A c h u b l u e

Last weekend, I attended a wedding and was granted the title of “Official Unofficial Wedding Photographer.” What does that mean? Well it means I have been granted the permission to go behind the scenes and take photos where no noobs has ever gone before… muahahaha…

My day started at 6AM just like the rest of the wedding party… Had to wake up, get ready and be at the groom’s by 7:30AM. Being the “Pro” that I am… I got there at 7:15AM, but… I’d rang the wrong door bell. Basically waking up this poor guy at 7:15AM in the morning. After that I got to the right house and got to work… The groom was already pretty much dress, so we staged a couple shots of him getting ready and getting his make-up done. Pretty then just waited for the rest of the “brothers” (close guy friends of the groom) to arrive with the cars to be decorated. After getting the cars decorated and the flowers on the groom and groomsmen, we were off to pickup the bride.

I should mention that this was an Asian-ish wedding so there was going to be a lot of Asian traditions taking place. The first tradition was “door games.”  When a man goes to pickup his bride, the bride’s “sisters” (close girl friends of the bride), would present challenges for the groom to complete. First task was to sing a modified version of “Nobody – Wonder Girls.” Well actually the first task was to “dress up”: a tight shiny purple hula skirt, a rainbow colored lei, and two shiny purple pom poms. OK… back to the singing. Well the song was “rewritten” in canto with the verses saying what the groom will do for the bride. And of course like the music video there has to be dancing. Second task, read out loud a contract which basically states the bride will not have to do anything around the house and can shop as much as she likes. Third and final task is to bribe the “sisters” usually with a “red pocket” that contains the amount of some lucky chinese number. Finally the groom gets to go upstairs to see his bride.

(hummm… this post is getting way tooo long… brief outline to finish up my day… the pictures will speak for themselves)

• Tea Ceremony at Bride’s house with Bride’s Family
• Tea Ceremony at Groom’s house with Groom’s Family (a yummy smelling roasted (whole) pig arrived, but i wasn’t allowed to have any of it… *sniff sniff* )
• St.Andrew’s-Wesley United Church before the ceremony we did some friend and family photos (also when the professionals showed up with their “pro” equipment, but that’s a whole other post). Ceremony (quick and short). The bride and groom had a horse carriage to take them off to Stanley Park for Pictures (I was not at Stanley Park as I had sound setup at the Marriott Hotel Ballroom).
• Got to Marriott Hotel early to reset up a bit, eat brunch at 2ish and get a chance filter out some bad photos. Also there early to setup the Ballroom with the church sound system. (omg… running around and setting up stuff in a dress shirt sucks…)
• Dinner, speeches, games (bride and groom), first dance (bride and groom),  slide show, musical presentation, good food,  lots of “drinks” and 577 pictures later my night was done.

Well not really… had to clean up the  sound system and other things there and by the time I got home it was like 12:30AM

*sigh* needless to say… I was tired.

Album on Facebook add me to see photos.

Last week my cell group and I went on a world religion field trip. We visited a couple places of worship (Jewish Synagogue, Buddhist Temple, Hindu Temple, Sikh Temple and Muslim Mosk) . The thing that stood out for me was the simplicity of their worship.

It starts with a modest worship areas.  Like some of these places were basically 4 walls, a roof and carpet floors. Unlike some of our Christian counterparts where there are stain glass windows, stadium seating, giant projector screens, spot lights, expensive band and sound equipment. Don’t get me wrong, I would love for my church to have all that too. But it gets me thinking; If other religions can worship in such modesty then why can’t we? Why is it that we (North American Christians) need sooo much stimuli? bigger picture… BIGGER sound…  MORE POWER… It is like a drug, we need more in order to get us into our next artificial spiritual high.

Back in the day when Jesus was teaching, the only bigger thing he needed was bigger hill because the synagogues were probably not big enough for his crowds. Jesus didn’t have to whip out his Electric Harp with 1000 watt sound system and jam out the latest worship song in order to draw crowds to him. Jesus did have His miracles working for Him, but miracles was not all He did during His ministries. Jesus taught for hours at a time and people listened for hours at a time.  Think about the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Jesus wouldn’t have needed to feed the 5,000 if he only taught for 30 minutes a week.  Why have we limited word of God to just 30 minutes a week? Is this just our way of getting our spiritual quick fix?

Have we become spiritual junkies?

I will be the first to admit. I need Worshipers Anonymous. I need to get myself back to a sustainable spiritual level. Where these highs do not end in spiritual withdraw. Where the only spiritual high is from the Holy Spirit.

Maybe I just need to get back to the simplicity of worship.

to be continued…

I asked God to grant me patience.
God said, No. Patience is a by-product of tribulations;
it isn’t granted, it is earned.
I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No. I give you blessings.
Happiness is up to you.
I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No. Suffering draws you apart from
worldly care and brings you closer to me.
I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, No. You must grow on your own,
but I will prune you to make you fruitful.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, No. I will give you life
so that you may enjoy all things.
I ask God to help me LOVE others,
as much as God loves me.
God said…Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.
Stop telling God how big your storm is,
instead tell your storm how big your GOD is.
MY GOD IS SO GREAT, SO STRONG AND SO MIGHTY, THERE’S NOTHING MY GOD CANNOT DO FOR YOU!

-Author Unknown