It was a family affair today -- church and lunch out.
I think every week I meet another handful of family members and today I met Michael, Marisa and their beautiful two girls Sam and Alex. Sam and Alex are two little ladies, ages 9 and 11, that ooze with confidence, positivity and sweetness. In a discussion about my business plan and being undecided about opening it here in the Philippines or back in Canada, Alex jumped in on the conversation and told me I "must" set it up here. She put me on the cutest of bribed/guilt trips and literally at the flick of the fingers she'd throw on her rendition of the saddest face a little 11 year old girl could possible sport. She told me she'd star in my commercials about my company and that she'd make sure her dad would introduced me to Manny Pacquiao.
The point of today's family affair was to not only meet this super sweet family of four but to have them introduce us to their church.
One of the things that is honestly holding me back from jumping over the opportunity here to start my business is church. I was raised in a church-going home and though I don't consider myself very religious I do see and feel the importance of having the spiritual side of me fed. And after spending 11 years in Korea without a church that I really felt at home with and comfortable at, I finally found one that fed me -- Grant African Church in Toronto. One of the pastors attends System Fitness and so it was a sweet perk to not only that church but also System because I'd always run into him at training. He'd greet me with a big hug and a big beautiful smile, give me a motivational pep talk and then I'd return to my training feeling refreshed by the brief little moment spent together. I don't have that here in the Philippines and before Toronto I didn't have that in Korea either.
I had much anticipation and expectation regarding attending church today. I had Googled it the other day and was shocked to read about just how big it was. It's a nondenominational church that offers 4 services on Sunday because it has such a large crowd to tend to. Get this, it sits 10,000 people... Yikes!!! Grant only sits maybe 150?!
I felt lost at the church, lost and overly distracted by the camera men, massive TV screens, the flood of people and all that was going on. To tell you the truth, I don't really remember what the pastor talked about but my mind did start working on overtime when the pastor started taking about the different ministries in the church.
I wonder if there's a fitness-related ministry. I know there's a kids' summer camp but what about for adults? Is there anything for them? Better yet, is there anything that's specifically for women and health???
Things that make me go hmmm...
I'm a hard one to sell something to and I realized this while sitting there. I so easily picked out what I didn't like and it made me not only miss Grant church but it also took away from me giving this church a fair chance. The place was gorgeous and I'm sure it's an amazing church but it made me miss the comfort of Grant. I've never been a fan of oversized churches. I've been told that there's a "satellite church" in Eastwood, where I live, and it's much smaller so I'm going to try to search it out. The plan next week is to either attend this church again and give it a fair chance, stop comparing it to Grant, or attend the one in Eastwood, and give that one a fair chance too.
No comments:
Post a Comment