March 27, 2005
Celebration week
What a crescendo!
Travelling with brothers, celebrating my birthday, witnessing a marriage starting, and having Easter. Can it get better?
On Thursday, a part of the church went to Montréal in a minivan, which lead to some interesting brotherly time.
Friday, after inviting people to Sunday’s service, we had a celebratory meal for my birthday with the Campus Ministry. In the evening, I hung out with a house church, and then spent the night with the groom and the groom mates. I’ve got lots to learn before being remotely qualified for marriage (and that’s keeping in mind I’ll never be worthy of it).
In all honesty, I have to confess that I've spent a lot of time on my personal gift to myself...
I always wanted to listen to the integral of The Messiah, by Händel.
I got to the music store, asked advice, read reviews, then went to the final challenge: sampling.
I listened for 5 different recordings, and it was a tough choice. At first, I could spot some things I didn't like in 2 of them. But for the last 3... they were all so good!
So I went for that I felt gave me the best quality/price ratio:
Handel: Messiah, Israel In Egypt, directed by Andrew Parrott, performed by the Taverner Choir & Players
On Saturday, I’ve prayed with one of the groom mates and went home a little bit.
The ceremony was in the afternoon, and was amazing. I’ve already detailed it in one entry.
On Sunday, we’ve had a great service, in the afternoon, with the leader of the missionary team preaching about Change, the fruit of our Christian life. This is a theme he deeply loves, and that comes back more than once when evangelizing with him!
On the coming-back trip, I’ve spent time with a brother, and he was really encouraged by my honesty about my struggles, and how shame is the catalysis of a lot of bad in one’s heart. From what I read in psychology books, it’s a major driving force in addiction processes. The spiritual outlook is the key to the solution. After all, since Christ brings forgiveness, why should there be any shame in us? It is something I’m learning myself, but something worth sharing too!
Posted by ma at 8:37 PM in Life | TrackBack
A superb wedding!
This saturday March 26th was the wedding of two of my friends of the church: one roomate and a sister with whom I spent a memorable day in Paris.
Both ceremony and celebration was memorable.
The night before, I was blessed by the honour of spending the "last night" with the groom-to-be and the groommates. There was a lot of advice exchanged, some touching testimonies, and so on.
On that fateful saturday morning, I spent some time on a prayer walk with one of the groommates and then let them do the final advice, preparation and so on.
I only saw them again on the afternoon. The venue was exquisite and the ceremony well designed.
The music was well chosen for each part, and with a long pressure buildup that climaxed with the arrival of the bride.
There was one song where everybody of the church joined in: "L'Eternel est merveilleux"
L'Eternel est merveilleux,
Il règne au dessus des cieux,
Avec amour et sagesse,
Il est le tout-puissant.
Which could be translated as;
The Lord is wonderful,
He reigns above heavens,
With love and wisdom,
He is the almighty
One of the friends of the couple also had a solo part. I felt like crying... the church was definitely vibrating with our hearts!
The rest of the ceremony went by very nicely.
I was talking with family and friends who all found the ceremony very different, but very good. All enjoyed it, and it also brought up opportunities to share my faith.
Afterwards, I headed for the reception.
I was at a table with other friends of the new husband and some of his cousins. We were encouraged to sign, so that the couple would kiss. So songs did pop up! Our table came up with an old Québec song that is taught to all youngsters at summer camps: "Oh hursule"!
There was a contest for the best anecdote about the marrieds, and we had a good laugh.
There was also a video presentation with pictures of both of them, per decade. It was cool to have a glimpse at their growing up.
I spent time talking with a sister who's always super busy. I've done some dancing too.
We were also shown an old traditional French dance, "Le brise pied":
People are in line and the sequence is simple:
3 steps right, clap hands
3 steps left, clap hands
Half spin on your right
Half spin on your left
Full spin on your right, clap hands
Half spin on your left
Half spin on your right
Full spin on your left, clap hands
And then repeat :D
All in all, I had a great day. This was very inspiring, especially that everybody says that the husband and I are very similar, personalitywise.
It made me start imagining who would be my groomates if I were to marry now, how would be my ceremony, etc. It also touched me to think that I'll be living this one day too.
Speaking with this brother showed me how much he loved his new wife, how mature he was, how able he had got in dealing with conflict and so on. He made that progress thanks to a lot of patience building the relationship, with God's help, and with a lot of preparation and love from other experienced brothers.
This is more than a blessing, this marriage is a miracle. And I have more faith than ever this will happen to me.
Posted by ma at 11:15 AM in Life | TrackBack
March 20, 2005
Paperwork & Iron week
I never thought I’d spend so MUCH time on my income taxes. I really did all I could do, in 2004, to complicate things. Well, technically speaking, there are other things I could have done, but you get the point.
Also noteworthy: I've got my Engineer's Ring now. Pride is definitly involved ;)
There were other preoccupations as I sifted through a lot of accumulated government papers, made phone calls about them, and so on. I kept on jogging in the morning, but felt frustrated by all the accumulated worries and the feeling of unaccomplishment.
On Thursday, I went to Montreal with my parents for the Engineer’s Convocation Ceremony (aka the Iron Ring ceremony). I basically swore to do a good job, not tolerate bad workmanship, etc. This is basically Hypocrate’s swearing (for doctors), Engineering version. The ceremony was designed by Rudyard Kipling, and is very formal. There were a few Bible citations and a reading of one of Kipling’s poems.
Don’t I look good with that ring on?
On other news, one brother, on the phone, really shook me and told me out of the blue to have better time management (and he’s quite right). I’ve made progress, but I’ve got work to do still.
Professionally speaking, I’ve not done a great job handling my responsibilities at all. I’ve accumulated a lot of lateness, and the other people on the team also had delays because of this. Consequences of sin do cascade off…
Posted by ma at 8:16 PM in Life | TrackBack
March 13, 2005
Second week
Things continued on their inertia, and I’ve made the trip to Québec City on Thursday with my evangelist. We met the leader of the Québec City mission team halfway, at Trois-Rivières.
I was blessed to see a discipleship and leadership moment from my own eyes. I’ve got lots of wisdom to get before I’m to consider ministry!
I’ve made the second half of the trip with this brother, who’s also one of my great friends. He’s one who really encouraged me when I was in Europe. Right off the bat, he integrated me in Bible studies and other evangelization activities.
I then settled in my parent’s house… home sweet home. There are a lot of memories and unresolved things floating around.
I made the communion message at Church too, but kept it “short and sweet”. The brothers and sisters were encouraged.
Posted by ma at 8:13 PM in Life | TrackBack
March 6, 2005
First week back in Québec
February 28th, 2005, the day I come back in the province and the country, after a full year in Europe.
The snow is there to welcome me. I like it… it’s good to see real winter after the gentle winter of the Swiss plains.
A brother was waiting for me at the airport. Coming in was LENGTHY, as I brought back a lot of stuff from my time there, and I was clearly blowing the exonerated amount. The customs officer was very nice, but it took him 4-5 tries to do the form on the computer. The final bill was about 400$ in taxes, which was what I estimated.
The temptation of frauding was great… but thank God for putting this challenge in my life, so that my materialism came to light.
It took me 3 days to adjust to the jetlag. At first, I was in bed at 20:30 and waking up at 2:30… ouch!
I’ve settled in one of the brother’s house, and my friendship with one brother came back to life instantly. We started jogging together in the morning, and listening to a CD from Tony Robins, who’s really motivating for a better lifestyle. And the jogging in the Jardin Botanique is definitely worth it! We do exercise, we offer thanksgiving prayers, and present requests to God together. We also transform military training songs to motivate ourselves… something like “I love challenges, that’s by action that I prove myself” (trust me, it rhyms in French).
We event took time to do snow angels once. The view from the China garden for prayer, with lots of snow, is amazing… and jogging there is too! The best part is that access is free before 9:00 :)
I’ve worked on a Communion message for the Sunday service, which really inspired the Church. I sadly made it WAY too long, and my evangelist really told me to be careful about that.
I’ve got myself a discipler now, and I’m back into the mission, with the reborn Campus Ministry! Things really start off well on the spiritual side!