Early again

We've been bringing sweet old songs back.
A song sang way back in my early days in CF:

.....
Let me find You in the desert

Till this sand is holy ground

And I am found completely surrendered

To You, my Lord and Friend

.....
And the depth of grace the forgiveness found
To be called a child of God
Just let me say how much I love You 
O my Saviour, my Lord and Friend

Back then, we sang in F.
Today we are going to do it in D, because males can barely touch the high notes.
And somewhere in the lyrics, there's been a change over the years.
Where 'I' have been replaced with 'You'.

The fingers were remembering a familiar melody last night.
One unsung for years, yet muscle memory remembered how sweet it was.
How there's an undiminished 7th that makes things sound so much sweeter between a ii and the V.
And how the slightest change of a D/F# to Em7, making it a ii V instead of I V, can make such a difference.

If only my heart is in the right place this morning.
Not just to nail all the chords right, but to sing this from within.
For I know this declaration. I want to sing this declaration.
But would You accept it, coming from this heart that hasn't been putting You first?

To sing of surrender while life has been a daily battle of frustrations.
To sing of the depths of Your grace and forgiveness while I am with 'unwanted' mentality this morning.
To sing of loving You when I haven't been soaking in that love or walking towards You.

Something that I've learned from the concert, we sing to declare the truth over our lives.
We sing when we don't feel like it, because it's His truth.
And for any child of God, His truth is the truth that prevails.


Lord, let this day be about You
Let us sing onto You
Play onto You
With all that our hearts can
Yet humbly knowing that
It's never enough
Amen.

Easy yoke

Funny how...

An excerpt from GiG devotion read during lunch:

I read about a pastor who preached a sermon on bearing each other’s burdens. The pastor referred to Matthew 11:29-30 where Jesus tells us to “take my yoke upon you…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” When he had finished his sermon, one of the church members came up to him and said, “I wish I had known what you were going to preach about. I could have told you something.” “Well, my friend,” the pastor said, “you can tell me now.” The church member asked the pastor, “Do you know why His yoke is light?” The pastor thought a moment and then responded, “Well, because the good Lord helps us to carry it, I suppose.” “No, sir,” he said, shaking his head. “You see, when I was a boy at home, I used to drive the oxen, and the yoke was never made to balance. Father’s yokes were always made heavier on one side than the other. Then we would put a weak ox in alongside a strong bullock. The light end would come on the weak ox and the heavier end on the stronger one. That’s why the yoke is easy and the burden is light—because the Lord’s yoke is made the same way. The heavy end is upon His shoulder.”

Matched back to the daily commentaries from church I'm way behind on, and thought I'd catch up tonight.

Matthew 11:29-30

New King James Version (NKJV)

²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

This being part of the reading from where I last left off.
It's been a long day yet strangely a peace has found its way. =)

A worthy weekend.

What happened:
McD at 10ish.
Drive.
Lunch at Tapah.
Drive.
Reach Nana's cousin's place.
Twinkled on the piano (Can't believe I've forgotten how a real piano feels like.)
Bathe and head out.
Found Wangsa Walk and had BBQ Chicken. (They seriously have hot spicy chicken!)
Metro.
Supper at NZ.
Slept.

Woke up early but slept back hence no breakfast.
Straight to Metro for 10am service.
Ate Wendy's for lunch! (freaking finally! The mushroom burger is way better than BK's!)
Slept til Tapah.
Drive.

Picture stolen from Nana's instagram

Israel Houghton's concert.
The crazy rushed weekend to KL was all for this one event.

I'm so glad I went.
On a spiritual high now.
(Wonder how long it'd last in this reality I live in though...)

Was just completely awestruck to find that the super talented drummer is the one playing the keyboard in the quiet moments. While his left leg keeps the high hat going. Like... OMG!!!!!

It was such a crazy time of praising Him.
And to just let the songs minister to my soul.
Singing those words out so heartily, you couldn't just be faking it.
Something had to give in, and it did.

And they ended it all with my favourite of the Decade album: I am not forgotten

I think the fact there wasn't a keyboardist helped.
Like, I'd be auto tuned to analyzing synthy sounds if there was one.
And the drummer was way too good to even bother to wonder what's going on there.

I'm thankful for the weekend that has been.
Have tons of sleep debt to catch up on before this weekend's on-call.

Early

*This is my 500th published post! Wee!*

It's 8am on a Sunday morning.
I'm trying to find the calmness to get through yet another session.

Another sleepless night, another waking up before the alarm rings, marks an anxious morning.
So here I am, early, hopeful that I'd break the spell, the tidal wave I know is coming.

What do words, and chords matter...if my heart isn't in it?
Because honestly I'm dried up.
Tired of yet another chord, yet another aim for 1-2 or 3-4 or 5 or 6th fingering position.
Tired of anxiously waiting for the what-happens-next signs from WL.
Tired of praying I don't screw this up.

And yet we press on.
Because it doesn't matter how we feel.
We, on the front lines, bring the congregation to Him.
We, put aside everything else, because that is our honor of our gifts on to Him.
That is the motto, the war cry for each and everyone of us.

I just want to close my eyes and play freely today.
I just want to hear Him and not be bogged down by what is happening around me.
I just want to play You that love song.

Just want to sing You a love song

To tell You Lord

Just how I feel about You

To glorify Your name

And lift it up above the world

Just want to sing this song to You

All which isn't going to happen the way I want it to be.

A post for the lack of posts

Randoms

(#282) Opening song of Sidney Mohede's double album never fails to lift me up.

BBW in Penang was a blast!

Can't wait for 13th April!
I could use the getaway...

Would you accept a present that had you in mind but was given because you are the last one standing by logical elimination process? Go figure.

Word on Sunday - Love was perfected on the cross.