Favorite Number Collection

As the grand finale to my university life (finally!), I am going to talk about my favorite numbers.

For the longest time, my favorite numbers have been 4 and 7. I associate with number 4 tremendously in my life as a musician, so it just naturally becomes my favorite number. On the other hand, I tend to like things that other Chinese people don't like (or dislike what they like). The homonyms to the Chinese character of "four" means "death", which makes the number rather inauspicious. Chinese people hate inauspicious things, so they avoid using this number. I, however, am the devil's advocate LOL ...

My other favorite number 7, as I feel it is a number of satisfaction and perhaps celebration. God used 6 days to create the world (see Genesis), and in the seventh day He rested. He demands human beings to work only 6 days and observe the Sabbath on the seventh day. During Moses' time, God demands the Israelites to prune their vineyards and gather their crops for six years and take a sabbath of rest on the seventh year. When Jesus was cruxified on the Cross, He used His scarce energy to say the final seven sentences. After He said, "Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit," He breathed His last. Then in the third day, He resurrected, as a fulfillment of His salvation. There are many more examples in the Bible that uses number 7 as a finish; if you are interested you can find out from there. ;-)

Now I have another favorite number in my collection, and that is number 8. Before I would avoid this number because this is an auspicious number in the Chinese culture, for the homonym to this number in Chinese means "prosperity" or "wealth". I personally do not think prosperity nor wealth is the ultimatum to life, so I would avoid anything that promotes it. Nevertheless, I like this number very much now because of how God reveals His work on me with this number.

At the tender age of 16, I have thought of being the president of my fellowship. However, when this thought became reality, I was already 24. God used 8 years to ready me. I wondered why it took so long, but then I was thankful it did because I didn't know how to love people nor communicate with them before, yet God values relationship development more than operating a fellowship, which I was already perfectly capable of when I was still a teenager. Now, I am starting to train younger generation of leaders. All these brothers and sisters I am training, though they are younger, are my beloved friends.

I started my first university degree in music when I was 18. And today (this precise day), being 26 now, I finished my third music degree in UBC. So 8 years of hard work in post-secondary institution! Originally I only intended to do my BMus and MMus, but somehow God convicted me to do an extra two years of DMPS (Diploma in Music Performance). People would think 8 years of university without a break is insane. But you know what, these extra years not only made me a better musician, but also a much stronger person. If I insisted on jumping out to the society 2 years ago (for the sake of peer pressure or trying to pay back student loan), I probably would have failed my career poorly. Two years ago, my musical abilities were still only mediocre and I was totally a vulnerable person. I am not saying I am super-good now, but at least my skills are beginning to be recognized. So thank God - He is the master of my life; only He would know how long I should stay in one stage of my life and when to move on to the next without going through too much trouble.

The 9-1-1 incident happened on the second day of my university life. From that disaster I saw corruption, fear, hatred and uneasiness in humanity. The only thing that would resolve these crisis is Jesus Christ. So I promised God I would definitely go on short term mission someday, to bring the gospel to other countries in the world. Year after year, I gave myself many excuses not to go on STM. Finally, at the end of this month, I am going! Again, God took 8 years to ready me to fulfill my promise.

So, what can I say about this number 8? It is wonderful! Because of what the Lord has done in me!

手瓜

小時候，我們同學間經常會比較手瓜大小。那時人人總希望自己的比別人的大點。

今日，我「得償所願」，我有一對很大的手瓜。這對手瓜見證了我十六年來練習敲擊樂辛酸的奮鬥歲月。

明天晚上，我便要再次踏上舞台作個人演奏會。除了是畢業作之外，還是彰顯我對音樂的熱愛及神的恩典。

希望大家用禱告支持，無限感謝。

2 more weeks ...

So 2 more weeks until my big show ...

Quite pressured.

Yet, I trust the grace of my Lord is sufficient, as it always has, and always will be.

Add oil, Quennie, you can do it! :-D

My Recap on GM (Calgary) Concert

Here comes the end to my super speedy trip to Calgary. Very intense but enjoyable.

I must say serving God with music is such a wonderful and joyful thing. I don't feel the same when I perform classical music, when usually I feel more restricted. I can feel the liberation and relief when I sing and play in church or perform in Christian concerts. The only reason is God's salvation delivers me (and all of us who believe in him) from all transgressions, and the freedom from sins gives me extraordinary joy and peace. :-)

Anyhow, praise the Lord the concerts went really well. Little mistakes here and there, but hey, who cares. The most important thing is we bring people to the Lord through our music.

Thank you GM for giving me a chance to share my testimony. Also, thank you for letting me SING in this concert! I really love singing on stage, but I don't always get a chance to because of the huge demand on instrumentalists. This concert (sort of) "makes my dream come true" once again! :-) Hopefully my "crazy shouts" in "Jesus Loves Me" didn't scare the team off. ;-)

Birthday Gifts from God

Even though my birthday was a few days ago, I would like to share what God has given me for my birthday:

January 3, 2009 - the day before my birthday:
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised." (Hebrews 10:35-36)

At that point I was thinking about withdrawing from an audition, for I felt I couldn't push myself any further. Quite often when I prepare for auditions I would have thoughts of giving up. But this time, I was so close I was evening thinking about how to tell my teacher about this unfortunate situation. Thank God I was never quick to decision, or I would not have experienced the wonder of His Words (His works too). That morning when I read that passage, I felt a sudden burst of positive energy in my being. I so knew God prepared this passage to encourage me to keep going. So, in a week, I will be recording this audition.

January 4, 2009 - the day of my birthday:
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8)

A simple but promising bible verse. Regardless what circumstances we are going through, Jesus Christ remains unchanged. He would always love us and be with us. Isn't that the greatest gift you can ever receive for your birthday? Amen! <33333

Was Blind, But Now I See ...

So ... ditched out of my old friend's wedding in the VERY last minute. I still get teared up when I think about this.

What happened?

My right got an abrasion. A huge scratch on my cornea. *Sigh*

I didn't feel too well already on Christmas day. But I thought it was because I was sleep-deprived so I decided not to worry about it too much. The next day, boxing day, when I had to help my mom at her shop, I started to have a hard time opening up my eye. Well, the same situation happened before when I didn't catch enough sleep, so I ignored it also and went ahead and work. Exhaustion and bright light made my eye hurt even more. In the middle of the day, tears kept coming out of my right eye, and the eye became crimson and swollen. I couldn't bear opening it anymore. My mom saw the problem and told me to go inside and take a rest. I put ice-cold bottled water and teabag on my eye respectively hopefully to soothe the pain, but it didn't work. I finally surrendered and called the groom that I would not be able to make it to his wedding rehearsal, and told dad to take me home.

Never have I experienced such pain in my eye. I went to bed immediately after I took a shower so I might have a chance to open my eye again after some rest. Unfortunately, my wish didn't come true. The next morning I had to tell the worship leader (I was supposed to play drums for worship that day before the wedding) and the groom that I had to ditch out. NOOOOOO!!!!! I cried terribly hard when I prayed to God.

My dad brought me to the doctor. Found out what happened, got some antibiotic eyedrop, ate something, then went home. Counting boxing day, and this day I'm talking about right now, and some hours the next day, I had been "blind" for two full days. I had to keep my eyes shut to prevent friction, so whenever I had to go somewhere within my house, I had to use my hands and feet as my aides. Most of the time I slept or "listened to the TV". I haven't slept that much for ages.

If it took this disaster to make me rest, then I guess I should really adjust my schedule after new years. I'm such a workaholic. Anyhow, the fourth day after the disaster, which is today, I can finally sit at the computer and type again. Thanks to those who prayed for me and sent wishes to me. :-)

For those who have been dying to see my photos at Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant, they are up on facebook right now. Sorry I still don't have the ones with my cheongsam outfit yet. But at least you get the pretty hair and make-up ... and DJ Remus. :-D

Like A Dream ...

橫豎都冇得「訓」，不如update下個blog啦。

昨晚簡直好似發了場夢﹝I have to say last night because it's almost 5am﹞─我居然穿著旗袍在溫哥華華裔小姐選舉打marimba！多謝某兩位在Fairchild TV工作的姊妹介紹。有一點夢想成真的感覺，因為不怕講你知我有時會dream about myself becoming Miss Something (i.e. HK, Chinese Calgary, Chinese Vancouver ...)，但當然我一直只在發夢，沒有想過真是膽粗粗去參選。今次有機會踏上選美舞台去見識，of course I was thrilled，even though I only performed in a small part！還有專人幫你化靚妝，set頭，那些化妝效果盼且我一生人都做不到。Set頭更加不用說，我怎去自己紥一個那麼雍容華貴的髫出來？Anyhow，裝扮完我都特別照鏡多幾次！:-)

一直以來我都希望穿著旗袍，但我身型不夠好，所以一直都沒有機會。但今次因為負責旗袍環節，所以我終於有機會了。還好效果不差，哈哈！曾經有一位傳道人講過，"God is a BIG God who can do BIG things. He fulfills your desires in wonderful ways."用在這個contest似乎不太spiritual，但神真是很funny，讓我高興一番。LOL ...

還有一些意想不到的事。大會安排我跟音樂總監沈安麟先生合作；我見過他好幾次，但今次是第一次personally認識他。上電視做大show一定有得見明星啦！廖碧兒、蔡一傑、林嘉華、河國榮，我還跟蔡一傑影合照呢！很抱歉，我是用別人的相機來拍照，所以現在無得看。

哈哈！總之今次is a fun experience啦！

P.S. This morning, after I typed about three lines, I fell asleep. So I only got to finish it now ... late at night! :-P