I Heart Worship Revolution

At the recent Festival of Praise concert, I bought the Hillsong's "I heart Revolution" worship compilation cd with live versions of most of their more popular songs. The interesting thing is that, the songs are sung live in different states, in different countries, by different people of different nationalites from different walks of life.


Yups, that's a whole lot of differences there! But there's a very sublime similarity - It's worshipping the same God. "It's all of us coming together as the Church, under one banner - the name of Jesus Christ."

Joel Houston, a worship leader from Hillsong Sydney, penned this message on the album which brought tears to me. (and I'm going to type down every single word cos it really impacted me). I am not being emotional. It's one of those times when I get so touched and impacted that it wows me so much. It's like, Thank You God, I've found a greater purpose in life and to realize how blessed I truly am.

*****

Here's the short opening message By Houston,

"In November 2005, we stood in a stadium in Bogota, Colombia, with thousands upon thousands of people we'd never seen nor met before. We were about to hit the first note of the night when the power went out completely - no lights, no amplication, nothing but a whole lot of people together in the darkness. For a few awkward seconds I didn't know what to do as my heart skipped and I looked frantically for someone to sort it out. But before I had a chance to worry, I found myself caught up in one of the most incredible worship moments of my life: the people began to roar. It was a shout of praise that defied the present circumstance. It was more than hype, it went beyond a cheer, this was something else altogether. The people took over and we got swept up in it, the whole band joining in the shout, at one with the people. Nobody gave a second thought to anything other than the reason we were all there - to simply encounter our God and to bring glory to His Name.

In that moment I realised that when humanity responds to the call of God and chooses to do that which we were created for, our circumstances and our differences are forgotten. In that same moment I realised God is at work amongst His people all over the planet, and who He is and the message of hope that is found in His Name, is more relevant than anything on earth to the journey and experience of all people. I realised we are all a part of the masterpiece that God is painting and though we can't see the entire canvas, it is so much bigger and more beautiful than we could ever understand or imagine and we all have our place and part to play within it.

It was during our time there in Colombia that we felt we have to tell this story. To try and give others a glimpse of what God is doing all over the world and help to show others what we are all a part of... From Rwanda to Cape Town, Buenos Aires to Mexico City, LA to Toronto, London to Budapest and Shanghai to Sydney, this project is not for a second about "Hillsong United" or where we've been, or the music or even the songs: this project is about the people, about the real lives encountering a real GOD. It's about all of us coming together as the Church, under one banner - the name of JESUS. It's the sound of a generation across the earth with hearts as one, singing a love song to the ONE who IS LOVE, and who in response to that love, are choosing to live a life of worship that goes beyond just the confession of our lips, to a life to love and action - reaching out to the lost and the broken, helping the poor and the oppressed and pursuing justice and fairness for all people."

*****

After reading the message, listening to the voices of people singing live and the unified joyous clapping, I was just blown away by the amazing thought and reality of this church without walls and boundaries. The global church which is not bounded by differences in language, nationality, race and age. The time is now and we are definitely a generation living in exciting times.

A short sharing. Honestly speaking, to be very frank, I used to be a mini skeptic when it comes to singing worship songs. I used to visit churches before I became a Christian and when I see the joyful clapping and singing, I will just think to myself a bunch of questions like, "Are you guys really that joyful?, "Why can't worship be done at home and why do u need to jump and all that"?

And I share, when I experience this joy for myself, it's nothing on this earth. It's indescribable. No matter what crap that was thrown at you during the week (workloads, deadlines, unreasonable bosses/colleagues etc...), worshipping be it singing at home or in church, just fills you up with unspeakable joy, peace and love. To know and be assured that there's a God who is for you, working for you, supporting you. This knowledge just pushes you along in life. And when filled with this kind of joy, its only natural to want to dance, jump and clap along.

*****

This is real love - not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. - 1 John 4:10 (New Living Translation)

I'm Green-Brained.

I went for a brand consultant trainee interview and I did a short online test. And this is my result which I am supposed to send to the company for review.

I am 60% green brained. If you are interested, here's my results...(the ones highlighted red are those sentences about me which are pretty true of me.)

People with a green brain are forward moving. They process their surroundings as a summary of the overall situation and can see the "Big Picture" of things they get involved in. Thinking is in non-linier random chunks so they can usually only fully concentrate on one situation at a time. (Which means I can't mulitask lah??) The initiation sequence collects information, acts on the information, processes information and actions, collects more information, acts on it again, processes and shapes it some more, gets more information and acts on it again. This random processing style aides in the flow of ideas since one concept does not have to be connected to the other. Interaction with others in an exchange of ideas is natural. When there is a project, they will easily work with others to come up with creative approaches to it, and will have a big picture outcome in mind when they start. (so true!) If there is a problem, they will set out to resolve it immediately. Green brain people usually ask a lot of questions to try to understand things from an objective point of view. (I can ask super alot of questions if I want to, but I don't ask stupid questions) In relationships or projects, green brained individuals are usually very focused, driven, and intense. They work well with other people as well as by themselves.

Communicating with green brained people can be challenging to some because they don't pay much attention to detail and while they are good communicators, they are often too general in their explanations.(yea, its a waste of time to explain in detail =\) Also, because they tend to try to solve problems quickly and move on, so others may perceive them as impatient. Since ideas are always in movement, the green brain process of shaping and reshaping ideas as new information is received may give others the perception of them being erratic or even fickle. Because of this randomness in thinking, they tend to only focus on one thing at a time, leaving individuals who are not the focus of attention at the time the impression that they are insensitive to their needs, when in reality they are simply unaware. And since they are usually expressing their ideas with single-mindedness or passion, some may feel that green brains are "pushing" their views as the "only" way, when in fact because of their inclination for objectivity, they are usually just putting them out to stir up feedback.

Green brained people often flourish in roles that require innovation. They are best for making speedy progress and creating short term plans. Green brained individuals are also best for initiating change, and often develop talents to get others excited from their visionary inspirations.

After reading it, I think it's pretty BS-ish to be included in the selection process. Haha, I only picked one word from the entire result which is, Green-minded people are random. And its indeed true, I am very random.

Other random stuff:

One dumb irony that always happen to me during the watching of Olympics. Last Olympics at Athens, I kept tuning to swimming just to catch the swimming legend, Michael Phelps. And all I caught was, the second best which was Ian Thorpe. Frustrating.

This Olympics at Beijing, same thing!. Oh well, shall not be that shallow.

RANDOM. Blogging is so boring now. In my mind, I have so many things I want to share about and write down, but I am just so lazy to do so. What's new right.

Till next time, bye and God bless!

Something I Really Needed to Read

Philippians 4: 6-7 (New International Version)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.


I love the message version of the exact same 2 verses. For your information, the verses are paraphrased from the original biblical text in a more contemporary language for a more dynamic understanding. Both versions portray the same meaning.

Philippians 4:6-7 (The Message)

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

My dear friends should know what I've been praying about. A POSITION, not a mere job.

Thanks Jesus for the reminder when I tend to get impatient. I know You want the best for me even in this current slowing job market. Thank you for teaching me not to look at circumstances but to rise up above the circumstances.