It's rather nice to be able to drink water that doesn't have any particles floating around in it. What made things worse for me was that I got hit by a relentless combo of a fever + flu + sore throat + cough. I've got a suspicion that it's yet another spiritual attack. Especially since the sickness came on suddenly on the 1st night of the conference, and started to fade off as I boarded the ferry home (And to think that I was so happy to be able to get an MC). Seeing as how I was supposed to play for the 2 morning worship sessions, I obviously had to do EVERYTHING I could to get better. Even if it meant drinking water that smells like garbage (But to be fair, it only smelled like garbage once).

2 things I did to make drinking the water seem less like a suicide attempt:
1) Drink only iced water when possible. With all the condensation on the sides, you'd never know what's in the glass. Kinda like Kinder Surprise.
2) Remind myself that I've had dirtier water in Tekong. And maybe Thailand.

Anyway. Praying really did help alot. After all, I'm already free from disease. It's all there in the good old book. God was faithful, and despite being sick throughout the conference, I could still play for the services as if I was perfectly well. The feedback we've been getting has been pretty much positive. Reuben especially - he must have been high in the Spirit or something. It's been a long time since I've heard him lead like that.

And it's been a long time since I felt so free to just worship. Midway through the session yesterday Pastor Raymond came up to the drums and told me that I was TOO SOFT. Well he asked for it. So I just unleashed everything both yesterday and this morning, and it was, in a word, liberating. I could just worship God with everything I had and not worry about overpowering the other instruments. See, when you play the drums, it's something like putting your emotions into the drumset. Ok sounds a little zen like. But let's say for example we're singing about what God has done in my life. Normally I'd be shouting for joy or something like that, but instead of doing that, I'm putting all that joyful hollering into drumming, and shouts only get better as they grow louder. Welcome to Ben's Theory of Drumming.

So my only problem is that playing in small spaces for years has kinda conditioned me to playing softly. I find it really difficut to play loudly now. Case in point - I think even Jaime played the drums louder than I did. And what's even more humiliating is that she's not just female, she's PETITE. Bah.

Back to camp tommorrow. With all the work waiting for me, part of me's still hoping that the fever stays on.

posted by NEB at 10:09 PM

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