Easter Day, durians and CG

I tried my hardest to put aside my worries (I have had many this week) and focus on celebrating the risen Christ this morning.

Went to church.
Worshipped.
Responded.
Listened to the sermon.Very good Easter sermon by the way. Good job, Pst. Yong!
Fellowshipped, etc. 

Honestly, it was hard. I might have been the only one - in a whole hall of enthusiastic people - but I felt really tired at the end of the service. In fact, I felt really ashamed of myself. Like water rolling off a duck's back, nothing seemed to stick deep into me. I was desperately in need of a stab. 

But unfortunately, I felt as hard and prickly as a durian.

I had hoped to be like this by the end of the service:

But to no avail. I was itching madly from my rash too. It came in one package with my flu btw.

God was very kind to me. 

7 of us - young adults - more than half of whom are from my CG - went to 1st Avenue to hang out together and watch a movie after the service and community lunch.

I was truly refreshed by the time we had together. Eating dessert, drinking tea, chatting, laughing, etc. I felt blessed that God had given me friends from church whom I can be so "free" around. 

I am not trying to advertise the benefits of being a care group here ~ but this was one of those times when I appreciated being in a care group. We may not be many, and we don't even study the Bible 4 times a month (that is roughly how many times we have "official" meetings in a month). However, I like how comfy we are with one another that we are able to just go on spontaneous outings together (like today), chat about deep or silly stuff without feeling overly awkward or judged, encourage one another at random non-official-meeting times, etc. My CG has also been praying for and with me, even before I went into the seminary. When I am with the people who have supported me so much (even when I have sometimes failed to acknowledge and appreciate them), I am thankful. I experience God in them and through them. When I was with them today, I could really feel it in my bones that Christ has risen indeed.

I was also very encouraged and inspired by the movie we watched together. 

In the evening, my CG and I had dinner together and then, attended a prayer conference at the Ayer Itam Chinese Methodist Church.

One word to describe the conference: beautiful. God's presence was alive and tangible in the hall. We worshipped with many Christians from different churches across Penang. Dr. Joe Ozawa's message was timely. The time of prayer together for our State was vibrant. I finally felt like the durian had been broken open to reveal the soft, tender, vibrating, fragrant yellow flesh inside. I could feel my heart beating again. Beating for the Lord. Beating for His work. Beating because I finally felt the love of God (it can be hard to feel loved sometimes, even though He really does).

Indeed, Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

That was my Easter. Hope you had a blessed one too.