amazed + confused

the following is partly imported from my xanga..

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check out Cove Red on facebook:
7 past events since Jan 28, 3 upcoming events for the month of mar and apr.

is that ridiculous or what?
this is the kind of thing i asked God for in 2006.. when i just came back from the States..
and it slowly just came to pass. almost nothing for 2.5 years, then BOOM..
and the humanists, orphans, religious leaders, half a million singaporeans who watch ch5, potential future leaders in social justice.. are more than i could've ever imagined reaching since dec '08 (bt timah cc kids' library thingy)...
it's so huge, it's just going way over my head..

i am.. amazed + confused. looking back at my list of goals for 2009.. not one of these things were on my list. not even remotely close to being on it.

and while all this stuff is going on and more performance opps come along.. i remember that bringing freedom thru music to the (physically) oppressed was a big motivation for both of us (separately, before we knew each other) on this mus missions journey.. inspired by musicians who work with IJM and the like. keep pressing in and looking out..

for our current perfs, we like pray for spiritual impact thru our music as we intercede, treat it like worshipping outside of the church.
i mean, how apt do you think "look at the stars, see how they shine for you... your skin + bones.. turn(ed) into something beautiful.. and you know, for you i'd bleed my self dry" (yellow, coldplay) is for a humanist meeting on evolution? or "if you're lost you can look and you will find me, time after time", to a group of malay orphans?

it's so cool to have a partner (rach) who is real bold and on about proclaiming Jesus and loving people as i would (love to). who spoke confidently in a group of leaders and followers of different religions, about how the Bible says that God sings over us, and how we're clean because Jesus has set us free (shane + shane, you and i)! and for her own solo debuts throughout the island (two Sats this month, we'll be supporting her at 2 of the most popular performing venues / youth hangouts in singapore), her aim is to connect with her audience thru her life stories - kinda what we do in crusade evan events.


some thoughts on the past gigs:
-evolution meeting: the whole tone of the meeting was v v disparaging towards Christians, God etc. They were obviously having fun bashing 'religious ppl' and God. rach and i sat quietly, listened and tried to pay attention to.. what was going on in their hearts. why are they saying what they're saying? what prev experiences could have led them on this journey towards hating Christians/ the Church/ God?
we could tell by their mocking tone of voice, claims of being "staunch atheists"etc. that there were many with deep-seated hurts caused by some terrible 'Christian' encounter..

we watched a dvd on richard dawkins with the mocking subtitle "God strikes back" that was vv biased.. that aside.. rach and i wanted to bash the 'Christians' who sent Dawkins really bad hate mail / talked to him without any semblance of love or respect..
i wanted to cry at times like those, and when a boy in his early 20's said 'i'm an atheist because i went to a methodist school"..
it's easy to criticise, debate, hate these pple etc. but really.. we're not there to convert pple, set them right, we just want to understand, to love, to find in each one of them the image of God which they themselves are unaware of.. i can't promise you that any of them will become Christians in their lifetime, but i can pray into their lives as i get to know them, respect them as God's perfect creation, and (as a good bro-in-Christ said to me), "i just make sure they can see Jesus (in me)".

the coolest thing is that i got to share part of my testimony on why i'm a Christian to an atheist fella in his early 20's (half the grp was pretty young)- i can't even remember the last time i shared my testimony to a non-Christian, ok? i mean, it was so natural a topic to discuss b/c pple were intrigued as to y we wld spend our time in this God-bashing meeting..
anyway.. i just pray that we can build relationships with them founded on love and respect- not with "i'm gonna convert you!" or "i'll prove that i'm right!" at the back of my mind..

-vday mobile busking at orchard: amazing, got to talk and sing songs of love to a pple group i hardly encounter/ spend time with in my daily life- malay youth. orphans. we loved it and were SO psyched by the experience..!

-interfaith meeting. yup! told you about it up there. sikhs are cool!! they carry daggers around.

-connect-corners thanksgiving photo launch by fellow burmese-outreach-person annie: first time i've ever led worship outside of a Church/Christiany place!

-yinkoh's birthday concert: crazy fulfilment of a dream that's been incubating for years since i started writing songs my first yr in college...!! too much to say.. maybe on a later date..


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glory dust. it was so tiny and i couldn't believe it was there at first. but rach had seen it before during her times at her prev church + could recognise it. it was even under her long sleeves. light at coffee bean's outdoor tables was dim. only when i stared hard and we rotated our hands/arms slowly, were there moments when i was like "oh yah! got!"
it was dark blue and sparkly. i checked the table etc, looked up and around us but no sign of glittery stuff that could've rubbed off on us. anyway it was under her sleeves which i dare say is pretty impressive, God..
we weren't even really praying.. we had just listened to a sermon on pursuing a life of power and holiness by bill johnson.. and were discussing and sharing, pondering and wondering and dreaming.. and trying to figure out how to explaing to pple what our band name meant..

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thanks friends, for supporting and praying with us!
God is pretty cool yah?

love, yinky