Well last week my manager set a deadline He want us to be ready and running 24/7 by September. I’m sure you can all image to change the work schedules of a team of 12 members (not big, but no small either) from normal 8-5 to rotating 24/7 shifts is not easy task in itself. Tack on some more conditions (i.e. schedule has to work for 12 people and room to grow, x number of people per shift, keeping with an 8 hour work day with one hour break, no crazy 10 or 12 hour shifts, no long term evening or graveyard shifts, no 6 or 7 day weeks, no regular OT allowed, save money, etc.) This task sounded almost impossible… Last week I found a scheduled that meet most of the items. My manager liked it… So the plan was to present it to my CEO on Monday… well trying to keep this short… my CEO did not like the schedule…

Well the next day (after cell group), I took some time in the morning and typed out the prayers we got… knowing that with all the papers on and around my desk, I’m surely going to lose the prayers sheets. So as I was typing the both prayers, I prayed it as well…

One of the big problems was OT pay… with the last schedule everyone would need to be paid over time which adds up to a lot of $$$$. So I started doing research on the BC Ministry of Labour website to see if there is a comprehensible solution which could be used in my situation. None was found even after talking to a specialist. There was either too much other planning and contract writing/adjusting or too much government red tape to go through. Well after a quick meeting with my manager, apparently my deadline to come up with a schedule was this Friday… (@$%$$###%)

But eventually a schedule did form in my head and was drafted into Excel… and my Manager did not like but that being said, he says “it was up to me to figure it out as it is my team.” So near the end of my day, I went with my drafted schedule to my CEO and presented the schedule. Not only did he LIKE it, but he even made BETTER by allowing more “flexibilities” to the schedule…

PTL!

(to be continued…)

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.

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…