This is the final part of the trilogy... About Eden-Sol's gig on the 23rd of October. The author apologizes for the large break between posting the second and final portions, as he was supposedly really busy, as you will find out in the next post. To get a bigger picture, scroll down to the third entry below and read through it before coming here. Have fun reading!
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The weekend a week before the performance was a real refresher, and some happy things happened. For one, my twin brothers finally got confirmed, and for seconds, it seemed that most things pertaining to the concert were going on pretty smoothly. I took some confirmation pics (well actually my dad did) and here they are.
The week ahead was going to be a crazy one, cos rehearsals were going to be long and tiring, and we had to rehearse almost everyday. It seemed pretty fine to me, but something big was coming along...
Practices went on as usual, and with all of us in Eden-Sol giving our trust to God always, it seemed that nothing could stop us, not even the devil. We were tired, yes, but the trust and faith we had in the Lord kept us going. We were pretty aware of the periods of times the devil had attacked us, and we could see quite obviously that he was still trying to stop us. But we weren't giving up without a fight. And it was a fight we were winning no doubt. Our songs were getting tight, our hearts and minds were getting stronger.
The devil tried small tricks, such as striking some of Eden-Sol with sickness. That couldn't stop us, definitely not. He tried striking our helpers with grief; Rachel's great-grandmother passed away. He tried striking our loved ones; my dad got pretty bad back pains and had to stay home a few days. But none of these worked.
As a counter, we pushed forward, getting our script, our songs, and our money more or less confirmed. It seemed everything was going way too smoothly...
The week came. And most of our CT results were out. I got grades of AABCD, which was pretty good in my opinion. But I was pretty surprised when Samuel asked to meet me during my lunch break one day during the week. It didn't sound good. I, Guoren and Gabriel met Samuel at 12. Immediately I sensed something was amiss. And Samuel broke the news. Choon Wing had been retained.
I was shocked. In fact we were all shocked. We had studied as a band before the CTs, and I knew that Choon Wing did study, and he was definitely not one of those 'hopeless' cases. He was a self termed slacker, but I knew in order to be with us in the band, he would have worked hard. The fact that Choon Wing was retained shattered all of us.
We discussed whether we should continue doing this gig. There were conflicting views. On one hand, some of us thought that it wouldn't be a good testimony for someone who had been retained to help in doing God's work. Some of them thought that Choon Wing would be too hurt to continue on. Others said that it should be up to Choon Wing himself to decide.
But I knew better than that. This was obviously and attack by the devil, or a test from God to see how committed we were despite all odds. My answer to whether we should continue doing this was a firm yes. It may have seemed cold at that point, but no matter what Choon Wing faced didn't matter at all. Only God did. And as long as there was a chance to do God's work, the chance had to be taken. This was what I believed. The rest of them heard this, and remembered our focus. And it was pretty obvious what conclusion we had.
As for Choon Wing, we decided that it would be totally up to him whether he would like to continue. In my opinion, anyone who does the Lord's good work was an awesome testimony to others, no matter how he did in his academics or sports or anything else. And so the problem was pretty much solved. Although this hurt us big, we didn't stop, and I'm proud of my band for focusing on God and God alone.
After that day, we decided on having a sleepover at Gabriel's house, not only to cheer Choon Wing up, but to be united as a band and to pray and focus on God. I didn't join them for the sleepover, but I was at Gabriel's house for some time. We prayed, worshipped and had an awesome time of fellowship. The worst was over, and nothing could stop us now.
Soon Saturday, the day for the final rehearsal came. With all the music, acting, and evangelism almost done, we did a couple of dry runs. Despite being a noob in acting, I felt I was doing pretty well. Yes, a portion of it ("Why did you do this? She trusted you!") was out of character, but I carried it pretty well during rehearsals. The thing I was worried about was the evangelistic part. It was pretty obvious that with the long script I couldn't memorise everything. I pretty much started panicking and self-stressing.
I told myself that part of acting and doing this thing may involve embarassment and making mistakes, so I sorta mentally prepared myself for failure, but of course, looking at the bright side, I was sure that God would make everything perfect in His own way.
The Sunday right before the concert, I played the acoustic for main service, and as a result, I got to bring Tim's awesome Taylor home to use for the concert!
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The day of reckoning came, and I woke up bright and early. Since my dad was recovering from his back pains after taking a jab the previous day, we went to have breakfast somewhere near Aljunied MRT while waiting for the others to come by. Soon they came and my dad left. I kinda forgot what we did in the morning. Everything seemed like a rush, and soon we were loading up the van and taking an MRT down to our performance venue, The Third Place.
Once there, we did a few more dry runs. Eden-Sol was pretty worried cos we weren't getting in the mood, and there wasn't enough groove. But we soon got into a good mood to play awesome music. Time passed pretty fast, and the concert was 1 hour away. Strangely I felt really calm. It was pretty odd, but as I trusted in God, nothing else seemed to matter.
Half an hour before the concert, the devil began to attack Choon Wing physically. He was short of breath, and we laid our hands on him and prayed. It was still pretty bad when we went out to perform, but we made it. Then the performance was soon history.
Thanks all those who came! And thanks to those who helped in one way or another!
My awesome classmates who came down! Alan, Samuel, Charissa, Christopher, Yee Ying and Si Rui! Not forgetting Carol! Sorry don't have a pic of you =P And thanks guys for the card!
The awesome people who made this a success!
Back row: Sam, Rachel, Choon Wing
Front Row: Me, Cheryl, Guoren, Gabriel
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I made quite a few mistakes that day, and felt I'd screwed up pretty bad. I felt inadequate and inferior after the concert, and felt that someone else could've done better in my shoes than I did. But well... I recieved feedback that my friends couldn't spot any of the mistakes below, and I realised after that night that it was another attack by the devil to get me out of doing more performing. So that night the inferiority complex situation was pretty much resolved.
1. Started in wrong key for "I Don't Wanna Be"
2. Forgot my lines for convo between me and Rach
3. Got distracted by all the laughing in the audience
Despite that, it was an awesome concert, and the feedback we recieved was overwhelming. We had a few salvations, praise the Lord! That night, heaven must have shook with all the rejoicing taking place up there.
"There will be more joy in heaven over a sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." Luke 15:7
And I was happy to do God's work that night, although I could've done without that final attack from the devil. I hope you guys have seen through these past 3 posts that we as Eden-Sol feel really strongly about our God, and you have seen enough evidence that shows that the God we believe in exists. Even through the tough odds and dry periods, our belief in him helped us through. I believe that by ourselves we couldn't have completed anything, and that is evidence enough that he exists.
Thank you for reading, and hope you have been inspired by this 3 posts! Let us continue to live and work to His praise and glory. Amen.
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End of trilogy.
Next post: Post school days!
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