LONELY, I'm MR LONELY

haha! I'm sure the Title has caught everybody's attention! And if you are expecting some 'juicy' information, haha, maybe next time!
Suddenly, this sense of loneliness start to dwell in me! Not an emptiness yearning for the other-half and neither is it becoz of lack of friends. It's the feeling that in the future, God may send me to somewhere for His work and it means leaving my comfort zone and m friends and to start afresh in a new environment, new culture..... In the past, when I went to Cambodia for Mission works, i was always full of enthuasism. Never have I once felt that sense of 'loneliness'. In fact, i was more happy and willingly to want to stay for longer period of time. I actually contemplated to stay for at least a month in Cambodia after my studies. That was a year back. But suddenly the thought of such plan, brought shivers to me. The thought of living alone(the only singaporean). The thought of away from home and friends. The thought of adjusting to the new environment and culture. The thought of having to find a purpose in the midst of such 'confusion'. What was i thinking? Was that thought just purely that instantaneous enthuasism which has died down now? Nope! I always have the passion for the Khmers. Then why am i feeling so uneasy? For a while, i have been thinking through and talking to God! And I start to realise it's a form of molding for me. I'm still not sure if God will call me into the Mission field in the future but if He does, I will be more ready and prepared to face with the reality of the changes. And most importantly, my security is in Him alone! May we have the same purpose in life and where You call us, we will follow You! Amen!
(p.s attached the song Lonely, I'm Mr lonely! Enjoy it! Though couldn't find the chipmunks version)

FOUND

This is way overdued. I shd have said this a long time ago. But I simply procrastinated. Sorry Lord! Thank You so much for allowing my wallet to be found. If you all still remember, I mentioned before that I had lost my wallet. It was like more than a month ago. And honestly, though hopefully, I thought that it was going to be an expensive lesson. I lost my IC, Student Card, Driving Licence (these 3 cards will cost me up to $180 in total to replace), Debit card and EZ-link card. And thankfully I didn't immediately make a replacement as I didn't had the $$$! In fact was doing my sums on my next month allowance. And den after such a long time, the wallet was found. Somebody had thrown it into the PO Box! The letter with the wallet was send to my house on last thursday, 20 July, and I was out that day. My mum received the registered letter and gave me a call. When I heard what she described of the letter, suddenly I became very estactic. I told her to open the letter to see if it was my wallet. And true enough, it was! I was so full of praise for God! There's nothing I can say to describe how wonderful He is! Praise be to God, the Almighty one.

NO LEFT or RIGHT TURN! FORWARD

It seems like everybody is speculating! That's what I was fearful of! Becoz it means nothing constructive to me but just unnecessary pressure! But then I'm glad that their speculation is a step behind me! So it's pretty irrelevant! Haha! Try harder people! Be surprised becoz even I myself may be surprised!

Today, Pastor Edwin was talking along this verse, "if the Lord speaks (reprimand) to us, do not harden our hearts." He gave 3 ways to allow us not to have a harden heart but a soft and tender heart. Firstly is to build our faith in God's past providence. Secondly is to build our trust in God's faithfulness in our present providence. And thirdly, hmmmm didn't quite catch that one! I was lost in my own thoughts and the Lord is speaking to me. God is reprimanding me about certain issues in my life and I have to say, I chose to harden my heart and ignore Him. And God really spoke into my heart and I felt convicted that I have taken His grace for granted. And another thing I was concerned abt was my future- my carreer in particular. After I reconciled with God personally, I went up for altar call to be prayed for in this area. Wing Hong and Robert prayed for me. And I really thank God for speaking thru them. From the start till to end, they pray nothing abt asking God to show me what career I shoud go into. They simply prayed along asking me to place my trust and faith in God's providence of my future career, partner, etc. And they sayed the same thing to me which gave me a really wake up call. Don't look to the Left, Don't look to Right! Look towards God! I guess many a times, that's what I have been doing. I doubt and I seek '2nd opinion'. I trust in my own judgement, feelings, expectations, other people's expectation then in God's choice. He chose me, He knows me the best, He will choose the best for me! Career, partner.... All these are merely ways for me to serve You in a greater way and to give You glory. So whatever it is, whoever she is, I know You have the best for me. May I not look to the left nor right but look to You! Amen!

Time to PLAY

Well! Today went to SAC New Sanctuary to watch this musical play put up by the youths from Church of Our Good Shepherd! It is entitled "Storm in a fishbowl" I must really say they put in a very good effort! I have heard they had some very 'last minute' preparations. But I could see that they were pretty comfortable in their roles. I won't go into details of the play but I must say i really enjoyed it! (usually i'm quite demanding and critical) And as the play ended, I just sensed the Lord bringing up an 'old' issue which was left untouched. I was inspired to do up plays quite a while ago. I guess it could be the influence from writing and directing the mime for the Mission Trip we had 2 years back! Though at the time I felt that inspiration to start a play, I never got down to doing it. I believe I was not ready and the timing was not right! And even now as the Lord brought this issue back, I am really enthusiatic but at the same time, I know that I had to be in tuned with God and not simply just following that 'feeling'. Somehow or rather, the 1st question that the Lord posed to me was "How do I rally the youths(christians) to invite their non-believing friends?" Many a times, when such evangelistic outreach is carried out, most of the audience are Christians themselves. Little had invited non-believing friends (well maybe they did invite but their friends turn them down) I always feel that we as Christians are not mentally and spirtually prepared for such outreach. Mentally as in having the courage to pop the invitation question for fear of rejection, discrimination. Spiritually as in trusting in God and praying feverently for the non-believers! So I guess that's the first issue the Lord has revealed to me to tackle. And then I saw a picture of corns. I must be hungry till i'm hallucinating. Nope! I had an over-caloried McDonald meal! The picture reminded me of this verse: "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." John 24:12
And I sense the Lord telling me that we Christians must really die to ourselves or else nothing will bear out of us! Unless we die and allow Jesus to enter, we will just bear our own 'fruits'. I'm not sure how the Lord wants me to deal with this issue but one thing I know I must do, PRAY!

When this issue is dealt with, then will I move into the real evangelistic outreach! I would really love to have a musical play which will touch many people's hearts. Imagine a stadium of audience, many of whom who had not heard about Christ, raising their hands in response to the call from God! Indeed, a revival! That's the vision but I will rather not go so far to talk about it. There must be a revival in our own life first. The light from a light-tower which is not visible can never direct any ship! Until we ourselves are light up, then can we shine forth to the others! So my prayer to all those who are like-minded and holds a common goal, let's us first renew ourselves in Christ and in unision, pray for God's work to be done!

Pure Madness (Just For Laugh)

(CLICK ON FOTO TO PLAY VIDEO)

SBC4SY

The new SBC4SY is starting soon. THis time round we'll be taking some of Paul's letter to study. 4 letters - Thessalonians, Ephesians, Corinthians, Galatians! Do not miss this upcoming journey with Paul! And i really like the flyer front page. I designed it! Haha!

The Little Boy.... in Her Eyes!

I guess i'm getting a hangover from watching the World Cup Final! I think I'm getting too old for all this overnight stuff! Cannot 'thong' like before. Like during last chalet, i just couldn't tahan thru both nite. And during the Final, I slept thru from 2nd half till before the start of penalty shoot-out and went home at 5.30am and slept till 2pm. Oh gosh! Den this morning, suppose to wake up at 8am but i could only drag myself out of bed at 9.30am. Jia lat lah! Didn't do much in the morning but just stare at the PC. After which at about 1pm, decided to go play basketball. I need to burn the spare tyre! Haha! So was changing and wearing my contacts. Den realise that my vision was very blur! Try dripping but didn't get clearer. Could be the lens. So i tried to remove them. To my horror, i couldnt' remove it. I tried many times but it doesn't come out. It was stucked to my eye ball! ARGGGGGHHHHHHHH! I was panicking but i told myself to calm down. So with my last attempt, I had to 'dig' out the lens. Thank God! It came out! To my shock, the lens had warped at the circrumference. It was the same for the other lens. Thankfully i didn't carry on wearing it or else any longer, i may need to be sent to ICU. So change to my last new pair of lens. Haiz! Have to spend money to buy new sets. Play basketball for 1 1/2 hour den went home, washed up and started to play Winning Elven on my laptop. So difficult to play. My player totally cannot run den keep losing ball control. Played 2 matches, lose both matches. Gave up!

Ok back to my main topic. The Little Boy in Her Eyes! Well if you are smart enough, yes the small boy is referring to me. Ok! Stop teasing me! The word 'small' is not in reference to my size. And Her is referring.... to.... My MUM! I decided to write this as a tribute to my mum and also all the mums in the world!

"Your room is like a pig sty!" "Why can't you just put your laundry in the basket?" "No! You can't stay over!" "Can you eat your vegetables!" "Nag! Nag!Nag!Nag!" Does that sound familiar? Or you have worst senarios! Haha! Whatever it is, this is definitely an undisputable character found in most Mum. Am i contradicting myself? 'Tribute' and the first thing i talk about Mum is their invincible Gift. Haha! Nope! It's just that I feel that's one thing that most of us will identify with. I never love and enjoyed when my mum spend so much time nagging at me. Even till this day! She still nags at me on my room! Yes! No doubt it's a pig sty but that's me! I know it's a lousy excuse. I do truly need to learn to be tidy (ever more so if i want to get married!) And the nagging really kinda spoil the day! But I will always remind myself of one thing - she did it out of concern! Really! If you think about it, who on earth will be so busy body and go around minding every business of yours! She don't get anything out of it (in fact most of the time, she gets our curses and 'dirty' stare) It is purely out of a motherly love but just that no mum is perfect. Their expression of love may at times be 'tainted' with frustration, impatience, hopelessness and other things. As I remember this, everyttime my mum nags at me (i'm 25 ok), the feeling is still sucky, but I will always look at the positive side of her comment!

I must really thank God for choosing her to be my mum. Yes, no doubt she is never the perfect mum, she is not very affectionate, she is naggy, she is back-dated, she is incoherent at times, she buys Toto and 4D, she is easily deceived but her faith in God is the thing that kept the family going. She may not be very strong in God's word but she just simply know how to hang onto God. She took up the responsibilty to bring back the bread when my father decided to 'retire'. She took care of the family needs and chores one handedly. She make sure her children gets the best she could give and yet she herself, she is thrifty and would never spend what she don't really need. And i have to say my dad doesn't treat my mum that well and honestly, if it was some other woman, they would have left him. But she hold on because for her children sake! When i was young, I wondered why she just hold on! It's because of God! She knows that God is in control, even when times are not smooth. She pointed to God and her children had known God through her. I'm not sure about your mum! She may be the perfect mum or she may be one whom you have a hard time with! Whatever it is, in them is that motherly love! It will never change. Do take time to know and appreciate them. When was the last time you held her hands? Go hold her hands and feel the 'tracks' of hardships and the 'weathering' of ages. When was the last time you gave her a peck on her cheek? Give a goodnite kiss and see how much it surprises her. Treasure those who are around you! For in this world, nothing will last! Only Love will!

Youth Sunday (2 July 2006)

THis sunday is Youth Sunday. Most of the youths have been preparing for this sunday. Instead of the usual group of people serving in church, the youths have come together to help run the Sunday Svc. Helping out in ushering, logistics and even in Worship. Had Darren to co-lead with me and some of the other youths to help out in muscian. WEnt pretty smoothly! Den had Xu En, Xin Ling, Ting2 to lead and co-lead at the Chinese COngregation. We did up 2 banners for this Sunday but dun have the foto to put up. Then after church, went to Sakura to have lunch. After lunch, went to AHS to prepare for the soccer and captain's ball match between the youths and the adults. Below are some fotos! Enjoy them!

PLACE YOUR CURSOR ON THE FOTOS TO READ CAPTION!
TO READ THE NEXT FOTO'S CAPTION, MOVE CURSOR AWAY AND ONTO THE FOTO!








































Serene: Ai yoh! Johnny! Somebody 'bio-ing' me!


Johnny: Diao si mi diao! Look at my wife somemore, I make sure you become this pizza!

近朱者赤， 近墨者黑

Hmmm! This is one of the things that have been dwelling on my mind for quite a while. In fact, it's more like it has been disturbing me greatly. Well, for those who are familiar with the chinese idiom, you will know that it means if you mingle with good influence, you will be positively influenced and if you mingle with the wrong company, you will be influenced in that way. Maybe I am just being the very conservative and the less gracious self. I don't know but my heart and my spirit doesn't feel right and I just want to speak of it.

I just sense that there is this spirit of foolish talks, talks that do nothing but merely comprises gossip(whether malicious or not), critical judgement on people(whether for fun or mere passing comment). I guess for those who knows me well, they will know that there are times I can be cranky and start talking and acting foolishly. So am I critisizing or contradicitng myself? No! I'm not saying that behaving foolish is wrong. But rather what was the intention and who are the people involved. Most of the time the intention is to provide entertainment for others which I think it is perfectly great. It's good to bring laughter and joy to people's life. Then the next question is the foolishness is targetted or involved who? Many a times, the foolish talks are shot at other people, picking on people's 'weakness' and making a joke out of it. This is what i called malicious foolish talks. It does nothing but discriminate or bring people down and what so great about making a quick joy at the expense of other people's feelings. Detestable attitude.

4Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. 5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

Eph 5:4-5

This is what God says about foolish talks which are out of place. They will not have any inheritane in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Maybe it seems a bit harsh and that the talks may not be similiar to the extent the talks mentioned in the passage. I still feel it is not right in God's eyes. And what is not right in God's eyes, is a sin and God detest sin. So why are we still doing things that God dislike?

And to make things more complicated, people are attracted to such talks. It is always good to have a good laugh at people's humours and to feel 'cool' in these people's presence. It attracts the most attention. I guess if foolish talks attracts foolish people, it is still fine. But then, it is not in this case. People who are more mature spirtually and by age are drawn to such talks. Well! They may not be involved or particpate in such talks but I guess by merely, joining in and enjoying a great entertainment out of it, I feel sad! By merely joining in, they have unawarely approved of such behaviours. We end up being a stumbling block to them and those who are younger in faith.

Stay away from a foolish man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips.

Prov 14:7

And this is clearly what God says, stay away from foolish man as you find on knowledge but in fact, you become influenced. I'm not saying we shd condemn such people and stay far from them. But rather I believe God wants us to stay clear of such foolish behaviour for it has no knowledge but it just feed the hollowness in one self. In fact, my stand is we shd stand up against what is wrong and stand up for what is right. When a brother or sister has done something wrong, we being the more matured and stronger in faith should correct them and if necessary to rebuke them. It may not be easy for a peer to correct another peer but we have to bear in mind that if we don't, we have allowed our brother or sister in Christ sin. But in whose authority do we correct them?

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

2 Tim 3:16

In God's authority. Use God's word to correct, to teach, to rebuke and help our siblings in Christ to walk towards righteouness. My urge to all the rest is to continue to do what is right and good in the eyes of God. Do not be weary or tired but be strengthened in God's word and to follow the truth of the Spirit. Do not be afraid to go against the conformity of the world but walk in the light.