Sunday, December 31, 2006

Goodbye 2006, Welcome 2007

2006 is a year that passes like a flash to me. As a matter of fact, every year passes like a flash but this year, it is too eventful for me and yet still passes like a flash. There are a total of two major changes in my life for 2006. The first change is from a student life back to army life. The second change is from an army life to a working life.

At the beginning of 2006, I remembered that I was rushing for my Final Year Project (FYP) and also preparing for my final exams in my final semester. It was quite a stressful period for me as I saw the deadline for my FYP report approaching and also the presentation after my final exams. I was very concerned about who my moderator for my FYP is. The reason being that, if I was assigned a very strict moderator, I will have a very difficult time answering his demanding questions.

All praises go to God for seeing me through all things and you may have known by now, I have graduated back in June this year. This was where my first major change began. I started to apply to go back to army to resume my disruption to serve back my remaining four months of service. It was a period of uncertainty for me as I am not very sure how the army looked like after three years. I heard that it has become 3rd Generation (3G).

Going back to my old familiar camp was a very memorable experience. I saw how the camp has changed after a new coat of paint and renovations. The computers used were no longer those old army computers but new Pentium IV ones complete with LCD monitors. Wow! Met up with my familiar army friend as she is a regular and still works in the same branch as before. Again, time passes like a flash and in no time, I have ORDed with a green certificate and ready to go out to the real world.

The second major change was from an army life to working life. If I have lamented that student life in NTU is nothing but stress everywhere, I am too naïve because working life is truly where the stress level peaks. This is simply because you are solely responsible for the things under your care. Hence, if you happen to make mistakes, you will need to be prepared for a good scolding by your boss. I am still adapting to this life and learning new things along the way. However, I am glad that I have began a brand new chapter which will last a long way, at least till I retire. Thus, no major changes for the time being.

Looking back at 2006, I can see that I have gone through these major changes in my life with God’s purpose set for me even way before I was born. How I have landed in my current company and department was also planned by Him. Going into 2007, I will want to live up to His purpose for me in my life by truly mediating upon His attributes.

Blessed New Year Ahead.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

The Attributes of God

Because God is a personal Spirit, I will seek intimate fellowship with Him.

Because God is all-powerful, He can help me with anything.

Because God is ever-present, He is always with me.

Because God knows everything, I will go to Him with all my questions and concerns.

Because God is sovereign, I will joyfully submit to His will.

Because God is holy, I will devote myself to Him in purity, worship, and service.

Because God is absolute truth, I will believe what He says and live accordingly.

Because God is righteous, I will live by His standards.

Because God is just, He will always treat me fairly.

Because God is love, He is unconditionally committed to my well-being.

Because God is merciful, He forgives me of my sins when I sincerely confess them.

Because God is faithful, I will trust Him to always keep His promises.

Because God never changes, my future is secure and eternal.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

i am fine now

Thanks, everyone who has been spending their precious time to care for me for this past week. I will like to tell you all, “I am fine now.”

I really thank everyone who has poured out their concerns for me. I have learnt a valuable lesson from God and as I walked out of my downtime, I thank God for putting me through this test. If not for this test, I think I will still not be able to understand how to grow stronger in times of trials.

I have grown more accustomed to my job now and felt no longer so stressed and traumatized about going to work. Adapting quite well now and I will say my relationship with my colleagues is improving too.

I feel that although time is never on my side, it can heal all wounds and hurts. I will like to give everyone time for healing and also God’s spirit to be our mediator so that truly we can all experience the wonderfulness of reconciliation. =)

Friday, December 22, 2006

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Saturday, December 16, 2006

The Wedding Banquet

I cannot come
I cannot come to the banquet, don’t trouble me now
I have married a wife; I have bought me a cow
I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum
Pray hold me excused, I cannot come

A certain man held a feast on his fine estate in town,
He laid a festive table and wore a wedding gown
He sent invitations to his neighbours far and wide
But when the meal was ready, each of them replied:

I cannot come
I cannot come to the banquet, don’t trouble me now
I have married a wife; I have bought me a cow
I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum
Pray hold me excused, I cannot come

The master rose up in anger, called his servants by name,
Said, “Go into the town, fetch the blind and the lame,
Fetch the peasant and the pauper for this I have willed,
My banquet must be crowded, and my table must be filled.”

When all the poor had assembled, there was still room to spare
So the master demanded: “Go search everywhere
To the highways and the byways and force them to come in.
My table must be filled before the banquet can begin.”

Now God has written a lesson for the rest of mankind;
If we’re slow in responding, He may leave us behind.
He’s preparing a banquet for that great and glorious day,
When the Lord and Master call us, be certain not to say:

I cannot come
I cannot come to the banquet, don’t trouble me now
I have married a wife; I have bought me a cow
I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum
Pray hold me excused, I cannot come

Blowing In The Wind

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man? (Yes ‘n’)
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand? (Yes ‘n’)
How many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?

The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind,
The answer is blowing in the wind

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky? (Yes ‘n’)
How many years must one man have
Before he can hear people cry? (Yes ‘n’)
How many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?

The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind,
The answer is blowing in the wind

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea (Yes ‘n’)
How many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free? (Yes ‘n’)
How many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?

The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind,
The answer is blowing in the wind

Do I Truly Know my God?

I was pondering over this question at least for this past week. Since opening the door of my heart to my God, have I truly been spending time to know Him? Realizing that my life is currently busy with work, ministry and family, am I truly spending time to know Him? If I say that He is a close friend of mine, what have I knew about this Friend?

There are just too many attributes of God for me to know and find out. I think I will spend the rest of my entire life and I will still be unable to find out everything about Him. I truly need to understand Him so that I can walk close with Him to go through my life. He is my Creator. He is All-Powerful. He uses His power in my behalf. He is Present Everywhere. He is Always with me. He Knows Everything about me. He is Sovereign. He Directs my life. He is Holy. He gives me power to become Holy. He is Absolute Truth. His Truth sets me free. He is Righteous. He helps me to live righteously. He is Just. His Justice works for my good. He is Love. He helps me spread His Love. He is Merciful. He Expects me to Extend Mercy. He is Faithful. He Enables me to be faithful. He Never Changes. He gives me to rest in Him. Many, many things to know and find out about Him.

I want to truly understand my God if not the life I live will be wasted. I want to know all about Him so that I can share His attributes with the people around me. The entire Bible is rested on His attributes. Unless I spend time reading His Love Letter, I will never even get to know one of His many attributes deep enough. In addition, I need to understand that all the reading of His Word is not for my own intellectual knowledge but simply to know this Close Friend of mine.

If I truly know my God, it will affect my friendships, my work, my leisure activities, the types of literature I read and even the music I listen. If I do not have the right view of God, how can the people around me even begin to see Him as He is? The right view of God will change not only my life but the lives of many people around me magnificently.

Let me get to know my God deeply so that I can get to love Him back in the same manner which He has loved me. Father, guide me by Your Holy Spirit in getting to know You.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Final Two Mini Events for 2006!

Event #1:
Cell Gathering on 30 Dec 2006

Event #2:
Night Biking Trip for WatchNight Service cum Supper on 31 Dec 2006 to 01 Jan 2007

***************************************************
重点 (Key Point):
You can get to see C.S. in person! ~haha~
***************************************************

Friday, December 08, 2006

Friday Reflections - Reloaded

It is Friday again. Another week has passed and weekend is here in less than 2 hours. Wow, super fast. Time has passed by every person without waiting for anyone. Who can say that time has waited for them even just that one moment? I dare not say so for myself.

Although I do agree the fact that work can never be finished, I simply need more time. I started to realize that as a matter of fact, twenty-four hours a day is simply not enough for me. Can I have more than twenty-four hours? Maybe give me another twenty-four hours to make forty-eight, can? Then, I can use that extra twenty-four hours to spend time jogging, reading or resting my mind.

Everyone has the same twenty-four hours. The difference is how do we spend that amount of time. It is just like our cash on hand. The same amount lies in everyone’s hand when the clock strikes twelve midnight and a new day begins. Right now, I will say that I spend more than half of the amount I am allocated to my work. The rest goes into sleeping, eating and leisure time like internet.

This week passed by very fast in the midst of me trying to finish the tasks assigned to me on hand. I am learning new things everyday and currently still learning. There is just too many things to pick up in my job. I need more time but time is not on my side. That is why tomorrow I plan to go back to office to finish up some of my work.

I am developing my passion for my work and beginning to find my job more and more interesting and challenging. However, stress is definitely present and what I can do is to learn how to work with stress and not be overcome by it.

A poem by C.S
Manage Time and Manage Stress,
Do your Best while God will do the Rest,
Remember to Rest well so the mind can wonder Less.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

My Hobby - Running

I am also not sure when did I start to fall in love with running? I think it must be during the time when I was doing my exchange program in Shanghai last year when I started to run. As I ran to cover more and more distance, I truly enjoyed the joy of completion after a run. Maybe that's why my new resolution for 2006 is to run a marathon. Haha.


As I mentioned before, I did not run a marathon this year though. However, I did cover a distance of about 42.2 km in two instalments namely, Army Half Marathon (AHM) on 27 August 2006 and Standard Chartered Singapore Half Marathon 2006 on 3 Dec 2006. Received two medals after the run and here are the medals:





















2006 is coming to an end soon. As the whole world welcomes 2007 next month, I will like to make a resolution for 2007 - To run a full marathon of 42.195km. =)

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Friday Reflections

This week has been a busy week for me. Actually, it has always been for the past eight weeks. Every week is eventful. So many things happening and new challenges posed. This evening, my week ended with KFC. Some leftovers from my department Fridays afternoon tea.

It is Friday night again and this is the night I feel the most relaxed for basically tomorrow is Saturday. Since I started working, Saturday becomes the day where I will do my preparation for BS and cell meetings. Not too good because it is a bit rush. Sometimes, I have to squeeze in worship preparation as well. Doing everything yourself can be tiring and weary. At some moments, I do feel where is everyone when I needed help?

Weekend is very precious. I agree to this statement fully now. Throughout the week, I have been busy with work. Everyday knocking off just to go home to sleep for a few hours before waking up again to go to work. It is like a routine cycle. Waking up at 6am every morning to take my breakfast and then do my quiet time. Sometimes, even play some songs before I rush to bath and catch my bus at 7.33am to go to company. Yes, 7.33am, the bus is so punctual everyday.

Coming to a weekend, it is also work. Preparing for bible study, cell and coordinating the worship. Doing my best only to know that actually few will be coming for the things I prepared. However, it has also became a routine to me that few will attend the meetings but I still want to carry on with this work. This is one responsibility which I have taken up and I have to see to its completion. The shepherding role.

I was reading Psalm 130 during lunch hour today. Felt ministered by it and decided to share here:

Psalm 130
A song of ascents.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness;
therefore you are feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
from all their sins.

Just reflecting. 1 December is over. =)

Thursday, November 30, 2006

IKEA Opens Today

Today, IKEA Tampines opens and to join in the mad rush to see the new IKEA, my whole department drove there during lunch hour. Haha, in the end, we found out that it was indeed a mad rush just to see the crowd. The whole IKEA is too crowded and even to eat at its cafe or restaurant, you got to queue in that long 'snake'.
Eventually, we drove back to eat at our company canteen.
Not too bad.
Got beef burger to eat leh...
hahahahahaha... so funny.
This has to be the joke of the week!

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Struggles

Currently, struggling in my job. Realised that I got many things to learn, knowledge to gain and tasks to complete. Lagging behind and many times in my job, I am doing "fire-fighting".
Need to continue to trust in God and His word to see me through everyday of my work.
Time passes really very fast and tomorrow will be Thursday?!
Press on, Endure and may God see me through all things by granting me perseverance and strength.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Trust in the LORD

I searched this phase, "Trust in the LORD" using Biblegateway search engine and found 61 verses pertaining to this phase. 信主

No magic number but just trusting in the LORD in all things. =)

When the Stress Level is HIGH...


Go take a rest... sleeping is still the best cure. Trust me... =)
(1 Kings 19)

Sunday, November 19, 2006

A Busy Weekend For Me

This weekend has been quite busy for me. For yesterday, I have to attend two church wedding ceremonies and one wedding dinner. Need to be out of my house for the whole day. Saw to the logistics and traffic control matters for my Bible Study Leader’s wedding in my church and then rushed down to attend one of my NTU brother in Christ’s wedding at another church. This brother is also my Bible Study Leader’s long lost secondary ECA friend. Wow, small world.

It is indeed a great joy to know that both of them are entering into a new phase of their lives and not alone (of course!) but with their respective beloved life partners. Congratulations! May our dear God bless both couples to have a blissful marriage in the many, many, many, many years to come. Praise the Lord for instituting marriage as a grand rehearsal for our marriage to Him in eternity. Praise Him for joining males and females together spiritually, physically, emotionally and mentally. Praise Him for teaching and training us about what is true, self-sacrificial and unconditional love through marriage. Thank God for giving us His amazing marriage gift too. =)

God is right indeed when He says that it is not good for the man to be alone. Man definitely needs a helper. It is great to know that every woman is created beautifully for her husband alone. Who else to thank but God and God alone? Adam must have been very attracted to Eve when God brought her to him. Amazing!

I will like to continue to pray for the both couples who got married on the same day – 18 November 2006. Let’s be praying together for them and be thanking God for His gift of marriage, shall we?

Sunday, November 12, 2006

A Simple Song, A Simple Blessing.

Everybody knows about "The Happy Birthday Song". I have found out some background about this song and posted it here. This is indeed a simple song with a simple blessing. Enjoy... =)

About the Songwriters: The "Happy Birthday" song was written in the late nineteenth century by two sisters from Kentucky, Mildred J. Hill and Patty Smith Hill. Patty was a nursery school teacher, while Mildred was a composer and pianist.

About the Song: Mildred was the sister who came up with the simply eight-note melody for "Happy Birthday", after which sister Patty added the lyrics. Originally sung "Good Morning to You, Good Morning to You, Good Morning Dear Children, Good Morning to All", the song was written as a greeting to be sung to students each day. It is unclear as to when the lyrics were changed, but by 1924 the new version of the song had appeared in print.

About the Tab: "Happy Birthday" is a simple three chord song, written in "waltz time" (3/4 time). Strum each chord three times, with one exception (see tab for details). As the song is so short, you might want to repeat it several times. As finding a good key to sing "Happy Birthday" in can be tricky, tab has been provided for playing the song in both the key of D and the key of G.
How to play the song leh? Here are the chords! So exciting, right? haha.



Gotten all this information from http://guitar.about.com/od/tabchordslyrics/p/birthdaysongtab.htm

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Giving thanks to God

I thank God for bringing a brother into my midst to teach and guide me in playing the guitar. It has been great to be able to play the instrument after five years. Finally, I can play some worship songs “decently”. (haha, that is if you think I can play well)

My classical guitar (my one and only guitar) was bought from a brother in Christ, Teh whom I have known in my army camp. At that time, he was encouraging me to learn guitar. Even my current pick is given by him. He is a great brother and I remembered him well because he was the first person to bring me to the camp’s cookhouse at that time when I first reported to the unit.

As of now, I have lost contact with him. During our army days, he was down with leukemia and was on long mc even till he ORD. Subsequently, I visited him at his place a few times and I was even preparing to cook some claypot chicken rice for him. That was also the period when I bought his guitar from him. However since 2004, I have been unable to contact him. His mobile line was unsubscribed. He did mention to me once that he would never unsubscribe his line.

I wonder how is he now?

The last sms which I received from him was on my birthday in 2004 where he wrote:

Soh, wanna wish u a happy birthday today. how have u been man? Remember the treat u own me, hahaha… when u treating me huh? :)

God, is Teh with you safely now?

Saturday, October 28, 2006

FrIeNdS ^.^V

Everyone needs a friend. For me, I need at least one. Someone to talk to when I face problems in life. Someone to treat me coffee sometimes. Someone to lend a listening ear to me. No man is an island, ya?

I have many friends but not all are kept in constant contact. Some of them are my primary school friends. They are already under the L.i.C group. Some are my secondary school, T.K.D, poly and NTU friends. Okay, they are under S.i.C group. Some are army friends. Greatest buddies whom we K.K.K together. Haha, they are under C.i.C group. The rest are my church friends whom are under A.i.C group. Great! Lots of friends but not for putting them under my Friendster account only. I do want to be in constant touch with them. Still got one last group which is the G.T.B.K.i.C. My colleagues. =)

How to keep in contact with friends? For me, I will sms them. Any smses will do. Can be encouraging ones, inspiring ones, silly ones, crappy ones, disturbing ones, chatting ones, etc. So if recently you have just received one of my smses, maybe take note that I am trying to K.i.C with you. Sometimes when I am bored, I will think of creative smses to send out.

There is one very important Friend in my life. Someone whom I always talk to when I faced problems in life. Someone whom will always lend His listening ear to me. He is my God. From 21 Oct 2001, I have acknowledged Him as my Friend. He has never left me since and in constant in touch with me. He has seen me through all things.

Do not feel guilty when you think that you have not lived out a good testimony for this Friend. Because He has never blamed you at all. He knew your heart and character. He does not want you to live in guilt. He wants you to be free. That’s why He is here today to show you the way back to Him and to free your chains. He took the initiative. He has shown by His actions not just His words. He has done His part as your Friend.

All He asks of you is whether you are willing to accept His Friendship. The answer can only be a ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. Check your heart today. If you are ready, put Him under your A.i.C group, ya?

Some acronyms for this entry:

L.i.C ~ Lost in Contact
T.K.D ~ Tae Kwon Do
S.i.C ~ Still in Contact
K.K.K ~ Keng & Keng & Keng
C.i.C ~ Constant in Contact
A.i.C ~ Always in Contact
G.T.B.K.i.C (This is a hard one!) ~ Going To Be Kept in Contact

Friday, October 27, 2006

一个礼拜的结束

一个礼拜就这么地过去了。
我真正要学习的是如何建立良好的人际关系。
这也是我能在公司传福音的第一步!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Mark of the Beast

Have you heard of this term, "Mark of the Beast"?
If you have not, feel free to click on this link: 666
Read to find out, Ask to learn, Respond with Action. =)

Sunday, October 22, 2006

迎接星期一

我的星期一永远是白色的。
因为它是每个新工作周的开始嘛,所以对我而言它像一张白纸,是白色的。

明天就是星期一了。
就让我收拾心情回到工作岗位继续地为我的公司奋斗吧!

志胜,加油!!!

Friday, October 20, 2006

Message of the Bible


Do you want to know what is the one thing that stands out throughout the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation? What is the main message of the Bible? I will like to answer the first question with "The Attributes of God". That is the one thing that stands out throughout the entire Bible. The main message of the Bible is as shown in the figure above.

Before we discussed the figure, let us take some time to look through some of the verses in the Bible. We will only be looking at two books of the Bible namely, Genesis and Revelation.


Brothers and Sisters, look through these verses yourself and hear the message of God from His very Words. We can see from the figure that in the beginning, God is with Adam and Eve and together they are in the Garden of Eden with the Tree of Life. No sin is present. Adam and Eve are in perfect relationship with God. Sin enters in Genesis 3 and thereby man is corrupted by Satan and goes through a period with the presence of Sin. We can see this whole period is even right till today.

Then, there will be a period of seven years of tribulations. After that, Christ will come back again and rule the earth with all the Saints who are the Christians for one thousand years. Next, Satan will be released from captivity after the one thousand years to deceive the world before he is thrown into the lake of fire to be eternally destroyed. Eventually, eternity will kick in!

Is it exciting to know that God is the one who is always in control and He is the author of this amazing message? He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. And if you have realized, the beginning and the ending in the figure is the SAME.

How will you respond to this God who has already planned the great future of your soul? I know that I will be seeing His face again and fellowship with Him in eternity.

Will you like to join me?

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Saturday, October 14, 2006

A Week Well Spent

Learnt a lot, Experienced some.
Open Mind, Open Eyes... (yes, open eyes... very impt)

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Mind Like a Sponge

AbSoRb, AbSoRb, AbSoRb...

Monday, October 09, 2006

Work for Needs, not for Wants

忙忙碌碌,只为生活一口饭。

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Tomorrow “KUI GANG”

New chapter. New beginning. New challenges ahead.

Yes, I will be officially entering the workforce tomorrow. Things will definitely be changed somehow and I have to also adapt to these new changes, new people and new surroundings. I do not know how long will I need to adapt to my new life. The only practical thing which I can do and you can also do for me is to pray to our Lord and Father. The God of this universe. Although sad to say, many still do not know Him today.

Okay, let me make myself clear first right from the start. In this blog, I will never, never and yes, never write any entries regarding my work. It will be CONFIDENTIAL. Something like IMF in MI:III. Impossible Mission Force. All things are not to be revealed. Hence, do not ask me in this blog how is my work, okay? Thanks.

As I enter the workforce, please continue to pray for me in terms of relationships building with my superiors and colleagues. This is very important and crucial to me. Let me take up the role of a cultivator and prepare all my colleagues to trust me as a Christian.

091006 will always be a special date in my heart. Haha, at least that is the date of release for me documented down in my COS. Sisters, you can always feel free to sms me to ask me what is COS. And fellow brothers, yes you got it there. It is definitely not Company Orderly Sergeant. Haha! =)

Saturday, October 07, 2006

My ORD gifts


The soccer clock on the left is given to me by my RQ while the MicroBank is given to me by my CQ. Thank you, Abba Father! Why? Because He has reminded me through my two superiors that I must be a good steward of the time and money that He has provided for me. =)

Friday, October 06, 2006

ORD or ROD?


Whatever it is, I am happy that I am granted the opportunity to serve my nation. Be it 2 years 4 months or 2 years only, I have served with pride. I am really glad that I have resumed my role as a civilian as of today. Glad not because I have finally finished my ‘ordeal’ with army but glad because I have concluded and done my part for the nation as I obeyed my call of duty to the Republic. I feel a sense of pride as I received my certificate of service together with that coveted sticker on my SAF 11B indicating that I am now officially a NSman.

ORD or ROD? To me, it really doesn’t matter much. In fact, I will be really happy if I only ORDed. This is because I will get to wear my No. 4 again and do my part to serve the nation again. This is so exciting. However, if I really RODed, I will just have to admit that it is all due to my shortcoming and I don’t blame anyone. All in all, if I am given the chance to serve my nation again, I will definitely do my best again.

2 years 4 months passed by in a flash. It seems like yesterday when I have gotten my new SAF 11B at BMTC School and today I have ORDed from army. It is really fast. Plus I was disrupted for three years for my studies before resuming my service again in late May this year. This last four months of my service is very memorable just like the previous two years when I was with my unit. In totality, I have learnt the importance of healthy working relationships with my colleagues and I must really continue this fostering of healthy working relationships as I enter the workforce starting next Monday.

Felt quite reluctant to leave my camp this evening. I did spent some two years plus in this camp and the sudden feeling of leaving it for good is quite sad. She has became like a good old friend to me and my permanent departure from her can really rekindle some fond memories that will forever be remembered in my mind even after many years.

National Service to me is not really a waste of time. In fact, I do feel that it is preparing me to face the real world outside. Although the society in the camp cannot really foreshadow what the society is really like in the outside world, it does give you a foretaste of what it is like to work with the different people from different race and background. One of my professors did ask my graduating cohort in NTU, “Are you ready for the world?” Today, I can answer him that I am ready for the world only after National Service.

This is the end of my national service journey. I can indeed identify with Paul in 2 Timothy 4: 6-7, “… the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

National Service is over but this is just one small chapter in my entire life and if counted against eternity, it is nothing but just a drop of water in a full bucket. Let me continue the race for God and prove to Him that I am His good and faithful servant. Thank God for seeing me through everything. AMEN!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Patience, my friend, PATIENCE

Throughout this week, I just have to be patient. Patient with time. I have to be patient in waiting for my collection of my pink IC. Patience. Imagine I have to wait for one full week before getting it and resuming my role as a civilian. Patience. God is always there to train me in my patience. A good example is He would make sure that I will be waiting for the person I want to meet. Be it five minutes or an hour. I will be there waiting.

Of course, patience has other issues to be dealt with besides our time. Patience with people is also one area which I have to be trained by God. Oh yes, I will need a lot of this patience with people when I go out to work. How can I really be patient with people when I feel that people is always getting on my nerves? This will definitely takes much effort on my part. God, I will want to go that extra mile to be show patience to people. Give me the courage to do so.

Many times, when God wants to train you in something, He will purposely put you in that particular situation. For example, if He wants to train you in controlling your temper, He will definitely put you in situations where you will be really angry. Therefore, I know that if I want to develop patience, I will have to do one thing and that is to wait.

This whole week, I am waiting for my ORD. Tonight will be my last night till I ORD. Resuming my role as a civilian. Will I be able to give up all my army lingo? Will I stop behaving like a childish soldier?

就让我们拭目以待吧。

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

The 3 Dec 2006 Challenge


It is exactly two months away from my half-marathon run. I pray that I can complete this run with minimal walking. See you guys at the run if you are going, okay? =)

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

2nd Day of Rest

正所谓休息是为了要走更远的路,我现在步入我第二天的休息。
真要好好地休息一番。不然,我一定会后悔的。哈哈。。。

Monday, October 02, 2006

A Day of Little Breakthrough

Today is a day of little breakthrough for me as I practiced my guitar. Can you please pray for me so that God can give me wisdom, understanding and confidence in playing this instrument well?

I hope to be able to play well enough in order to lead in worship for cell group. My focus at the current moment will be really upon the cell and I pray to God that all my hard work and efforts will not go to waste.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

It's 1 October!

Oh yes, October is here!
Had a great weekend and it was very fruitful indeed. Just yesterday, met up with three of my church mates and we went for a morning cycling trip. Can't believe that we actually cycled from Bishan to Esplanade. That was like very amazing. To add on for the bonus, I actually cycled from Sengkang to Bishan to meet up with them. Almost died man. =)
And after our cycling trip, I had to cycle back to church for my weekly tuition project. Upon finishing the tuition, I had to cycle back to my home in Sengkang. It was a whole day affair with cycling. Not calling it a day yet, I have to lead worship and word at cell. Wow, how did i manage it?
Cycling trip photos can be viewed and downloaded at: http://picasaweb.google.com/edsoh98/CyclingTrip30Sep2006Sat
Today is Children's Day and I spent the evening with my parents at Chinatown shopping. Enjoyed the fellowship with them and it is a joy to see my parents holding hands. Thank God for everything.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

Sengkang to Bishan to Esplanade


Well, this is what happened to me after I cycled from Sengkang to Bishan to Esplanade. Knocking out at the Singapore River side. Tell you more in my next entry...

Thursday, September 28, 2006

"So when are you buying a car?"

This was one question which was posed to me during my gathering with old army friends. My response, "huh? I haven't even start working yet lor and you all want me to carry this financial burden straightaway? And besides, I have absolutely zero knowledge about cars although I got a driving license since 1999."

Oh yes, my driving license is and still collecting dust at home. I have never brought it out since the day that I was "banned" from riding. Furthermore, I have given up all my plans to upgrade it and so there it is in my drawer collecting dust.

Buying cars? haha, think I don't need at the moment lah. My future workplace is quite near my house. It is probably just about 20 min bus ride away so why should I buy one? In addition, buying one is easy but supporting one is a burden. Why don't I just use all the money for supporting God's ministries and my family instead? There was a comment by one of my army friends that he would rather spend all his money on his girl then on a car. Hmm, quite true. hehe.

Learnt something from God during quiet time today. The passage which I was reading through was Luke 16:19-31. If you do not have a bible with you, here is what it says:

The Rich Man and Lazarus "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'

"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'

"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' " 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "

This passage is not actually saying that all rich people will definitely go to hell. It is actually telling us to treasure only the things which matters. A car does not really matter in life. What really matters to us is the Word of God. That is the Bible. As a matter of fact, the Bible is about 3506 years old. If you are into antiques, you may be most glad to take possession of this super antique thing. However, it is not for you to auction it but to obey it with all your hearts. God is really looking into my heart. The Word of God is here with me. What matters is, "Am I always ready to obey it with all my heart?"

If you have noticed, the passage ended with a warning. That is if you do not listen to Moses and the Prophets (which literally means the Old Testament or the Scriptures or the Word of God), you will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. Christ Himself has been risen from the dead but there are still people who are not convinced. There can be only one reason for it - You need to listen to the Word of God.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Goal

What is a goal?
• noun 1 (in soccer, rugby, etc.) a pair of posts linked by a crossbar and forming a space into or over which the ball has to be sent to score. 2 an instance of sending the ball into or over a goal. 3 an aim or desired result. (AskOxford)
When my friend is asked recently what is his goal in life, he thought for a while and then shakes his head to tell us that he does not know what his goal is. He does not know what does he want to do in life. Then, my friend starting to probe him further by asking him what does he like besides women, money and cars. He still does not know.
My goal in life? For me, it is to be an engineer. I have aspired to be an engineer since my secondary school days. I remembered that when I was still in secondary one, my classmate (sorry, not Albert. I got other classmates besides him, ok? haha) questioned me about my ambition. At that time, I replied plainly that I want to be an engineer. I want to be an useful person and in my view, engineers are very useful people because they make our lives easier by making useful things. Without engineers, you may even have difficult finding a place to rest and live. haha, a bit exaggerating lah.
When I reached secondary two, I realised that there are many different types of engineers. Therefore, I started to think carefully which type of engineers do I want to be. Eventually, you all know the answer right, I went into Electronics. I feel that at least I like logic gates (they look logical to me) and I said to myself, "Why not?" Today, I am an electronic engineer. Okay, not yet but soon to be in another eleven days or so. This is my aim. This is my desired result.
Just like there are many different types of engineers, there are many different type of goals. As of today or rather about five years ago, I have reached another goal in my life. What is it? It is found in 1 Peter 1:8-9.
Though I have not seen Jesus, I love him; and even though I do not see him now, I believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for I am receiving the goal of my faith, the salvation of my soul. (verses modified for personal application)
Just like I am glad to have reached my goal of becoming an engineer, I am glad to know that I am receiving the goal of my faith which is the salvation of my soul. Developing a relationship with Jesus to me takes time. Right from the beginning, it is relational. If you have not realised, we are all in relationships. Be in BGR (I know you may be thinking of this straightaway), family, friends, bosses, colleagues or classmates. It is all relational. The same is with befriending Jesus.
I feel honoured to know a truest and dearest Friend who has guided and taught me many things in life. =)

Monday, September 25, 2006

cs code - 'qci ot kcab'

Decode the cs code and you will be chatting with cs right away.
But wait, you need a second code first. Okay, here it is... =)
99329952
You will be authorised upon decoding the cs code and 'OH OH', you are in!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

“Going Public With Your Faith” Thoughts

As I was reading Chapter 2 of this book today, I was in awe of the main point which the two authors are driving at, which as a matter of fact is the theme of this whole book – to go out into the secular world so that you can be witnessing to the numerous souls who are still being blinded by the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4).

I strongly feel God’s timing for the various events which came across my life during this year. This year is in fact a very, very eventful year for me. (Note that I have used up two ‘very’ to express the intensity). Indeed, at the beginning of this year 2006, I made up two new year resolutions for myself. One of them never been realized due to my own disobedience to God (Sorry, Father). The other one sort of been realized halfway. It can be considered done or not done. Okay, this second resolution can be shared which is to run a full marathon.

A full marathon which is 42.195 km. Yes, a full one… Why I say it is sort of been realized halfway is because I did not run the full marathon in one shot but done it in installments. That is I ran 21.1 km for Army Half Marathon (AHM) on 27 August and will be doing another 21.1 km on 3 Dec for Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon. So all in all, I did run a full marathon after all. Haha. Okay, I cheated. I promise as of this entry that I will run a full marathon definitely next year 2007, ok?

Yes, this year is indeed eventful because first of all, I need to clear my final year project (fyp) and final year modules to make sure that I can graduate in time in June. Furthermore, I need to make sure that my parents attend my convocation smoothly and all. Also I have to go back to serve the Army for another four months plus to complete my NS liabilities. In addition, I have to make one major decision and that is either to serve God full time in ministry or to go out into the working world.

This book, “Going Public With Your Faith” teaches and encourages people not to have the mindset of working in secular jobs means wasting your time and fades in comparison to serving God full-time in ministry. It really educates me about the distorted beliefs which I have been harbouring since 2004. I have always thought that in order not to waste my life, I need to be serving God full-time either in campus ministry, bible studies, prayer sessions or many other Christian ministries. However reading this book makes me realize that in fact doing your normal secular jobs is not wasting your life at all. You are actually going out to God’s harvest field at the workplace which is actually not smaller in comparison to the campus ministry or in fact a bigger scope of area!

Going on to working life will mark a brand new chapter and beginning of my life. Entering into my company (have found a job) will mean building relations with my colleagues and learning new things in a brand new and unfamiliar environment. It will take time to adapt and I will definitely face a lot of changes to my life. Like what one of my brothers says, “There are three events which will cause stress to your life. They are, firstly changing job, secondly, getting married and lastly, moving house.” However, one major thing remains. My God is still asking me to reach out for Him and be His witness no matter where I go. He guarantees that He will be with me till the end of the age. Oh, what can I say? I can only tell Him with all my sincerity :
感谢主!

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Learn - 学

"How do you learn?" was one of the numerous questions which was posed to me during my job interviews. Deep inside me, I was also thinking about how to answer this question. How do I learn? My mind went all the way back to my primary school days on how do I learn new words, numbers and how do I count all the beads on my teacher's string below the class blackboard to learn addition and subtraction? Do I learn well by myself or do I need someone to guide or rather spoon-feed me? These were the questions flooding my mind.
As acquired in a motivational course attended during my poly days, our brain learns new knowledge or things through making new neuro connections. Once a new thing is learnt, a new neuro connection is made inside your brain tissues. Hence, the more neuro connections you have, the more things you have learnt. However, you need constant and effective repetitions in order to firm up the new neuro connection. That is without so called enough training, you will lose the new neuro connection over time.
I need to learn many things especially when I am going into my new job as an engineer soon in about three weeks time. Be it relational things like building new friendships with new colleagues or technical things like fabricating a defect-free wafer using the least amount of time, learning is a never-ending process. I believe in my parents' time, blogging is not even born yet. Therefore, if I really want to read my parents' blog, they will have to pick up or learn about blogging first. Even with their many years of life experiences, there will always be something new to learn. To them at this moment, blogging is something which they have never known in their lives and if they want to blog, they will have to learn.
At this moment right now, I am attempting to learn guitar. I mentioned attempting because I faced many difficulties when learning so I cannot say that I am learning but just attempting to learn. Hopefully over time, I will be able to say that I am learning as I do up the training and repetition portion to form this new neuro connection in my brain for guitar. =)
Learn, unlearn and relearn are some words which you may have come across during one of those motivational courses. On the other hand, why am I writing a blog entry on learning? This is because I want to tell all my blog readers that I need to indeed learn from my mistakes. While learning new things involve just making that required neuro connection, learning from my mistakes require loosing that formed neuro connection and vow never to repeat the mistaking connection ever again. I believe I need that and it is sometimes called unlearn to me. Relearning really involves performing something new or doing that same thing without the mistakes committed before.
I need to learn from my mistake of disobeying God at times. Unlearning my disobedience in order to put on the relearning of obedience to Him. God, I am sorry that I have disobeyed You. Pls discipline me so that I can truly learn from my mistakes. Thanks, Heavenly Father.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

人健人爱

This is something which I picked up from my Physical Training Instructor (PTI) during my unit's healthy lifestyle programmes. Maybe I just share with my blog readers. =)

Keep fit by adopting the F.I.T.T. rule

Frequency :
Exercise three to five times a week.

Intensity :
Generally, you should exercise at 75 per cent and above of your Maximum Heart Rate (MHR). Let's assume that your potential MHR is 220 beats per minute (bpm). You should try to achieve the Target Heart Rate (THR) during your exercise. To calculate THR, use this formula: (220 - your age) x 75 %. For example, if you are 30 years old, your THR is (220-30) x 0.75 = 142.5 bpm.

Type : Often people stop exercising because they find it boring. Hence, vary your exercise regime. Try swimming, jogging and playing a sport.

Time : Set aside time to exercise for at least 40 minutes each session - 10 minutes for warming up, at least 20 minutes exercising, and 10 minutes cooling down.

Okay, I am meeting my contact for a time of healthy lifestyle tomorrow morning. Learning to keep fit so that I can serve God more effectively. Haha and my favourite line when I was caught jogging in school last time was, "Healthy Body, Healthy Mind!"

Monday, September 18, 2006

What does it mean when Christians say the Bible is inspired?

An Article by Gregory Koukl

God doesn't give autographs. What I mean by that is that God doesn't allow us, or apparently hasn't in His sovereignty, to keep the autographs of the writings of the Bible. I am tempted to say the original autographs, but the autograph is an original so that would be like saying the original original. In other words, those things that the Apostles actually penned, which copies were made of to disperse around the Mediterranean region and then be copied and recopied, etc.--Greek copies of which we have some 5,366 plus now, and in addition, the Aramaic and Coptic and Latin Vulgate. We have lots of different copies to make comparisons to see if what we have now is accurate.

That's actually a separate question, by the way. The question of lower criticism, or textual criticism is, have the documents been passed on in an accurate fashion? We have a transcript on that issue called "Is the New Testament Text Reliable?"

But the question can be raised, why didn't God allow us to have the autographs, the originals? I guess I need to back up here a moment and talk about inspiration because this whole question that I want to approach here is grounded in the idea of inspiration. It's really important that you understand precisely what we mean when we say that God inspired the Scripture. Let's just take the claim at face value right now. I won't defend the notion; that's a different issue. What it means is that God worked in a supernatural way such that those who were actually doing the writing wrote down precisely what God wanted them to write. He was moving through a human individual.

It was not automatic writing. It wasn't like Paul was in a trance writing away with his eyes glued opened and someone asked, "What are you writing?" And he said, "I don't know, it's Greek to me." That isn't what happened. He was writing like you would a letter. You can read letters from different writers and they have their own personality in the letter. They may have used research like Luke did, interviewed other people, compiled information. They might have even borrowed from secular sources. That seems to have happened in the book of Proverbs.

The point is, when we say it's inspired we mean that whatever the words were that were written down, these were the precise words that God wanted to have written down. God worked powerfully through those people such that their words were God's words and God's words were their words. That's why we call the Scripture the Word of God, even though they may be the words of Peter or Paul or John or the Prophets. They are still the word of God because God was working in a concursive way. He was writing together with them, in a sense. We call this operation inspiration.

What we mean by this, for example in the case of the New Testament, is that these are the particular words in the Greek language that most precisely reflect the meanings that God wanted to convey. Notice I used two terms there: words and meanings. In others words, the very words are the out-breathing of God. Technically they are not inspired; they are expired. I don't mean they are dead. They are theopneustus , "the breathing of God." "God-breathed" is what that means, literally. So now we have the words flowing from the pens of Peter and Paul and Moses and the Prophets that are the particular words that God chose to express His thoughts to us, but we don't have in our possession the inspired original words. No problem. That's actually a good thing.

Think for just a moment what a word is. Let's take the word table . The meaning signified by the word table or by the sound table is not the letters on the page or the sound itself. The meaning is something other than that. When we utter the word table, what we mean is, "that thing out there with four legs and a flat top." We can even point to it and say That, right there. So the sound or the written word signifies a particular object and this signify relation, this pointing to business that is caught up between the word we utter and the thing that we are pointing at, this is what we call meaning.

Words convey meaning and God chose very specific words. He inspired them in order to convey particular meanings. The word points to something out there in the world. In other words, sometimes the meaning of the word is a physical object like table. Other times it is not physical--love, for example. The point that I'm making is that we can have two tangible things--a sound or a written word--on a page that points to another tangible thing--the table for example--but that pointing to is not something tangible. The meaning is not physical.

Now stay with me for a moment, because this is all going to cash out in a very important way. First of all, think of this. It's not just the meanings of the Bible that are inspired. When I gave you our definition of inspiration which seems to be the biblical teaching on the issue, we're not talking about the meanings that are inspired. It's the words themselves--the Greek words. 2 Timothy 3:16 says "all graphe is inspired", all Scripture. What are the graphe ? The writings. All the writings are inspired.

We've been talking about the fact that there's a big difference between the word and the meaning. For example, the word could change. You might say table in English, or mesa in Spanish or tdoe in Thai--but it's still table. The word changes but the meaning is the same. The meaning is fixed. The words can change, but the meaning stays the same. Meanings are static and words can change to identify the meanings.

This difference identifies the distinction between what is called a type and a token. The meaning of the word is the type. It's the thing itself. The token is the t-a-b-l-e that signifies the meaning. The type doesn't change. The meaning or the type is a universal. It can be in more than one place at one time. The same meaning of table can be in mesa or tdoe and table at the same time. The different tokens have the same meaning but it takes different forms. The words are the particulars, the tokens, the examples, in a sense.

So, the simple rule is there is one type, many tokens. The type is not tangible, the tokens are. Meanings give the words meanings.

If you write table on the board three times, how many words are on the board? Well, it's not entirely clear how many there are. There are three words, and there is one word, meaning that there are three tokens--the token table three times, but only one type. One meaning is represented there, but there are three different tokens of that meaning on the board.


*********
God has chosen a particular set of tokens in words recorded in the Scriptures that can be communicated equally to everyone.
Therefore everybody has the same shot at the truth.
*********


How does all this relate to the issue of Scripture and the original documents? There's a couple of conclusions we can draw. First is that the only way we can really communicate meaning is by using some kind of token of it--in this case, words. It can be a spoken word or a written word or sign language or some kind of token which communicates meaning. This is why it is so critical that it is not the meanings only that are inspired in Scripture but the tokens themselves, the writings, the words. If you lose the tokens, if you can't count on the tokens, then we don't have access to the meanings either. Another way of putting it is, how can you get inspired meanings without inspired words? Yet there are some people who hold that it is not the words that are inspired. The words can be fallible, but it's the meanings that are the things that really count.

But how do you get one without the other? You've got to have some fixed point from which to depart. You've got to have the words--the tokens--which are a point of public access to the meanings. All of us can see the same word there. In this case, the fixed point is the words in the original manuscripts in the Greek, and God has given those things as a fixed point, particular tokens so that we can work with those tokens to get at the meaning. That's what we do when we do biblical interpretation.

Another advantage is that meanings themselves aren't reproducible. Only tokens are reproducible. So it makes sense that we have a Bible that is given to us in tokens. That is, written words which allow us to reproduce the tokens so that the meaning carried with the tokens can be transferred as well. Some people ask, Why doesn't God just speak to me? Why doesn't He just show himself to me? In a way He has. He has spoken. But to avoid showing Himself to every single person in some kind of special and unique fashion that may be confusing or misleading, God has chosen a particular set of tokens in words recorded in the Scriptures that can be communicated equally to everyone. Therefore everybody has the same shot at the truth. They have this shot through a fixed medium of the particular words that God has chosen. You can see how helpful this makes things, can't you? It deals decisively with the problem of each person having to interpret his own individual subjective revelation that is not tied to something objective like a text--words.

Think for a moment if you were the owner of a company and you wanted all your employees to be very, very clear on a set of principles that you had for running the company. You wouldn't simply emote your desires and hope that all of your employees picked up your vibes. You'd want each employee to understand you so you would articulate your thoughts as precisely as possible through the tokens of words and expect each employee to read the same words in order to get your meaning clear. Right? That's exactly what God has done.

There's another tremendous advantage to this, by the way. If God were to give us such a memo, such a revelation, it would be a very valuable revelation, right? How do you protect such a revelation? God writes through someone His divine word on a piece of paper. How do you protect that? How do you guard against its destruction. If it's only one copy and it was destroyed, bang and it's gone. When it gets destroyed, we are back in the dark again.

Or even more importantly, how do you guard against it being changed or tampered with or corrupted by someone? It's one thing not to have any record at all and then everyone's in the dark. It's another thing altogether to have a spurious record, a faulty record giving commands from God that are not from God at all. That's worse.

Well, the way God handled that is to solve both problems by allowing the original to be destroyed. How does that solve the problem? He made sure there were thousands and then millions of copies. So many copies that they could not all be destroyed.

That's why I don't get it when some claim that the early church took out all the references from the Bible about reincarnation. Some claim that the Council of Nicea took out all the references to reincarnation, that it was originally in the Bible. First of all, how would anybody know that if it was taken a millennium and a half ago? How would you even know that it used to be there and now it's not there any more? Would you find eraser marks or something?

Then there's another problem. How is the church going to gather up the thousands of manuscripts that are being circulated all over the Mediterranean--actually there were tens of thousands; only thousands have survived--and expunge every reference in the Bible to reincarnation? Well, they can't do it when there are thousands of copies, but if there was only one they could. They could take it out and they could rewrite it. They could pretend that what they changed was really the original. That is, I think, one of the reasons God has allowed such a thing. If you had only the original, that could be done. But when you have thousands of copies it can't be done.

The Scriptures become dispersed abroad to all peoples in an objective form so that everyone gets the same thing in a way that protects the document from ever being forged or falsified. That can be done because even the original represents meaning through words as tokens and the tokens can be copied. They can be reproduced such that the copy of the token is the same as the original token. Just like the three words table on the board. They are the same as each other. So if we have a copy using the exact same tokens as the autograph, we essentially have the autograph. The same tokens convey the same meanings that are behind them.

In one sense, the original tokens are gone, the autograph is gone. But if we demonstrate that our present copies are accurate copies then it's fair to say that in regards to the tokens we have millions of originals all over the world. By golly, that's a pretty good system.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

My NIV Study Bible


I got myself this bible today. I feel that I really need to do a serious study of God's Word. Hence, despite the expensive price of this bible (as you can see), I still bought it without a second thought. Somemore when I asked the staff for a brand new copy, she was like very shocked and told me that all the copies at the shelf are new copies. However in the end, she still gave me a new copy but she thought that I wanted a new copy because the plastic cover of the box came off and told me that even for this new copy, the plastic cover still came off. Haha, but I told her that I will accept this copy because the bible itself is wrapped in a plastic sheet. I wanted a new bible instead of the box. I was so fussy. (so bad of me, feel so regretful of my actions)

Eventually, I paid for the new bible and the book, "Going Public with Your Faith" and went back home.

My Model Bike

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Galatians 5:24

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires." - Galatians 5:24

I came upon this verse while doing my quiet time at 5.15am yesterday morning. Somehow God spoke to me through this verse, asking me deep into my heart, "Before you go into your habitual sins again, think about My Words, 'Do you belong to Me?' " I heard Him and immediately I knew that one fact which is never false - I belong to Christ Jesus.
From that very moment when He hung there and bled for me, He has redeemed me. He has given me the right to come into His courts. He is my big brother in front of our Heavenly Father. Let me always remember that I belong to Him and not only that, I have also crucified my sinful nature with its passions and desires to the Cross together with Him.
What does it mean to crucify? It means, at least to me, that my sinful nature with its passions and desires is dead. What is dead? Dead means the following:
• adjective 1 no longer alive. 2 (of a part of the body) numb. 3 displaying no emotion. 4 no longer relevant or important. 5 lacking activity or excitement. 6 devoid of living things. 7 (of equipment) not functioning. 8 complete; absolute: dead silence. (quoted from AskOxford)
My sinful nature is no longer alive! It is numb, displaying no emotion, no longer relevant or important, lacking activity or excitement, devoid of living things, not functioning, absolute non existence.
I struggled as a matter of fact starting from last night till this morning... Almost went back to my old sinful ways again but God's Word has spoken. A big confronting question from Him came upon me before I succumb back to my old ways - Do you belong to Christ Jesus? If you do, your sinful nature is already dead! Why are you going back to a dead state again?
Yes, I belong to Christ and I am certain that I am His child. To be His child means that I must have crucified my sinful nature with its passions and desires and pronounced it dead. This is the prerequisite. I must have done this before I can belong to Christ. It is required as a prior condition.
Thank You for the Cross and may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 谢谢主!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

一毛钱的咖啡

今天,我喝了一杯一毛钱的咖啡。为什么只须一毛钱呢?因为朋友欠我五毛钱。

就这么简单。是的。

钱是不是很重要?钱的价值是什么呢?

钱的价值是我们人所一致同意而订下的一种交易的工具吧了。所以朋友,不要被它所盲目。自己赚够养活自己与家人就足够了。

是真的。

不妨静静地思考一下儿吧。

Monday, September 11, 2006

Galatians 6:14


Throughout the whole of last week, I was meditating upon this verse which came upon my mind after reading two books namely, "The Cross of Christ" by John Stott and "Don't waste your life" by John Piper. What does this verse say? If you are too lazy to flip your bible to find out what it says, you can always copy my entry title and paste it onto the Biblegateway search bar located on my sidebar. Haha.

Ok, here is what it says:
"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." ~Gal 6:14~

What is boast? Boast is to talk about oneself with excessive pride. The verse to me is telling me that if you ever want to boast, boast in the cross of Christ where I have crucified myself to the cross with Him and no longer of this world. My old self is now dead and the new life that I live now is all by the grace of Christ. The old has gone and the new has come! (2 Cor 5:17). I have became a new creation in Christ.

The cross to the others is a symbol of defeat, shame and foolishness. 1 Cor 1:18 says it very well that for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. The cross is the power of God! The cross is where my old self is being crucified together with Christ and I am no longer under the bondage and control of sin. This is precisely what I want to boast to others and definitely not my money, fame or power.

This verse cannot be dimissed as Pauline idiosyncrasy. For, as we have known as Christians, the cross was central to the mind of Christ, and has always been central to the faith of the church. Firstly, to glory or boast in the cross is to see it as the way of acceptance with God. The most important of all questions is how we, as lost and guilty sinners, may stand before a just and holy God. It was to answer this question loud and clear that Paul, in the passionate heat of his controversy with the Judaizers, dashed off his letter to the Galatians. Like them some people today still trust in their own merits. But God forbid that we should boast except in the cross. The cross excludes all other kinds of boasting (Rom 3:27).

Secondly, to glory or boast in the cross is to see it as the pattern of our self-denial. Although Paul writes of only one cross ('the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ'), he refers to two crucifixions, even three. On the same cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was himself crucified, 'the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.' The 'world' thus crucified (repudiated) does not of course mean the people of the world (for we are called to love and serve them), but the values of the world, its godless materialism, vanity and hypocrisy (for we are told not love these, but to reject them). The 'flesh' has already been crucified (5:24); now 'the world' joins it on the cross. We ought to keep the two main crucifixions of 6:14 in close relation to each other - Christ's and ours. For they are not two, but one. It is only the sight of Christ's cross which will make us willing, and even anxious, to take up ours. It is only then that we shall be able with integrity to repeat Paul's words after him that we glory in nothing but the cross.

I feel many times people are not ready to put their faith in Christ because they have not fully understood the Cross. Remembering what apostle Peter has said, "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have..." (1 Peter 3:15), let us boast in nothing else but only in the Cross of Christ so that we can be always ready to tell others about the hope we have and bring Christ to them.

Let Galatians 6:14 be my key verse in my Christian life as I continue to meditate upon it daily and focus on Christ alone.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Run For Hope


One more week to "Run For Hope". As I complete this race of 9 km, let me think about how I can be really creating hope for the Cancer patients. I really feel that I can do much more for the less fortunate. As I step into the working life, let me really learn how to focus on the less fortunate and be touching lives. =)

Thursday, September 07, 2006

The Long Silence

At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne.

Most shrank back from the brillant light before them. But some groups near the front talked back heatedly - not with cringing shame, but with belligerence.

'Can God judge us? How can he know about suffering?' snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. 'We endured terror... beatings... torture... death!'

In another group, a Negro boy lowered his collar. 'What about this?' he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. 'Lynched ... for no crime but being black!'

In another crowd, a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes. 'Why should I suffer?' she murmured, 'It wasn't my fault.'

Far out across the plain there were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he permitted in his world. How lucky God was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.

So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a Negro, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the centre of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.
Before God could be qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth - as a man!

'Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured.

'At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die. Let him die so that there can be no doubt that he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.'

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, there was a long silence. No-one uttered another word. No-one moved. For suddenly all knew that God had already served his sentence.

******

I turned to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross which symbolizes divine suffering. 'The Cross of Christ ... is God's only self-justification in such a world' as ours.

This God whom is mentioned all along in this entry is my Lord, Christ Jesus.

Above article is solely adapted from "The Cross of Christ" by John Stott and "Justification of God" by P. T. Forsyth

谢谢天父

I am writing this entry of thanksgiving to my Lord, Jesus for seeing me through the many issues that had happened to me over these years. Years before knowing Him and years after knowing Him. Many things happened and at those moments, I do not really understand why they had to happen to me. I struggled, cried my hearts out, slapped myself, called up various helplines and even have suicidal thoughts coming to my mind frequently. Those were the years before knowing my Heavenly Father and 1998 was the darkest year of my life. I underwent a great turmoil of stress and my family was the only mental support who really saw me through it all.

However in that year, God was also there with me. Even though at that time, I did not know Him but He was there. During my recuperation, images of the Cross kept flooding my mind. I did not really understand who Christ is but He came into my presence and slowly revealed Himself to me through a Lego set consisting of simple pipelines. With absolutely nobody speaking or sharing to me who Christ is yet I knew at that time He hung on the cross, enduring the pain on His body. I did not know how I can know Him closer at that moment. And that was in 1998.

I really thank God for who He really is and His great unconditional love for me. Indeed what the Bible says is true. We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) If He has never loved us and shown His love by His actions, how will we know what is love and how to love? That is why I treasure this relationship which I have with Him. As I am still learning how to love Him back more each day, He has showered His love upon me day after day faithfully and unceasingly. Many times, absolutely countless of times, I have sinned against Him and let Him down again and again but yet as I reflect upon the Cross, I know that He has covered my sins with His Blood. He sees me through every day of my life and is always here with me.

Today as I approach the fifth year of knowing Christ next month, I realised that I can never finish documenting the many things that happened and how His Amazing Grace has seen me through it all. Indeed, I will like to submit myself first to Him and involve Him in every decision I make in every aspect of my life. I can sense His presence with me every moment as I breathe this breath of life He has given me. Thank you, Lord. I will like to remind myself too not to give thanks to Him only when things are going my way but to give thanks in everything because this is God's will for me in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Father God, I will also like to take this opportunity to confess whatever sins which I have commited against You. Pls forgive me and bring me back into fellowship with You once again. Allow me to call upon Your Name to live a life of repentance. Let me build a closer relationship with you each day and allow me to know you better through every minute of my life.

Thank You for revealing Yourself to me because I understand that we cannot never come into knowledge of You unless You reveal Yourself to us. And I pray that You can also reveal Yourself to my family members: My dad, my mom and my sister. Pls have mercy upon them and let your grace and truth shine into their darkest area of their lives. Thank You, Abba Father!

Monday, September 04, 2006

SFF 2006 - Italy





~All photographs are copyrights of Mr Chen Wei Hao~ Posted by Picasa

SFF 2006 - Singapore





~All photographs are copyrights of Mr Chen Wei Hao~ Posted by Picasa

SFF 2006 - New Caledonia





~All photographs are copyrights of Mr Chen Wei Hao~ Posted by Picasa

SFF 2006 - France





~All photographs are copyrights of Mr Chen Wei Hao~ Posted by Picasa

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Throwing Mortarboard Time!


It is so hilarious. Everyone is throwing their mortarboards for the sake of taking this photo but nobody is looking in front. All are looking at where their mortarboard is! haha. =)

By the way, if you want to view all the photos taken at the Esplanade, you can logon to this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/edsoh98/RekindlingConvocationMoments

Pls do not expect too high a standard of the photos, ok?
We are not professional photographers... hehe.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Rekindling Convo Moments

Today is 2 Sep 2006. One week after AHM and this evening I am back here again at Esplanade Drive with my friends. The purpose? To rekindle our convocation moments. I think I am also recce-ing the ground for all my fellow brothers and sisters which spots to take photos are the best so that next year TPBC graduates can gather here to take photos! haha. =) Waiting patiently for the rest to graduate soon...

Actually while we were taking photos, there were three groups of different tourists who came up to ask if they can take photos with us. We were like, "wow, we are becoming some kind of tourists' attraction is it?" haha. Anyway, we obliged and took photos with them free of charge. haha... so funny.

Okay, after all the quality control (QC), here is one photo which I feel is the best among all lah.

So enjoy lor... :)

Thursday, August 31, 2006

can you sleep while the wind blows?

Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops.

As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farm hand?" the farmer asked him.

"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man.Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.

Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming!Tie things down before they blow away!"
The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm.

To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down.Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don't need to understand, we just need to hold His hand to have peace in the middle of storms.

A friend of mine sent this to me today, and I enjoyed it so much, that I wanted to put it as my blog entry. I hope you enjoy your day and you sleep well.

God be with you always. =P