You are right, i am talking about the Happy Day song of Jesus Culture! I heard this song before but got into it only just last month when I heard it during the worship in the conferences that i attended in the Philippines.
I love the message of this song so much! Let me share the lyrics of it...:)
Happy Day
The greatest day in history, death is beaten
You have rescued me
Sing it out, Jesus is alive
The empty cross, the empty grave
Life eternal, You have won the day
Shout it all, Jesus is alive
He's alive
[Chorus:]
Oh happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed
When I stand, in that place
Free at last, meeting face to face
I am Yours, Jesus You are mine
Endless joy and perfect peace
Earthly pain finally will cease
Celebrate Jesus is alive
He's alive
[Bridge:]
Oh what a glorious day
What a glorious way
That You have saved me
Oh what a glorious day
What a glorious name
Jesus!
We used this song as part of the flash mob in the Youth Camp of ECOFI last April 14-18. Then had this as the finale dance during the wedding of my sister, Jing.
Then,mwhen i came back here in Thailand, eksilah dance team had this as one of the presentations during the wedding of our friends Nutch and K but used the Thai Version of this song...
So we decided to make a dance tutorial on this even if the actions are very simple because maybe this could help to others. Actually, the choreography of the chorus part on this is mostly from our friends in Davao City coz, as what i've said, we used this as part of the flash mob there. But, there are some actions that we found it very confusing, so we tried to modify them so we can get it since we are not really into hip-hop movements even how hard we tried! hehehehe :))))
so here it is!
then, here is the dance but this is in Thai Version since we had this during our practice
but let me share our dance in our house coz this is in English... :)
mmmhhhh..one more...hahah...we took this outside our new house! :D somekind of creepy though!
here's our final performance of this dance during the wedding celebration of Nutch and K! :)
:) hope this could still help a bit even if these actions are very simple! God bless...
After one and half month of having a vacation in the Philippines, we are glad to be back here in Thailand!
Have i mentioned that I, Karisse & Joy have moved in a new place? This is about 4 hour-drive from Hatyai.
With our new surroundings, new school, new students & co-workers, new house and new challenges & experiences in life, in Him we give Praise and in Him we put our Trust!
Though our place is quite far from our church now, i am thankful that we could still manage to be there once in a while. And last Friday, after having our last period in school, Joy, Karisse and I took a van going to Hatyai because the Eksilah team was invited to dance in a wedding celebration of Nutch & K.They are members of the church and we have seen their relationship growing as time pass by. We are happy and we do celebrate with them as they take another step to this next level in their lives as one.
By the way, this is my first time to witness a wedding celebration here in Thailand. I am amazed how extravagant they celebrate this occasion compared to ours in the Philippines.
We supposed to dance in the ceremony which was held in the church but since that was Friday and we are working teachers, we sadly declined the invitation. But, thankfully they had 3 celebrations. First in the church til lunch then at the groom's house for their dinner and then finally, whole day of Saturday was in the Bride's house! wowww..just wow! can't imagine how much the groom spent for this... coz i heard, it was the groom who spent..mhh not sure though.. :))) so much for that...
So we had accepted the invitation to dance in the Bride's house since we didn't have class during Saturdays.
Here are the videos of our two dances! :))) Had Practice on this last Friday night and for a short time in Saturday morning then presented these in the afternoon! :D i wanna make excuses again for our mistakes..hahahah... :) but yah, am glad we did these two dances in spite of our very limited time in making the steps and memorizing them... :) Glory to God!
I could sing of Your love forever in Thai lyrics
and this...
Happy Day by the Jesus Culture but this is in Thai Version..
So much fun! yeh we did have fun and very grateful for the opportunity in sharing the gospel in many people through these songs because for sure people understood the message since it was in Thai. Praise God!
Some pics we had.
a pose before going to the venue: Nafia, Whan, Maureen, Karisse, Mimi, Faith, Joy & I
BY the way, we have two new members in our team, Maureen & Mimi. They are new teachers here in Thailand. Glad to have them in our group!
A farther view
A pose with the couple!
A pose with the couple and with our Pastor, Ajarn Simon in Yellow shirt and with the other members of the church.
Im back! :) After 2 months of not posting, excited to open up my point of view about tambourine dancing and also to post this tambourine dance video of our young people from our local church in the Philippines as they bagged as the Champion this year. Praise God!
I had mentioned in my early post last 2013 that we always have a National Youth Camp in Davao City during summer. This is one of the biggest activities that the ECOFI holds every month of April.
One of the contests during this camp is theTambourine Dancing. I was one of the participants on this contest since this had begun... but i stopped joining this when i was already working because i helped the office of the NYO. We have this rule that if you will be one of the officers, you wont be allowed to join any contests. So, i have no choice than to stop my eagerness in dancing during competitions. :D well, that is also to give chance to the others...:))
Even before, a lot of intrigues came in. Just like, why do we make the tambourine dancing a competion? As they said, this is for worship. Why do we have this very expensive contest without any big amount as cash prize for the winners after the camp? (Expensive in the sense that we really spend a lot in the costumes and other props.)
Before, i kept ignoring these questions. But there really came a point that i asked myself and tried scavenging some answers within me. Without hypocrisy, I had this in mind. I did join because
-i want to develop my skills in dancing,
-i want to win,
-i want to challenge myself that if they can do it so i can do it too
-i want to be acknowledged that I am a good dancer.
For sure other dancers would agree with me on this list. But a big part of me seemed to be frustrated to these very shallow answers i had. Are these really the reasons why i joined in? how was the feeling when people said, i wasn't a good dancer coz i did mistakes ....how was the feeling when we didn't win and realized that "i cannot do what they can do" because they are really better???? the answer was FRUSTRATION!
No wonder when we didnt win, we murmored!.. "the judges weren't good..the judges were unfair! we won't join in next time!;( " these scenario really happened... very SAD! :(
Tired of this feelin, decided to go back to the author of all the answers, asking Him whats the purpose of these dances that i am into. I only get this answer. "Dance because you LoVE ME"...
The bible says in Matthew 22:37
"And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."
Until, we understand that we do things because we Love HIM, frustrations will always be on our way. I am thankful that i was led to make this realization before i fall fully to this dread of frustrations.
I will dance because I LOVE HIM! So, why worry of the expectations from other people and even from myself? why worry if i won't really the best in the eyes of these people? God always LOVES me regardless of what other people would think or even on what I think? Dance without comparing yourself to others.. Dance because you LOVE Him.
When we love Him, we do our best for Him.
When we love Him, we focus our mind on Him.
When we love Him, we accept with all our hearts what He has given to us and what is meant for us.
We should understand that we have this "competion" not to win the eyes of the people but to win the Heart of God. I should not even say that to win the heart of God cause there is nothing that we can do to make Him love us because He is simply the author of love. He loves us unconditionally.
Having this kind of activity in the camp, develops our attitude of humbleness when we are at the top and develops our sportsmanship when we are at the bottom....how gracious we are in accepting defeats? It is more than what we could see in our eyes outwardly. we have this as a competion to be the spring board in learning lessons in life. If we put this in mind, we would be thinking and doing things for His glory alone and not for ourselves.
One more thing ....Before i end......for me this is very important!
Yes, we should not focus on what the people would think but focus on what God
would feel when He is watching while we are dancing. i wanna emphasize this ones and for all, because i am sickened and saddend on watching dances that portrays lustful actions specially in Tambourine Dancing. I wonder God would be really happy on watching our dances if people won't be blessed on the moves we made as they have portrayed lustful actions???? with costumes that show-off more of the flesh???? What are lustful actions??? well, something is wrong with you when you don't know what i mean! "costumes" that ignites the lustful thoughts of a person???? i dont know if my term is correct, but i have seen a lot. I am not pointing only to some of the dances in our camp but in general. (My apology of mentioning this) But it is true... :( i don't know how do this kind or ways in tambourine dancing seemed to be going on the other side of its real track.
The actions we make would show that we LOVE Him! These movements should be worshipping the
sovereign God, the Holy One, -the Great King and not a show for those who are in the rated bars! My heart bleeds as i am watching some dances that convey the people to think badly.
I am addressing this specially to the choreographers or trainors. When we make dances, let us not forget to pray and ask the HOly Spirit to guide us in making actions. I don't consider myself as a perfect dancer or the best choreographer...not even a tip of it..neither a professional one but this is what God has empressed to me. And even I, God has continually checking my heart as i dance or as i make dances. I am in awe of Him!
If you are convicted on this post, i pray that God would help you in accepting these truths. If you think I am wrong, my respect to your point and i hope you would respect mine too.
This post is done not to look down others but to help. If this isn't helping any, just let go of these mumblings of mine.
Oh yah, i almost forget, this is the video of our district tambourine dancers. Using the song "Our God's Not Dead" by the Newsboys.
They won as the the champion on this year's camp in Tambourine Dancing... my Congratulations to them. They were trained by my sister Joy. Glory to God! Happy to witness these young ladies growing up now.
