This year, I start to teach Sunday School. I have been helping with the Toddler's Ministry at church (for 3 year olds and below) for the last few years, but this year I jump into the deep-end to take on a class of Primary 6 kids (11 to 12 year olds). Pre-teens are a tough bunch to reach, especially when the world has so many distractions for them - e.g. exams, social pressures, X-box, PSP, Wii, Hannah Montana, iCarly, etc... I am praying that I may be relevant to them, and hopefully point them to the fullness of life that Christ came to give us.
Besides Sunday School, I will be continuing to help out with the Kid's Soccer ministry on Saturdays, and also continuing to lead my Care Group "Life with Christ". Kid's Soccer is supposed to be a "soft evangelism" ministry, but we did not quite get there in 2008 as most of the kids were our own church kids, and it did not help that there was a long disruption at the end of the year when the soccer field was not available. 2009 brings a new venue for Kid's Soccer and hopefully we grow this into a outreach ministry for the kids. In terms of my Care Group, it has been a gnawing thought in my mind that I have not done enough as a CG leader. We do not seem to have a clear vision/objective, and as such it is hard to say if we made progress in 2008. I need to figure out a way to balance the group's social needs (we love to chat) and chalk up some tangible spiritual growth.
Perhaps the most important requirement of serving (and my weak point) is a humble, willing and committed heart, especially when the pressures of life set in. Please pray for me, that I will follow through and serve with all of my mind, my heart and my strength in 2009.
Work-wise, I think 2009 will bring new challenges with the anticipated economic slowdown. Some say that the real test of management occurs during hard times, and having managed a team through the Asian financial crisis some years back, I tend to agree. That was one of the most stressful work experiences I have ever had. It doesn't take a genius to cut cost and improve short-term profitability, but the real challenge is how to manage costs and yet still find new avenues of business growth/sustainability. There is already a lot of talk that 2009 will be tougher than the last Asian financial crisis, so things could get rather interesting/challenging.
On the family front, R2 goes to "real" school in 2009 - Primary 1 (i.e. Elementary School) - no more kindergarden stuff. Sigh, my babies have grown up and we have to start getting serious about schoolwork and exams and such... Will R1 continue to do well in school? How will the baby of the house (R2) adapt to school life? What activities/clubs should we sign R1 up for? How do we maintain a healthy balance of academic achievement and just letting them have fun? I still can't believe R2 goes to Primary School tomorrow! With R1 and R2 both going to Primary School, the entire family will be up at 6am every weekday, which is probably a good way for me to get into the discipline of getting up early and getting some exercise in before work.
Talking about exercise, 2009 brings me back to going slow and long after a 2-month hiatus. I am trying not to think about how much fitness/speed I have lost (not that I have ever been particularly fast, which only makes things worse), nor about the pain of getting back into training mode. I did manage to add some cool stuff to the bike, which I will write about next time.
Yikes almost forgot to introduce my young bloggers in the family:
Have a blessed 2009!