fail to do in life. When i obeyed God's conviction to apologise to that man, i never expected such a warm response from him. He's completely different from the critical man that i met earlier on first impression. The bible says Honour your leaders. Honour your elders. I never felt so honoured in return.
This is so true in our lives. When you honour yr elders, you honour God. And when you honour Him, He will honour you.
Enjoy the rest of the week. "
It's alittle long :) But hope it blesses and encourages my readers. Take care folks.
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