Post-SNA Reflection

"its all over and done"

its done. we finished it. almost exactly 24 hours ago, i gave my last cue, turned on the house lights and ended our annual Saturday Night Alive. I cant believe its already over. All day yesterday at rehearsal, it NEVER hit me that SNA was that night. So many things happened yesterday that has showed me God's power, that has taught me lots and has helped me push through this final stretch of this amazing journey. I miss it OH SO MUCH. SO much. SO SO MUCH.

Lets start with what im feeling at this second. I wanted to post last night, but i was too tired, and besides i had to let things settle in first. Right now. 10:08pm Dec 11th. Im in SNA withdrawal. Post-SNA-Depression. Im so sad that its all over, i miss it SO much and i just cant.. i feel like someone just stole a giant piece of my life and there's an empty hole there. Thinking back to last night, i think it went rather well and im extremely proud and happy for my teams. For their hard work, their efforts, their time, but more importantly; their servant-hood and humility. But im actually so sad and i dont know how to cope. I wonder how long this will take me to get over...

Now for the actual night. I was absolutely ASTONISHED at all the stops Satan tried to pull on us this year. you'll see why. SO many things happened at yesterday's rehearsal, and im amazed at how we pulled through.

a) Keynote. During our second runthrough, there was a noise, a flash on the screen, and it turned out that the keynote files were corrupted. This was a HUGE part of SNA. The keynote consists of the sound effects, the music, the videos, the lyrics and the backgrounds. It practically makes up a good third of SNA. without it, it would be really lost, many things are shown through this keynote. The fact that it was corrupted, files werent working, scared the world out of me and Kelly. But PRAISE GOD, they fixed it and it was amazing during the night.

b) Surprise. Our last and FINAL run through before the actual thing, we were practicing, everything was running smoothly until... the fire alarm went off. yup. we had a fire alarm pulled an HOUR before the doors opened. We had to run out, we had to do the procedure, we didnt know what was going on. Im thankful that God really helped us through it. we were able to get through the rest of the run through too! :) When that happened, i thought "Satan's REALLY just pulling all the stops on us this year, trying to bring us down". Afterwards, we had the biggest disappointment. We couldnt use the fog/smoke machines anymore because we didnt want to risk having 1000 go out and come back in because the show will be over. Although it was a BIG disappointment, but i understand where they're coming from, and im thankful that the alarm happened during REHEARSAL and NOT the actual thing.

c) The Orb. As director, basically the show was on my shoulders, i called all the final shots, if anything happens. SPOILER ALERT. We were finishing up the drama, with the final scene, the epic of the most epic, the intense beyond Mars, the fight scene. They fought and everything was going according to plan. Until... i had a bunch of people come up to me and say that the orb was accidentally knocked off during the beginning of the fight scene. I WAS IN PANIC MODE. what do i do, there was an extra orb, do i send it out? keep it? the most important scene and i was at the biggest decision. make or break. in the end i decided to get it out there, so someone ran out and put it on. APPARENTLY the orb holder fell off, so it was a sphere balancing on a small surface, praise God it didnt fall. Although afterwards EVERYONE i asked said they themselves wouldnt have done it, but how would they end the drama? how could i cue/direct on the fly? no epic ending with the shattering of the orb. Apparently the actors tried improv-ing lines, but i didnt hear it.

I felt like the night went really well, and although we're all going through post-SNA-depression, i know that night was God glorifying. Again, God has blessed us with such an amazing team so we could pull this off. Each person came into this with their own special and different talents to put it together. from dance to art to music to drama. all for our Lord's glory.

I have to thank my pastors. They kept me grounded at ALL TIMES, reminding me to be humble, keeping me on track and pushing me forward when i was discouraged. They were really affirming and encouraging and their confidence, smiles, and faith in me kept the drive and pushed me to the end. Im so thankful that God blessed me with both Ho-Ming and Kelly, two amazing role models whom i look up to.

I know that SNA touched MANY hearts last night, may we continue to pray that others will come to know Christ, may it be question it, be curious to learn more, and may we as Christ followers really proclaim and share the good news.

"what are you going to do when your orb shatters? #SNA2011"

had quite the journey.

learnt quite the lesson.

made quite the memories.

#SNA2011, #TheOrbOfAvasksus

verse of the day: Ephesians 1:18-19

¹⁸ I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe.