People in Transit...

2008-03-07T00:47:00.000+08:00

http://a-w-t-y.blogspot.com/

Whoops :P Personal use :P

Surprised by Joy

2008-03-01T14:04:00.003+08:00

Meant to post this last week, but couldn't really find the time to.. Pity, cause can't remember things so clearly by now.. >.<

Anyway.. There is joy, happiness and pleasure. The distinction between them, I would say, is not really sharp - in that everyone who "experienced it will want it again".

True, this is language and depending on how we use the word, the word will have different meanings. This is not to say that it just depends on the definition - there is only so far that we can define things. Joy, pleasure and happiness certainly have some shades of difference.

Usually, I like to think of happiness as a state of emotions, joy as a state of mind. So it is like, "I am happy" or "I feel happy" as opposed to "I will be joyful". Those who "went away rejoicing" were, in my terms, happy. But those who "rejoice in the Lord always", and those who "Consider it pure joy.." are in my terms joyful.

Now, I think this distinction may be important because we can somewhat control our state of mind much more easily than our state of emotions. Everyone would feel sad about failure, loss and all kinds of negative things. And certainly we should. It is right to mourn (for a time) for a loss. But thanks be to God, even in our feeling of unhappiness, we can have joy. We can hope in our Lord... we can look for treasures, lessons to learn and so on..

Pardon me if I am difficult to comprehend. I can only write as much as I understand, and there are gaps in my understanding.

Of course, there are links between the 2. If we would be joyful at nothing, then nothing can make us happy. And if we decided to be joyful, even if the sorrow does not disappear, the unhappiness may no longer be so severe.. I do believe in the idea that what you think affects what you feel to quite a significant extent. But not totally. Emotions.. cannot always be controlled.

If we are happy because situations are good, let us not mistaken it for joy. And if we are unhappy because of lousy situations, let not our sorrow be our condemnation - what matters more is our response to it.

Er.. hope this makes some sense :P

Transit

2008-02-06T23:13:00.000+08:00

Whoops.. Had been out of commission for quite a while...

Anyway, sorry for missing the last meal and the first gathering of the old and new cell respectively.. To the old People In Transit: You people were great! Thank you for the wonderful past year or so. Thank you thank you thank you ^_^ To the new cell (er.. not too sure what name its going to be.. same name??): Looking forward to it too :)

Life thus far had been quite hectic. It really need not be, but if you want to do things.. then it will certainly be. Thank God though for fair leaders and good weather and other conditions :) Truly His protection can be clearly seen...

Hope to be able to do many more things in church. I miss going there weekly.. with so much disruptions in the middle.

Yup :)

2008-01-30T11:43:00.000+08:00

Hey dear CELL,
Due to the clashings of everyone's busy schdules,we have decided to postpone the cell gathering on SUNDAY. SUNDAY Lunch! So once service ENDS let's all gather outside the lift alright?

Please co-operate so that we can have more time to get on each other's nerves :) for the very last time! :(

smellMEL:p

Before we break up ....

2008-01-22T18:05:00.000+08:00

OK... i was gonna attempt to be cheesy! ha ha something about the break up but ah well ... i shall be myself... NON CHEESY! :)

ok i am gonna get straight to the POINT! :)

Let meet up for dinner! (before the OLDIES leave zone 2 :( )

Feb 2 (Saturday)
7pm
Venue: ??? (undecided as of now) Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Singapore has changed so much! which makes me super out dated on nice places to makan or chill.

Please please please please please block out 2nd Feb dinner okie pokie? Well i am looking for to this dinner cause, you guys know i am probably only like 1/4 a member of the cell cause of the time i have been away. probably missed out on many many cell lunches, gatherings, dinners! SO! i would really mean alot to me to have a meal w ALL of you. Please let me know if u guys can make it ok?

Cyrus ONZ
Vyn Will let me know
Wei2 ONZ
Mel ONZ
Algene Will let me know
Rochelle ONZ
The rest please let me know ya?

i ll be overseas till next monday so just TAG to say if u can make it yeah?

Okie i am off! see you all sooN! GOD BLESS!

2008-01-07T23:49:00.000+08:00

Hello PITs!
It has been a year since I've been you with guys.(:
Thank You for all the laughters you all have brought and some of the fruitful masterlife discussions!
Year 2008 will be a challenging year...for me and us!
I thank God for bringing me through the year 2007,for watching over me all the time.
As I "browse through the pages" of yesteryear,God has indeed protected me from many harm.
Once,I foolishly heated a glass pot of soup from the refrigerator...and "BOOM!" It literally exploded and the glass shattered everywhere..and guess where I was?!?
Just a 2 steps behind from the pot!
Thank God none of the flying shards cut me at all.
Thank God!

Have a fruitful year ahead PITs!!

rochelleloves.((:

Thanking God

2007-12-30T20:51:00.001+08:00

I thank you that,

I've breath, to live life's ups and downs.

I thank you that,

I've ability to love, many have lost the desire/ability & so miss out on what living means.

I thank you that,

I've friends and family that love me in return.

I thank you that,

I've a church, to journey with on this narrow path.

I thank you that,

my basic needs are of no concern, I'm already taken care of.

I thank you that,

I've a purpose, You are my purpose.

I thank you that,

I've the ability to bless, it means that I've been so blessed myself.

I thank you that,

I've joy, so many live in gloom.

I thank you that,

I've peace, no war rages around me and I can present my personal wars to you.

I thank you that,

I've a friend everlasting, no matter what others say.

I bless you Lord, for who you are. I bless you Lord, for what you've done. Though you take these away, I pray, I'll still choose to bless you for the saving grace You gave to save my soul.

What is man that he should grumble & question what you do? Much less me a mere woman who doesn't know what she's doing many a time. What I have, I lift to You and humbly avail to your use. Not because I am able, but that I am willing. Lord, see my small gift and do not laugh. It's just me.

-----------------------------

I wrote the above this morning. Guess last Sundays of the years are reserved for reflection. And I'm really thankful for what has happened and even things that have not. I hope the year's been good for you too...

luv vyn.

Experiences

2007-12-29T21:28:00.000+08:00

Okay.. I will blog something more personal for once =p

Since the beginning of December, I had hardly had a day when I didn't have something to do despite not having school.. Not that I am complaining - certainly I am not, it had been a most wonderful time ^_^

Lets start with camp Ifaith. It was an excellent camp.. My first night walk experience, my second tightrope experience, my first shouting/jumping/laughing in front of people experience, one of the few times I played in the rain, breaking specs while playing.. They are really new experiences. Of course, much more importantly, I loved the worship and the sessions. At some of the worships, I felt that I could really concentrate. And this is certainly different from the usual worship where I would be quite distracted.. And of course, I loved doing the kid's actions for some of the songs. Kinda miss them.. and we usually don't do the actions that much in usual service.. And the sessions.. I loved the teachings. In fact, if I have a complain, it would be that the teaching was too short =p The exegesis was detailed and deep. And challenging. Any sense of pride that I may have (like, oh, all these I know and practice already) were swept away. I cannot honestly say that I practice them. Risk, pain, faith, silence..

After that was Bible Trail organized by Youth for Christ. Its an annual thing. Honestly, I think it was totally different (the style, and even sometimes, the teaching). But it was reconcilable, so that was not a problem. I liked Isaiah 6 and the way the passage was expounded on. Hearing God's voice in spite of subjectivity, problems and uncertainty.. Important in order to live a Christian life that is guided by God.

And following that.. Vietnam!! Hahaha. There was this sense that with Friends, Food, Drinks, Scenery, and Emmanuel.. What else would one want? Hanoi was okay, but Sapa was super Impressive. Went to Cloud Yard and Heaven's Gate (True, they are just names..) The view was super nice there. And there were quite a lot of flowers. The place is excellent for people like me who like to walk =p Because we walked alot there. Ever had the experience? Walk for long distance, then sit down and eat and drink something.. It is one of the best experiences (I think) that one can find on this side of eternity.. Hehe. Hope you all like Green bean paste ;)

Then house moving.. 3 things I like about the new house. Firstly, I get my own room. Secondly, I can grow plants. And thirdly, the things there, especially food is cheap ^_^

Yup. 2007 is closing soon.. Had many nice memories.. Thanks to everyone who had made a positive impact ;)

NYE Party!!

2007-12-29T16:54:00.001+08:00

Yet another end to the year.. Hope you look back with fond memories? No? Not too late to create some... Mysterious NYE party! Come come..

Faith

2007-12-27T20:00:00.000+08:00

Christians are often criticized as being unreasonable and pulling out “Mystery” as a cover every now and then. Now, that Faith in its strongest (though perhaps not – this I say with fear and trembling – the best) form can overcome all arguments, I would concede. Even arguments against Faith can be defended against by Faith. But that Christians are unreasonable and that there is a constant need to pull out mystery and faith against reasonable arguments I would not concede.

Before going on further, I must first make clear that Faith is Essential (or as the camp taught us, Indispensable). If for no other reason, it is that knowledge and everything is never going to build a complete picture. Faith is going to come in somewhere. And the more you know God – I think that the more you would be asked to trust Him (aka, have Faith in Him)

Yet, as far as reason go, I believe that Christians have by far, the upper hand. The existence of God? Buttressed by the existence and similarity of morality and the existence of reason (please see Mere Christianity for a full Thesis). The involvement of God? Testified by the Law, Moses, the Prophets, the Christ and the apostles. The reliability of the Bible? Shown by the fulfilled prophecies, the unison story, the numerous manuscripts, the transforming power, the sacrifices of the writer, and the coherence with our morality. For any other questions (reasonable ones I am supposing)? They either have a reasonable answer, no real significance, stems out of misunderstanding of the Christian doctrine, or is coherent with the rest of Christianity.

“The Bible is frivolous in the sense that it makes it sound as though humans are in the centre of attention; as though God thinks that we are beings who deserved attention at all.” And truly so - I would never dare to claim something like this. Yet, this does not immediately make it false. Flight was thought to be impossible –greater is the awe it creates when it really comes true.

We are told to believe, to walk by faith and not by side. But by His grace, He had allowed us to do so reasonably – at least for a start.

Agnosticism?

2007-12-27T19:58:00.000+08:00

According to one of my friends, the root reason for agnosticism is the idea that people claim far too much of God – whom all would agree (if he exists) to be great and powerful and indescribable. Furthermore, there is no way to prove that God cares for people – perhaps He is a bored scientist carrying out an experiment. In other words, we have no way to imagine his nature (of that, I think my friend would be meaning His character, rather than His power).

Now, I must begin by saying that it is true that there is really no way to discount the Possibility of God being evil and bored (some theistic philosophers may disagree here and go on to show numerous proves of the inevitable goodness of God – but with them I would have to part company). Yet, if we apply this condition to the whole of life, it immediately becomes obvious that this condition – certainty – becomes ridiculous. Who can say for sure that anything will happen (I will discount worthless suggestions such as “something will happen”, which somehow includes nothing)? We do not – yet we do things.

Now, some may tell us that we do things because we have to – if we are not assured about something, and it is risky, and we do not need to do, then perhaps we will not do whatever it is. Few would cross a tightrope if there was no necessity to do so. But I think this belies the point. If God is real, and what He says is true, then the most necessary thing we can ever do in this life is to believe it. To find out if it is necessary, you have to find out if it is true. And surely that is the greater issue, not the necessity.

Still, didn’t we just say that we can know no thing for sure, that we can hardly be certain of anything. How then can we know if it is true or not? In normal life, we do things by reasonable certainty and by faith! Here, Faith is a technical term and not the Christian sense of faith, which we use to mean trust in God. For instance, we believe in reason – but for no reason at all. We walk on the street, believing that our legs would carry us, but without knowing for sure. Yet, we do so, not blindly – but being reasonably sure that we can walk and that reason is reasonable. For reason and our legs, most likely we are reasonably sure that we can trust them because they had worked before. There is another way we have reasonable certainty – that is by authority. An example would be us taking medicine prescribed by doctors. We trust the doctor – and often, even if we do not know him (this is curiously carried on even if we do not get well as soon as expected, many would still take the medicine, or another medicine prescribed by him. ).

And this is as far as evidences can bring one. There is no way to prove for sure – get used to it and stop demanding it; no one demands it for normal thing. But just as Faith is the unshakable fortress of the Religious, Uncertainty is the unshakable fortress (except perhaps, by God Himself) of the Unbeliever. But in between, reason goes some way. And if I may say so, it is quite reasonable to say that the Bible is reliable as a record (and especially for the life, death and resurrection of the Incarnate God), and the interpretation of basic doctrine is without many reasonable challenge

And of course, the uncertainty principle works both ways. Who can be Certain that Christians are all wrong? And that God is Good. And that God is as the Bible depict? The difference this has with the opposite argument is that this has much more severe consequences should it eventually be true… and that it has (as far as I know) much more evidences.

Still, just as my friend said that the Dune series (whatever that is) said, “Do not attempt to reason with those whose beliefs are set in stone”. (Whoops. Paiseh Moridin =p)

Elijah, Elisha, and Jesus

2007-11-30T16:56:00.000+08:00

Of the prophets, I believe that almost everyone would recognize Elijah and Elisha as the most miraculous ones. They perform miracles far greater in specularity than the others did. And among the 2, though Elijah was the master, in general, we say that Elisha performed even more miracles than Elijah.

Not too long after Elijah ascended to heaven, Elisha performed a particular miracle. In 2 Kings 4:42-44, we see that Elijah commanded 20 loaves of barley and grain to be given to 100 men to eat. And of course it was not sufficient, and people said so, but in the end, there was enough to eat and there was leftovers.

Now, in the New Testament, it is said that Jesus once fed the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish, with 12 baskets leftover; He also fed 4000 with 7 loaves, and there were 7 baskets leftover. When He was on the cross, He cried out "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani". Some believed that He was calling for Elijah to save Him. Yet, does not the miracle already show that He is far greater than Elisha or Elijah was? In the past, there was some leftovers. Now, there are baskets of leftovers (which, I believe, has certain significance of fullness, completeness in the number - 7 and 12 are quite perfect and complete numbers).

Jesus, God's Righteousness revealed. Truly, He is the son of God. Wow.

City and Country

2007-11-27T18:40:00.000+08:00

There are perhaps 2 types of people in the world. There are those who like living in the city, with its corresponding quickness and drive for life. And there are those who like living in the country, with a slower paced life, more self determined (Er.. its not about buildings vs plants).

I am a country person. I like to remember things. I like to do things slowly. I like to savor time, I like time alone. I like self determination. Extensive rather than intensive. Empty spaces and long walks are nice ;)

Which is why I don't like being forced to do things, I don't like being rushed, I don't like last minute things, I don't like things that are too exciting, I don't like changes. I like to have choices and I am quite willing to give up things to minimize conflict.

Interludes

2007-11-26T09:45:00.000+08:00

This is the period of little interludes. In between "normal life". And they are the times when you can decide most what you want to do. There is no fixed schedule to follow. You can do whatever you like.

Ideally, I think that everyday should be like that. Choice is a good thing when used wisely. Unfortunately, that remains a highly theoretical situation. Imagine how schools or workplaces will run. Not that no one would work - they would, because they need to. But there is no way of being sure that a particular person would be available just when you need him.

Still.. I will treasure this interlude, this short one before the next chapter opens. Free time is increasingly scarce and difficult to come along. Even supposedly free time are not that free after all, because everyone thinks you are free and asks you to do a lot of things. I guess, in those times, your true priorities come out...

But interludes are fun =p

Done

2007-11-21T20:00:00.000+08:00

As it was said some time ago (though it was in a much more glorious and much more gruesome context), It is Finished :)

Interlude

2007-11-15T19:50:00.002+08:00

Thanks to everyone who ask, those who prayed and those who are. History was satisfactory. And I didn't get sick of writing halfway =p

Thank the Lord :)

2 Articles

2007-11-03T08:25:00.001+08:00

The Screwtape Letters, Chapter 14, on Humility. Wormwood is a junior demon, Screwtape is his uncle giving advice.

My dear Wormwood,

The most alarming thing in your last account of the patient is that he is making none of those confident resolutions which marked his original conversion. No more lavish promises of perpetual virtue, I gather; not even the expectation of an endowment of 'grace' for life, but only a hope for the daily and hourly pittance to meet the daily and hourly temptation! This is very bad.

I see only one thing to do at the moment. Your patient has become humble; have you drawn his attention to the fact? All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them, but this is specially true of humility. Catch him at the moment when he is really poor in spirit and smuggle into his mind the gratifying reflection, 'By jove! I'm being humble', and almost immediately pride – pride at his own humility – will appear. If he awakes to the danger and tries to smother this new form of pride, make him proud of his attempt – and so on, through as many stages as you please. But don't try this too long, for fear you awake his sense of humour and proportion, in which case he will merely laugh at you and go to bed.

But there are other profitable ways of fixing his attention on the virtue of Humility. By this virtue, as by all the others, our Enemy wants to turn the man's attention away from self to Him, and to the man's neighbours. All the abjection and self-hatred are designed, in the long run, solely for this end; unless they attain this end they do us little harm; and they may even do us good if they keep the man concerned with himself, and, above all, if self-contempt can be made the starting-point for contempt of other selves, and thus for gloom, cynicism, and cruelty.

You must therefore conceal from the patient the true end of Humility. Let him think of it not as self-forgetfulness but as a certain kind of opinion (namely, a low opinion) of his own talents and character. Some talents, I gather, he really has. Fix in his mind the idea that humility consists in trying to believe those talents to be less valuable than he believes them to be. No doubt they are in fact less valuable than he believes, but that is not the point. The great thing is to make him value an opinion for some quality other than truth, thus introducing an element of dishonesty and make-believe into the heart of what otherwise threatens to become a virtue. By this method thousands of humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools. And since what they are trying to believe may, in some cases, be manifest nonsense, they cannot succeed in believing it and we have the chance of keeping their minds endlessly revolving on themselves in an effort to achieve the impossible. To anticipate the Enemy's strategy, we must consider His aims. The Enemy wants to bring the man to a state of mind in which he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another.

The Enemy wants him, in the end, to be so free from any bias in his own favour that he can rejoice in his own talents as frankly and gratefully as in his neighbour's talents – or in a sunrise, an elephant, or a waterfall. He wants each man, in the long run, to be able to recognise all creatures (even himself) as glorious and excellent things. He wants to kill their animal self-love as soon as possible; but it is His long-term policy, I fear, to restore to them a new kind of self-love – a charity and gratitude for all selves, ncluding their own; when they have really learned to love their neighbours as themselves, they will be allowed to love themselves as their neighbours. For we must never forget what is the most repellent and inexplicable trait in our Enemy; He really loves the hairless bipeds He has created and always gives back to them with His right hand what He has taken away with His left.

His whole effort, therefore, will be to get the man's mind off the subject of his own value altogether. He would rather the man thought himself a great architect or a great poet and then forgot about it, than that he should spend much time and pains trying to think himself a bad one. Your efforts to instill either vainglory or false modesty into the patient will therefore be met from the Enemy's side with the obvious reminder that a man is not usually called upon to have an opinion of his own talents at all, since he can very well go on improving them to the best of his ability without deciding on his own precise niche in the temple of Fame. You must try to exclude this reminder from the patient's consciousness at all costs.

The Enemy will also try to render real in the patient's mind a doctrine which they all profess but find it difficult to bring home to their feelings – the doctrine that they did not create themselves, that their talents were given them, and that they might as well be proud of the colour of their hair. But always and by all methods the Enemy's aim will be to get the patient's mind off such questions, and yours will be to fix it on them. Even of his sins the Enemy does not want him to think too much: once they are repented, the sooner the man turns his attention outward, the better the Enemy is pleased.

Your affectionate uncle
SCREWTAPE

The Weight of Glory, on People

“All day long we are in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in light of these overwhelming possibilities it is with awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of the kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.
And our charity must be real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinners – no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat, the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden.”

Help

2007-10-31T17:42:00.000+08:00

Ever felt like you wanted to help other people but is unable to? To be constrained by social protocol, by ability, by time, by space, by work, by people?

Quite irritating sometimes. Makes you wish you never knew about it at all.

Update

2007-10-29T23:31:00.000+08:00

Hi you all.. Hope you all are doing good. I feel like I haven't spoken to all of you together as a group in such a long time. Only managing to get snippets of what's happening to some of you before service starts. Miss you all!! Hey mel.. miss you too! Hope you're doing good over there.

Anyway, just an update... I've officially tendered my resignation (job). Yes, my last day will be on 30th Nov. So after that, think you all can expect more of me (not necessarily a good thing?? hahah). Meanwhile, take care you all (though I'm sure you are all in Cyrus' good hands)!

SEAB (Singapore Examinations Assessment Board)

2007-10-21T19:26:00.000+08:00

Here is my exam timetable :) Thanks for praying.

30 October - Physics Paper 3
31 October - General Paper
2 November - Mathematics Paper 1
5 November - Chemistry Paper 3
6 November - Mathematics Paper 2
12 November - Physics Paper 2
13 November - Chemistry Paper 2
15 November - History
16 November - Chemistry Paper 1
20 November - Physics Paper 1
21 November - Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Hurry up and let 21 November 530pm come!! Why am I always the first to start and last to end? =p

Whoops. Complaining again =p

Of Races and Dinosaurs

2007-10-21T19:01:00.000+08:00

There are people who do have real doubt about the source of races if Adam and Eve were the only created people. And there are those who wonder how dinosaurs come into the picture of Creation in the garden of Eden. Now, seriously, these questions in themselves are probably not so significant. The significance lies more in the implications that the answers to these questions may have on the a foundation of Christianity. I am referring to the reliability of the Bible. If there is NO reasonable explanation for the presence of Races if there were only 2 people at first, then it makes sense to say that this picture of creation is wrong, or at the very least, meant to be metaphorical (Of course I am far from saying that there is no reasonable explanation, especially after Cyrus had given us one fairly reasonable one just today).

These are of course just sample questions. There are thousands of other questions in the world. And many of them use science as their backing. A very simple example would be the concept of creation challenged by the concept of evolution / spontaneous origins of life. Haven't we all heard of this? The scientists say that evolution happens and that is the origin of life. Not creation.

Are you all troubled by these things? It is fine not to have all the answers. We know that Jesus Christ is came to earth and die for our sins, and rose on the third day, and will return to judge the living and the dead. That is the foundation of our belief. I am more concerned for the people out there. There are those who use these questions as a shield against the teachings of Christ (Ie: You Bible is wrong, haven't you heard that evolution is how men came about?). Then there are those who are genuinely in doubt about it. For both cases, this may prove to be a real stumbling block

Now, in the such cases, what is our role as evangelists? How can these people still come to know the Lord? In those cases, I believe that our role is to remove as many of these roadblocks as possible. Here lies the significance of these questions - they may obstruct another to the Faith. These questions are not important in themselves, but they may be important in relation to the faith of another.

Now, there are many types of questions, but I will just deal with those to do with science. By itself, science should neither support nor challenge Religion. How can it? Science has the basic assumption of "all things being equal" (Ie: in the event of all things being equal, the result will be the same). In that case, how can it examine anything supernatural? It will see a miracle and can only say that this does not happen naturally. It cannot say that this cannot happen, because in a miracle, there is supernatural interference.

In that case, why then is there so many challenges from science? I believe that it is because people had taken science out of its original intention, added in a naturalist assumption, and used it to challenge religion. When people say that evolution disproves creationism, an interesting question to ask would be "in what way"? How is evolution a challenge to creationism? Evolution tries to deal with how species came about. Even if it turns out to be proven true without doubt (which I highly doubt so, it remains a theory), how is that mutually incompatible with the idea of a God who directs the changes (not that I believe this to be what takes place personally). As for the other question, how life came about, there is no scientific way to show that life came about spontaneously, without external interference. If God wants to create, He can do so by arranging for nature to do so.

The previous paragraph was very messy, please bear with me. All I am trying to say is that science does not challenge the Christian belief. Most of those who say that the Bible is full of error have never read the Bible, or they had read it out of its original intention. What tries to challenge Christianity is more often the naturalist ideas (this basically means that nature is all there is).

Unfortunately, many of our friends will probably be unable to make the distinction. Perhaps it is our role to show it.

Pardon me for this lengthy post. In reality, I suspect that this will not be relevant for most people. But for those it is.. hope it somehow helps ;)

Problem of Induction

2007-10-20T13:47:00.000+08:00

Pardon me for this Philosophical post. Those who are not fond of headaches can be excused for wanting to give this a pass =p

There are ways of constructing Knowledge, and one of them is Induction. This is basically the idea that goes "the sun had risen in the morning yesterday, today, so it will probably rise again tomorrow". It is what happens when we do experiments - we expect repeatability. When we do not get the results we expect, we ask, "why does this happen? It worked before!" This working before thing comes about because we expect it to work again, because it had before.

Over the centuries, there had been various arguments about the validity of Induction. First, there were those who says that, why should it be so? Need the sun rise again tomorrow? Even if there had been an unbroken positive record in the past, need it necessarily imply that it will happen again in the future? Those who had been let down by a person deemed to be very trustworthy will be well acquainted with this feeling. I expected him to do this, he always had, but... Next, there were those who counter argued that well, we can expect this to be true, because it had always worked. As of today, induction had always succeeded in predicting the rise of the sun correctly. So there is no reason to doubt induction. And eventually, it came into the hands of (I think) David Humes or one of the others who have too much time on their hands, and he said that well, this counter argument is not valid because you are using induction to support induction, which is naturally a circular argument (Ie: Induction should work because it had always worked, which is an induction argument).

But seriously, the argument about the problem of induction is not a problem of induction at all. Induction can only predict things on the basis of "all things being equal". Right? You won't expect the sun to rise if an alien spaceship had stopped the earth rotation. No one in the right sense of mind would say that induction had failed in that instance. Results will only be repeatable if the situation is the same.

Let me clarify a little more. When I mention identical situations, I would mean situations that affect the results, in ways known or unknown to us. A person switching on the light bulb will probably not affect the sun rising tomorrow, as far as I know.

In that case, why do people still say that induction is flawed? Seriously, in identical conditions (safe in the case of people), is the expectation of identical results flawed? For those who throw Heisenburg's uncertainty principle, may I remind you that because you cannot know both the momentum and position is at the same time, you can only know a probability of it, but the probability of the position and momentum being some value will be the same. But this is my basic assumption in using induction - I believe that the universe runs in an orderly manner. Given identical situations, I believe that I get identical results. That is why I can use induction. Without any external interference, I believe that I can predict things with a degree of certainty, proportionate to the availability of knowledge that I have.

For those who criticize Induction, there can be only 2 reasons why induction failed to predict correctly. The first is in the event of non-identical conditions - in which case induction fails because induction was never meant to play that role. This is common sense (honestly, sometimes I think the philosophers think so much they throw common sense out of the window. And some of them will probably criticize me for believing in common sense because it had been known to be flawed -_-"). But could it be that in identical conditions, the results are different? This is the crux of the issue. For those who believe in the orderliness of the universe, it is not difficult to give an unqualified response of "Yes". Those who wish to throw induction out of the window must give a response of "No". But if now, where does the reasoning to say that come from? Or are you the only order, the only voice of reason in the universe? If not, why should I listen to you? Believe you?

It is true that there is no particular reason (if you do not believe in God) that the universe should be reasonable or orderly. Yet, even those who proclaim themselves to be atheists usually do believe that the universe is orderly, and live as though it is.

Perhaps faith in God is not so unreasonable afterall ;)

I think some of my not so theist friends and some of my philosophical friends may have some things to say about this =p

Burnt out?

2007-10-15T19:24:00.000+08:00

A really funny video to see if you think you are burnt out. I hope it never happens to us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGakoeRXeZk

Spread the Word, tell the story..

2007-10-07T18:02:00.000+08:00

Today, just after lunch, there was a discussion going on about how do we reach out to people, what is the process (as far as it is in our hands, our role) from just any (pre-believer) friend, to seeing them become a strong Christian. There were some ideas going around about how to make people feel welcome in church (such as by getting more common friends or to ensure that common stereotypes (like high pressure tactics) are not carried out). Those have their role of course. They are important in making people feel welcome and to stay within the family of Christ, where they have a chance to grow.

I have a different concern however. There are many people who do go to church, but do not stay not because they do not feel welcomed, but that they do not see God as real. Or something similar which causes them to disregard the teachings, or at best to regard them as sound advise (instead of the inspired Word of God). Then there are those who are outside of the church but have the same idea - that God is not real, or the Christian idea of God is not real, and the teachings are merely good (or even excellent) advise

Of course, having said that, it is true that within the church, there are more opportunities to be exposed to God, to learn more, and eventually, through this process, to be able to finally come to faith in this God whom they had always heard about. This is why so many people in mission schools are more easily evangelized to - they had already been exposed to the teachings. However, the process of conversion is not that simple. More often than not, these people know about God, but never come to faith in God.

How then do we help people to see the need for this Savior, to see that it is true? (I am speaking about our part of course). I suppose different people have different needs. Some are incorrigibly intellectual and will have tons of questions to ask. Others will put it down to being unable to feel God. Still others will say that they have other things to do, don't have time to think about it. These, in my opinion, are not the real issues though..

As friends, we are the people in one of the best positions to know what really is going on.. Perhaps we should all take a greater interest in their spiritual life.

Irritance

2007-09-24T19:59:00.000+08:00

It is quite annoying when the school have little consideration for students taking exams on the last day, putting the date of return to school on the next day (since the last day is on a Monday), and expecting work (like 2 papers) to be done by then >.<

I am complaining too much.

Announcement: Combined Service this Sunday 23/09/07, 10.30am

2007-09-19T21:55:00.000+08:00

We have the rare opportunity of having a highly recommended conference speaker Pastor Emmanuel Sackey to deliver the Word of God this Sunday.
He is on his way to a speak in a prophetic conference in Papua Guinea. According to his schedule, Pastor Emmanuel is supposed to be in Indonesia at this time. Due to some changes, we have this rare privilege of having him in Singapore. This is the first time he is in Singapore and we believe that He may have some Word for the church.

A little background of Pastor Emmanuel Sackey
Bishop Sackey (after who the EATS Gospel Crusade was named) is now the Resident Pastor of the Lighthouse Cathedral, the mother church of the Lighthouse Chapel International Denomination. He is married to Lady Pastor Juanita Charity Sackey and has three stalwart sons: Joel, Jude and Jeremy.

- Exciting - luv, vyn.

Timetable

2007-09-09T18:06:00.000+08:00

Just to upload timetable :) Thanks people. Really appreciate the prayers

10 Sept: Phy Paper 3
12 Sept: Maths Paper 1, History
13 Sept: Chem Paper 3
18 Sept: Chem Paper 1 & 2
19 Sept: Maths Paper 2
20 Sept: Physics Paper 1 & 2
24 Sept: Chem H3

For some other people:
10 Sept: Econs, Lit Paper 1
14 Sept: Bio Paper 2, Knowledge and Inquiry Paper 2
17 Sept: Econs Paper 1
20 Sept: Bio Paper 3
21 Sept: Bio Paper 1
24 Sept: Maths H3

Really thanks people :))

Proceed -->

2007-08-26T18:08:00.000+08:00

Prelims coming up... Thursday is the first paper, GP. Then we have a one week break - the Sept Holidays (yah right..). On the Monday that we return, until the Monday 2 weeks later (that is, 10 to 24 Sept), there are papers (practically) everyday except weekends. Pray for me k? Pray also for the other people in my school - they are quite stressed about it, especially for those who want to go overseas / get scholarships. Er... I draw special attention to 3 papers k? GP on Thursday 30 Aug, History on Wednesday 12 Sept and Chemistry on Monday 24 Sept. Thanks people :)

Haiz. Another related issue. After prelims, I have to make a decision on whether to go for the PSC / other scholarships (note the go-for, and don't anyone dare say sure can). Do I want to work in the public sector, coming in as a scholar (with the corresponding expectations)? Wonder what Jesus would say to that.. Since turning away from my initial wish to get an A-Star scholarship (due to various reasons)... the choices had been confusing >.<

Oh well :) Just enough light for the step I am on. And it is not my Life Purpose that is at question.

Unusual.. unusual..

2007-08-15T20:19:00.000+08:00

Brace yourselves.

Rules of the game: Each player of this game starts off with ten weird things or habits or little known facts about yourself. People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end, you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names. No tagbacks.

1) I grew up in a railway station (the one at Tg Pagar), my family lived in a hotel room there. Cos (I think) my grandfather owned a restaurant there, and it passed on to my dad, where he too lived and work. I stayed there from birth till i finished primary school.. so ya, my first 12 years on earth were spent there.

2) I used to wish I were a mermaid. I relished the fact that they could live in the sea, discover its mysteries and about float freely. I had a childhood friend, we would rush to the swimming pool every Saturday morning at 8am and swim till 2-3pm. We'd try to swim cross-legged (like fins!).

3) Link from the previous - for a long time I wanted to be a marine biologist. But to my great disappointment, my secondary school was one of the few in Singapore (i think) that did not offer Biology as a subject. I blame them for this broken dream till this day.

4) I was in love with Bon Jovi. Yes, what can I say... the wild, out-of-the-bed hair and sexy smile. Drove me crazy. And the music (much as I'm embarrassed to say now), yes I like rock ballads.. songs with a beat. What can be better than dancing around crazily to a good rock tune and de-stressing.

5) Yes, I dance around crazily & sing at the top of my voice with loud music blaring (when no one is home of course) when I'm super stressed up or very upset. It helps me de-stress & chase the blues away. (but now I go for christian music... modern christian music is loud enough)

6) I like animated shows/movies. Bugs Bunny was my fav.. I've seen almost all of Disney's blockbusters... Simpsons.. X-men.. Shrek.. I used to love "Daria" by MTV, didn't manage to watch many cos of its timing and they refuse to make DVDs.

7) I'm actually quite a loner/anti-social/private person, depending on how you want to look at it. I prefer going shopping alone when I have something to buy, I don't mind going to the movies alone, I actually crave time I can spend shut in my room with a good book. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy company of good friends, just that I realize, more than others, I need time away from people periodically.

8) I have never dyed my hair. Yep.. It's virgin hair. Think it's quite unusual in this day and age? No?

9) I was at another church for about a year before coming to COSB. It's "The People's Bible Church" in Hougang. I actually spent 4 hours on the bus every Sunday travelling to & from church. Bus 97, one end to the other. After a year I decided that it was too much and joined my parents at COSB, have not looked back ever since. But I must give credit to the lady who built my strong foundation with bible study - Allison. I thank God for such people He puts along the way to bring us to where we are today.

10) I shall end off with a really juicy, sandal-less one to reward those who've persevered and read till this point... I had my first boyfriend when I was.... in Pri 6. HaH!! Don't judge me.

PIT's Prayer Requests (:

2007-08-14T19:10:00.000+08:00

ZM: His 1st Mission trip to Barakit on the 18 & 19 Aug.Pray that he will go there with an open heart and mind,and be ON FIRE for God, even more, after this mission trip! ;)

WEH WEH:She will be able to grow close to God once again.As her past few weeks have been hectic due to her work and school.Pray that God's favour will be with her at work.(:

Deadlines of Group assignments and upcoming tests are relatively near.Pray that everything will fall in place for her!

Unsure if she should be baptised.Pray that she will recieve her parents' blessings if she decides to!

Deborah: Safety when she is away in Penang over next weekend. Going to start studying again after few years of working, in SIM(Business Management).Pray that she will be rejuvenated and her brain cells will start kicking again! :D

Cerebral Cyrus:Work is frustrating for him because little tasks are given to him,he spends most of his time at work doing nothing.Pray that work will start picking up soon!

Also,pray for discipline in reading the bible every morning at 5.30am and that his walk with God will be back on track.(: GANBATTE!

Li Chang:Hectic schedule,fell sick for the past week.Pray that God will give him rest."Learn to Rest.",as quoted by Cerebral Cyrus.HAHA.

Looking for a CCA,may God guide him to one which is suitable and fruitful for him.

Sharon: Able to get the modules she want in NUS.

Me!: I will pass through this semester smoothly,and would be able to transfer to the course I want.

Pray until something happens! ;)

Everyone have a smooth week ahead! As smooth as a smoothie. :D

In obedience

2007-08-12T17:33:00.000+08:00

Well.. Wei^2 personally requested me to view her blog for instructions, so.. haha :)

Rules of the game: Each player of this game starts off with ten weird things or habits or little known facts about yourself. People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end, you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names. No tagbacks.

1) Not that unknown, but the Goal of my life is to be able to say, at the end of it, that I had fought the good fight, I had run the race, and I had kept the Faith. Whenever the end of my life is.

2) I resent society's way of measuring people, and the way people try to measure up to it. More specifically, the way some schools go about to help people "succeed" in life. Enough of "grooming of leaders", ways of "presenting oneself" and "achievements". Looks too fake from the backstage.

3) Good things are often wasted on me. I don't really think there is a difference in experience between eating a Marigold ice cream and Anderson's. Oh, but reasonably at least lah.

4) I don't really notice people's looks / appearances. Like how people dress. Or whether people are pretty. Unless in extremal cases... don't really care.

5) I think I am quite sentimental (and sometimes gets irritated with myself for being so). Like how some badges from my old school I don't dare to wear out of fear of losing them, and how some birthday presents meant to be used are safely stored in my drawer and some shirts are taken out only once a year or something for fear of spoiling them...

6) I don't watch TV (except for the occasional glance). Its nothing much actually, though many people express feelings of surprise or shock when that is revealed.

7) I am usually quite willing to talk to whoever wants to. But the other way round rarely works (skin not thick enough).

8) I would like to be able to sing / dance one day. As in, seriously. And then use the skills learned during the serious one for not serious occasions (like randomly singing or dancing).

9) I am a very confused person with many different things I can do and not knowing what to do. And sometimes, in the end, for better or worse, the path taken is that of the autopilot >.<

10) I detest it when people don't believe me (especially when I am really really speaking the truth). Like, seriously seriously detest it.

11) Aiya. Just add another one lah. I am super duper bad at the social things - what is acceptable, what a certain act means etc. Just cannot get it >.<

Hehe :)

People to tag: Er... (Refer to point 9). Aiya.. I just leave it open lah.. And refer to point 10 to those who don't believe that I will leave it open :PpP

Yours Truly
Png Zhuang Mao

10 Things about me

2007-08-11T19:14:00.000+08:00

1.) I was going to study economics, then I became an engineer and I'm now working as a scientist.
2.) I have injuries/conditions in the following parts of my body: lower back, both shoulders, left knee, feet (somewhat flat), constantly blocked nose, lazy eye on the right eye, frequent headaches.
3.) I used to play a horn (for 11 years), and have recently picked up the trumpet (which means I can no longer play a horn).
4.) I like to teach, but I am very scared of teaching in schools because the students are monsters.
5.) I have a reputation of terrorizing lecturers (see point 4). In more than one module, lecturers actually look to me for approval (through a nod) before continuing with their presentation.
6.) I like languages but I am lousy at them. That has not stopped me from trying to learn Latin and Spanish (I tried Japanese in Sec 1 for all of 1 month!! Or was it one week?).
7.) I was an editor of a students' journal despite getting a B for writing class (a B is considered a poor grade in writing classes).
8.) I have 4 palms - two biological, 2 electronic :P
9.) I play many sports but after each outing I have backaches so bad I can barely move or stand straight.
10.) I am fat, even if it does not seem that way with my shirt on (DON'T even think about it).
(Bonus) >> 11.) I am one of the few people I know who puts TWO spaces i.e. " " after a period, i.e. "." at the end of a sentence.

Cyrus

The Arts

2007-08-05T17:01:00.001+08:00

A poet can do more than a hundred theologians in firing up the awareness of God.

Actually, I am quite surprised at myself. I had never been a artsy person. Stories and books are fine, but please keep poetries and plays away. However, NJC Litwing had given me a pleasant surprise. In their Lit Night, they put up an excellent performance with their poetry, acting them out sometimes. In fact, some of them, I found quite meaningful and all of them were witty in some way or another.

In fact, there were various poetries which had the implicit idea of God. Those are the things that will make people wonder if there is more than this, that will make people pause and think.

Yes, we should all pause a moment to appreciate these things. In stories, in shows, in poetry, in art; it is the Christian themes in these things which will open doors in the hearts of people, will make people familiar with Christian stuff. Sometimes, I suspect that the book "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" will do more than books like "New evidences that demands a verdict" (which is incidentally a encyclopedic tome of a book which shows much much much much much evidences for Christianity (said with all due respect to the book of course).

Dear Poet Leow, do you mind if I give them a little sample of your work? Perhaps it will help boost sales of "Please Stand Behind the Yellow Line"

Apple Pie

To bake an apple pie from scratch
We'll need fresh apples and flour.
No wait, we need apple trees,
And golden wheat,
Springing from the seeds in a muddy field.
Oh, don't forget sugar from the juice of canes
And the egg of a chicken
Raised from grains,
Plus milk fresh from a cow
That chews on grass
Growing from the mud
On the surface of Earth
A blue green orb,
That hangs in a star-studded universe-
Which must first be created.

:) Enjoy

Are we too busy?

2007-08-05T15:35:00.000+08:00

Another beautiful sunrise is shining,
And the casts sparkles among the trees,
The sun rises higher each moment,
Have we taken time upon our knees?

Do we hurry through, with God, in Prayer..
So we can rush about, this day?
Do we take time ...for others, to care?
Or, are we " too busy" ...to even Pray?

The way of Life goes so much better,
If we spend time with our Father,
Remember Jesus...and ask for Guidance,
And always Praying, daily for one another.

How quickly the day comes to an end,
And the sun sinks..in the Western sky,
God loves us.. and walks with us,
And he will be with us..till the end.

This comes as a timely reminder for me to spend more time with our Heavenly Father despite our busy schedule. Alright, back to work now! Ciao!

Evening and Morning

2007-07-29T18:09:00.000+08:00

Gen 1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Interestingly, the sequence here is Evening first, then morning. Why so ah? The first thing that creation "does" is to rest (since it is evening). To celebrate God's completed work? Perhaps. :)

Church

2007-07-22T16:41:00.000+08:00

I had a conversation with a friend of mine regarding different churches. He revealed many people's conception of the Catholic Church. For instance, people tend to believe that Catholics believe in Salvation by works, that the idea of having the Pope is wrong.

Seriously, people shouldn't stereotype like this. Catholics do not believe in Salvation by Works. They too believe in Salvation by Faith. Sure, they have certain believes which we think to be un-biblical (and I think so too). But they too are brothers and sisters in Christ, for they too believe that Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life. Just because they rely more heavily on church tradition doesn't condemn them. All of us rely on Traditions, the Bible and the Spirit to different extent (yes we do use traditions). All 3 are used.

Happy Birthday Sujun!

2007-07-18T10:46:00.000+08:00

Here's another of our fabulous cell outings, reserved for whenever Mel comes home. :) Think that was the last time we met. (We missed you Rochelle! And yes Jielin, thank you for the chocolates! Very sweet of you. We all regret that you couldn't make it... (I) Hope to meet you soon!) Yes, even our resident phantom BH graced the event. Just to keep a record: We went to Swensen's then to Starbucks (Note: Lichang protests to the monopoly of multi-national corporations that exploit low-wage workers and ignore the causes of the environment... but decided to make an exception for his beloved cell group) at Northpoint. The un-central location was due to the fact we had a Wei wei with a sprained ankle and that she had to see a sen seh in Yishun. (We blame Daniel for that... the wei wei situation we mean).

Anyway, I believe most/all of us had a great time... Cheers! Here's one for the family album.

More photos can be found here!

God's Time

2007-07-07T20:40:00.000+08:00

Awakening? Revival? Oo

Welcome To The Family

2007-06-28T00:36:00.000+08:00

Debby Kerner Rettino

Key: G

Verse:
G              Am
Welcome to the family
      D                  G
We're glad that you have come
              Am
To share your life with us
      Dsus D  Am
As we grow in love
D   G             Am
And may we always be to you
     D                 G
What God would have us be
         Am
A family always there
      Dsus   D   Am D    G
To be strong and to lean on


Chorus:
Am7             D
May we learn to love each other
G
More with each new day
    Am7              D
May words of love be on our lips
   G
In everything we say
Am7             D
May the Spirit melt our hearts
     G       D      Em
And teach us how to pray
     Am       Am7            D7
That we might be, a true family

Chalet!!

2007-06-25T21:27:00.000+08:00

Dear cell,

The details for the chalet!!! *whistles*

Only ESL and Zone 3 members are allowed to stay over night.

Meeting Venue : Eunos MRT (Control Station)
Time : 2pm
Transport : David Choo's Van - 1trip (By OCX)
Cost for all members : $10.00
Cost for friends : FREE
BBQ : from 6pm
SeTT Members need to leave by 10pm.
OCX will be driving those who stayed over to church on Sun.

If you are going there on your own, the chalet number is C03! Refer to Yahoogroups for more details!!

Please invite friends, and tell me if you are bringing anyone! :) Confirm attendance and what time you will be there, hopefully by Wed!

Cyrus

Roanna's 21st!!...

2007-06-25T08:55:00.000+08:00

Here are snippets of the fun that night!!

Decor once again, done by the ever creative Ms Yizhen

Camera woman of the night

Cameraman of the night, a.k.a, James's apprentice (i think he got fired that night... hahaha)

Visibly happy Roanna

The Yong Trio, they're just like superheroes, like powerpuff girls or somethin'

Arrival of the beach boys... they're like a reminise of a boyband

Arrival of Ms Wong Yilin

Roanna had a busy time taking pictures (table 1)

(Table 2)

Frances : HEY!! Don't mess with my sister!

Joy : ohhh okok... Sorry loh

SUPERHEROES

Another picture from the "When we were young" series

Lydia looks small here...

The 2 Yis combine! Yilin and Yizhen! They should be staying in Yishun... LAME...

Yilin goofin' around...

Baby Janelle

Our best dressed male... guess who?? Apparently, he's very shy...

Joel receiving his award from the birthday girl

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROANNA!!!

Salvation

2007-06-22T22:31:00.000+08:00

Romans 10:9-10

...If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Luke 15:7,10

... There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

^_^

Compass

2007-06-19T18:35:00.000+08:00

There was once a little village inhabited by simple people. In the past however, they had a wise man who taught them how to use compass (and left a whole stack of it in a warehouse). Anyway, years passed and this story about the wise man was long forgotten. Meanwhile, the people continued to use the compass to find their way (they had very lousy sense of direction you see).

One day, someone dropped his compass. As a result, the compass spoils and no longer pointed the correct direction. He often got lost as a result. Initially, he was quite confused. That which had always worked no longer works. But soon, he became disillusioned. In fact, he started to tell others that in reality, there is no such thing as a correct direction that is "North". "North", he said, is where the compass points to, including his own. Yes, his pointed in a different direction from everyone else's. But that doesn't mean that his is a wrong direction. In fact, there was once he followed his compass and it lead him to an old man who needs help. That seems to prove his point that he can be correct as well as others. So, why follow the rigid way of thinking, of conforming to what the older people (there were some rumors of that man who first taught them about compasses)thought?

Some people then started to drop their compasses and spoiled them. They started to follow the direction their compass pointed. However, soon, they realized that it did not bring them to where they needed to go. Sure, sometimes there were happy coincidences. But most of the time, they got lost.

More time passed, and the number of people with broken compasses increased. They continued to follow their broken compasses although it did not lead them to where they need to. One day, someone got so irritated with this that he declared that compasses are useless. After all, people are still getting lost. In fact, there is probably no such thing as a "bar magnet" (which was rumored to be the thing that made compasses work), since people are still getting lost.

Some people disagreed. If there was no such thing as bar magnet, then how could there be a true North which compass pointed to? And if there was no True North, how can there be a "correct direction" which the compass is supposed to lead? In that case, there how can there be a concept of getting lost (if there is no right direction) by which you conclude that there is no bar magnet? The problem, they say, must lie somewhere else.

Soon, a great debate occured. The town hall was soon filled with noises. Neither side could prove the other wrong, for all these were more or less speculations. However, in walked a scientist from a distant land. He walked in and told the people about the theory of magnetism. Some people believed him. Others rediculed him. "How could you believe in such an old fashioned idea" they said. In fact, some were so worked up that they threw him out of the village. But before he left, he shouted "change your compass".

So, the village continued as usual. Those who believed the scientist changed their compass and stopped getting lost. They tried to tell others, but they did not believe, save for a hand full who did and stopped getting lost.

:))

Its been so long since I last posted!!

2007-06-18T23:51:00.000+08:00

Photos of the recently concluded Church Camp 2007 - All hands to harvest

Now available at the bottom right hand section!! (click on 'church camp 2007)

It has also been quite a long while since you guys last saw liwen due to her hectic flight schedule, so I might as well...

HOOYAH!! God bless all of you!!

Truth

2007-06-10T17:37:00.000+08:00

Today during Masterlife we were discussing what is Truth. Then I remember we said quite a bit about how God's Word is Truth. Now, forgive me while I make a short little discourse on it.

In the most basic form, Truth is what corresponds to Reality. In other words, it is True if it is real. In that sense if I say that the Table is there, and it is, that is "Truth" too.

So here, when we say that God's Word is Truth, it will be more accurate to use the verb form "True" (ie: God's Word is True). In doing so, we will be making a claim about the accuracy of what is written in it as compared to a philosophical idea of it being Truth (which is more of a descriptive word). We are saying that it is accurate, it corresponds to reality. Obviously, not all things are taken literally (like no one really believes that Jesus is a little lamb as communicated by Revelation) But they are true in communicating some idea (like how Jesus is the sacrificial Lamb of God).

Now, there was once when someone used Truth as a noun. Christ said that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Cyrus once taught about how this meant "the Truth believing which you get saved". Which is true. I have another possibility, to say that He is ultimate reality. Without Him, things do not have meaning etc. Er.. Not too sure about this. Retreating back to safer grounds, it suffice to say that this is a Big claim.

And relating truth to Faith. The wrong type of faith does not have it grounded in reality. It is more of a self created thing to believe. And clearly, that cannot work. What is true is true whether or not I believe it or not. For instance, if I have faith that a cloth tied to my back will help me fly, that faith is not going to help me to fly when I jump out of the window. But putting it back into the correct context, we CAN put our faith in the revealed will (word) of God, because it is True.

There was once a judge who asked the question "What is Truth". He didn't wait for the answer and crucified Truth Incarnate upon request of the people. There was another who stood by and saw it, and declared that Surely this is the Son of God. I guess this is the final way to look at it. He is the Truth because it is the most important question in the entire world. Who is He?

Hehe. Heavily philosophical. Quite uncertain too. Some random thoughts ;)

PS: Get well soon SJ

Decision

2007-06-03T18:02:00.000+08:00

What will this day be like?
I wonder
What will my future be?
I wonder
(From Sound of Music, I have Confidence, Maria)

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 29 Verse 11, ESV)

Some time ago I remember bringing this up in cell. Well.. I have no idea. What are His plans? What do I want? What do I like? What should I do? Soft science, arts or hard science? Overseas or local? Private or public?

Too many questions... I want to know what His plans are for me. Then again, maybe I am just being lazy and He is telling me to think.

Good thing is that this question will not be significant until at least a couple of months more. And even after that I have a couple of years before I finally decide. But...I rarely had to decide like this, and I am not used to it >.<

And of course, all the other daily things. I realise I am often quite opinionless. Which is fine as far as it is about being easy going, but make it excessive and... its not too good either.

Oh wells.

Wealth

2007-05-22T23:51:00.001+08:00

This matter has been on my mind for a while. Sometimes when the message from the pulpit is about blessings especially in relation to wealth, some of us, or I at least, feel a little uncomfortable. Don't know why it's so, maybe my faith is not big enough to accept it. Or maybe my mind just refuses to deny the many examples I've been taught about money in the past.

I have no doubt that God blesses His people richly when he sees fit, and I don't deny I would love the comforts of wealth, but why should I actively ask God for material blessings?

Starting in the old testament, all the richest men around never did ask for wealth, as far as I know. Abraham (he was faithful, & God's friend), David (he was a man after God's heart), Solomon (he asked for wisdom), Job (he never cursed God in his poverty), all these people got wealth as part of the package of blessings, I don't know if they desired it, but I think it was not much of a consequence to them. They desired the greater things... they sought the Kingdom of God. Wealth was a consequence of their relationship with God and not a consequence of their desire.

Then we come to the new testament, it is the new testament that made me really uncomfortable with the concept of wealth. Look at all of Jesus' disciples, look at Paul. Paul said, " follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ"(1 Corinthians 11:1). Heh.. I don't know if he meant literally everything including lifestyle, he didn't specify, but I think it means the attitude towards God, life, morality, the world. Here are some things that came to me as I was thinking the matter through:

story about the rich young man who asked Jesus how he can attain eternal life. "Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Matthew 19:24
the parable of the weeds, "but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful." Mark 4:19
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matt 6:24
"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1Tim 6:10

Think there are many more that calls us to be weary of this thing called wealth. My question to those who tell me to ask God for blessings specifically in relation to material wealth is, "Why?". Why do I want to ask for something that makes it easier to jeopardize my walk with God? How will asking for wealth make me more Christ-like? Why store treasure on earth? The path to heaven is already so narrow and small without adding the extra burden of money. I might have faith in God, but the flesh is weak. If I ask God for wealth, it'll not be for the sole nobel reason of wanting to bless others, it'll be a desire for my own pleasure.. So guess he will not grant those desires anyway (James 4:3). May God help me, that I do not fall into desiring wealth, when I can desire Love, desire Faith, desire the kingdom of God. At the end of the day, when/if he sees fit to add all other blessings as well. (Matt 6:33)

Let us all strive to live by the examples of all the disciples, Paul and most of all Christ. To have the wealth of experience in life, and in all of them to be content in where God has placed us.

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Phil 4:11-13

Chasing after

2007-05-19T10:17:00.000+08:00

Its quite sad, but in school, there are many people who are motivated to do things predominantly for the sake of portfolio. Yucks. Seems so forced. I believe it to be right if you WANT to do the thing anyway. In that case, the portfolio is a additional reward. I believe it to be okay, if you want to do the thing, and has the portfolio as a side motivation. I believe it to be quite stupid to NOT want to do the thing, but does it anyway FOR THE SAKE of the portfolio.

Why anyway, must the society work on this basis. Is "attending a leadership seminar" such a significant thing? And why must things even be "presented" in a positive light? The thing is just whatever it is, and should not be made to look more important or significant than it really is. Why then should companies look at how it is presented?

I highly dislike it when the school talks about "grooming" of scholars. You can encourage people to be more interested in things, to want to try out new things etc. But you cannot force it upon people. That is not real at all. So what if a person has a list of leadership position as long as his arm if he doesn't like it at all?

There is a proper reward for things. The proper reward of a General fighting in battle is the victory of the battle, not the medal that will be given because of the battle. It is right and proper to celebrate the award of the medal, but it is not right to fight for the sake of getting the medal. (Credit CS Lewis for the analogy). It is right and proper to go to many activities, and as a result, have an excellent portfolio. It is not right and proper to go after an excellent portfolio, and to go to many activities just for that.

Qualifier. We are motivated by one or the other to some extent for most things. But I think that it is better to be motivated far less by the portfolio.

Even more so for us as Christians, who have a much better goal to chase after.

Maybe I am an idealist :/ And one with many blind spots at that too :S

Street / Campus Evangelism

2007-05-12T17:52:00.000+08:00

Youth for Christ makes uses of Street Evangelism quite a lot. For those who do not know what this is, it is basically going out to the streets / roads / campus / bus stops and sharing the gospel to strangers. This is usually done on the pretext of a survey / topic of discussion with some leading questions, though some do it directly (which is much rarer).

I do not like Street E. This has much to do with my personal fears. After all, it is strangers I am talking to, and that is quite intimidating. Furthermore, the topic is a "sensitive topic" and the uncertainty of people's reaction is also very scary. At the same time, there are other reasons I do not believe in it. Some had called it "pushy" and "forcing your religion on others". That has valid points since we usually approach them to talk about it. Personally, I am also a person who likes to think for extended periods of time before answering. For friends, this is not a problem because I can always get back to them. However, this is not possible with strangers whom I will most likely not meet again.

There are other reasons as well. Now, Street E probably contributes significantly to the image that some have about Christianity being a very aggressive religion (sometimes, we don't know when to draw back and when to push a point). Now, if most Christians live a Holy life, people will have to take notice of such a powerful movement. However, this is not so, and more likely than not, people will view Christianity as a fanatic, illogical religion (though we have much historical backing). People can also sense it when we are evangelising just for the sake of increasing the count of people shared to. We should share for the sake of building God's Kingdom and out of love for the people. But more often than not, I just follow my leader who says "lets go". Love for the people often comes later, and even then, at best, a general love for humanity.

Now, I would recognise that Street E has its benefits. It can help you to reach to more than just your circle of friends (which most will have little chance to unless you become a preacher :P) And there are of course stories about conversions by these methods. Some well known evangelists (such as D. Wright Moody) had been known to use this. God can use this method as well as any other.

What should I say? Is my personal fears / feelings coloring my thoughts about it? I don't know...

Blogger wiped out my previous post, and I lost my train of thought. This is the best I can reconstruct.

On a lighter note... I am much freer for now. Thanks for all the prayers.

Adding and Taking Away

2007-05-01T23:53:00.000+08:00

"I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book." Revelation 22:18-19

Yepp. It should be taken literally. To add to the book (i.e. Revelation), as is the case for adding to any other part of the Scripture, should be considered a blasphemy against the Spirit (for one mocks the Spirit by disregarding it), and is certainly heretical. The same is true for the incomplete transmission of the message (i.e. taking out of context). Yet, we should note the difference between exposition (i.e. an explanation of the message) and adding to it. The line is obviously thin, but suffice it to say that the Holy Scripture should be treated with utmost care.

Cyrus

Free(r)

2007-04-28T19:16:00.000+08:00

I am glad to say that my Cross country nationals are over, and I don't think I will be training anymore (even for the Track and Field Nationals, which I do not wish to take part in). So last week, I had quite a bit of free time - which I enjoyed tremendously. It was nice not falling asleep in classes that often (because I am not as tired as before), nice to be able to go home before the sun sets or to go traveling to places just for the fun of it. Ahahaha ^_^

I suppose your exams are either over / going to be over. How had it been? If it is in God's hands, then it is in good hands. So, may the Lord be with you.

I ask this question hor. You know the in Rev 22:18-19, there is a warning against adding and taking away from the Book right? Says that those who add will have the plagues added to them and those who take away will have their share in the tree of life taken away. Is that meant to be literal?

Oh yah. And thank God for good results in CT 1 :)

Lalala. Darwin is dead, Marx is dead, Lenin is dead, Stalin is dead, Hitler is dead and so are many people who oppose Jesus, but Jesus is still alive and will still be alive even when the stars refuse to shine and time is no more, to whom be glory forever and ever!

SOUP!!!!

2007-04-28T01:09:00.000+08:00

Hey Everyone!!
Our chef (Joshua) is making soup this Sunday!! Woohoo!! Come down to COSB for a bowl heartwarming soup!! It's affordable and it's delicious!!

Signing off with love,
The Breakfast Advertiser

Exams... Prayers

2007-04-22T21:04:00.000+08:00

Am posting this on behalf of our dear Sharon. She can't seem to log in for some reason or other. But she'd like the prayer support of all you cell-mates (sounds so prison break) for this trying period. Here goes:

23/04, 5pm – Marketing
25/04, 9am – Employee Mgmt in Singapore
26/04, 1pm – Financial Accounting
27/04, 2.30pm – Macro & International Economics
03/05, 9am – Statistics

Let's continue to uphold each other in prayer. Plenty of us are in this exam phase now.. Algene is so stressed he's begining to shed.. So yes.. more prayers please. Sorry I have not been active on the blog, really find it a turn off to sit in front of the computer after office hours. (I'm typing this at work btw.. oops). Anyhow, just wanted to let you all know I still think about you all often and keep you in my prayers (you included mel.. ) lots of love!!

p.s. Oh yes! Praise God! Lichang is up and about.. hope to see you much more bro!

Breakfast!

2007-04-21T10:16:00.000+08:00

Looking forward to a breakfast better than anything every Sunday morning? Come to COSB for our Mouth-watering breakfast tomorrow! Look out for our scrambled egg, hotdog, hashbrown and garlic bread set! Come before it's sold out!

Signing off,
The Breakfast Advertiser

A partial apologia

2007-04-17T18:18:00.000+08:00

I didn't wish to post further on this issue, but I am compelled to after what my friend(s) told me.

Let me set the stage

1) The Evangelist in question is a disagreeable person. Now, not everyone will agree with that, and I do not know personally. But I must give some weight to those who think so. Some issues include arrogance, being extravagant, and most importantly, cursing those who oppose his ministry.

2) He possesses / channels / handles / manages true power, and in the name of the Holy Spirit. How else do you explain the massive slainnings?

Lets examine this further. We will all agree of course, that we do not expect God's servants to be perfect. Otherwise, all of us will never be used in any big ways. Everyone has their flaws. But we will all agree too, that we have certain expectations for them. Imagine what a turn off a proud person will be. Or to bring it further, imagine someone who has adulterous relations preaching. Surely no one will listen to him. It is not possible to do God's work when you do not seem to be obeying God's commands. Nor will a ministry be effective if you do not command respect. Let me qualify this. We know that God can and does use the worst sinners there are to great effect. But the thing is this - they repent and turn from their sins. So it is still in the present day. We want the Great leaders we follow to be good role models and good examples before we listen to them. No doubt they will point us to follow Jesus. But we will inevitably still look at them.

Next, I believe that when we do things in the name of God, and something does happen, it should be from God. I would find it very strange if someone does something in the name of God, but God does not approve of it, and yet something miraculous happens. I would find it very hard to believe that the Devil did it - how would God allow it?! Did He not himself teach us that we shall tell the genuineness of prophets by the fulfillment of their prophecies? How then can we tell if both real and false prophets have their prophecies fulfilled? In the Book of Acts, we see 2 people who are not of Christ driving out demons in the name of Christ, but they were shamed by the demon attacking them.

So now, we have a little problem. The Evangelist is not as "good" as we expect him to be. To many, his character leaves much to be desired. Yet at the same time, he is able to do works that are really great. So the question really goes to this

1) Is he a servant of God?
2) If so, why is he like this? If not, then where does the power come from?

What makes a person a servant of God? The easiest way to know will be to enter the perspective of either God or the person in question. Unfortunately, that is not possible. The powers? But that will leave us with no basis to answer the second question. The character? I would love to use it, but it is so subjective. What type of Character is Good enough? Well.. we cannot really say, but I think it should be quite safe to assume that your ministry will only be as good as your character depth is.

There is one possible salvaging point though. Our assessments of people's character could be wrong. In other words, we could be wrong in thinking that he has a poor, distasteful character. Maybe perhaps, he is really trying to change. But I won't be very convinced by this. For one, I believe that my friend is really quite fair in his assessment. For another, the descriptions sound too "bad" for that.

So, I haven't found a way to answer that question

What about the second part? Since we had not established the first, let us do both cases. If he is really a servant of God, then I do not have much to say. It will just be another person who is work in process. Sure, it may not be how we would do things, but God is free to do as he likes. What if he is not? The implications are quite terrible. It will suggest that the powers are demonic powers. And that, I find it very difficult to accept. We have so many Christians in that place, with some of the most devoted ones (the pastors etc), and so many of them "fell" under the demonic power?! Not possible! I refuse to believe that. Even if the people were "stupid" and were not on their watch, I hold fast to the principle that God will protect you as long as you want to glorify Him - which many of them surely did.

So we are left with the first option. He is really a servant of God. And extraordinary anointing is given to him. And he is but a work in process. Why God decides to use a person as unpleasant as that is beyond me. But surely God will deal with him in His own way, in His own time. And surely God will not allow a person's ungodliness to use the power entrusted to him for ungodly purposes. I believe that the moment that is tried, God will say no. And nothing will happen. If you look at it outside of Theism, you have real reasons to be afraid, for here is someone who is powerful and without restrains on the power. But in the context of a loving and Good God, then we need not be afraid, for God will surely not allow His powers to be used for evil.

Hope this makes sense.

The Last Race

2007-04-17T18:15:00.000+08:00

Dear cell

I will be running in about 22 hours time. And I am nervous for it already. Even though there is less pressure on performance.

What about the Bigger race home?

Wish me well.

Yours Truly

On Healing

2007-04-14T20:32:00.000+08:00

Healing comes to those who believe. So too does salvation. Why is it that we can have salvation everywhere, but not healing?

Sometimes, it is easier to believe the unseen than the seen. This is because by its very nature, the "see-able" thing must be, well, seen. I believe in the salvation of Jesus Christ; I believe salvation can happen everywhere. Healing? I have to see it to believe it. If, from the outset, we do not believe that healing will take place (a considerably bigger leap of faith is needed), then even if we were to go through the motion of praying, the faith had in fact never been big enough for the healing to take place.

Can healing take place anywhere? Surely, it can. Jesus does not need healing services to heal others; He has also given to the disciples the power to heal (Mark 6:7-13). Surely, He has not withheld it from us, heirs to God's promise of salvation? Yet, it is faith that limits the extent to which miracles can happen, for it is said,

" 4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith."
- Mark 6:4-6

Why didn't healing come to the woman until she touched Jesus' cloak? Why was the centurion's servant healed by the mere word of Christ? It all boils down to faith.

Does it mean that everyone can heal? In the Scripture, it is said that the Spirit gives to different people different gifts (1 Corinthians 12). Therefore, it would appear that different people will be able to minister in different ways, of which healing is one. Nonetheless, we are urged to yearn for greater gifts, including the performing of miracles. Each person, then, has the potential (as opposed to ability) to heal, according to the abundance of the gifts that God gifts unto him.

Of course, this whole issue is very complex, and I have but touched on the surface of it. I shall meditate on this further, and report back in due time.

In Him,
Cyrus

On Benny Hinn

2007-04-14T20:30:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, I attended a healing service conducted by Benny Hinn. I went there with a doubtful heart, not because I do not believe in miracles, but because of the controversial reports with regards to his ministry.

The few days leading up to the meeting, I was led by the Spirit to this portion of the Scripture:

"1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world." 1 John 4:1-3

And so, I went there with a very simple purpose: to test the spirits. As noted in verse 2, a spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ as God in the flesh is from Him. To my relief, Hinn started the meeting with a altar call for salvation, which, in my then-simplistic understanding of the passage, seemed to suggest that he was of the same Spirit. Seeing the number of people responding to the altar call was also very encouraging, despite the simple nature of his message. It seemed as if God was really working through him powerfully. Also, his preaching with regards to healing was also a huge revelation to myself. I was convinced, then that Hinn was a true servant of God.

When I got home, however, I read the passage again, this time with some more Bible commentary. It seems that the word "acknowledge" brings with it an element of the words as well as deeds, i.e. we have to examine the deeds of the person as well. (In fact, what I did in the first place was to consider his deeds, which seemed to be unbiblical according to reports) Therein lies a dilemma: on the one hand, he did bring many people to Christ; on the other, his reportedly extravagant lifestyle seems to contradict Biblical principles, especially with regards to the call for offerings to support that very lifestyle. There are also reports of him actually cursing people who oppose his ministry (surely cursing is wrong???!!!). At the same time, we have to remember that the enemy's plots include obstructing God's work, by smearing the reputation of His servants.

So what exactly am I to think? I really do not know. What I do know is that God is faithful, and that He will not allow us to be deceived long. I reserve the right to judge for our Lord Jesus Christ, and for Him alone. I shall not engage in speculating.

May the Lord help us all, to see clearly His aims, His purposes, and to recognise His Spirit and those who truly come in His Name.

Big Names

2007-04-14T18:06:00.000+08:00

Hello Cell. How had all your week been? What had the Lord shown you about Himself this week?

I am posting about certain very well know Christians who is in town recently - namely Benny Hinns; as well as Reinhard Boonke who was in Singapore last year. They are big name evangelist and miracle workers. It is said that there are millions who came to Christ in their crusades as well as miracles which happened. I went through a period of time last year when I was very uncertain, bordering on disbelieving their miracles or questioning their source of power for the miracles. That was affected in part by certain articles about them. Now, while I know that these are probably biased (either by non-believers or conservative believers), it is different to say to give the article no weight as compared to inconclusive weight.

But not so this year. Somehow, through the year, I had stopped doubting them. Now, I am still unable to say with certainty that they did miracles etc, but no longer do I question it (there is a difference between skepticism and being unsure). Why this is so, I am not so able to explain.

Still, you will not find me at the Indoors Stadium. One of the reason is that the Miracles and the Big events are excellent kindling or Faith Starters, but not so much for other purposes. Growing in the Lord is not essentially about seeing miracles and thus believing. I think it has more to do with waking up in the morning, and walking with God in spite of everything. We do not learn patience in the midst of miracles - we learn it by struggling through the day. But we will be in no position to struggle through the day without first believing in the Lord. And that is what the miracles faith starters can help with. After all, it is about as close to "empirical evidences" as we would get, and so many demand.

But I wonder, what is different about these people that allow miracles to happen in their presence? Put it this way. A person who goes for healing. Why does God work there and not elsewhere? Is it not the person's faith that heals him (as opposed to say, Benny Hinn's). We can say that going up is an act of faith. But how is it different from going up to God in Church or even your bedroom? In fact, I would say that the latter 2 requires even more faith, as you do not have that much prior cases of successful healing. Now, I know that the New Testament records such methods of healing (like Peter and Paul). But I still wonder why...

Hmm...

Thats all for now :) See you tomorrow.

Exams are here.. AGAIN....

2007-04-13T08:52:00.000+08:00

HI TO ALL MY FAMILY MEMBERS HERE!

Here's my exam schedule... it has to come right???

27th April - Marketing Research
4th May - Microeconomics
9th May - Organisational Theory & Design

I also need prayers for my other family, especially my dad, for his health! He has been feeling better so far, which is a testimony of God's healing hands upon him!

And also pray for me that I may become a man whom God will use to do big & mighty works with! It's really exciting to the God's work 'ya know?????

"Commit everything you do to the Lord.
Trust him & He will help you." Psalm 37:5

"Commit your actions to the Lord,
And your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3

Hmm.. looks like the most important ingredient in our successes is God....

Not surprising!!..

First Principals

2007-04-08T15:22:00.000+08:00

These few weeks during the sermon, I was just a little disconcerted. Not really because I don't agree with what is being said. So I surprised myself. Today, during the service, one of the possible reasons struck me. It was because the message did not fit in nicely and directly into some principals which I hold fast to as Basic Principals.

Lets see.. Some of these principals I have... Love God, fear God, trust God, become like Christ, love your neighbor, and God will honor you... The rest of the Law, natural or revealed, as well as the promises, will be based on these.

Which is a little different from the topics in these few sermons. For example, 2 weeks ago, the one about living in the favor of God. I know it is not wrong in principal. But I never thought so much about it in the macroscopic way. I always get a little uneasy when the message is directly derived from "God wants to make you the head, not the tail". Then last week's about the benefits of being in the body of Christ. Again, my view of the church was more of a place to recharge yourself spiritually. Didn't think so much about the blessings involved. Didn't seem to have much to do with my basic principals.

This is not very healthy. Much as I believe that these principals form the foundations of the Christian Faith, I know that there are other parts which I should also take note of. Those things which I see as minor, may actually mean alot to other people.

One other thing. Sometimes, when I don't understand how a certain idea come about by the study of the passage, I tend to be skeptical of it. Again, this has 2 sides to it. One may be good - keep a lookout for strange doctrine. The other is bad - could miss out on an idea that is deeper in the passage because of the reflex reaction of rejecting it. A better way can be found.

Thats all for now. Paiseh. Long time never post :P

Quotable Quotes: "Innocence is Bliss" - S..... :PP (I said you would see it)

cutE aSher!!

2007-04-02T13:38:00.000+08:00

A cute picture of Asher!! He's so cute right?? Can anyone smile as sincere as him today????

HeHe!!

Thanks!

2007-03-28T11:14:00.000+08:00

Hey there my dear cell! (i actually typed a tag and realised. opps too little space so ya)

THANKS A million zillion billion trillion dillion sillion ( ok u can tell the last few dont make sense. but you get the idea. its a HUGE thank you to you all. for the gift and the messages in the book wei wei wei wei wei wei wei wei wei wei wei (say it really fast then got kick!) made.

it's hard being 16253417642768356340598234687234 miles from the people who always supports ya. BUT prayer is restricted by distance! whoo hoo. Thank you all for always keeping me in your prayers. means alot to me that no matter what there's always an army of warrior prayers supporting me. Thank you.

Yes yes i am getting older, BUT not as old as Cyrus and Algene! haha (ok bad joke)
Had a really good birthday this yr with my friends here. (i ll have pics up soon on my blog. once my test and presentations are all over!)

Once again! thanks! i miss you guys!
___________________________________________________________________

aN iNvitatiOn to aLL!!!

2007-03-25T17:20:00.000+08:00

An invitation to everyone to come join us in our Good Friday event, titled 'THE VACUUM"!!

Date: 6th April 2007 (Good Friday)
Time: 7pm
Venue: Church of Spore (Balestier)
Address: 159 Sin Ming Rd, #02-02, Amtech Building, Lobby 1

Make this Good Friday the most exciting, unforgettable and meaningful one ever!!

Come join us for this special production about characters that faced real life struggles & troubles and how they managed to walk out of it through God's guidance!

So...... MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW!! I really hope to see you all there! Just tag here if you wish to have tickets! God bless!!

Story to share too :))

2007-03-18T19:51:00.000+08:00

Tale of 3 Trees

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up. The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: " I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I'll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!" The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on it's way to the ocean. " I want to be traveling mighty waters and caring powerful kings. I'll be the strongest ship in the world! The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. I don't want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me they'll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world.

Years, passed. The rain came, the sun shone and the little trees grew tall. One day three wood cutters climbed the mountain. The first wood cutter looked at the first tree and said, "This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shinning ax, the first tree fell. "Now I shall make a beautiful chest, I shall hold wonderful treasure!" the first tree said.

The second wood cutter looked at the second tree and said, "This tree is strong. It's perfect for me." With a swoop of his shinning ax, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters!" thought the second tree. " I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!"

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last wood cutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the wood cutter never even looked up. "Any kind of tree will do for me." He muttered. With a swoop of his shinning ax, the third tree fell.

The fist tree rejoiced when the wood cutter brought her to a carpenter's shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feed box for animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, or treasure. She was coated with saw dust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals. The second tree smiled when the wood cutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead the one strong tree was hammered and awed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail to an ocean, or even a river, instead she was taken to a little lake. The third tree was confused when the wood cutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" The once tall tree wondered. " All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God..."

Many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams. But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box. "I wish I cold make a cradle for him." Her husband whispered. The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. " This manger is beautiful." She said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and a thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She new she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through the wind and the rain. The tired man awoke. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, "Peace." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten wood pile. She flinched as she was carried through and angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hand to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel. But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God's love had changed everything. It had made the third tree strong. And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

Preach the Gospel to yourself everyday

2007-03-18T19:34:00.000+08:00

I was thinking about the cross today during service. Actually, 2 songs struck me. First was "Watch the Lamb" and the second was "Take me to Calvary". Both raised some important issues. "Watch the Lamb" was a more direct one, describing the Good Friday event from an ordinary person's point of view. "Take me to Calvary" raised the thing about "Lest I forget Gethsemane" and "Lest I forget thy agony", so take me to Calvary. It is quite true. We need to watch the Lamb. The Lamb is how God expressed His love for Man. It is well and good to see God and His Love in Nature, in things that happen etc. But this is how God displayed His Love for us.

Yet, I find that this image could be quite easily lost in evangelism sharing. There are the 4 Spiritual Laws etc, which present the Gospel. But we ourselves must remember not to disconnect what we say (Ie: Jesus died on the cross for our sins) with the imagery and Gethsemane and His Agony, and the jeering crowds... It can also be lost in church rituals... Forget, forget, forget....

Which is why things such as "Passion of Christ" (pity I didn't watch) and the Nail thingie we had during Masterlife is good. They help to remind us. I don't think this is so directly related to how we would behave and live... But it will affect our inner being. And that is the more important part.

A story to share...

2007-03-18T08:10:00.000+08:00

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea, and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, deserted island.

The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agree that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing the first man prayed for, was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree, and he was able to eat its fruit. The other man's parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and so he prayed for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land. On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him. However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that his wife and he could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island. He considered the other man unworthy to receive God's blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from Heaven booming, "Why are you leaving your companion on the island?" "My blessings are mine alone! , since I was the one who prayed for them," the first man answered.

"His prayers were all unanswered, and so he does not deserve anything." "You are mistaken!" the voice rebuked him. "He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings." "Tell me," the first man asked the voice, "what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?"

"He prayed that all your prayers be answered..."

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but those who are praying for us.

When Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you...

Trials & tribulations ahead! But fret not!!!

2007-03-12T08:44:00.000+08:00

I was going home today, and this phrase was imprinted on my heart as I travelled... I know that my God is trying to tell me something... and at that instance, I was reassured that He is with me every step of the way, and elation and love was felt by me... 'coz if my God is for me, then who can be against me??..

Can anyone give me an answer to that? I guess the question is almost, if not, rhetorical.. NO ONE..

My glory.. and my stage, comes from the power of the cross.. you know, people say that surrendering is weak, but I beg to differ! After I surrendered my everything to God, I felt empowered.. I knew that He has the power & authority to run my stage and my life beyond my wildest imagination. One thing to note though, He did not promise me that I will be rich, powerful or someone famous... He only promised that He will prosper me, in His time and in His plans! Kinda exciting right?!

I mean, COME ON! Our God created the world, parted the Red Sea, performed so many miracles! And even gave His son to die for us!! You think He cannot bless us abundantly?????? You think He cannot carry out His promises??????? You think He will withold anything good from us????

James 1:2-4 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

ACTION

2007-03-11T17:17:00.000+08:00

Well, I guess it is quite real and practical to be talking about mastery over emotions. For me, I think that the most important step is the Acknowledge your emotions part. Being Christians and conscious about the need to be "good", sometimes we may find ourselves trying to psycho ourselves not to feel in a certain way. Which is a "good" attempt, but without dwelling too much into it, I think it is weird. Feelings are feelings. How can you control them? What you can control is your response towards them.

Just to give an example. Take a student worrying over an exam. Now, is it of any use trying to feel peaceful? Certainly not. Don't lie to yourself. Rather, what can be done is to trust in the Lord. That you can control. And as for the peace of the Lord, it is an external peace - from the Lord. But if we do not acknowledge to God that we are worried, then perhaps, just perhaps, we will not experience the peace that God can give.

I don't like to debate / discuss / talk about these, because it is just so difficult to see where your will ends and where emotion begins. How far can you control, and how far is beyond your control? What constitutes an attitude, an action or an emotion? I have no idea where each ends and the next begins.

I guess it is very vague and fuzzy when we discuss hypothetical situations and think about hypothetical responses. It is quite a practical chapter. Only when we are "Out There", then we will really know what it means. Sure, there is this much we can prepare, by reading the Bible, by praying, by setting our sights on Jesus. But thats the dressing room. The play only starts when we get into the situations.

The Lord is faithful. If we are serious about honoring God with our responses, He will guide us through it.

Greet all people in transit. Many difficulties you are facing. I pray that you will all go through it closer with the Lord.

Sharon is officially 21!!

2007-03-10T23:25:00.000+08:00

Sharon is 21! Here are some of the pics taken that day! errhhh... actually, only got 3.. hahaha

Just look at Tims's expression....

Timmy!....

We're one big happy family right?!..

Pictures pictures!

2007-03-01T10:17:00.000+08:00

Yo Yo Yo! Check it out! Check our Mr Algene out! whoo hoo! ha ha i think looks like a Jelly Man!

On The Road.... of recovery

2007-02-26T13:26:00.000+08:00

Thanks for all your prayers, thanks cyrus and sylvyn for visiting me at NUH. I am currently at home popping painkillers and antibiotics and resting my left leg. The nurse put it in a leg brace, doing away with the conventional BIG BIG cast. This leg brace can be removed when i want to bathe and put strapped back on when i am out of the shower. The advancements of science... Well, i guess it will be about a month at least before i can go back to amtech. My first physio is 28 feb... so soon i didnt expect it. I hope the physio guy wouldnt break my leg... lol. Thats about all lah.

Changz

2007-02-22T00:50:00.000+08:00

CELL DINNER FEB 2007! @ Vill'age/ Villa'ge

2007-02-22T00:48:00.000+08:00

family photo!

2007-02-22T00:45:00.000+08:00

ok this is a horrible pic but i know vyn wants this pic up! so does wei wei so aiya sacrifice!
ok here's the story. rochelle and i were makign fun of wei wei and we won ha ha. so i asked rochelle to give me a high five.
with her spoon in her hand she gave me a high five then... some pics of potatoe fell on my hair.
can see?

2007-02-22T00:38:00.000+08:00

"I am not as cute as before"
ok lah wei wei dont cry ok. try to act cute lah!

2007-02-22T00:33:00.000+08:00

ok lah a bit like lah. *pinch*

2007-02-22T00:30:00.000+08:00

Smiles!

2007-02-22T00:28:00.000+08:00

GIRLS!

2007-02-22T00:23:00.000+08:00

Thanks for meeting up! i had Heaps of fun!
Algene thanks for rushing down! :) really super duperly appreciated it!
Vyn for dinner and entertaining my deja vu joke :)
Cyrus for arranging everything
Mao mao for rushing down from sch and being ur CUTE self :)
Lichang for tahaning wei2's crap (ha ha actually mine!)
Rochelle for sharing w me (even thought it was a bit) and of course UR LAUGHTER
Wei2, nothing to thank lah... ermmm thanks for trying to be a .... ha ha opps

EVERYONE for the great company!
100% will miss you guys man! see ya'all sunday!

Surgery for my knee...

2007-02-20T13:00:00.000+08:00

In June 2006, i injured my left knee while playing basketball after training hours in my camp. I went to NUH and they did a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Radionuclide Imaging (RI) on my knee and found out that my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (see figure) has snapped.

In addition, they also found a neoplasm of unspecified nature in my femur. Hence removal of the weird thing in my bone and a bone graft was done on August 15 after NDP. I took 2mths to recover, while doing physiotheraphy.

However, the snapped ACL has not been joined yet because as a result of the bone graft, the condition of my femur is unsuitable for ACL reconstruction at that point of time. Hence, the doctor told me that i can do the recon 6 mths after August. Therefore, on the 22nd of February, i am going for ACL reconstruction.

After this surgery, i would be able to take part in more strenuous activities but have to be more cautious. After 2 mths i can walk again and go study in NTU. By the way, they analysed the neoplasm and found that it was just an active but non-lethal bone tumor.

I thank God that he has been watching over me. Had i not injured my knee, i wouldnt have done the scans and found the bone tumor and removed it completely. It is miracle, praise be to God.

P.S. if u have any qns pls sms me
P.P.S my hp number is still 91641850

Signed,

Lichang

Let God speak

2007-02-16T19:08:00.000+08:00

Remember the thing about hearing God's voice? I had been thinking / talking to people / praying about it, and had learnt a few things in the process.

Now, I know that God speaks to us by His Word, strong impressions, other people and direct voice. Then, I realized that one of the reason I felt so disappointed about not hearing God's voice is that I had negated the first 3 means of God speaking. While hearing a direct voice is important, I think that I should also be more responsive to the first 3 means.

Secondly, I think that I am very greedy :P I want God to speak, and I want it to be clear and distinct. My rationale was that, being God, surely I would recognize it / He can make me recognize it when He speaks. Which is perhaps why I generally don't want small impressions. Yet, in all these, I realized that I forgot that God is generally portrayed as gentle and speaks when people are silent and still. He is described as being a still small voice. I should learn to listen to that sort of voice instead of expecting a microphone.

Thirdly, I honestly don't really understand why God would not speak to me. Without being self righteous, I think that I would be able to say that I want to know God. I am seeking God, and He did promise that those who seek Him with all their heart would find Him. 2 possibilities I thought of. One is that He is speaking, but something in me (attitude, etc) is preventing me from hearing it. The other is to teach me something. I distinctly remember the sermon saying that God does lead people through dry periods. I guess I would have to trust that God is doing what He thinks is best.

To Algene: May the Lord be your guide and grant you strength through this.
To Cyrus: Hope you have time to rest as well
To Sly-Vyn: Hope you will get a more favorable work arrangement
To Su Jun: Happy Traveling
To Sharron: Spread the Word, tell the story, let the whole world know that God is Love
To Li Chang: Hehe. Continue growing in Faith:))
To Wei Wei: Lets listen ;)
To Mel: Whee! Welcome Back!!!

Happy New Year. Personally, I think that sometimes, the celebrations don't correspond with reality. People greet each other in ways that expresses extremely high hopes for the New Year. Yet they are not really happy, there are things going on, problems etc... Then there are those who greet without meaning it... Don't like that a lot. Still... its tradition lor..

Grace and Peace to you.

Let God Speak and I will listen
Let God speak and I will do right
Let God speak and I will obey what He says
Please God I want to hear your voice today

Lord I want to hear your voice
Lord I want to hear your voice
Lord I want to hear your voice today
Today, Today, Today

As promised!!..

2007-02-12T09:40:00.000+08:00

Photos from Anniversary dinner!! Specially for Mel!!

Another photo from the 'when we were young' series by Jason & Sufen!

Who's the fairest of them all??.. and Matilda stealing the limelight!

Impromptu shots! Weiwei's 'huh???' expression & Reen's 'Are you sure???'?' face....

Now you all know who's the stronger one...

I think this photo brought out the notion that there's a kid in everyone right?!.. I mean... look at Syl-vyn on top!!..

Cyrus, Gail, Chunxiang & Lichang!

James enjoyed the food!!..

Some randomly snapped photos... we really have a vibrant church!

Next up! Superstars in action!

Diya says... "Don't play-play"...

Cell time! 1st up... Teamtim!

On top, seems like they are taking a family portrait...

<-- The jail-gamers!!
<-- People in Transit!!

-------------------------------------------------------------------

And finally, We wish all a Happy Chinese New Year!!

Thankew!!

Thank You!

2007-02-11T20:26:00.000+08:00

Dear Cell,

I just want to say a big thank you to all of you here. For I know that there will be never-ending supplies of tissues whenever needed (you all know what I mean..Haha!). Thank you for being there for me always. I really appreciate all of you and I thank God for that!! Have a blessed week ahead and till we meet again! :)

With lotsa love,
Wei2

Diethyl Ether

2007-02-10T14:28:00.000+08:00

^o^

Thank God for seeing me through.

I was reading "Our Daily Bread" on the bus, and saw this interesting article. It talks about an antidote for worry. Basically, when you worry, you can say "The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore I am worried to death". The absurdity of idea probably helps.

Which makes us wonder - Christians usually know that God is a good and caring God, with many many blessings promised to us. But we still worry. I guess that is the heart-mind gap. We know things, but we don't really Know them. Ideas like the above help to remind us of what we know, and in the process, hopefully we will experience them, and Know them.

May the Lord help us.

Stay tuned!

2007-02-09T12:18:00.000+08:00

Looks like some of us are having the experience of being 'poured out of our comfortable vessels' feeeling!.. So you see, God never meant for us to face it alone, that's why he put us together! So look up & look forward for we can do all things through HIM who gives us strength!

And to all visitors, cell members & especially to our beloved Melanie, who's away at Australia, stay tuned for photos of our upcoming annual church anniversary dinner at Qian Xi restaurant tonight! It's amazing to see how much & how far the Lord has brought us! So let's join in the celebration!! HOOOYAH!

See ya all pretty pretty soon alright!

Take Heart

2007-02-08T09:41:00.000+08:00

Psalms 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills -
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip -
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you -
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm -
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Praise God for his promises to keep us in our times of need. I read and see that people here are not exactly going through the easiest of times (me included).. but as the message preached just on sunday, we are constantly poured out of our comfortable vessels to shake us up.. to mould and make us stronger. I echo Mel's sentiments when she says that she misses you all.. though I'm in the country, I feel that I might as well be in Timbaktu for all the time I'm allowed in church due to work commitments.

I have been wondering and complaining to God at times on why he has allowed me to stay in my job situation for so long. I know that it's not the lack of wanting to leave and find another job with a better schedule, I think Cyrus and the other leaders can attest to my plans and desire to find another work place. I felt my answer came through the message on Sunday.

I personally find it easy to come to church on Sunday.. weekends be filled with church activities. It had been my way of life for many years already. So perhaps I have been left complacent even in the house of God? Maybe. Throughout this period, I have learnt what it means to be "dis-allowed" the chance to fellowship with the Saints, it made me treasure the times when I do get to be around you all. However, I am also sad that with the time I spend at cell, I can't develop genuine relationships with you all, hopefully I'll get the chance when this life lesson is learnt and over. Also, the work place hasn't been the easiest place to be in when it comes to living the righteous life and being a light (mainly people problems.. but I'll not go into them this time).

We are all being tested and stretched this time.. but let us all take discipline/tests/trials from God with a good attitude and a humble heart. For we know He loves us and he disciplines those he loves. Let us learn what he wants to teach us through life and grow stronger together yah?!

I love and miss you all too!

vyn

Difficult Times

2007-02-08T00:21:00.000+08:00

Dear Cell,

These are difficult times for me. Things are moving fast, and life is changing. What I have grown accustomed to (namely, life in the university) is fast coming to an end. In its place are loads of uncertainty, and much fear. I almost know for sure that I want to do research, even though few of my peers consider that as an option. Yet, when I look to the left and right, and I realise that I am all alone, I start to feel very lost, and worried. Keep praying for me, because I surely need it. I am praying about it myself, and I thank God for the comfort He gives me each time I doubt.

Cyrus

Updates

2007-02-06T19:31:00.000+08:00

Praise the Lord for what he has done in my life so far! Without his guidance & care, I wouldn't be where I am today! Just to let you all know that my dad has been struck down with kidney failure and has to go for dialysis twice a week... so I need all of you to pray for his health, and for God's protection to be upon my family!

And I trust that God will answer this prayer because I have absolute faith, trust and confidence in this God of ours, who never fails to wow us with his miracles and teachings! And I know that no matter what happens, our lives are in his hands but more importantly, He only has plans to prosper me! and all of you!

Don't you all know the above mentioned fact in Jeremiah 29:11 already????....

i detest PICTURE! (ok i take that back!)

2007-02-06T08:27:00.000+08:00

the slideshow pic thingy on the right never fails to make me SMILE

even thought i probably seen it for like the 136457823490348 time!

that the thing about pics... brings back good memeories then it makes people (esp me... i am million miles from all of you) sad. BITTERSWEET FEEELING.

ok this entry is a I MISS YOU ALL entry.

ha dont laugh ok. everytime i visit the cell blog i ll watch all (and i mean ALL!) the pics scroll by until i realise, Sharks! it's repeating for the 3rd time! ha ha (opps*blush*)
(hey update new pics leh)

saw the pics, saw Algene's tag. and yes I MISS YOU GUYS.

see ya all soon! (will be back from the 17th of feb till 25th feb)
Study hard! Work hard! Play hard! Pray hard!
God Bless!

Loads of love: Mel

Train of thought

2007-02-04T17:42:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Daniel for helping to resurrect the blog. ^_^

Have you all ever experienced it? When you try to pray or you try to worship, and suddenly, a word or phrase or idea that is related strikes you, and you just follow that thread of thought. It may not be bad persay. It could even be about a biblical idea or something. But it takes your mind away from prayer or worship. If it is still in the mindset of talking to God or something like that, I guess it is still okay to deviate from the original theme. But if it goes into "daydreaming" mode, or thinking to yourself, then I that is bad...

I find it a difficult problem to solve sometimes. Maybe it is because there is always quite alot of things going on between my ears, and I can't even catch up with myself sometimes. I can't catch myself fast enough. It is quite irritating in fact, because I know I am not supposed to be doing it, and I don't want to do it, but it happens.

One thing that helped me is kneeling to pray. But I guess it is an external change only. It is trying to deal with the problem. But it does not deal with the cause of the problem. Kneeling does makes me concentrate much better. But that can only feasibily be done once a day. Doesn't help when I want to talk to God on the way while walking home or times like that. God often gets left alone while I talk to myself.

One other thing. I don't want to go through the turbulances. I know that it is God's way of changing a person's character. And I want to be pleasing to God. But I don't like to be shaken.

Thats all for now.
Peace to you.

Run

2007-01-24T19:35:00.000+08:00

Whee... I am so going to have fun on Saturday. I have a race, but I have running noses too...... Oh wells

Update

2007-01-14T19:12:00.000+08:00

I haven't been updating. The past 2 weeks had been... busy. Timetable is out. Seems like I will be blocked out for everyday except Fridays. Whew! Its going to be tiring. Still, the Lord had been gracious. I had more or less been able to finish what I had set out to do. The hours don't add up, but it is still done. Smells like the fragrance of divine intervention. I love those.

Back to school, the A-Level year, 2 H3 subjects, 4 day a week Trainings, Physics and Chemistry Olympiad, Tests, Tutorials, Ministry... Sounds like a wonderful time to depend on the Provider. May the Lord help us.

I had a wonderful service today.

Hope you are all fine. Peace be with you.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

2006-12-26T09:56:00.000+08:00

The season of giving is here! How did all the Christmas shopping go?!.. Hope you all liked the pressies that you received coz' it's really difficult to shop for Christmas gifts when given a long list of names coupled with a very limited amount of time ya know???.. Actually, I think that Christmas should be celebrated everyday!!.. We should take some time off, every one or two months to buy a heartfelt present for our loved one or two!! This way, Orchard rd won't be packed with the maddening & jostling crowds every year, and it's easier on the wallet as well!! Oh well, here are some photos!!

<-- They went crazy!!
<-- Eng Kwang... erhhh...
<-- Much better from Eng Kwang!!

<-- Unc Mark!!
<-- This is a pic where one can look back and say... "When we were young......."
<-- Cool babes & a boy from TEAMTIM.. and Tim is trying to look tall...
<-- This was an impromptu shot by the way... and reen was apparently ready to take pictures anytime......
<-- WHERE'S MY PRESENT?????!!!!!....
<-- The colleagues! + reen's friend..

<-- Our 1st Christmas together!

<-- Our fellow T-I-L-E-S!

<-- Isn't she love-LEE???..

And here's from us... wishing all a Merry Christmas!!!!

Thank You!!!!

Blue Peter

2006-12-23T16:58:00.000+08:00

This is going to be one super duper long post, so get out your snacks and prepare to read... if you want to

Hello everyone! I am back from 10 days of Korea. It had been an exciting and fun time, but I am also quite happy to be back.

Although I am there for 10 days, the course is effectively only 8 days, with 1 day of Seoul (shopping ;)). Of the 8 days, the first is the setting up of the base camp, the second is experiential, the third is basic navigation, the fourth is a solo session, the fifth to seventh is an expedition, and the last is the wrap up and cultural exchange. But I am going too fast. Let me bring you all back to the beginning.

On the 12^th, the 27 of us flew to Korea and arrived there early on the 13^th. The weather was fairly cold, but not too bad yet. So we took a bus to the outskirt of Odaesan National Park, where our Base camp was. The view from the bus was quite nice.

Then we stopped over at a small place for lunch. It was dumpling and kimchi with rice. It would be the last meal served for quite some time. The food was very nice. But I wasn’t used to the chopsticks, which were flat. If you look at the bowl, that was the standard type of utensils they use. Big metal bowls.

So we proceeded to our base camp

Nice River near our base camp.

This is our base camp. A very nice place. But you will see a large difference on day 8. Big change.

Setting up the tent.

We had night sessions. The first day we shared about what we want to achieve by the course. Also had a name remembering game, where we learn the name of everyone in the group as well as something the person says about themself. I didn’t like that game, cause I can’t remember names :P By the next day, I had forgotten everything.Day 2. We cooked our own breakfast. Had pancakes and porriage (leftover from last night’s rice). It was surprisingly good. I like anything that is nice and sweet ;)

The worse part about cooking is the washing up. We have to wash up in the cold cold water. That wasn’t very nice. But later, we learnt an alternative method of washing. Not very nice, but better than cold water. Its known as alpine washing. Basically, you pour hot water into your mess tin, and wash it, and then drink it up. Yucks. But we did it anyway.

We went for our experiential programs. Superman (that’s our group) went for abseiling and some flying fox type of thing. It was very fun. Could get a little scary at times, but all of us managed to do it. It was a very steep slope to the place where we did our activities. First time climbing such a thing.

Me in my full battle gear.

Abseiling. Quite far down. But very nice view on the way.

The picture on the top is the flying fox thing. Very fun.

One interesting thing is that we didn’t have lunch for all 8 days. We were constantly on the move, so all we had was snacks.

In the afternoon, we went on a trail. This is a prelude to the later things to come. For now, Yin Shu (that’s one of our trainer) led the way. We hiked a couple of kms and gained some 300m in elevation. The trail was narrow and looked quite dangerouse. It was near the edge of a steep slope, so falling will be quite bad. Single file only.

A nice view by the trail.

The trail itself.

At the halfway mark. Break.

On the night of Day 2, we had a sharing session. We shared on the topic River of our Life. I remember sharing about the journey towards perfection and how it was full of distractions from the larger and easier ways which lead not to our purpose. Knew more about people there, but couldn’t remember that much. Most people shared about their families.

On day 3, we went for a mini expedition. We were supposed to find 3 checkpoints along the trail.

Unfortunately, a few things went wrong. We found the first checkpoint easily enough. However, we depended solely on Reggie for the navigation. He was the one who had to lead the way and tell us to look out for the checkpoints. But we didn’t. As such, we didn’t find the other 2 checkpoints. We didn’t know where we were after a while, and debated on it, but with little consensus. Then we took a wrong turn, and got lost. In the end, we left our origional trail and made one of our own. Good thing the trainers were there. We just went down a super steep slope and ended up quite a distance from where we were supposed to be

This is the trail head.
On the trail, hiking. Not lost yet.

This is where we ended up. Not where we were supposed to be. But anyway… we were all safe, so that counts for something at least. All of us were also in fairly high spirits too.

Quite a nice view. Going back to base camp.

At night, we had a review on the day. Team Batman actually managed to get all 3 checkpoints. Apparantly, we missed one of them which we just hanging beside us, and all of us missed it. My goodness. I was appointed to be one of the 3 people to give an account of our day and our learning points. That was quite an experience. I had little planning and just went there to speak. Fortunately, it went fairly well.

Day 4 is our solo expedition. Well, not really expedition. It was a period of time for quiet reflection on the past, present and the future. We were supposed to write a letter to our future self 6 months down the road. I like it. It was nice and quiet. We had a couple of hours for it. All of us were given a piece of ground to sit on, and there, we did our thinking.

This was my piece of land.

After the solo, we had a sharing session. It was quite powerful. There were people who actually cried and sniffed while talking. Myself… I wasn’t that touched, but it was a nice session. Maybe cause I am usually thinking about things already… But anyway, it was a nice time. Thought about everything I am doing and how God is reflected in it.

I was the leader for that day together with Fung. And since the next day was the expedition, we had to plan for it. So at night, we went to distribute the food and lamps and stuff. That went quite well, thanks to Fung. He conducted the whole session.

I have a thanksgiving. The temperature was just above 0 these few days. In the first 2 days, my hands and feet were frozen. Couldn’t stand the cold. But by the third day, when everyone was complaining about it, I was able to do the washing of the mat. Wet and cold, but I didn’t feel that bad. Strange. All praise be unto God.

The picture on the top shows bacon. As you know, bacon is full of fats. So we had the oil in a mess tin. The next day it froze up and we used it to fry eggs. Yum.

This is another scene of dinner.

Day 5 was the beginning of our expedition. From here, we would leave the base camp and go up a few mountains and stay overnight somewhere else. Initially, we were supposed to go by the route of Odaesan National Park and stay over at a mountain shelter. However, when we got there, the route was closed because of storm forecast. As such, we had to go by an alternative route.

I was the navigator from this day onwards. It was amazing that we didn’t get lost, considering that I only have skill on a route or trail and the snow covered the whole route. There were times when I didn’t know where we were. So we just went on forward. Thank God it was the right route. It was extremely stressful to have to lead everyone. What if I was wrong? And indeed, on the second day of the expedition, I missed a turn and we had to go by a longer way. Good thing that was not fatal. Thank God for pulling me through the whole thing. It was even worse on the third day where the trainers were not with us. But in the end it was alright.

Preparing to set off for the trail. Strike camp. Breakfast was served for today (very nice).

Breakfast

This was supposed to be our trail head. Unfortunately, it was closed. But fortunately, it was closed, because soon, there was a snowstorm. When we left here, there was small snow falling. And we liked the snow. But later, it grew much heavier.

(Top) The bagpack was super heavy. So much so that even I could not carry it up with ease. So they taught was a method of carrying it, such that the smallest girl (Janice) could carry up the largest bag-pack (Reggie’s). It worked quite well.

This is the intended ending point. Just look at all the snow. Happy to see it? Certainly. But not for long.The snow was deep enough that the car got stuck here. We had to help to pull it out.

See all that snow falling? Its no joke when it keeps hitting your face. Cold and wet.

Still quite cheerful though, so that was nice

Now, this is real snow.

Self heating packet

For dinner, we had one of those self heating packs. Just mix everything up and pour water. It was very nice. But it got very cold. Remember I said the temperature was only a little above 0 for most of the time? On the mountain, it is never above 0. In fact, in the 3 days of the expedition, the first night had temperatures hitting almost –20 and the second had the minimum temperature of –29. Very very cold.

But at night, we survived by being in the dining tent, and singing songs. There were soulful songs as well as dirty songs (tsk tsk. Don’t like). But there were better songs as well such as Pass it On, Top of the World, and Prince of Egypt as well as part of One Way. There were also childish songs such as Father Abraham and Eldewise. I was actually called on to sing a solo. That was a new experience. Sang Colors of the Wind. We actually made the place so warm that it smoked on the outside.

On the mountain, everywhere was the toilet for guys, and a small little tent was the toilet for the girls and for solid waste for guys.

Water supply was from the river. It was almost frozen over, but not yet. Boiling water was most of the cooking we had to do. That was long and boring.

On Day 6, we were supposed to ascend a mountain. Not very far away, just 2.5km away. The problem was the snow. It was so, so, so deep. We were almost swimming in snow. It took about 4 people to break the snow before a path was good for walking with relative ease. As the navigator, I was constantly at number 2. That was quite tiring at times, especially with poor communication abilities in a straight line.

Snow was knee deep. Hard work ploughing through it.

But I must say that the landscape is very nice. At least there was no snowfall that day.

Well, eventually, we had to turn back without reaching the summit because it was getting quite late. Unless we wanted to trek in the dark. So we stopped by to take a group picture at this little thing. Whatever that was.

Group Picture

In the end, we rushed down the mountain and reached the campsite long before dark. That was nice, but we felt that it was a little wasted considering that we might had made it up the mountain. One other thing. It was partially my fault too because I missed the trail.

Oh well. If we cannot reach the mountain, we might as well make a snowman ;)

Day 7, the third day of the expedition. Mostly the same, except that we are all alone. We ourselves have to deal with everything. I have to make sure we don’t get lost. And the weather forecast said that there would be wind. And guess what? I thank God who held the wind back. The trainer said that it was an anormality. We were very fortunate not to have the wind!! It was very significant since the wind would make everything worse. I was already so stressed and tired from breaking the snow and navigating. If there was the wind… But the Lord held it back, and we had a very smooth journey, reaching the final checkpoint with 2 hours to spare. Our group was also fortunate enough that everyone was quite well. The other group had 3 people falling ill and had to be evacuated. I have no idea how. Probably a chopper.

This is view point, our mini summit, and mini checkpoint on the way. Halfway there.

Easy navigation from here. Nice to walk too.

And arrival. At long last

Nice sleeping area with hot floor.

Nice dinner.

A picture of a very popular Korean Instructor Chao Dong

More group photos.

A beautiful sunrise. Pity my camera is not good enough for it.

So on Day 8, we proceed back to our base camp. But on the way, we stopped by 3 places to see the Korean Cultural stuff. The first was a beach. They said was very famous in winter. The sea is the East Sea.

The second place is a house of a rich upper class Korean of the past.

Next, we went to a fish market (below)

Remember this place? This is our base camp. Isn’t it slightly different from when we left? Just 3 days of expedition and this happened.

We had the certificate presentation. We gave them out to one another. And we commended one another.

This is the chairman of OBK. He was nice enough to drive 3 hours to the camp to see us at the beginning, and now he is seeing us at the end again. He shared dinner with us. He is a Christian. He requested that we say grace for dinner. So I did. That was very nice. We also suspect that he treated us for the next day’s hotel and dinner, which were super luxurious. After dinner, we had more entertainment. Guess what? I sang again. This time, there was another singer from the other group who sang with me. We sang Colors of the Wind again, You Raise me Up, and Prince of Egypt. Super nice. But these were the more soulful songs. The later songs were more crappy (sorry, but I really think they lack depth, most of them).

On day 9, we packed up to go to Seoul. Farewell was sad.

The 3 J2s.

Yin Shu, our dear trainer.

Reggie, my tent and room mate. In our hotel room. Nice right?

The streets of Seoul.

A picture taken at a certain fort in the middle of Seoul.

Totally different situation from the previous days. This is a wonderful meal.

Some of the Christians in the group. Post shopping.

This cool robot can tell you loads of information.

Departure.

And so here I am , back in Singapore.

This trip had been very nice experientially. I got to know more people and experience mountain climbing. I think I managed to fulfil one of my aims to be a light to the people. I thank God for giving me opportunities in the sharing sessions and in songs and in personal and life testimony. We did manage to have a devotion together on the last night as well. Just 3 of us, but it was quite something. Did a passage from Malachi which I prepared. Also managed to talk to a few people about Christianity.

The only complain I have would be the cost. But now, it is well worth it. It is still expensive, but I enjoyed myself throughally.

If you had managed to read everything, well done. Sorry for the super long post.

The full photos can be found on this website: http://zhuangmao.multiply.com/photos/album/2

The small version of the movie pictures can be found on this page: http://zhuangmao.multiply.com/video/item/1

The better version (higher quality, slower download can be found here: http://zhuangmao.multiply.com/video/item/2

Peace be with you.

ME?

2006-12-18T11:45:00.000+08:00

ME?

well i am totally gonna spoil the whole mood for everyone i guess.

i failed 2 modules. one was by like 1% . so i got to waste more money, waste my life. WASTE!

well didnt really tell anyone abt my results cause it's nothing to be proud of (DUH!) hmm didnt really wanna talk abt it cause... i would feel all lousy and horrible everytime i did. But yah.

Ah well on a lighter note (i hope)... i ll be back on the 23rd of dec (night) might try to see if i can rush down for the christmas thing in church. heading back to brissy on the 1st of jan (night). yup just 9 days.

just nice enought for me to eat my favourite beef noodles @ scotts, wanton mee @ east coast, Katong laksa @ katong, Chicken rice @ wee num kee (ha ha AGAIN!) ermm... hmmm mushroom pot. And of course MUMMY's home cooked food. ha ok thinking of the food back home is making me UBER hungry now.

so till then... take care and i ll see you all soon

2006-12-18T08:38:00.000+08:00

Wah Cyrus your results are phenomenal! Mine's so faraway from yours lah! I failed one module man.... sian... gotta face my lecturer for one more semester! aRrRGgGhhhHh.... Melanie! how did you do?!..

2006-12-16T03:00:00.000+08:00

Yoohooo!!!

Here're my results! My best examinations results ever! All glory to God, for He is faithful! For the module ULS2201, everyone brought his/her laptop PC into the examination hall. I was one of 2 persons who didn't, not because I was confident but because my laptop battery is dead. So while other people were going online to simply google for answers (yes that is very strange, and it's the only paper I have ever taken that allows this) I had to flip through 2 super thick textbooks. I was pretty sure it wouldn't turn out too well! :) And for the Independent Study Module (my quantum dots project) I was still without any useful result until a couple of weeks before submission. After working on it for 3 semesters, I really felt like giving up. I had been praying for a breakthrough for a long time, as many of the SeTT people would know. :D

Alright that's all for now!

Cyrus

Light

2006-12-11T09:26:00.000+08:00

You are the Light of the World.

Light eh? What else can a light do but shine? If it does not, it is not light. Unlike a torch which can still be used for hitting the head of people, light can do nothing but shine. We are supposed to shine once we are lighted.

You are the light of the world. Whoever follows you shall never walk in darkness, but will be given the light of life.

PS: I think I am spamming the blog :P

The Gospel of Peace

2006-12-11T09:09:00.000+08:00

I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of salvation of God for all who believes. Or at least, so says Paul.

And so it is. For is it not written, that we need to believe that Christ is Lord? That He can save us? And by believing so, we are saved.

But more often than not, we behave like we are ashamed of the gospel. If it is such good news, why are we not telling people about it? If it is so important, why are we not living it out? Where is our compassion for all those who are perishing? Where is our faith in God's power?

Is the power true to us or do we just know it?

Spread the Word
Tell the Story
Let the whole world
Know that God is Love
For people need the Lord