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Sunday, April 19, 2009
It’s been nearly a week since I returned from my trip to Brisbane. The current trip wasn’t really very much different from the previous one. There was the glow-worm cave, Tomato Brother’s Italian Restaurant that served excellent firewood pizza, went to church, visited another theme park and ate till I felt like puking every time. Even though they were perhaps a little repetitive, I enjoyed it a lot. But if there was one thing that I really benefited from the trip it was the insights that it provided me with.
Well, loads of things happened that embraced me with various emotions during the 1 week visit. To summarize what happened, it could be categorized into 3 sections. My Cousin’s Wedding, the Church Message and movies.
My Cousin got married during the 11th of April on a Saturday. I woke up early morning so as to not hog the toilet due to the “Heavy Traffic”. Got dressed, it’s the first time I wore a suit but sadly I forgot to bring the cufflinks but anyway that’s not really important. This is the first time I attended someone’s wedding as a best man. Even though everyone made it really easy for me, but come to think about it I’m pretty useless sometimes. Well, if anyone of you out there was ever invited to be a best man, take it from me that at the very least you got to have really strong legs that could last standing still for an hour plus and when you accompany the groom to go to the bride’s place you got to be ready for some of the trick up the sleeves of those who are there. The good thing was that they didn’t make it really hard for us, we just had to do 25 squat jumps and sing a song. But damn was Kevin (The other Best Man) and myself useless. Well I did suggest the song but then … apparently we didn’t sing, we left another guy to sing along with the groom. (LOL!)
Set aside the experience of being the best man. The part that moved me the most was the wedding ceremony that took place at the church. The Pastor’s speech made me realize how beautiful and sacred “Wedding” actually meant and I absolutely feel that many young couples these days have a colossal misunderstanding about it.
It’s been a week since it happened and I didn’t really bring my computer to Australia, meaning whatever is written here isn’t done so when emotions are heightened. To add on to that my memory isn’t really good. Well I can’t really remember word for word but it went along the lines of … the 3 “L’s … Love, Loyalty and the Lord”.
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things--that she might be holy and faultless. Even so husbands should love their wives as (being in a sense) their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and carefully protects and cherishes it, as Christ does the church. Because we are members (parts) of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning (the relation of) Christ and the church. However, let each man of you (without exception) love his wife (being in a sense) his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband--that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him and loves and admires him exceedingly" (Ephesians 5: 25-33, Amplified Bible).
"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior" (Ephesians 5:22-23). "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). "In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church” (Ephesians 5:28-29). “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31).
The pastor shared with us about this with regards to a very common argument between couples. Many at times, couples question themselves who love the other more, who was willing to give in and make more sacrifices. I felt that what he said was applicable to other contexts as well, for instance friends. Why should person A be a true friend to person B when person B doesn’t try to be a true friend to person A. You know what’s the problem? That is humans sometimes dun really have initiative, we are just god damn selfish. We want others to treat us well before we treat others well. However the pastor mentioned that it is written that the husband should be one that initiates this first. Since men and women are portrayed as Christ and the church, men should love his wife like how Christ loved the church till the extent of death itself.
Well the speech when on, and I can’t really remember what he said. The irritating part was I was suppose to stand still but I just felt like crying because I felt that marriage is a really beautiful thing and I was happy that my Cousin have found someone who would give himself up for her. That tear drop really irritated me a lot when I was supposed to stand still.
Here is a quote related to what I have mentioned "An ideal wife is any woman who has an ideal husband." - Booth Tarkington
Ok, I’m done with this chapter but there is a sub section in which the “ICS” (Inferior-Complex-Syndrome) kicked in. The other best man was just 4 years older than me his only like coming to 25 and I was kind of envious of the life that he had. Well he has a nice BMW car and his a graduate in Masters Bio-Engineering, his working and doing well. His so young and yet he is so independent, what I admire about him is that he earned all those things himself, he bought his car all by himself too. When I look at myself, I question whether a not I would ever be able to do the same in 4 years time and sadly the answer is a no. I’d still be studying and perhaps graduate from medical school when I’m 29. That’s like ridiculously old!
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Now the next chapter would be about some of the thoughts that I received at church visit. You know, sometimes I really question myself if I really am a young adult and whether a not I am suffering from ADHD deficiency. When it comes to serious events, I find that me and my sister can joke about the most nonsensical things at the mot inappropriate times. Anyways, there was a guest speaker at church who shared about her testimony and whether there really was a spirit realm, I do sympathize with her but it wasn’t the thing that got me convicted. It wasn’t the guest speaker who said something that got me thinking but it was my older aunt.
She asked a simple question, what did it meant to be a Christian. I thought for a while and came up with a list of “To Do’s” only to realize that the entire truth lies in 1 sentence, which was to be willing to give up everything and follow god obediently. This ties me with one of my readings that I had earlier on while reading up on one my debate friend’s whom I haven’t been contacting much lately. Well, she posted a video about “Breaking the bond”, it’s true that many Christians like myself are too bonded by earthly matters that we are unable to let go and sacrifice everything to follow god. I wonder if there will ever come a day in which I will be able to do so.
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Now the final section about this post would be about some of the movies I watched on the plane. The movie “Marley and Me” made me really feel like crying at the end, I realized that it is true that one of my greatest fears would be to be forgotten and seeing loved ones leave. After the death of my pet hamster patches I did have a phobia of taking another pet, because with great happiness comes great sadness as well. But, I think I might really consider having a puppy in the future when I move overseas. Because a dog is really man’s best friend.
“A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water log stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if your rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?” – Marley and Me
the origin.8:14 PM
Name: Perry Tan Z.Y
Birthday: 22nd December 1988
Religion: Christian
Personality: INFJ
Loves: Basketball, Anime, HK, Korean and Chinese Dramas, Hanging out with friends, Watching Movies, "You Know ...", Gaming and Chinese Music
Hates these Traits ... Arrogance, Injustice, Insensitivity and Running Away (Even though I tend to run away a lot)
Wishlists: Enlightenment, Thought-Antagonist, Time Travel Machine, The other Puzzle Piece and A book called "How to become a Better Man"
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myself;
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links;
my past;
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