a month of insanity
It's been slightly more than a month since i last blogged, i've missed it and i've missed hearing back from people! Hope everyone is good - lookin forward to seeing homies from the hood when i get back in Dec. Can't wait (almost!) to catch up with like-minded Christians and share the struggle of the walk and ministry.
It's been a month of insanity here in Ellie-town... had a whole barrage of assignments, films, performances and a solitary exam over the past few weeks which should justify my forced silence on the blogscene. It's been good, i've had some really cool times esp doing filming/acting and to do that for an entire paper in uni is just magical... Actually, if all goes well i'll be doing tv for the next 2 years so all my assignments will be short films i guess which is real exciting.
Guess the next natural question would be - what would i wanna do with this degree? I don't honestly know, i love the acting and that sorta stuff, just being a monkey really (being myself) and horsing around in front of people, making people laugh. Not sure if i could do it for a living though. Yous who know me well would know that a big part of my life is music, not that i worship it at all, but i'm always seconded to the music team in church and i really enjoy playing, and i'm finding a passion for good music. (as opposed to pimp-ho trash, tweeny bubblegum pop or suicidal death metal)
Good music is so hard to find these days. What i mean by good music is God-glorifying music with biblical themes (not necessarily religious/ overtly christian lyrics) but lyrics which reflect the nature of God, or probably more accessibly, lyrics which reflect the state of man without God and their need for Him. So my dream for the mo would be to be involved in a band which tours New Zealand, going to universities and churches and youth groups, and helping young people to understand God better through music, and equipping churches to sing good biblical songs and help them better understand the concept of worship in its totality. A good secular song reflecting man's need for God is John Mayer's Something's Missing - not sure if i shared this earlier but if i haven't, check it out.
Well, apart from my uni stuff i found the time to run the Auckland half marathon which was pretty cool! I've never run one properly before, the last time i ran the Army Half Marathon i ran with other people and we tried to jog the whole way but that was way too painful so we gave up after 16k. This time i trained for it myself and finished it myself. That was the sad part too - that no one i knew was doing it with me, so it was just me and God plugging along which was cool. My dad popped up several times during the first 10k which was real sweet. Except it was after 17 that i felt like i was gonna die.
My last day working at Woolworths was on Tuesday!! They don't wanna give me leave for 2 months to go home, so i have to quit, which is not too regretable seeing my boss is beginning to hate me because i'm not your regular sweatshop Asian. I still love my friends, tho. I've been blessed with an awesome shelf-stacking relationship with the little Filipino, Jun, and Lui the Samoan... and i had the privilege of visiting Lui's family and sharing a meal with them which was well cool.
It's not all been rosy though, exams and assignments have been kinda tough (prob cos i've been doing all nighters everytime there's an assignment due), although i've really begun to love learning about the media world and engaging with it and forming opinions and thinking about what it means to be a Christian in the world of conglomerates and ratings and moneymaking scams and morally deviant tv programmes. Also over the past week or so i had some intense moments of nostalgia which weren't helpful to my exam prep, and i guess there is still some closure that needs to be settled upon returning home.
Finally, on a very joyful note, the uni CF group has completed its first year in business, and it's been great growing with a bunch of 10 or so young Christians, passionate for God's glory and for His Word. Last week was our final study in the book of Luke, Lk 24, the Resurrection, and even though it was exam period, about 8 of us met from 5-8pm in the student commons just working through the (rather long) passage. At 7pm i asked them if they needed to leave and there was a indignant chorus of nos which made me really happy - so praise God for that. There is much to be learnt and much to be done if we really want to impact the campus with the Gospel, but it's been a great start, so please continue to pray for us, for humility and teachability towards the Sovereignity of the Word and to live it out and make changes in our lives and on campus for God's glory. Next week, 6 of us are going for a leadership conference with the rest of the TSCF campus group leaders, and afterwards to do the Tongariro Crossing which is apparently the nicest 1-day walk in NZ. Do pray for a good time of learning and fellowship, and for clear and faithful teaching (which, thankfully, i'm sure there'll be).
See you all in a few weeks, yippee!! :)
It's been a month of insanity here in Ellie-town... had a whole barrage of assignments, films, performances and a solitary exam over the past few weeks which should justify my forced silence on the blogscene. It's been good, i've had some really cool times esp doing filming/acting and to do that for an entire paper in uni is just magical... Actually, if all goes well i'll be doing tv for the next 2 years so all my assignments will be short films i guess which is real exciting.
Guess the next natural question would be - what would i wanna do with this degree? I don't honestly know, i love the acting and that sorta stuff, just being a monkey really (being myself) and horsing around in front of people, making people laugh. Not sure if i could do it for a living though. Yous who know me well would know that a big part of my life is music, not that i worship it at all, but i'm always seconded to the music team in church and i really enjoy playing, and i'm finding a passion for good music. (as opposed to pimp-ho trash, tweeny bubblegum pop or suicidal death metal)
Good music is so hard to find these days. What i mean by good music is God-glorifying music with biblical themes (not necessarily religious/ overtly christian lyrics) but lyrics which reflect the nature of God, or probably more accessibly, lyrics which reflect the state of man without God and their need for Him. So my dream for the mo would be to be involved in a band which tours New Zealand, going to universities and churches and youth groups, and helping young people to understand God better through music, and equipping churches to sing good biblical songs and help them better understand the concept of worship in its totality. A good secular song reflecting man's need for God is John Mayer's Something's Missing - not sure if i shared this earlier but if i haven't, check it out.
Well, apart from my uni stuff i found the time to run the Auckland half marathon which was pretty cool! I've never run one properly before, the last time i ran the Army Half Marathon i ran with other people and we tried to jog the whole way but that was way too painful so we gave up after 16k. This time i trained for it myself and finished it myself. That was the sad part too - that no one i knew was doing it with me, so it was just me and God plugging along which was cool. My dad popped up several times during the first 10k which was real sweet. Except it was after 17 that i felt like i was gonna die.
My last day working at Woolworths was on Tuesday!! They don't wanna give me leave for 2 months to go home, so i have to quit, which is not too regretable seeing my boss is beginning to hate me because i'm not your regular sweatshop Asian. I still love my friends, tho. I've been blessed with an awesome shelf-stacking relationship with the little Filipino, Jun, and Lui the Samoan... and i had the privilege of visiting Lui's family and sharing a meal with them which was well cool.
It's not all been rosy though, exams and assignments have been kinda tough (prob cos i've been doing all nighters everytime there's an assignment due), although i've really begun to love learning about the media world and engaging with it and forming opinions and thinking about what it means to be a Christian in the world of conglomerates and ratings and moneymaking scams and morally deviant tv programmes. Also over the past week or so i had some intense moments of nostalgia which weren't helpful to my exam prep, and i guess there is still some closure that needs to be settled upon returning home.
Finally, on a very joyful note, the uni CF group has completed its first year in business, and it's been great growing with a bunch of 10 or so young Christians, passionate for God's glory and for His Word. Last week was our final study in the book of Luke, Lk 24, the Resurrection, and even though it was exam period, about 8 of us met from 5-8pm in the student commons just working through the (rather long) passage. At 7pm i asked them if they needed to leave and there was a indignant chorus of nos which made me really happy - so praise God for that. There is much to be learnt and much to be done if we really want to impact the campus with the Gospel, but it's been a great start, so please continue to pray for us, for humility and teachability towards the Sovereignity of the Word and to live it out and make changes in our lives and on campus for God's glory. Next week, 6 of us are going for a leadership conference with the rest of the TSCF campus group leaders, and afterwards to do the Tongariro Crossing which is apparently the nicest 1-day walk in NZ. Do pray for a good time of learning and fellowship, and for clear and faithful teaching (which, thankfully, i'm sure there'll be).
See you all in a few weeks, yippee!! :)
posted by elliot at 10:15 PM
2 Comments:
nice to see you back from Silentville, El. Amazing that you ran a half-marathon! Thanks for sharing, and take care. :)
cheers for tagging, siuling... see you in a few weeks, miss the sound of your voice!! :)
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