Baptism Day

Azriel. It means "God is my help". It's a personal reminder to me that in everything I do, God is my help. I've always been the kind of person who will only remember that I can ask for God's help when I'm at a dead end or I do not know what to do next. So it's a reminder that even before I undertake any task or for any situation in my life, I know that God is my help. It's an additional name that I put on my baptism certificate. So it should be: John Gabriel Azriel Cruz Utanes.

According to the Jewish calendar, today's date, October 3, 2009 coincides with the Jewish festival, the Feast of Tabernacles, which also happens to be the actual date that Jesus was born. I believe everyone who was baptized today felt a special sense of awe and humility to find out that the day we are "resurrected" is the day that grace-personified himself was born.

When we got back to Suntec after the baptism we decided to go for a swim. =D Haven't had a chance to swim for a while now and my legs felt like jelly after swimming from one end of the pool to the other. Really enjoyed myself today. =D

I felt today's message was very amazing. Pastor Benjamin preached on victory, which is manifested when we cast our cares to God. I feel there's a special anointing as today is the day that victory-personified himself was born.

I kind of felt self-conscious towards the end of the praise and worship because I was somewhere near the front and after a session of ministering I understand why people would be hesitant to come back to the front for the praise songs and I felt weird being so "exposed" at the front until this thought came to me: Why think about what people might say? If they're busy looking at me then that means they're too busy to look at God. That just reminded me again that praise and worship is a personal time between God and me and it really does not matter what people think - just as long as I'm not distracting to other people.

I'm considering utilizing the nearby Sports Centre to have personal swimming sessions. After today's mini-session I felt that it's actually good exercise. Maybe Fridays will be my designated swimming day?

I came across this video of a nice song after a friend posted it on facebook. I think it's really nice, but I think the original version isn't.