Lead Up to Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such an American institution. Andrew (my roommate) is going off this evening back to LA to meet his family and enjoy Thanksgiving at home. I expect Alex will be leaving soon. And I'll have the whole apartment to myself.

Last Saturday Shuxiang dragged me along to do some community service work in South Bronx. I say "dragged" cos I was honestly a bit reluctant to help out with serving food to the homeless. I had a few encounters with homeless people in Cambridge that were not so nice. But I decided that it would certainly be a time for God to bless me as I bless others with my time.

And it was certainly a blessing. I woke up slightly late so I forgot to bring my gloves or beanie hat along. I was freezing during the whole 4 hours we were there. There were a few stations and we could either give out pamphlets regarding employment, housing etc to them, or serve hot chocolate and other hot food or simply pray with them. I felt such joy hearing from this ex-convict who is searching for Christ and he said he felt a peace when he read the Bible and attended church with his girlfriend and he felt God calling him out of his drug addiction and it was something he never felt before in his previous dabblings with Islam etc. When I got too cold out in the erm, cold, praying for the people who came round, I volunteered to go into the van to make hot chocolate and serve it. And seeing the grateful smiles of the people who came to get a cup of hot chocolate brought a smile to my face as well. I felt sorry for the people who came for soup and bread (which the relief bus usually served but didn't that day) and were disappointed to hear there wasn't any.

Later that day we went to NYU Medical Centre to rehearse for the Songfest skit we were putting up in church on Sunday. After the rehearsal, a bunch of brothers (Shuxiang, Peter, Jim, Nick and I) went to K-town (ie Koreatown) for some good ol' Korean supper. Our usual jja jang myeon place was closed so we went to Seoul Garden. (For those familiar with the Singaporean BBQ buffet place, it's not the same.) We each had amazing spicy/soupy things and it was the perfect end to a fulfilling day.

On Sunday we had a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving banquet. Many of the church members brought food and we were all treated to a feast of turkey, ham, stuffing, corn muffins (and assorted breads), and pumpkin pie, cheesecake etc. They were so generous that when the whole church was fed, there was still so much leftover. A modern-day case of Jesus feeding the 5000?
Songfest was really enjoyable. Each Bible-study group put up a skit with song and dance. And everyone was really creative. My Bible-study group performed something inspired by Wizard of Oz. I was part of the munchkin gang (yeah I know -- I'm tall and they're supposed to be short) but we did that thing where one person is the "head" and "feet" (his hands are the munchkin's feet) and another person does the "arms". Yeah I was the "arms" cos of my longer-than-normal limbs. Haha.

At first I thought I wouldn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving. But we were invited to Joon Jdsn's house for Thanksgiving and I decided to take up the offer. Joon Jdsn (Jdsn = Jan Do Sa Nim -- Korean for Pastor Intern) is really warm and friendly and his family is nice too. They have 4 kids (all boys) who are not shy. I think Thanksgiving is going to be fun. Plus I'm meeting Mr Ong CJ and Mrs Selvan who were my teachers in RI on Thursday (ie Thanksgiving) morning. They're leading a group of RI boys on a US trip and I'll be meeting up with them on their New York leg. That'll be fun, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with them and catching up with these old teachers of mine.

Pastor Daniel's message was very apt as well. Speaking on Colossians 3:12-17, he gave a very timely reminder that being grateful/thankful is more than just an automatic response to circumstances around us. God wants us to be actively grateful, and we have so many reasons to be grateful because of what Jesus has done, and is doing in our lives.
"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. ... And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Colossians 3:15, 17

And I do have lots of be thankful for. Yiyong just emailed me cos she had a bad dream about me and wanted to check in on me. I'm thankful for friends and their concern. I'm thankful for the family in BBC-New York that God has given to me; as I was pointing out to Shuxiang in church who was whose kid and who was whose wife/husband, I realised it was a nice family community that really put in the effort to reach out to newcomers like me. That was BBC-NY's strength and it certainly is something we should be more conscious about. When we meet new people in church, we should make them as welcomed as possible cos that's how the love of God is spread abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

And I'm thankful for my own family at home who are well. Gen's just finished her O levels (gosh time flies!!). Can we still call her 'B' (as in Baby)?

So everyone in temperate climates -- as the snow starts falling (it's going to snow on Thanksgiving apparently) please do keep warm. For people in warmer climes, stay cool!