"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105

2006-01-02T18:51:00.000-08:00

A short while ago, I was having quite an animated debate with someone, on the topic of the validity and truth of the events in the bible. My Freund maintained that events such as Noah’s Ark, Jonah and the Fish/Whale, and things like “God-made-the-world-in-seven-days” were not true. How could anyone make the world in seven days, he challenged. I was not arguing logically, and when the discussions ended both my Freund and I were dissatisfied (more or less, I believe) about the results, that Science could not prove what Religion has said, neither could it be used to disprove it in any way. But I believe we have found a more beautiful way of resolving this situation.

Being previously too stubborn and almost very strict about things in the bible, I had missed the whole point of what God was trying to tell me. Yes, the bible has weird sections which are just too difficult to understand because it contradicts sometimes. E.g. God says he hates divorce, and because men have “hardened their hearts” so Moses permitted divorce, (therefore, divorce, no-go) but then in another section he says that he has been divorced from his people Israel. So, um, God, Ja or nein, Yes or No, dui or cuo?

The point is, not whether one believes that, yeah, there was a time when the world was flooded and so little cute animals went on a huge boat, or whether a man could live in a big fish for three days, but, what does it tell us, what does God want to relate to us? I’d like to believe that in Noah’s story, God wants to tell us that he has never given up on us. That he will always make provision for us. That yes, he is a God who is righteous (therefore the flood, to “purge” the land) but he is compassionate. That he is a mighty God. (obvious reasons, because of how he could make the flood)

Similarly, on Jonah, God wants to tell us that even if we turn around and refuse to do what God has told us to do (in the case of Jonah he went the total opposite direction from where he was supposed to go) God will always want to teach us, gently, that his wisdom is greater. (one can argue that, “Hey Chris you mean being stuck in a fish for three days is gentle?” but I think that God could have done more than that. How about a shark instead of a whale/fish?) God’s wisdom is greater because he knew that the people to whom Jonah was supposed to preach to would listen, while man’s wisdom (as illustrated by Jonah) supposed that the people would not change. God is compassionate, because he provided a way for the heathen people to turn to him.

That’s what I believe all these “little stories” in the bible really mean. It’s not about what that happened. That is insignificant, whether one really believes it happened or not, because one can believe and yet not comprehend nor understand what God has in mind. It’s just the same as someone who believes that yeah, there IS a God, who’s out there, but if he doesn’t do anything about that knowledge that there is a God, but merely understands and only knows Jesus intellectually, then there’s no significance anymore. Even demons “believe in God” and even they “know Jesus”. But what differentiates believers in Christ from the former?

At the end of a lengthy discussion, my little Freund and I agreed, totally, that indeed, it is not about “what really happened, is it true?” but its more important to know that “what does God want to tell us from this; what can we learn from it?” I hope this helps you as well. As my pastor used to say, “Don’t major on the minor.” (Actually, that's more like what my piano teacher used to say)

2005-12-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

Two Weird Facts:

1. I was going to get some random magazine (Whichever could catch my eye deserved the ten buckaroos I got from the parents) from a random 7-11 store around the Bedok area. I walked in and realised that female magazines have very similar headlines, which, is something that I have observed over quite some time... they tend to have eye catching titles such as these:

1. "Ten new sexual positions to keep your guy happy"
2. "Five new ways to stay happy for the New Year"
3. "My boyfriend is gay and he's dating my best guy pal!"
4. "Eight ways to lose eight kg in eight days!"
5. "(Includes Karma Sutra)"

Oh come on. I don't think I need 1., and if I ever need a magazine for such ideas I think I must be quite desperate. I'm not against sex or anything (But within the sacred boundaries of certain sacred unions, please, kiddies) but come on, why would any self-respecting female need such advise?

And hello!? I need a magazine to tell me how to be happy? I'm certainly not depressed.

Eh. If I HAD a boyfriend he wouldn't be gay. And I'll sever all ties with my "best guy pal".

I don't think I want to lose eight kg in eight days, because that sounds like its bound to be unhealthy.

And I don't need "Asian mysticism".

Honestly, these female magazines need a facelift. If I were editor of Female/Cleo/whatever, I'll probably have articles such as "Ten ways to spot a good female magazine". Okay, on a serious side I'll probably have useful articles such as "Dress right for occasions" and "Suggestions for healthy living", instead of weird titles like "Dress to kill" or "Lose weight NOW!"... Okay I'll probably not make a good editor after all.

But I walked away from 7-11 with ten buckaroos still in my pocket. There wasn't Newsweek or Reader's Digest. Compared to weird "female" magazines, with their weird pictures of humans in weird positions, I'd rather have National Geographic and their pictures of happy animals anytime, in their normal positions, thank you very much.

2. Different types of people can be described by the bread they have.

What do I mean by that? Well I was nibbling on some French Baguette today, and it reminded me of my old French teacher, who was hard on the outside, but soft on the inside. Yeah. Sounds lame, but she looked like some super domineering person, like the "Why didn't you do your homework!!!!????" sort of person but she's actually bully-a-ble.

And German bread... Take their rye bread for instance. I brought it two months ago, opened it but I didn't finish it, and to my horror, eh, I mean, amazement, it was still edible. Today, after two months. Very tough, these Germans.

Well... Chinese eat bao(s), right? Well, the bao's skin is so smooth, just like how some of us Chinese are like, really. Sometimes, we really put a lot of emphasis on "face" and looking good, although sometimes we don't taste so good underneath a pretty (smooth) face. Of course, I'm generalising. It's pretty sad/bad/misleading to classify people this way.

Eh. What else huh? Indians make Roti Prata, but I here my hypothesis falls short. Because Roti Prata isn't really bread, I guess. I'm not going to make any references here. And my Malay friends... don't make bread. Hm. Oh well, another hypothesis thrown out of the window.

Did I mention that this was meant to be a random and silly post?

2005-12-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

Well well! I had a good day in church today, (technically yesterday actually, its 1.48am now) and I'm so glad because a friend of mine is coming back early to spend New Year's Day in Singapore. (Instead of, like 9 days later) Good things are happening to me, but with the ARGH season of bidding for modules coming up, I hope I won't have to pull my hair out and bid at 2am in the morning... again...

School's starting, and I'm really not very excited about it. If you meet me and I say I'm excited about it, I'm probably in a good mood, or I'm just faking it because I'm trying to be nice. I mean, come on, who's ever happy about school? When it's your first day, I guess, or when you're about to graduate. Perhaps, for some, if there's a really exciting module you're dying to take. Or, perhaps for others, the chances of meeting friends, etc.

I'm quite happy with my grades though. Satisfying the 3.5 cap for MOE is one thing, but it doesn't really affect me because I try not to let myself be affected by the statements like: "Oh, I have to get 3.5 to satisfy the MOE people" or "OH NO!!! I don't have a cap 5!!!" or "Oh darn, I only got 4.34523514124213 this sem!" I'm generally not too concerned about grades because I only take modules that I really want to take and I want to get the most out of it, and that doesn't necessarily mean "get the most grades out of it". I'm no perfect student (far from it) but at least I can say that I really do give it all because its what I am, really.

Well, a very Merry Christmas to one and all, old and young, tall and short, thin or... horizontally... I mean, not so thin, and Christian or non-Christian... How good it is to celebrate Christmas with friends and family, and to know that, as someone in church says it so aptly, "I've got a dai kor*, Jesus lor!" But say, he's a little old to be my brother, eh?

* Big brother, elder brother

2005-12-19T05:52:00.000-08:00

Well I haven't been having much time to blog and stuff... but a long chat with K (she's great to talk to, and I don't think she's reading this) caused me to think about life and love and all that. Furthermore, a chance meeting with some one caused me to think about such an issue as well. So here goes, kleiner Kinder, ihr Grossmutter's story...

Long time ago there was a beautiful garden, called the Garden of Eden. It must have been beautiful, because while ihr Grossmutter has never seen it, as the bible says it, it is the "garden of God". A man lived there, and he was lonely. So God in his wisdom brought the animals a little closer to him, so that he wouldn't be so lonely anymore. But while the man, Adam, had a perfect union; a perfect circle, a perfect relationship with God (as he was in the very presence of God) and he had all he ever wanted; animals, great tasting food (well, except for some specific trees...) and peace, as represented by the circle, within the circle there was a wide gaping hole, which was not filled. And therefore, God, who's really wise (as mentioned before) decided to make him a helper, called woman, which would fill up the gap.

What's the meaning of me writing all these things down? I believe that God (Eden and the presence) and riches (abundance in Eden) and animals (friends, but by this I don't mean your friends are animals) but there is a void in this circle which can only be filled by love. Okay, this may sound like some crappy romance thingy, but I don't have time to explain, because right now I have something urgent to attend to.

2005-12-13T04:06:00.000-08:00

I am currently listening to the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Karajan. They are playing Also Sprach Zarathustra. I am not in a good mood. Even Strauss doesn't seem to be able to lift my spirits up. Why am I not in a good mood? Simply because I have another 6 hours of Germinating to do, and I am so not in the mood for it. It would be okay if I had a week or something, but no, I've only got like 2 days. Plus the Christmas party thing coming up on Friday; Have to get carols done soon. Don't get me wrong, I love oikos and carols but its just that I'm not feeling too well and its getting to me.

Lately I have been thinking about the concept of the garden, and this came forth when I was asked about my opinions of civilization (cities) and the "sacrifice of nature" which comes with building cities, etc. Actually I think its quite silly, how people try to have a little piece of nature by having a little potted plant. (I am not excluded, of course, I have got lots of potted plants) But its the idea that one tries to bring in nature in a manufactured manner, like man-ufactured nature. Lets look at the garden. A nicely "kept" garden is something like allemendas in one corner, herbs in another, a tree in a strategic position, chairs under it, etc. If you really consider it, it's not really very "natural" after all, because one dictates where the plants are to grow. But on the other hand, no one would like a garden with flowers all over in a chaotic bunch here and there. It's frowned upon, usually. And what about weeds? Does one uproot them, or keep them, for the sake of nature? Is man therefore really having his "little bit of earth" indeed? Sorry, this thought came about also because I was watching the movie The Secret Garden, based on a book I had read before. Honestly I don't think we can ever have a man-made natural garden, or a man-ufactured "natural" garden, because the idea of a garden is actually very ironic indeed. Anyway.

I will have to stock up on some more Beethoven for my gloomy nights. Till now I have only got all his Symphonies. I need some more sonatas and Piano Concertos. Concer-toes. I'm feeling woosy and I am currently in a bad mood. Humph.

2005-12-04T06:35:00.000-08:00

Whee, haven't been writing here in a while. I have been busy with the church musical. And of course, with other commitments such as Chingay and Soccer in Sheares, I think I don't really have any time for myself. I really need some "me" time, and fast. So that's why I'm quite relaxed and happy now, even though things could be better.

Today I went to church and as usual it was a good time. Every first Sunday of the month our church has communion, and this week our speaker was Rev. Raymond Mooi, and it was good. I will have Sermonnotes up very very soon, but I have another commitment tomorrow (Some German study thingy) and so I don't really want to type out the sermon now. Anyway, I am looking towards the musical... I would encourage all to go because 1. I'm singing! 2. It's really good, with the acting and singing and dancing. 3. Its free. Okay okay. Whatever the reasons, I really hope people will go and pack the place. Will be really fun.

2005-11-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't been updating Sermonnotes.blogspot.com very much, but I have got exams going on... so, that's why. Well today was a fruitful day, and towards the end of the day I sent M a message, saying something like "If you have time for: 1. Some encouragement before your exam tomorrow; 2. Seeing me in an Indian turban; 3. Conversion to Baroque music; 4. All of the above, come and see me now." Something like that, yes.

So we had the following pieces played: 1. Scarlatti's Sonata (THE Sonata, you just have to know it, The One in Cminor) played by Mikhail Pletnev (Anything with Pletnev is good, yum) 2. Handel's "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, 3. Balakirev's Islamey (Okay that's not Baroque but it was played by Mikhail Pletnev, so you have to listen to it) and 4. Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, (THE Romeo and Juliet that everyone should hear, really) and naturally we had a good time. Oh, and the latter was conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, the conductor-pianist who is capable of conducting while playing the piano. Wow.

And I happened to remember this... terrible encounter with a student of the piano in school, a long time ago. I should state that I do know I'm not terribly good at the piano. Anyway, he was playing horrendously, banging Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata in the concourse. Now everyone MUST know that it's quiet in the introduction to the piece. Okay, you may not be able to read Italian, but anyone who is playing Beethoven, who can play Beethoven, should at least be able to read stuff like "pp", "ff", or "mf", etc. Simply put, p stands for piano, or, soft. f stands for forte, which means loud, so that's why the piano is actually known as the fortepiano, since it is capable of having loud and soft tones on the instrument. It matters because the predecessor of the piano was the harpsichord, which was capable of only one singular tone, no matter how hard or soft one presses down on the key. Now I was quite upset (if anyone was to brutally rape Beethoven's music like that, surely I would be naturally upset.) In fact, upset is a grave understatement:

Me: Excuse me! It says "pp" in the music score! I think it should be really really soft!
Guy: (visibly annoyed) I'm just starting to learn the piece! It doesn't really matter!
Me: (voice is raised, slightly) Doesn't matter? Dynamics matter greatly in music! Even if you're trying a piece for the first time when it says "pp" you shouldn't play it as if it said "ffffff!!!"
Guy: (shocked and slightly trembling) But... but I'm already a grade 7, and I know how to do music! (with a defiant nod! The nerve!)
Me: You're grade seven? (Incredulously) You should be able to appreciate dynamics! This is Beethoven! The Moonlight Sonata! It shouldn't be so loud!
Guy: (lips quivering) But... but...
Me: No way you're going to play this way! Pay attention to the dynamics! (last sentence spoken with a gradual crescendo)

So after that my friends tried to pull me away from the keyboard, while I was desperately trying to get the guy to do the dynamics properly. Now I don't think anyone is capable of getting a piece right in the first try, complete with notes and dynamics, (exceptions would be geniuses such as Franz Listz or Mikhail Pletnev) but one should at least observe the dynamics instead of just banging out the notes! I think I'll make a very demanding teacher, but this was the way my piano teacher taught. You're suppose to try everything, to the best of your abilities, only brushing up on dynamics later, yes, but at least note the dynamics! If music had no dynamics, where can you get the climax, the resolution, etc? Argh.

I better get back to my books very soon. Just had a satisfying dinner, (pasta, courtesy of M's recipe) and the flowers in my room are blooming beautifully, with sheares-orange. Good evening, companied by Rubinstein's Chopin. Ah.

2005-11-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

Returned late from the Tchaikovsky concert on Friday. I met M, a friend of mine, in Sheares and we left promptly (According to him it's the German efficiency and punctuality) but we were caught in the rain, afterwhich an umbrella was produced. Due to the rain the bus was awfully late, and along the way we made stupid jokes like about the girl who asked him boldly, "What car are you driving? Is it a Porche?" (No, we're on a really big Mercedes, though) Suddenly I had this uncomfortable feeling that someone was frowning at me, most disapprovingly. So I looked at I realized that this man was giving the "oh-my-goodness-i'm-seated-near-an-spg" look. HELLO!? Just because my friend isn't Asian he appeared to be disgusted, etc. This is really weird because I was definitely not "dressed-to-kill", etc. Come on, I was wearing sport shoes, with a skirt, blouse, and coat. (or, even if I were, it shouldn't concern him, really) and I was really visibly upset. Actually, what's up with people wanting to become spg-ish? It's simply one of those little issues which doesn't really affect me, honestly. Just let people do what they want to do, I say.

Regardless. The concert was good though, I think the SSO has improved since the last time I heard them. The principal Cellist was simply fantastic, and in The Fairy's Kiss the flautist proved to be extremely skilful indeed. And I hope I've successfully convinced M to at least appreciate Stravinsky, who is staring at me from a wall. The finale of the day was the Tchaikovsky, and the opening chords were filled with that familiar raw energy which characterizes (at least, for me) Russian music. Certain parts were very tender, very legato, truly captivating. But it was a little too fast for my liking; as I told M, it seemed almost as if like they were saying to us "Oh, we've got so much to play today, so we have to speed up a little more in order to fit in everything by 10pm." The pianist was skilful, but I have a nagging suspicion that he chose all the showy, grand pieces, (such as Chopin's revolutionary etude) for the encores, because of the limelight, really. The Chopin was way too fast, I wouldn't have played it that way.

After that we returned to Sheares, but not before walking around the Esplanade a little. We took a short walk from the Esplanade to Clarke Quay (where bargirls tried to get us in for a drink; obviously our nonchalance drew disappointed looks) and we walked to Raffles City to wait for a cab. On the way we talked a little about geometry; A sphere, such as the earth, is 3-Dimensional, but when you're walking on it, its always 2-Dimensional. Hmm. Nonetheless, it was all together it was a great evening.

2005-11-16T19:20:00.000-08:00

Such a terrible feeling it is, to want to do something and yet knowing that you shouldn't be doing it! Or perhaps, there can be nothing worse than having to wait, wait, and wait even more, staying in the queue, when you know you ought to be doing something else. Yes the exams are coming soon, yes my NTU friends have finished their darn exams, yes I am impatient, yes I haven't really completed my revision, yes I should be studying, but I do so long to do what I should not be doing at this precise hour, this very day - using precious time waiting in suffocating expectancy for Friday to come, for Freitag, a Freeday; for the haunting motif of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto, Stravinsky's The Faiy's Kiss, etc. That's my only salvation for now, from Mr. Work.

2005-11-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

A longish debate over Science and Religion nearly turned me militant, but only because it was after dinner. (Should not have serious discussions after dinner, my friends) But I will not go into details. Even if so, it will be posted on my scribbles. Anyway, this past week has been a-okay, because I've already completed 3 modules (all non-examinable, course based) and therefore only have got two modules (where I will have exams) left. Lucky me. I've got friends with 6 exams, like Monday to Friday or something like that. Ugh. Anyway, this is just a short pose, like a little wave, to say I'm still alive and not drowning in the deep, made up of homework, assignments, and whatnot. Yes; the banshees are still wailing outside my hostel window but I've long developed immunity to that. Well then, will blog soon, hopefully.

On another note, I'm exceedingly glad because the "Good Neighbour Day" event at church has seen 26 salvations; like, wow! Definitely I'm seeing more and more, and looking forward to more and more people coming.

2005-11-08T11:42:00.000-08:00

Have been busy for the past few days because I've got a test today (and I just had another one the day before) so I've not been regularly blogging as a result. Regardless, this is just a short post; Sermon notes will be up soon (as soon as I finish the darn German test), probably today or tomorrow.

Lately, I have been extremely blessed (then again I seem to have been extremely blessed, always), for example, in terms of my academic work and some other matters. I'm getting used to Uni life, and basically all my prior woes about time management, the laundry, and assignments etc. have more or less evaporated. Only the part about the banshees screaming at 3am - that's something which I know that I'll never be empowered to endure. (Because human beings were not planned to do so, I believe.)

I will blog (or at least attempt to) exceedingly soon. =D

2005-11-04T14:54:00.000-08:00

I'm quite confused yet happy now. I have been struggling for quite some time - can't really put down in words what I'm feeling; and I think if I were even able to, it would corrupt/profane what I'm thinking of now; besides, it wouldn't really be very accurate. But I'm very happy now, we're very happy now, and we're all quite confused because we were thinking the same thing and trying to prevent the same thing but it just didn't allow itself to be prevented; and despite all rational thinking and complex thought processes it just happened, but, again, much to our pleasant surprise - It just did.

2005-10-31T00:31:00.000-08:00

Well well, it's a lovely Sunday and I've just completed the sermon notes: www.churchsermons.blogspot.com and I had a nice Simpsons marathon from 4 to 8, practically laughing the whole afternoon/evening, and thereafter I went shopping with my parents. Picked up groceries; have fallen in love with apple juice with aloe vera. After that we cooked dinner (yum yum) and there was chicken curry (one of my favourites)

Today was a slack day, but I'm getting worried about the test on Wednesday, the German test. Will have to start studying after the presentation tomorrow, ugh. Really, have got simply too much to do. But anyway I'm thinking of taking philosophy next semester, because it'll be an interesting challenge; at least I hope it stimulates my rusty brain. =D

2005-10-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

Whee, have finished almost all assignments, and I'm pretty happy now. Today I went for cell group in Sheares, and it was quite alright, just that I'm more used to oikos (church cell groups) and I prefer cell (naturally) a whole lot more.

Recently I've been busy with my papers, but after completing them I realized that I had other stuff, like tests and other assignments (especially the writing module) coming up. But for some weird reason I'm completely at ease, and I'm actually a very happy person. Hehe. Must be all the church going; musical singing, and, some ahem.

Will update soon. Meanwhile, 23rd Oct's sermon is up. =D Enjoy.

2005-10-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

Phew. Have not been blogging for quite some time. Lets see... well Thursday was a really good day because I had a personal chef cooking pasta, and of course a nice, long, intellectual conversation; from things like law to food. Had a very good time, but when I finally got back to my room reality hit because I realized that I had two term papers to complete by Monday. (Because I revise my draft several times I have to complete it much earlier) Furthermore, Sundays are church days, so technically I really haven't got much time. Anyway, I was writing my draft (History term paper) well into the night/morning, and at about 3am in the morning there were two girls (and a guy)screaming and giggling; I don't understand, if you want to flirt/scream/giggle WHY do you have to irritate your neighbours (they were in the other block) at 3am in the #6%#^@%!# morning?

I think I'm really not suited for hall life. On Wednesday there was some rally going on, or some meeting going on in the hall. One of the block seniors came a-knocking on the door, and told me to go for it. Of course, I rejected, because I was trying to concentrate on Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent", which is in my opinion, definitely more interesting that some rally/meeting. I told her about the awful screaming (not the one on Thursday; the seniors were shouting from the top of the block to get us going to the rally/meeting) and she replied "Oh, dear, that's hall life." Well. If hall life is hearing female banshees screaming at 3am in the morning, and shouting going on, pressure to come for this meeting and that meeting, having to join multiple CCAs when you don't have time, and most importantly, having to pay for such "luxuries", then I quit.

There are some reasons why I'm staying on for the next semester though. Firstly, I've got really good friends in hall, and many of them are leaving after the next semester. Furthermore, I don't need points to stay in hall for the first two semesters actually - so that means I don't have to participate in activities. The most compelling reason is the distance factor; am simply too tired to travel from Uni to home at 8pm in the evening (since most German modules are in the evening till 8pm) So, yes, I'm staying for one more semester. But hostelite wannabes, beware.

2005-10-19T01:29:00.000-07:00

Well well. It's nearly 1.20am in the morning and I'm finally satisfied with my News and the Public final draft. It's been a looong paper. Argh. I still have two days though, as I'm only supposed to hand it in on Thursday. Am going to stay up a while longer to view the movie for the module.

Hehe. Today I left some clothes out to dry and after my History lecture I realized that it was starting to rain. Well I couldn't possibly dash back to bring the clothes in, so I just went for my German class (which was immediate after History lecture) and told some of my friends about the unfortunate weather. But wow, when I went out at 6pm+ I saw a really nice view. Anyway. And best of all, it wasn't raining! Hehe.

My German friend is really funny. We were just talking about Germany and suddenly he said something along the lines of "I should perhaps consider going to Germany and staying there for good". Heh. Well well. Let me just get pass the language barrier first before considering anything.

2005-10-17T22:04:00.000-07:00

Updates Updates! New post in two other blogs with funny pictures, go take a look. Anyway today was a good day, I submitted my assignment and I managed to complete the editing of my German Oral test thingies. Well well. With a little help from mein Deutsche Freund, of course.

Its insane right now because I've got so much work to do: Tuesday: Prepare for final submission of paper, Wednesday: Similar, but have to start on the other two papers, have to memorise Oral thinges. Thursday: Oral, VCF cell group, Friday: Cell group, Saturday: Okoberfest, Sunday: Church. Ah well. Wonderful week, really.

Well I'm not complaining, its been a good day.

2005-10-15T23:27:00.000-07:00

Today I was out with K and we studied till pretty late. Haven't seen her in a long time. We went to the little tea house at China town and after that we went to have dinner, which wasn't very nice actually. The really interesting thing was that I walked around with K and we saw an Austrian serving sausages and German beer in the middle of Chinatown. And the beer was this particularly interesting beer that's called "weissbier" (pronounced as vice-beer, haha) and it actually means white (weiss) beer (bier) and it's supposed to be very light. Doesn't taste like beer, doesn't smell like beer, and looks really elegant because its served in a really interesting glass. Anyway, I was more interested in the German sausages, really, which looked absolutely tantalizing, yum.

Anyway I went home after that, told my German friends about Oktoberfest and I think a bunch of them will be going. Some of these German guys can be really nice. One of the interesting things we talked about was about this guy, who went to the bar and had this conversation/exchange:

Girl walks up to him
Girl: Hey, how old are you?
Guy: (???) um... well, make a guess.
Girl: Um... 27? 28? And I suppose you're an expat here? In an MNC?
Guy: Ah... well.... (Slightly insulted at the 27/28 thing)
Girl: So do you drive?
Guy: Well. (Thinks of playing along) Yeah my Porsche's waiting outside actually...
Girl: So, wanna take me home?
Guy: (Is unable to play along any longer) Well actually, I'm 22, I'm an exchange student from Germany, and I am studying in the NUS at the moment, and I don't drive.
Girl: Oh ok. (Visibly disappointed) Bye.

And another one:
Two girls walk up to him
Girls: Hey want to come over to my place with us?
Guy: (?!?!??!?!) Eh? Well... I...
Girls: Come on, let's go over to my place.
Guy: (Thinks about girlfriend in Germany) Ah.... No...
Girls: Why? Can I give you a massage?
Guy: (Nearly spits out drink) Ah, no, thanks.

So you see. Anyway was quite lucky to be out with very decent guyfriends. There was this instance (Quite embarassing really) where we were just walking around Boat Quay and anyway they were next to me, one on each side, and suddenly I heard this wolf whistle. So instinctively I looked behind me, and I didn't see anyone. (At this juncture, I have to re-emphasize that I AM MYOPIC) So I saw this bunch of 40-ish guys walking towards us, and I was really glad that I had these guys around. Haha. No, I wasn't dressed indecently. I was wearing three-quarter pants, with New Balance sports shoes, okay? That can't possibly be indecent, right? The only explaination I can think of right now, is that they were as myopic as I am.

Anyway. Had a lot of fun, am very sure about going to Germany, am beginnning to really really like Germany. Might stay there for more than two semesters. Heh.

2005-10-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

I just got up at 11.30ish just now... today's going to be a great day because I don't have lessons today! Will be going for some movie though. Actually I wanted to go for Nerney's (my lecturer) movie - some Chomsky thing, but I finally decided that "Pirates of the Carribean" with my other friend would be way more fun on a Friday night.

Hmm. Yesterday I went for VCF @ ShearesHall, and after the cell group I randomly asked if Iv, LW, and some others would want to stay for a little while for worship. So we did, and we sang about 3 songs, and it was really great. I've seen a little more and grown a little more - but I still want a lot more. After the whole thing I felt very energized. LW and I went to a little building nearby with El-Cid, my guitar, and we continued a little more. I think all of us have grown a lot and it's been simply fantastic to see how God works through individuals who are so very different, and yet for some reason we can be brought together, united by the same goal and same identity. It's not so much about: "I'm from x Church, you're from y Church, we're different", but more of like a "I don't really care what church you're from, we're all believers and that means more than anything, any church." (Although being in a church is a good thing, okay) Our identity as Christians does not, and should not, I would say (correct me if I'm wrong) should never stem from church identity. Our identity as Christians should stem from the fact that we are all believers in Christ Jesus, and that we are all followers of Christ. It's not about the church, although there are shared memories from, lets say, the building and raising of the church and all, but it's all about Jesus at the end of the day. I really hope that everyone (myself included) will take our bearings and set ourselves at the heart of it all - Jesus!

By saying all that this is not to say that being in a church is wrong, identifying yourself with a church is wrong, etc etc. But if we let church differences get the better of us - that is wrong, because we should concentrate on what we are united by, not what we are divided by. Would Jesus want to see a divided church? Duh. What I feel very strongly about is, while there are several churchs all around the island (for obvious reasons, if you were to have just one church, logistics would be a problem, for example) I am thinking of the time I went for Festival of Praise, where it takes hours to get in after much frustrations. What really remains is that while there are conservative churchs, pentacostal churches, etc etc etc, let us be united by the same fact that we are ALL here for Jesus, we are ALL having the same identity through Christ, if we call ourselves CHRIST-ians. Isn't that true? Don't let church differences come between us. I wish people wouldn't say "oh, that guy's from v church, that pentacostal church with weird things. Let's not worship God with him." and "oh, she's from that conservative church down the road. She's not going to understand how worshipping God's going to be like, because we're from pentacostal churches we worship God in a greater way."

Well I've got news for you. IT DOESN'T MATTER. You can worship God in anyway you deem fit; as long as your heart is set in the right manner - that you're simply here to worship - it doesn't matter if you feel like jumping and shouting to the words of "The enemy has been defeated! Shout on to God with voices of triumph!" It doesn't matter if you feel like kneeling, humbling yourself in the presence of God, softly singing "I will be still... know you are God." It doesn't matter, my friends. Just worship God with every thing you have - for what is due. It's not about how much you jump, shout, kneel, etc. It's all about your heart to worship.

At this moment I realized that I wanted to blog about something else but I ended up writing this. Will include this in Papyrus instead. Sorry. Got carried away. Hehe.

2005-10-12T01:35:00.000-07:00

Have just returned from classes and laundry time. Today was a very Lit day, and also the Im Cafe thing for the German class is finally done. But I tried listening to it and it wasn't very clear. =( well well. Maybe we should do it again or something.

After the German thing I was walking to arts and I heard this European-ish guy speak PERFECT Chinese. Wow. Perhaps its not too difficult to learn a new language after all. Ah well I have a German test tomorrow. Will go study. Or at least try to do so.

2005-10-11T06:06:00.000-07:00

Have just finished dinner. Today was a good day (relatively) because I only had lessons 4-8, which wasn't so bad. But I realized that I'm lagging behind in my History (haven't seen the webcast lecture and haven't typed out last week's notes) and my German's still terrible. Ugh. Speaking of German, I also found out today that I couldn't possibly go for the German movie because all the tickets are already snapped up. Hmmsies. That means I'll probably have to stay in hall and do my work or slack around, since on Friday I have no classes. AT ALL. Sigh.

But on the other hand at least some of the 3000-5000 words essay is done (the Transportation module) Now the hall's having this good luck concert where lots of my favourite songs are being played... I hear "Dancing in the moonlight" now. But I'm not going because I have to study for a test... and complete the @$@$!@#! essay.

It was quite funny just now because I met Frau. N, my lecturer. She's really sehr schoen. Now my germaning fears are not only restricted to the personalpronouns - am really afraid that Dhania will drop German and I'll be all alone. Sigh.

2005-10-11T02:05:00.000-07:00

Argh. It's 1.55am in the morning now... (Yes, Tuesday morning) and I'm blogging to try and make myself sleep because I just watched "Ancient plastic surgery" on Discovery Channel with two other hall friends and we were positively freaked out by it, although MC the medical student was brave enough not to flinch from the intestine-pulling, blood-spurting, gore-glorious surgeries we saw on the laptop/tv. Ugh.

Anyway today was a fine day. Highlights include a nice time in tutorial planning for the Pulau Ubin transportation planning thingy, and also the completion of the German hausaufgaben (I'm not translating it. Go figure.) with the help of the German guy in hall. Hehe something pretty funny came up though. I randomly typed "Frau Niemann" as the name for the lecturer (her name's Frau Neumann and I didn't want to copy her name exactly) and my German friend laughed when he saw that , because Niemann means "never man" in German, and its quite true that a Frau, was "never a man". Wow. I just realized that perhaps German's not so difficult after all, I mean, I got a question in my German test right and I didn't even know how come I got it richtig. I mean correct. Anyway I was very amused by that. Haha.

Hmm... after that nothing much really happened today though. Am now trying to complete another essay due on the 17 Oct. (Coincidentally, it's actually the day Chopin, Frederic Francois, the composer, died. In 1849 I believe; at the age of 39) Ahh memories...

2005-10-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

Another update! Sunday's sermon is up on churchsermons.blogspot.com. Today was great, as always. After service we had choir, and today it was quite tough because we had another song to learn. Will not reveal. Hehe. (so you'll have to come to hear it) Anyway what I can promise is, I've seen that everyone is really putting in a lot of effort, not just the people leading us but also all the singers (the Sopranos are very serious indeed. :-P) and the whole experience has been very great.

Anyway after choir Mal and I left with some of our church friends and we had lunch. Thereafter we went home (we got a ride home) and when I reached home I was just so very tired that all my plans for posting today's sermon was shelved for much later. Sorry ah. Anyway I fell asleep and woke up only much much later. Will not reveal, lest the whole world finds out that I'm a sleepaholic. (whoops.) Anyway I'm wide awake now, ready to do all my darn assignments (still have got transportation module thing to complete, and some essays.) and also to blog a little more. Am happy because I saw the people I wanted to see and I did what I wanted to do today. All in all a very satisfying day.

2005-10-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

Another update! Sermon from Women's Ministry out at http://www.churchsermons.blogspot.com . Go check it out. Anyway... Today was a GREAT day, because I got El Cid, my guitar, back from the guy at the guitar shop. Ahh... My guitar. I haven't been playing it for ages though. Anyway, I'm really happy because I have had lots of snooze time, (I woke up at 11ish, and returned to nap till really late) and I met Mal for Women's Ministry. So all in all it has been a very satisfying day. Well well, tomorrow will be even better! Will blog more tomorrow, and as usual, Pastor Tay's sermon will be on the other website. From now on I won't be sticking the URL here, but I'll just be updating you guys about it when I have a new post either on papyrus-scrolls or on churchsermons. Well. Will blog more tomorrow. =D

2005-10-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hello! Just an update: Sermon notes for 2nd October is up! Here's the url: http://www.churchsermons.blogspot.com Anyway, just a note to "redeem" myself: I haven't been faithfully uploading writings and posts because I really haven't had the time and the discipline in the flurry of hall events, school work, and, ahem, etc etc. Yes yes, I've been sleeping too much, slacking too much, but I WILL try to post more regularly... Will TRY. Anyway... this week has been great so far. Will be even better.

Basically I was able to get quite a lot of work done this week, but next week unfortunately you'll see a busier Chris. Yeah. I have got hall stuff like soccer (yay!) and etc etc, but I also have a German test coming up, and etc etc. Speaking of German tests, I have got my computer fixed! It had some errors in downloading some German files from the school's website. Yay. I went to see my German lecturer (not my personal lecturer, Frau Neumann) but the other Korean lecturer (Herr Kim) Anyway I realized that the problem was just a simple one, about encoding. Argh. So I went there with my laptop after several emails to the support staff and the lecturer I finally made the trip to AS7 and presented my laptop to Herr Lehrer. And he solved it in a minute. Argh. We had a good laugh over that because it seemed so difficult and yet it was a matter of "right click, scroll down, left click, scroll a little more, click, ta-da, problem solved!". It should have ended there but for some weird reason I remained there, talking as I was packing up my laptop and all. And I was about to leave when we started talking about learning German and all, and when I finally left the office I realized that an hour had elapsed when I should have actually left after 2 minutes. I think I talk too much. Or maybe I was really bored and my lecturer happened to be really bored as well.

After that I was so tired I went back to Sheares and "koncked out". (Blacked out, for the uninitiated) And after that I realized, to my horror that it was already 6 plus. Left hurriedly for cell group, had a good time (not to mention great supper, yay.) and reached home late. So that's Friday for me.

2005-10-03T02:08:00.000-07:00

Okay if you're asking me why I'm posting separately from the other post, this is because I wanted to say that I'm going to do something new in my blog - a re-design, and there will be different sections to it, e.g. one section on sermon notes, one on my daily life etc., one on my own writings. I'm thinking of doing so because I want to make things clearer; right now its very jumbled up. Will attempt to get that done as soon as possible but as I'm having tests, exams, papers and all to handle it will take some time. All I can promise is, this will be something that will happen soon and very soon.

Will be posting Sunday's sermon soon, probably on Monday since I have a little bit of time on Monday (I end at 4pm!) so watch out for that!

2005-10-03T01:57:00.000-07:00

Well as promised here is the later installment of the going-ons in church on the 30th September. As stated in all my other posts, this was written by me but its based on the sermon. There are elements of my own interpretation by the way. Anyway, enjoy.

30th September: Pastor Tay

(Continued)

Continuing from the previous entry, some of the important messages which were shared, were those about loving God and having an intimate relationship with him, and also that we have our minds hijacked as our adversary is always trying to cause us to lose what God has in store for us. What I want to carry on, from yesterday’s post, is this – prayer can be used as a piece of artillery for the purposes of defeating the enemy.

Prayer as a weapon?
Yes. God has given us the ability to change things around us, to cause even mountains to shift – all that comes from the power of prayer. You have heard the verse: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7 NIV) If you do not seek God and to ask him for it you will not receive it. Prayer can be used as a weapon against the strongholds that you can experience around you. I can’t remember if I said it before, but I think it was David Ravenhill who said that the disciples had never asked Jesus “Rabbi, how do I cast out spirits?”, or “Teacher, how do I heal the sick?” – because they realized that if they had the ability to pray they would be able to do all that Jesus had done. So the only thing they asked was “Teach us to pray.” We need to know this: God has given to us a weapon which is capable of great and mighty deeds – prayer. When we exercise it in faith our Heavenly Father who is faithful will hear from heaven.

2005-10-02T04:03:00.000-07:00

Here are my sermon notes from the special meeting on Friday. Will blog a little more personally and will also blog about after-sermon thoughts in a later blog. Right now this will have to suffice as it is about 4am in the morning and I have been trying to gather my thoughts (while chatting to some friends on msn, whoops) from badly scrawled notes on foolscap paper. However, this is incomplete (check out the 4am comment I just made)

Disclaimer: I didn't write the sermon. (duh.) My comments are in italics (for purposes of convienience) and those in brackets. Please note that this is my interpretation of the sermon. (from the badly scrawled notes on foolscap paper, yes.)

Anyway, enjoy.

30th September: Pastor Tay

“Waiting upon the Lord”

Seeking God’s Direction
As a group of intercessors prayed to God one day, the one question they had in their mind was for God to show them the direction for the church. They prayed: “We want to see your glory revealed, and we want your direction.” In other words, they were seeking for directions from God, with a bit of “We’re nothing going to move until you tell us what to do” mentality. But the question that was asked received a shocking answer when God revealed that his people were not loving God as much as they should. Here we ought to ask: Are we loving God as we should be? There must be a radical change in our relationship and thought if we are to see God’s glory revealed. Another question that requires serious thought is “Am I loving God in the way which pleases him?”

Loving God
Undeniably we want to see God’s glory revealed. But God reveals that in order to do so, we must learn to love him. How much is this love? Think about a friend whom you love dearly. (E.g. Those couple-couples can think of each other. Hehe.) The love which God seeks, or rather, deserve, should be greater than that. Psalm 31:23 (NIV) says, “Love the Lord, all his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.” The people of God must love God. Actually it really makes perfect sense: We have experienced the Lord’s goodness, for isn’t it true that “God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, NIV) Don’t say that a miracle has never happened in your life. The greatest miracle of all, in my opinion, is not whether God has healed your cancer, has helped you with your business, or has blessed you richly, although these are all good things which God has richly blessed you with. The greatest miracle of all is that God chose to lift you up from darkness, from the depravity of sin; out of all the wonderful, intelligent, morally upright people – good people in the world, he chose you. The miracle of conversion is the single greatest miracle because that has eternal consequences, not just long term consequences. Shouldn’t we be loving God for that? We have likewise experienced God’s faithfulness – In my case, that is very true because God came a-knocking on my door not just once but many a times. He has sent so many people to speak to me, and even when I didn’t listen he never stopped. That is faithfulness for you.

None that Seeks after God
Unfortunately, just as Paul says it in Romans 3:10-11, “As it is written; There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” We have not been loving God, but often, it is only in time of need; only when we have burdens that we cannot handle, only when there are emergencies – we look to God and ask him to be God. But we need to know, that to love God, we are to honour him and place in first in our lives. However this presents a problem; how can we love God? One thing I learnt today was, that loving God is not something that is done by our own strength or by physical methods. The Holy Spirit, our buddy, is there to help us. Aren’t you glad about that? I sure am. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to create in us a heart that longs after God, one that thirsts after God. Sometimes we tend to do things and we think that we are capable of doing everything by ourselves. But we need to know that it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that can bring conviction; only the Holy Spirit can bring about a change in one’s heart.

A Personal God
Most of us probably long to have some kind of a real, personal relationship with God. We want to feel the reality of God in our lives – and with that we need to have personal encounters with God. When we have a personal relationship with God we know Him personally and hence we will grow stronger in Him, as we learn that we are to commit all to God and lean upon him instead of all difficulties. In order to receive his blessings, which he would willingly bless us with, we need to learn to come to him and to commune with him and to know God personally. To do so we need to ask for the Holy Spirit to come and to change our hearts – to change our heart to be one that will seek after God.

Obstacles in Spiritual Walk
The enemy will allow you to come to church. He will allow you to worship and praise God. He will allow you to come – but he will go all out to prevent you from hearing the voice of God, which will change and transform your life. When you are trying to hear and receive what God has in store for you he will hijack your thoughts, preventing you from communing with God. We need to be vigilant and diligent in such matters. “Nah,” I hear you say, “That can’t happen to me. I love god. How can I allow anyone to take away what God has in store for me?” Well I’ve got news for you – In Corinthians 10:12 Paul warns us by saying “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” Remember Peter? This is a man who has been with Jesus since the time his ministry started – Peter lived through those amazing times, saw the miracles of Jesus, abandoned all the fishing hooks and nets (his livelihood) and followed Jesus, proclaiming the Messiah’s coming. But Jesus said to him that even Peter would betray him thrice – this tells us that we can never be too careful.

In the Garden
Even when the first humans took in the surroundings of their new world in the Garden of Eden, where they enjoyed God’s company, they were tempted by the serpent: We are talking about two people who were in God’s presence! And yet despite that they were able to shove that aside and they gave in ultimately into temptation. If that can happen in a place where God’s presence is there, what more in other areas, or even in church? The church, our modern day “Garden of Eden” so to speak, is also a place where we can be vulnerable to the schemes of our adversary.

Doubts about God
Even in the very presence of Jesus, and even in light of the miracles Jesus did, people’s thoughts were being invaded by evil thoughts. Consider Matthew 12:22 – “Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.” And yet in verse 24, despite the miracle before their very eyes, we learn that “But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” Here, we see that a critical spirit arose out of the Pharisees as their minds were affected. Similarly, pastor shared with us a story of a woman who was healed in his office. A woman came in with terrible pains that would occur as she walked. After prayers, the healing process too place and she could walk from one end of the office to the other without pains, as it would have been usually. Immediately she asked: “Is this psychology?” HELLO! God just healed you on the spot, and you say that it is psychology, which heals you? I apologize for the capital letters and exclamation but this is something that I want to hit home – despite growing up in church, and seeing the wonders of God is it possible that all these were “coincidences” and “psychology”? A man was raised from the dead – can you tell me that this is psychology?

A Hijacked Church
When the Word of God is released, a large majority of church members will be hijacked by things, which will cause us to lose concentration – I know that because I have experienced that. Instead of concentrating on what is being preached from the pulpit, sometimes I find my mind suddenly thinking of something that is of no relevance, for example I think of my homework, I think of lunch after church, I think about everything but the sermon. It is indeed happening.

Believing Intellectually
We need to know that we are to have a change in our relationship with God. Coming to church on Sunday, and “paying our dues” are not the keys to instant spiritual “success” or anything of the sort. If you have read my previous (shorter) entry you would know what I have said about “Sunday Christians” or “Pew Christians”. We need to have the right relationship with our God, one that is close, personal, and very real. How are we to have it? Well, pray for it – We read in Thessalonians that we are to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17 (KJV)) What is heart-warming and beautiful is that God desires us to love him more than we desire. God loves us more than we deserve. Prayer brings results and it is something that we need to exercise regularly. One of the interesting questions which I received from the sermon, was actually the statement “Don’t just know and believe intellectually.” Unfortunately many believers and also pre-believers know God only intellectually and not wholly – how discouraging that is! Long for a personal relation with God the father, and you will see that he will guide you by the hand, as a loving father would to a child. Allow him in your life to be God, and you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.

2005-09-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

Here's this Sunday's sermon notes: Not complete actually, but this was what I wanted to blog about, since I said in some previous post that I wanted to present sermon notes, etc. here. Enjoy.

25th September: David Ravenhill

Surviving the Anointing:

In Ezekiel 28:14, we see an example of one who was “anointed as a guardian cherub”. The crux of this verse, is the painful word, “were” – which connotes that that which was once highly anointed by God is now no more. Some might say: “What’s so important about this anointing?” Well, if it was able to make a man like David (who upon having realized that his sin with Bathsheba had caused God much grief) cry out to God to “take not Your anointing”, above all else, that anointing must surely be worth much!

It is tragic to lose the anointing. Take for example, Solomon, who was wise (well, he did give us the Proverbs!) and in all ways, was an extremely brilliant man. However, at the end of his life he was seen doing ungodly stuff, wasn’t he? He certainly wasn’t the last, or the first. Next we see Saul, who was anointed to be King of all Israel, but the anointing was revoked by God – and towards the end of his life, the King was seen asking seeking a medium, and was very badly shaken after the encounter (read in 1 Sam 28:9-24)

This brings us to a question: how are we to use the anointing, or to keep it? The answer might in fact lie in the character/personality of an individual. When one is full of pride, self pride that is, in the manner of “I can do all things, because I am good enough”, there’s a problem here because God won’t use a person like that. One of the many good examples the bible offers is, needless to say, that of Jesus Christ himself. 1 Peter 2:21 tells us that “Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” – and our best example in living comes from Jesus himself: our faith and hope is indeed in God. So, what did Jesus show us about keeping the anointing?

Firstly, we see that Jesus had total dependency on God the Father. Hey, we’re talking about the Second person of the Trinity, the spotless Lamb of God, the sinless One, and here Jesus tells us in John 5:19, that “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does”. We’re talking about Jesus here, not average Joe – how much more of this does it apply to you and I? I tell you the truth, we can do nothing without the Father – we need to acknowledge total dependency on God alone. One of my favourite verses just came alive today in the sermon when I read it again. Here are God’s words to us: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” We need to come together and see that, for all the strength and power and ability that God has given to us, the ultimate resources that we need, comes from God alone. Imagine this: Jesus, the Word of God, to us that we need to come into total dependency upon God alone. Think about it.

Jesus said to us in Matthew 5:3, that “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” In this short verse, I want to draw your attention to the word “poor”. (this is in NIV, by the way) In the Greek it means beggars. Imagine this: Blessed are the beggars in spirit, for theirs IS the kingdom of heaven. One of the stories recounted to us by the preacher this morning was this: He was in India and he was travelling on an amazingly congested road, and it was packed full with cars, bicycles, vans, etc. All of a sudden he heard a voice cry out, and he looked around to see where it was from. He looked out of his taxi and saw a young Indian boy, about 10-12, begging for some money near the road. He was crippled in one arm, as it was shrivelled up; but in his other hand he held up a tin can and sought for alms. The preacher this morning mentioned that this word came alive to him, for indeed beggars rely solely, with full dependence, on the giver. We need to come with full dependence for God alone, with our tin cans seeking his providence.

The Kingdom of Heaven doesn’t operate on the same way people operate. We need to recognize that we are impoverished indeed without God. Where would we be if we were to be without God? There would be no forgiveness of sin, there would be no peace, there would be absolutely nothing. Well, I think I wouldn’t even be sitting here in front of my computer typing. From my personal experience, the question “Where would I be without God?” leaves me thankful and full of gratitude for God’s grace, because I know that, without him, I would be living a life that would be shackled and bounded to sin. From a position of pride, where I once thought that I never would ever need God, well, He caused me to come to tough understanding that without God I would be nothing indeed. Well, the wise would say, “I don’t need God. I’m intellectual enough and I don’t need any “guidance, thank you very much”; but honestly speaking, even the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, knew that guidance from God was important but when he failed to practice what he preached he lost God’s anointing and all his wisdom amounted to nothing when his kingdom was split according to the will of God. We read in 1 Corinthians 1:20; “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

Further, we read in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29: “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” Indeed we read in the example of King David: David was considered the least amongst all the sons of Jesse. In fact, he was considered so small in the his household that when the great prophet Samuel told Jesse: “Hey God said that there’s going to be a new King of Israel from amongst one of your sons” Jesse gathered all except David, probably saying: “Nah not that one – he’s too young and he’s like a hippie, playing his guitar all day long and talking to his sheep all the time”. But surprise surprise, God told Samuel to anoint David, of all people. And here is this little boy, with his five smooth stones and sling, and he killed the giant Goliath.

When one recognizes weakness, and sees that God’s “strength is made perfect in your weakness”, we begin to see a transformed life. When you have weakness you lean upon God, not upon your own understanding, and when God leads you, you can be assured indeed. For that, we need to develop a genuine intimacy with God – and only through prayer can one realize that. For some who believe that prayer isn’t the way to intimacy with God, think about this: When you deprive a group of people, total strangers, of television, newspapers, games, the computer, etc, and you lock them up in a room with only each other for company, 24hours later when they emerge from the room they will be able to even introduce each other, speak of each other. That’s the same way with prayer, isn’t it? When you pray and leave all other thoughts out of the picture; just quiet times with God, you’ll understand more about him. No, five minute “bless me” prayers don’t really count – seek the giver, not the gifts. ;-)

2005-09-22T06:32:00.000-07:00

Wow. Have realized that I've been simply too lazy to post up stuff. Anyway, from now on, I will try to write more, post more often, etc. Have just been too preoccupied with school work. Okay, okay, I know, that's a bad excuse.

Today I just wanted to write a little something about what I plan to do. From today onwards, I am going to try to update at least every week - If you look at when the last post was, yes, this is going to be a little different. But ah well I guess there's a little something new to be discovered everyday. So, what's the point in updating, and all? Basically I've not changed what I originally planned to do, which is to share with you what I've learnt and gone through. But there's something new here; I am going to try to chronicle all my church activities, etc, when I go to church on Wed (Prayer meeting) Sun (Sunday service). So in this sense there is a sense of responsibility and a sense of accountability. Don't ask me how or why. Treat it like you're reading someone's diary.

Hm. What I am trying to do now, in my own quiet time, is to try and focus a little of the bible (In themes) a little at a time, probably about a week or something. Today I'm going to focus on God's forgiveness.

Firstly, when I went for prayer meeting on Wednesday, I was pleasantly surprised when we had a guest speaker, David Ravenhill. Orignally I had thought that we were going to be led in prayer by the speaker, only to find out that we were actually there for a short sermon. Some parts that I just want to highlight:

1. God's presence in your time of need
2. God's willingness to help you
3. God's ability to help you

Take any of the three out and you'll find that your help will not be there: E.g. if God was not willing to help you, even though he has the ability and he is there to aid you he wouldn't. So really, on hindsight isn't it a blessing that indeed we can proclaim that: "My help comes from the Lord, the maker of the heavens and earth" (Psalms 121:2) ? Just today, if you are a believer, take sometime to thank God for that: That he is willing, able, and near to be able to help you.

Anyway, I wanted to write a little something about God's forgiveness today. Maybe I'll just start it off with a little story that happened one day in my household. I remember that one day I was just asking my brother some questions when it came to the topic of God and his forgiveness.

"If even the worst people were to come forward and ask for forgiveness, will God really forgive them? I mean, what if it was someone like Hitler, or Stalin, or Pol Pot or some guy... what if its even Mr. S.A Tan?" I asked.

My brother looked at me square in the eye and asked me a question in return. "What is God more willing to do, to forgive or to punish?"

I remember I stammered a little, before replying; "More willing to forgive."

Forgiveness. When I see the forgiveness of God I think of Psalms. The Psalmist in Psalm 103 says, "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love." (Psalm 103:8) Wow. Just think of it - Slow to anger and abounding in love. Where in the world can you find someone who can just fill in that gap? When I asked my brother that question, what I had in mind was this: That sometimes there are just somethings which are unpardonable. Which are unforgivable. How is it possible that one can forgive someone who killed millions of people you loved? I can't - but God can. The only problem is, with the people/things/entity mentioned above, is that they didn't seek forgiveness. They wouldn't seek it, because their hearts were hardened towards the forgiveness of God.

What make it even more overwhelming, is that God paid the price for it all. Yes, I'm saying that he paid the price, even for the unlovely - us. Think about it. I have a list of possible sins, and be honest with yourself: Which of these do you have?

1. Anger 2. Sexual immorality 3. Lust 4. A grudge/unforgiveness 5. Lies 6. Greed 7. Evil desires 8. Filthy language 9. Malice 10. Impurity

Most of us (Me too!) have got such sins in our lives. Think about it. But Jesus, who wasn't guilty of any of the above, paid the price, so that we may have access to God the father. The issue is whether we are willing to accept it or not. The choice is in our hands.

Think about King David, and Psalms 51, where he seeks God's forgiveness. I have a couple of verses here which you might want to reflect on when you reflect on God's forgiveness:

"When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions" - Psalms 65:3

"As far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us" - Psalms 103: 12

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" - 1 John 1:9

And there are many many more within the bible. =D So take time today and thank God for his faithfulness and forgiveness. If you're not a believer, then ponder about it. In Isaiah, the prophet tells us that "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53: 5) Yep. This was written very much earlier before Christ was born, yet it bears testament to the fact that Christ was to come, and of his forgiveness too. Think about it, if you haven't already. Anyway, will leave you now and write a little tomorrow. =D

2005-07-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

Today I had a great time in church for Sunday service (as usual) and the first service was great. Then suddenly, when I was in the second service singing halfway, I just stopped. The songs spoke to me, everything was great and all, but there was something different about this service. All of a sudden, the verse in Isaiah really spoke to me; in a gist, the part about how he sees the glory of God, and he breaks down saying "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips!". While singing today, one of the things that came to my mind was "Oh my. I just simply can’t understand how I am even able to stand in his presence, when I am sinful in nature, not even worthy enough to speak of his name." Suddenly I became even more aware of just how small I was, and how "wow" it is to be able to praise God, even when I absolutely had no right to in the first place; just how "wow" it is to be able to call myself a child of God, for it was he who took the initiative to draw me to him; just how "wow" it is to be able to have his grace, just because God is a good God who forgives more than he punishes. (And many other wows besides) Today I was there, singing, and I realized something I had never realized before. I felt a tangible trickle of the glory of God fill the Sanctuary in church. Yes, just a trickle. A tiny, small, little amount of God’s glory in the Sanctuary. Just a little, but I was so awe struck that I just stood there, staring in amazement (at what, I don’t really know).

A part of me said "HELLO? You’re supposed to be praising God here! Come back to Earth!" and a huge part of me just wanted to dwell in the amazing presence of God there. At this moment (at point of writing) I feel it is necessary to also say this: You know the part of scripture that says to you to "be still and know that he is God"? Yeah this was it – I just knew it; I was still for a moment (long moment, actually) and for that period of time I came just a little closer to knowing God just a little more. I just couldn’t help it, and I can’t really remember what happened, but all I can tell you is this: If a tickle of the glory of God can make me feel such deep stirrings within me, I don’t know what to expect when the gauge is at its maximum.

Right now I am ever more convinced that the God we are talking about here today, ladies and gentlemen, is the one true living God. I have absolutely nothing else to say or to proclaim but this. If you don’t know Jesus, its time you better do, because I tell you, this is really what I’ve experienced, and you’re never going to understand whatever that I’m talking about until you make THAT first move to want to know God. If you know Jesus, as in really really know, then you know what? I’ve got some news for you. God is much, much bigger than we think he is. That little "trickle" made me realize that today. I have no idea why this blog post sounds so weird, but please bear with me because I’m still awe struck. Sorry.

PS. I actually wanted to write something else, but I don't know why and how I was directed to write this. Sorry.

2005-07-04T00:03:00.000-07:00

(edit) In view of the potential hate-messages I might recieve after the reading of this post I have decided to include this disclaimer of sorts. Seriously, this is personal correspondence, and its probably not too nice to stick this here. But lets view this with an objective view.

I have a friend from the UAE who tells me that he is in love with an extremely wonderful Hindu lady, who is in a relationship with a really nice Muslim guy. My friend is Christian by the way. Sounds confusing? But when he asked me for my advice, I simply told him that the best way out was to just try and forget about the issue. Guess that didn't really help much. But really, my advice was based on a few factors: 1. The lady in question was already attatched. 2. It would be difficult to maintain a relationship when the two have such a glaring difference in terms of personal beliefs. 3. He's Indian, she's an Arab. Enough said.

When it comes down to a decision as personal as this, I think one is entitled to his/her personal choices. Definite. But my personal take on it is this. If one wants to remain as scriptural as possible, the Bible, (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth) would advice one to not be "unequally yoked" with non-believers. The choice of the word "unequal" does not mean to suggest that Christians are finer folks or anything, (I have a whole lot bunch of friends who are pre-believers, and really nice folks) it just means something like we believe in different things. And I guess that important, because something as personal as religious beliefs, would generate problems unavoidably. Aiyah. From a lazy person like me, honestly I would try to avoid situations with potential problems and hence if you want a personal take on this, while I wouldn't frown on it, I wouldn't be involved in one personally. Too lazy lar.

But then recently I just received an email from an acquaintance, who made the following remark:

"There are many ppl who wanted 2 b loved, yet they can't due to their circumstances. When I 1st hrd from ur mouth that you will reject those who are nt Christians, I wanted to return home in disgust. "

Ouch.

Well this was in response to a statement that I made, where I said something like "Yeah, it would be difficult to be in such a relationship so I wouldn't be involved in one like that." Honestly I wasn't too pleased about this. Quite the understatement of the year. The contents which are as follows were written by an irrate... person, who had just returned from a long meeting, and who was looking forward to a long nap. (which came to pass after email writting) Do forgive me for choice of words. =(

Let me just start by telling you that it is my personal opinion and CHOICE, that I wouldn't be in a relationship with a guy who's not in the same faith as I am. You are completely entitled to your own views, and I have no wish, nor authority to change your opinion and choices. Therefore, neither does anyone have authority to change my views, my opinion and my choices. So when you said that you were "disgusted", while it is regrettable, I will not be able to compromise on my beliefs and value systems. And it is final.

It is not merely the fact that the Bible states that believers should not be yoked with pre-believers. It is also my personal opinion. And the decision is final.

With all due respect to your story, let me also begin by informing you that I understand that there are many people who are Christians but who also have significant others/spouses who are pre-believers. One of them includes one of my best friends too. But while I am open minded about others' opinions and their decisions, I believe I am also entitled to my own choices, and being open minded does not equate to being someone who compromises with every single idea that comes his/her way. While I do not oppose a cross-religious/racial relationship, I will not subscribe to that, for the simple fact that I do not compromise on my decisions.

The reason why I do not endorse a relationship which includes people who are of different religion are as follows:

1. If I were to be involved in a relationship, I would be uncomfortable if he was not of the same faith as I am as personally it is so. This is because I would be looking for someone who is of a higher/similar spiritual level with God as I am. If it were otherwise, it would be uncomfortable for me personally.

2. I believe that a relationship does not consist of just a him and a her, but it also includes God. This is because I would be looking for a relationship which is spiritual; not just one which is preoccupied with the tangible and physical. Hence, it is my wish that, should I ever be involved in a relationship, that my significant other would love God more than being in the world, which would include me as well. In terms of priority, it should be 1. God, 2. Family, so on and so forth. Hence, a relationship which yokes two beings who are not on equal footing would not be favoured on a personal level as I understand that priorities would be different and therefore a lack of understanding and potential animosity might result unnecessarily.

3. From what I have gathered from friends who are in relationships where their counterparts are not of the same faith *(notice that this does not extend only to Christians) the chances of backsliding/straying from their faith is almost unavoidable. In a Christian context, experiences from friends in such circumstances have also taught me that it is difficult to maintain a relationship as their significant others/spouses might forbid them from attending church services/activities. While I understand that Christians have differing opinions this matter, I understand that prevention is better than cure, however how shallow that sounded.

I understand that the opinions of others contary to my own are to be respected but still, as this matter is of a highly personal and intimate nature, I would require the same respect for my own opinions and choices. And the decision is final.

Dear reader, do understand that although this email is rather personal, I have posted it up because what I wanted to write about, etc, is reflected in here. No malice meant or anything.
While I understand that I might have unnecessarily ruffled up some feathers, do understand that this is a matter which is of an extremely personal nature. I am not here to highlight and point fingers at anyone; this is a post that is merely reflective of my opinion and decision. Peace. =D

2005-07-02T14:25:00.000-07:00

It started when I invited some friends to the oikos bridging thingy. (Oikos = cell group, in my church)

In the beginning it was fine - drinks, food, company, and some card games (no, we weren't gambling) and just light chatter. But it started when some worship songs were sung, and after some testimonies where shared. An acquaintance of mine left early, halfway through some fella's speech.

I can't really tell you how I felt. I don't think it was just disappointment. I think its a mixture of bewilderment, and a whole lot more... but one thing I can tell you, is that I was feeling really low, thinking something along the lines of "was it a bad thing to invite a friend to such an event?". Just when I was thinking about that, some kind soul sitting next to me leaned over, and said to me: "Don't be too upset about that. What matters is that you have planted a seed."

Its a wonder how God plants people around you, to do or say something that can really uplift you on-the-spot.

2005-05-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Time for an update.

Well. I read sometime ago that, the greatest obstacle in becoming Christian is possibly Christians who don’t live a Christian life. Now if you think about it, that’s probably true – and I can testify to that.

Quite a while ago, I had the opportunity of meeting up with some people who were, hm, euphemistically speaking, lets call them "weekend Christians". Now, why such a term? The only reason I can offer you is that they were only Christians on Sunday, or rather, for the 2hours or so while they were in church. (Obviously I’m no saint myself, but this is purely from an objective point of view)

To put things plainly, the rest of the week could be spent doing stuff which were unbiblical, un-Christian-ly. I don’t really want to go into details, but an intelligent reader such as yourself can imagine the sordid details. Well, anyway, whatever they did in the weekdays could be erased by the blood of Jesus anyway, so why bother? Anyway, God’s a God of grace, and isn’t it true to say that he’s always going to forgive you? Just two hours of prayer in church - you would be able to wash away the grime and dirt of the week.

How do I know these things? Simple – I observed, and I participated.

My friends, when we abuse the "grace of God" in this manner we are demeaning "grace", and labeling it as "cheap grace". It took God everything – himself, to wash us clean, and to make us whiter than the snow. If I could go back into where it all begun I really would want to do something about it; but perhaps it was needed to show me how precious that "grace of God" really meant. It is not something to be taken lightly indeed.

Christianity is about a lifetime commitment, and not about being a "weekend Christian". The bible instructs us to daily take up the cross. It doesn’t take an PhD in English Literature to find out what the word "daily" means. At most it takes a dictionary. Jokes aside, if you have already given yourself over to Jesus, I guess we must all examine ourselves daily – are we really taking up our crosses daily or are we but "weekend Christians" abusing the grace of God? =)

2005-04-25T01:16:00.000-07:00

Prelude: Evangelism is a really very touchy subject today. But there is an urgency. A great urgency for more people to get to know Christ today. "Seek the Lord while he may still be found." There will come a day when it might be too late - and certainly, the words "Too late" must be most depressing, for it removes hope and produces only darkness and gloom. However "sensitive" it may be today, it is important for EVERY believer and EVERY follower of Christ to be his witnesses. It is a commandment. It is a duty to share our light with those who have not seen light.

This is a little something for all Christians out there:

The Importance of Evangelism:
"Evangelism is the cause against which there is no argument".

Mandate for Evangelism:

God Himself demonstrated his evangelistic heart by this salient fact: He had only one Son, and He made Him a soul winner. Jesus said in Luke 19:10 " The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost".

A truth that needs to be emphasised to every true born again believer in Christ is this: All Christians have been charged with the responsibility and the task of personal evangelism.
For the believer evangelism is not an option it is an obligation. It is not a choice to be considered, it is a command to be obeyed. It is not a gift, it is a responsibility. In fact, one of the marks that a person is truly a disciple of Christ is an interest in and a practice of, personal evangelism.

When the Lord Jesus called the first disciples, the first promise He made was, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Mark 1:16). Immediately, we learn something every Christian must realise that if you are not fishing you are not following. The real essence of discipleship is in the making of other disciples.

R.A.Torrey, a great Bible teacher of yesteryear, poignantly stated: "I would like to ask what right a man has to call himself a follower of Jesus Christ if he is not a soul winner? There is absolutely no such thing as following Christ unless you make the purpose of Christ’s life the purpose of your life".

The fact of the matter is that every saved person this side of heaven should be concerned about every unsaved person this side of hell. Our Lord assumed, as well as commanded, that His disciples would be about the task of personal evangelism. He said, "You will be witnesses to Me…….. "(Acts1:18). His command to the entire church was to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations……." (Matt. 28:19).

The greatest and most effective way the gospel will be taken to this world is by one on one evangelism. To illustrate the urgency of the matter, consider that there are 138,000 more lost people in the world today than there were yesterday. If all of the lost people in the world were lined up thirty inches apart, they would encircle the globe, not one time, not two times, not three times, but thirty times. That line is growing at a rate of twenty five miles per day.

Furthermore, it is noted that if a gifted evangelist with an international reputation could win a thousand persons to Christ every night of the year, it would take him over ten thousand years to win the entire world to Christ, ignoring the population explosion. However, if one true disciple of Christ were able, under God, to win just one person each year and train that person to win one other person each year, and so forth, it would take only thirty two years to win the entire world to Christ. Obviously, we are taught in the Scripture that the entire world will never be won to Christ, but the point is still made.

One other point should be emphasised and heard carefully. No Christian should feel as if he or she simply cannot do personal evangelism because of a lack of ability. Any command of God carries with it the power to fulfil that command. Indeed, every Christian is given the Holy Spirit precisely to empower him to be a witness for Christ. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me….." (Acts 1:8). Every Christian can witness, every Christian should witness, every Christian must witness in order to be obedient to Christ.

Motive for Evangelism:

What a difference it would make if every Christian would see witnessing as an ultimate expression of one’s love for Christ. The paramount reason that every Christian should gladly and persistently share the plan of salvation is because of his love for the Man of salvation.
Jesus said to Peter three times, in essence, "If you love me, feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17). He did not ask Peter whether he loved sheep; neither did He ask him whether he loved feeding sheep. The issue was " do you love Me?" The apostle Paul said we should witness "for the love of Christ compels us" (2Cor.5:14).

Hudson Taylor, one of the world’s greatest missionaries, was once asked the question "Mr. Taylor, don’t you think the one requirement for missionaries is that they love souls?" Hudson thought for a moment and then answered, " No, the one requirement for missionaries is that they love Jesus. If they love Jesus they will love souls." It is that love for Christ alone that will be the primary motivator for any Christian to fulfil the responsibility of personal evangelism.

Message of Evangelism:

Soul winning is simple because the gospel is so simple. The essence of practically any gospel presentation simply confronts an unbeliever with the basic fundamental facts:

1. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23);
2. Salvation cannot be attained by either religion, ritual, or righteousness (Eph.2:8,9);
3. Christ died on the cross to pay for all our sins (1 John 1:7);
4. Salvation comes by repenting from sin and by faith in Christ as Lord and Saviour (Rom.10:9).

Never in the history of the church have so many tools or so much training been available to equip any Christian to share his faith in an effective, efficient manner. The problem is not ignorance. The real problem is indifference. It is absolutely urgent that the true church come alive again in enlisting, equipping, and motivating every individual member to share Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.

One other note must be added: it is not the Christian’s job to persuade the unbeliever to accept the gospel. It is his job simply to share the gospel. Remember: we have been called to be witnesses, not prosecuting attorneys. The results of our sharing are up to God.

Every Christian is to be a witness for Christ. It is the wise thing to do, for "He who wins souls is wise" (Prov.11:30). It is the right thing to do, for the Lord commands it. It is the need of the hour, as eighty-three souls per second, six thousand souls per hour, go to a Christless, hopeless grave. This article closes with an urgent plea to all who march under the blood-stained banner of Prince Immanuel, to realise and recapture the urgency of evangelism.

Bottom line is... are YOU tithing your time? ;-)

2005-04-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

I used to shy away at many things. I used to shy away from singing worship and praise songs. I used to shy away from talking excessively about God. I used to shudder at the thought of telling people to come to church/the gospel, not because I was shy or anything (trust me, people who know me well will say I’m far from shy) but actually because I was shy of telling people about God. BAD.

But now, singing is second nature to me! I mean, why won’t you sing about this wonderful fella called Jesus, who loved YOU enough to die for you, the worst death possible? (a criminal’s death) Won’t you sing about the victory that he has given you, because on the cross he denied death? Won’t you sing about his great love for you, where he promised to be by your side EVERY moment? Wow! I’m not ashamed about the gospel, nor about telling people how great I love him, because he is worthy of such great praise! =D
And now, speaking about the gospel (Good news indeed) is SO very natural to me, just as natural as sleeping or talking. Why do I like talking gospel talk, you ask? Well… how about lets just say that because I’m so grateful! Because, although I should be cast aside like the idiot I am (think the student with the dunce cap), he came, relentlessly, picking me up, holding me close, and told me that he really loved me (points at the cross) that his grace is greater than all of my sin – the most wondrous "good news" that I’ve ever heard in my lifetime, although, yes, I’m only 19 and all that.

So let’s not be ashamed of telling people that we really love him! Let’s not be ashamed of raising our hands to him, surrendering to him our pain, sorrows, and worries, because he has made them his very own. Let’s not be ashamed at the wonderful savior we have, because in him we have found victory. Let’s never cease praising him, because he loved us first. Let’s never be ashamed at the cross or about God’s love for us – he was never ashamed about going to the cross, bearing all our sins for the world to see. Let’s sing of his love forever and forever, because it was for us in the garden that he prayed, it was for our sins that he cried over, not about the griefs of his own! Indeed, what a wonderful savior we have!

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how he could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean

How marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be
How marvelous, how wonderful
Is my savior’s love for me

For me it was in the garden; he prayed
"Not my will, but thine"
He had no tears for his own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them his very own
He bore the burden to Calvary,
And suffered and died alone.

How marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be
How marvelous, how wonderful
Is my savior’s love for me

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see
‘Twill be my joy through the ages,
To sing of his love for me!

2005-03-19T23:20:00.000-08:00

Love #3

I guess this should be the last and final post on this topic. Well I just felt that sometimes, the idea of love is very warped. In English, the word "Love" is rather vague. It simply means, to like, adore, or simply to enjoy something. But the word "Love" actually means so much more. Click here to find out more: http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/ds/q0714/intro.html

I just realized something too, from reading the book "I kissed dating goodbye". It states that, we have a duty to our fellow brothers and sisters too. For example, if you dress scantily/skimpily, girls, you are paving the way (or actually tempting) towards sin for your brother. How is that so? Well, I’m not saying that "Oh, no, you can’t possibly wear sleeveless clothing!" I’m NOT saying that. What I’m saying is, when we deliberately wear that mini-skirt which is micro-micro-mini, inevitably we are tempting our brother to commit the sin of lust. It takes two hands to clap. Of course I’m not saying that we should clothe ourselves with several meters of cloth and stay at home and never leave the house, that’s a little extreme.

Similarly, guys, please remember that God would be more pleased if we FLEE from sin, not to remain there and to see just how far we would go before we stumble. No. Remember Joseph? He FLED from the Egyptian woman, instead of just remaining there. From Genesis 39:11-12 we read, "One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, "Come to bed with me!" But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house." Isn’t it just better to flee from temptation immediately instead of trying to prove that you’re able to withstand any temptation that comes your way?

I like to remember this little verse: "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body." (1 Corinthians 6:18) It is an important reminder indeed. But isn’t so difficult to stop sin? Isn’t it difficult to cease? Yes, it’s awfully difficult. Everyone struggles with each everyday, and I seriously mean struggle. But we have hope, for we read, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7) And how can we possibly do that? Well the simple answer is, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me".

Certainly it is difficult to become "Christ-like". As it is, we learn that "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) How are we to "deny ourselves"? Well, we must remember, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.", for, if you are Christian, you would know that, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). What lovely words. We are new creations, and we should therefore not conform any longer to this world. May we be able to "offer your(our) bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" (Romans 12:1).

2005-03-17T03:02:00.000-08:00

Love #2. (Follow-up from previous post)

Have you ever wondered why some couples can't seem to keep their hands of each other? In Singapore, some call it PDA (or, public display of affection). Well, sometimes in the MRT we see young (normally) couples grabbing each other, etc. Well, last year, while studying for my A Level's (Literature), I had to read John Donne, (now, now, don't laugh at the name) and I totally embrace what he says:

(John Donne's Valediction: Forbidding Mourning)

"As virtuous men passe mildly away,
And whisper to their soules, to goe,
Whilst some of their sad friends doe say,
The breath goes now, and some say, no:

So let us melt, and make no noise,
No teare-floods, nor sigh-tempests move,
T'were prophanation of our joyes
To tell the layetie our love.

Moving of th'earth brings harmes and feares,
Men reckon what it did and meant,
But trepidation of the spheares,
Though greater farre, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers love
(Whose soule is sense) cannot admit
Absence, because it doth remove
Those things which elemented it.

But we by a love, so much refin'd.
That our selves know not what it is,
Inter-assured of the mind,
Care lesse, eyes, lips, and hands to misse.

Our two soules therefore, which are one,
Though I must goe, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to ayery thinnesse beate.

If they be two, they are two so
As stiffe twin compasses are two,
Thy soule the fixt foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if the'other doe.

And though it in the center sit,
Yet when the other far doth rome,
It leanes, and hearkens after it,
And growes erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to mee, who must
Like th'other foot, obliquely runne;
Thy firmnes drawes my circle just,
And makes me end, where I begunne."

Question mark? Let's look at the first few lines of this extracted version. "Dull sublunary lovers love/(Whose soule is sense) cannot admit /Absence, because it doth remove /Those things which elemented it." In other words, "Dull" lovers, always feel an urge to stick together, and they cannot endure any form of absence. Why? Because they feed on being together. In the event whereby they are not together (i.e. not seeing each other for some time), their love evaporates, to use a scientific term.

Do you wish for your own relationship to be "Dull", in the words of John Donne? Certainly not, right? If a relationship is built upon such mundane things, the relationship must necessarily be short lived. And no, 6 months is not a LONG term relationship. Nor a year, for that matter.

Another stanza (from the same poem) which speaks a lot is this: "So let us melt, and make no noise, /No teare-floods, nor sigh-tempests move, /T'were prophanation of our joyes /To tell the layetie our love." In other words, if two people are in love, there is no need for outward DECLARATION of love, (like the "teare-floods", "sigh-tempests"), because divine love, true love, of the highest order, does not require PROUD declarations. Indeed, it would profane the pure love that is shared between two people by "telling the laity (common man)" if it were to be loud and bolstering. Nothing but noise.

Therefore, the message here is this: If you have to constantly keep seeing someone to know that you love someone, then it is high time you reconsider if it is truly "love".

2005-03-16T04:55:00.000-08:00

Let’s talk about love.

Some may say that churches frown upon BGR, as it takes people away from God. Some just want to "fall in love", in accordance with what they see on the movie screens and TV serials. So what is this "love" thing all about?

I don’t think that churches frown upon two people having a relationship. As it is written in Ecclesiastes, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die…." (Ecc 3:1 – 8) Similarly, there is a time to love, (as in to be in a relationship) and a time not to be in a relationship. For singles out there, Paul has this to say: "Now I say to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am" (1 Cor 7:8) Now, what does that mean? Does it mean that we should not get attached to a significant other? No, Paul’s not saying that. Then what? I would like to say that singledom is a blessing from God. What, a blessing from God? How can that be, you ask. I would like to quote "I kissed dating goodbye", (a book I’m currently reading) "Until you realize God’s gift of your singleness, you’ll probably miss out on the incredible opportunities it holds… As a single you have the freedom right now to explore, study, and tackle the world. No other time in your life will offer these chances."

So what is love? Again, from the book, we learn of two couples.
"Jeff and his girlfriend, Gloria, had been going out for a while. If you didn’t count the numerous times they had broken up then reconciled, they had dated for almost a year. Jeff had always remained vague about their level of physical involvement, but now they had obviously fully consummated their relationship.
"We got a room at the Holiday Inn in Dayton," he explained as he put his hand out the window into the cool night air. Turning to me he grinned, winked mischievously, and said, "Man, oh man"
"I can’t believe you," I said, letting the tone of my voice convey my disapproval. "You mean you and Gloria had… you had… I mean you slept together?"
Jeff could tell I wasn’t pleased. He wanted me to be impressed, to slap him on the back like one of his football teammates in the locker room and praise him for his "exploit." I wanted to slap him alright, but not on the back.
"Look Josh (the author)," he said defensively, "we’ve waited a long time for this. It was really special. Maybe it doesn’t meet your morals, but we felt that it was the right time to show our love."
"My morals?" I said indignantly. "My morals? Since when they were mine? How many times have we talked about this? With each other? At church? Jeff, you know that that wasn’t right. You…"
"We love each other," Jeff said, cutting me off in mid-sentence. "If you ever really fall in love, then you’ll understand."
The conversation ended. For some reason the stoplight took forever to turn green. We sat silently as the turn signal clicked off and on. I looked out the window.
Four years later, Jeff was going to college in Michigan. "I’m engaged!" he told me over the phone. "Debbie is incredible. I’ve never been so in love."
"That’s great," I said. My congratulations sounded hollow, I couldn’t help it. I was thinking of Gloria. I hadn’t seen her for a long time. What was she now? Three or four girlfriends back? Love, huh?
… (fast forward)
"You’d be hard pressed to find two more romantic people. They adored each other, and it showed. Eric rarely took his eyes off Leslie. Sitting in the passenger seat on the way to the restaurant, he slipped his hand behind the seat, and Leslie reached forward and clasped it. Holding hands when one person is sitting in the front seat and the other is in the back? I’d never seen that before.
After dinner, while we cracked open our fortune cookies, I had a question. "You two can’t keep ypur hands off each other," I began teasingly. Leslie blushed. "Was it difficult keeping the physical side of your relationship pure while you were engaged?"
Eric took Leslie’s hand and smiled at her before he answered. "Of course the desire for that was present – it always will be," he said. "But no, it wasn’t a struggle. Leslie and I decided very early in our relationship that we were going to refrain from physical contact until we were married. Our first kiss was at the altar."
My jaw dropped. "You didn’t kiss until you got married?"
"Nope," Eric said, beaming. "The most we did was hold hands. And, Josh, we know that kind of standard isn’t for every couple. We didn’t make that decision to be legalistic; it came from the heart. Everyone, including our parents, told us we should kiss. But we both decided it was what we wanted to do. It was a way to show our love, to protect each other before we were married." And then with a twinkle in his eye, he said, "Let me tell you, Josh, that first kiss was the most incredible, beautiful thing in the world. I can’t even begin to describe it."
Eric and Leslie. Jeff and Gloria. Two couples that used the same word – Love – to explain what motivated them to act in opposite ways. Were both couples talking about the same thing? For Jeff and Gloria, love justified a night in a hotel room enjoying each other’s bodies before marriage. For Eric and Leslie, love meant barely touching each other before they walked to the altar. For Jeff and Gloria, love was impatient and demanded compromise. For Eric and Leslie, love fueled integrity and gave them the patience needed to wait.
One word. Two definitions."

The question I want to leave you with is this. Are we in love with the idea of love? The world around us tells us, through the advertisements and movies, etc, that love is an image of passion and romance play, about couples "falling into love" and caught up in a frenzy of (sometimes) lustful passion. God, however, defines love by pointing to His Son, which shows a bloodied man hanging on a cross and He says, "This, is love."

Yet another thing I want to share is this. Again, according to the book, true love is not measured or governed by feeling. Good feelings are nice but not necessary. Quote: "We need to throw out the misconception that love is some strange "force" that tosses us around like leaves in the wind against our will. We cannot justify doing what we know is wrong by saying that "love" grabbed hold of us and "made" us behave irresponsibly. That’s not love. Instead, it’s what the Bible calls in 1 Thessalonians 4:5 "passionate lust." "

At this point in time I would like to say that I’m succumbing to fatigue. Will post more soon.

2005-03-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

After a hiatus of a year, I've finally come back to blogging. Well, in anycase, this blog will NOT be about what I am doing/what I ate today/where I went/who I went out with today. This blog will serve as an avenue of sharing what I've learnt from Sunday sermons, bible study classes, etc. Yes, IF you haven't realized it by now this blog will be about Christianity - or rather, it will be about my personal walk with my Creator.

Well. If you're asking the question: "What's the meaning of the blog address?", the answer lies in the bible. Saul, an outspoken persecutor of Christians, was on his way to Damascus when he suddenly heard the words "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Acts 9:4) If you read further, you'll find that Saul converted, and thereafter became one of the most eloquent advocates of Christianity. Similarly, I hope that this blog will be one of the small steps in a pre-believer's life in his/her path on the way to Damascus. Personally, before this blog was created I was passive towards Christianity, which changed after December 2004. More details later, in subsequent posts.

I would love to post up something here, but currently I'm working on a blog design, so bear with me! I will most definitely blog here soon. =)