Our God of Wonders

150 BLESSINGS in one Sunday.

193 BLESSINGS since Saturday night.

581 BLESSINGS since 8 July 2007.

These were the figures that I got after consolidating for my tribe. But am I impressed with the numbers? No. It was never just about the numbers. What am I impressed with? When I saw the people in my tribe coming together on Sunday responding to SP's call to bless 5 by the end of the day, helping each other out to be a blessing to people in Singapore. When i witnessed us fumble a little as some of us approached strangers for the first time, yet we pressed on, not giving up, knowing that in the security of God's family, we can be bold to try again. When we hung in there, making sure that each of us were able to bless 5 before we called it a day. When we allowed ourselves to be a fool for Christ, pressing on even though we experienced many rejections. That's what I was impressed with.

I believe our faith has been built up. Not just personally and individually, but as SJ Family. I believe that God has enlarged our capacity to love the people around us. I have heard many of us share about how each time we go out, we are more aware of the people around us who need God and how we went forth in boldness to help and be a blessing to them. I believe that we have understood a little more what it means to make blessing our lifestyle and that God has engineered this little exercise to soften our hearts to give us new freedom to go forth and bless even more.

I believe too that God has used the 100k Campaign to soften the ground in Singapore and caused many to be drawn to Him.
That's what I am impressed about. That's WHO I am impressed with - God.
I'm reminded again about the 2 verses that have guided us through this campaign and this Year of Victory.

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

Zechariah 4:6
So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty."

I believe these 2 verses clearly exemplified our experiences during the 100K. Truly the Lord has remained faithful to His word. Truly He is God who is real and who desires to bless His people. Let us take a minute to praise Him for give honour to Him. Amen.

Here are some testimonies from my guys after we made the last push last Sunday. (Read on...)


Daniel Lee, 21, Undergraduate | Joshua's Tribe
When Ps Khong gave the order for 5 more blessings, i was half-worried, half-excited. But when the idea of fusing balloons with the blessings hit me, i decided that it was going to be a fun event afterall!
Being a blessing can be FUN.

Despite my initial perception that it was going to be a challenge, the fusion actually proved to be almost too easy! Because,

1. Balloons proved to be an instant crowd-puller and a superb conversation starter.
   - no more approaching strangers to hard-sell a "survey" or an "insurance policy"
2. Free balloons easily demonstrated our intentions: simply to bless the community.
   - the synonymity made it easy to demonstrate our blessing with a balloon and then take it a level higher by offering a prayer of blessing
3. The people were more open after receiving a material need (a balloon).
   - our actions piqued their interest enough for them to be open to receive a prayer (Or possibly maybe they were just too paiseh to refuse. Haha.)
   

And so we proceeded to bless about 150 lives that night, and we almost couldn't stop blessing! They just kept on coming.Through this (and with the help of balloons) I have grown to come out of my comfort zone and befriend complete strangers. Hurray for the changed me, and I pray this change will continue to be a lifestyle, but the real stars that day were indeed our young ones.

Watching our guys try their best to bless 5 people has brought heart-warming joy to me. From the garang-ness of Nicholas (aiya, 1-2-3, just go la), to the innocent bluntness of Tristan (we are from so-and-so church, do you want to be blessed?), to the ever-trying but ever-shy Jeremiah (er.. you do la, I just pump ballons;) then later, (aiya! why just now I never go?).

This 100K campaign has indeed pushed us all beyond our comfort zones. Different learning journeys we may have, and no matter the experience, I know for sure we have all at least grown somewhat.


Charles Tan, 20, NSF | Joshua's Tribe
The 100k i believe, has caused a positive change in the lives of many. I for one testify to that. When Pastor Ed Silvoso shared about the 4 levels of christians in the marketplace i knew i would have fallen into the 1 - 2 maybe 1/2 level category. 100k has caused us to rise the levels to be one that is involved in the transformation of the marketplace.

Another wonderful thing it has done is that it subtly molds us to know what it means to be a salt and light of the world full of darkness. When we take effort to go to our colleagues/ classmates/ army mates to bless them, we inevitably become conscious of our behavior and the way we portray ourselves as marketplace ministers. So it changes us for the better even in our character to an extent.

AS of 8 July 07. I have completed blessing my entire platoon in army with the 100k. Though it may sound easy but to me i never ever tot i'll be able to do that. i thank God. I thank God for the times i went out in search of people to bless and got rejected countless times and how at the end of the day when we do our count we still meet our targets..

I realized that when we go in the name of Jesus, He will never fail us. Somehow. As one of my favorite verses clearly expresses in Isaiah 55:5 that His ways are always higher than ours. We just have to step out on the water and WALK.

I am very encouraged also to know how God really remembers our faithfulness in the small things we do. Maybe some of us ponder at times if 100k is making any change in the lives of those we blessed. Its too early to tell. Lets be patient and see how God turn the tides for us.

Meanwhile we just have to...

"Hi have you heard of the hundred K k k challenge? *wink wink*"


Joshua Teo