Sunday, January 20, 2008

Day 19 'The SAME Power that conquers the grave lives in me'

Woke up at 9.40am today and walked down to Hillsong (London) Church.

I had such a great time of worship, it was just a BOMB. Blows away your mind. Hillsong is really anointed in the area of worship. The words of their song were simple but spoke so so much to me. ‘The SAME power that conquered the grave lives in me, lives in me..’
This simple truth is often forgotten, that indeed the same power over death, struggles and sin lives in us. That was so powerful to me.

Their setup is very cool. Drums in the centre, electric guitarist on both wings, (Both using telecasters!) The Bassist gets a personal elevated platform on the left wing and the 2 keyboardist on the right wing.

Senior Pastor of Hillsong London, Pastor Gary Clarke

He mentioned that the Senior Pastor of Hillsong Australia, Brian Houston (Father of ALL Hillsong) will be preaching in the evening service. I was like Wow… I get to meet him in London instead of Australia… cool..

So I went back hall to get my lunch, get some rest…

And some hours later….

I attended the evening service, anticipating Pastor Brian Houston

They had a different setup this time. 2 acoustic guitars. And focus your eyes on the left side of the picture. They had a FEMALE BASSIST!!!!!



She doesn’t play fancifully, but safe enough to backup the whole band. Sounds like someone from home isn’t it??? Looks like a Japanese or Korean girl…. But definitely from Asia. The only difference from home is… She moves and smiles quite abit. Unlike our Statue of Liberty from Home.

Tried to get a picture of Ps Brian Houston, but very blur… nevermind, just look at the bassist.

After service, I was standing around and this Harry Potter looking guy in Hillsong usher t-shirt struck a conversation with me ‘You doing ok dude?’

So we talked quite a bit and he introduced me to some of his friends. When I mentioned that I was studying at UCL, they brought me around and introduce me to another guy, and when I look at him.. I was like… ‘Isn’t this the electric guitarist that was playing on stage just now?’ Wowo… so the guitarist of Hillsong London studies at UCL… He invited me to attend his cell group and asked if I wanted to follow them to the bar nearby for a drink. I had to decline because I agreed to meet up with the EEC cell group for a farewell dinner for Ivan. But well, that was enough to get me excited for awhile.

And so off I went to look for the rest. When I arrive, I felt a bit of an ‘outsider’ because there were so many unfamiliar faces… Felt quite taken aback… But well, I’m just here to send Ivan off because he made me felt home when I was at EEC. I din order anything because the place look really expensive. But sure I don’t mind a glass of coke right?



After dinner, just like back home… Ivan got his fair share of tekan for farewell…
But they were really BRUTAL…
First, they painted his finger nails...





And they proceeded to wax his leg hair….





Food for thought: Some people make me feel welcome, but most of them don’t. Being an alien in a nation full of ang mos and unfamiliar faces. I really feel lonely, taken aback and small sometimes. I truly appreciate and cherish people taking the effort to make me feel welcomed, included and home.

Looking back at the days in Singapore, I felt that I have been such a bad host to foreign people, new comers… new friends. Sometimes we get so carried away by our own fun, private jokes within our own clique that other people’s needs became blinded and insignificant in our eyes. So hopefully I’ll become a better host when I finally back in Prata land!

Today’s expenditure: 1 Pound- Cokacola

1 comment:

sid said...

awesome! Nice read.. :)