habitudes

gracie invited me to a seminar like thing that she was going for on personal leadership and though it seemed interesting, i had half a mind to vegetate in front of the tv that night. it was one of those nights where watching the same old episode of simpsons or friends seemed more enticing than anything else in the world.

eugene started to chant in the background with an uncanny similarity to nelson muntz' the big bully from simpsons, "ahha..somebody's not going for the seminar, ah ha!" grr. trust me, i wanted to prove him right and slump right back into the couch. but knowing that gracie had paid for me to go, and that i was missing out on the christmas concert i was invited for, for this.... i just had to.

so i peeled myself off the chair and left. walked my way to katong mall/shopping centre. whichever made sense to me and called gracie. so she says its katong shopping mall. like huh! which? make up your mind! then she gives me mixed up instructions of where to go. i ended up walking around in circles in our crappozoid humidity and finally got to the place which was approximiately 50m from where i started from. shitzu man. pissed as hell i was, this was the one person who leads groups up for expeditions and up mountains to camp. what kind of instructions does she give! urghh.

so i got in, sat thru the seminar, steaming with anger and perspiration and i found out it was a church event thing organised by cornerstone. maybe the devil was working within me, but i actually got mad knowing it was a christian thing. totally weird that i felt the way i did, but i did. and i'll curse at satan extra hard for making me feel that way. and though i know my life isnt much of a testimony of God's handiwork, i dont believe i've moved that far away as yet because it actually got better. and i started to enjoy every bit of it. maybe because i walked in while they were screening a snippet of braveheart, one of my favourite movies of all time. or maybe because the speaker wasnt an irritating singaporean guy who spoke with words that were laced with singlish. Tim Elmore had the perfect speech of all time. to me at least. i felt that it spoke, raw and real, short and sweet. the seminar was organised by the same people who were putting together youth: more than gold for next year's youth olympics. and it was amazing to see these people getting together like they did to touch and move the lives of many, together in the body of christ.

Tim spoke about many things, about how we should all focus, the first step to personal leadership. to be a flood or a river, to undertake everything and be destructive, or be focused like a river and bring life to the people. then he spoke about priorities and gave an aged old analogy about putting the big rocks in first, then will everything else flow into place. but what really struck a chord was when he quoted the movie hitch when will smith talked about the iceberg theory.

what you see of every iceberg, if you see one that is, is just a mere 10% of what it is worth. what you dont see however, the other 90% of it, is what actually makes or break you. the bigger bit that actually sinks the ship, or in a more positively light, the bit below the surface that actually supports the tip. in the same way, it is our character that moulds our outwardly appearance; the 10% that's visible. so it really isnt worth bragging about our skills if our character holds no weight. its our being and not our doing that truly matters because if our being is there, it will hold up that 10% of outward doing that others will see.

food for thought eh. need not deny, it was a good seminar..