a little gift from God

recently i have been listening to this great song by Chris Tomlin, "how great is our God" and at the very very last part... the congregation was singing another song... that goes like this:

"...then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great thou art, how great thou art
The sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee
how great thou art, how great thou art..."

somehow this song warms my heart in a strange manner... emotions are stirred... it helps me to remember what is means to say Great is our God with our soul! and not just through lips!i had to listen to the whole song, i am excited what new feelings it will bring me. though i did managed to find the lyrics and the chords, i couldn't make out how to play or sing the rest of the song... i asked some of my cg mates, church mates & decor team and try to get my hands on the mp3 but in vain... :(

However during the solemnization of Shengteng and Peiru, this song was sung!perhaps this song was their song because they confessed that without God, it would be impossible for them to come together, due to their various differences... to them God is that great! How great God is in bringing them together...

for me, at the moment when i heard the song... i just felt very loved by God... He had chose to withheld the mp3 from me so that i may hear it "live" for the first time... nothing beats singing along bros and sisters who are praising God with their souls as well!

how great thou art... how great thou art... how great God has been to me in the past, in the present and He will be in the future as well. although there are issues which i had still unable to understand, by extrapolation... then sing my soul, my Saviour God is Thee, He knows what He is doing... everything is in His control... here's my book... it's Yours to write...

**updates**

just an hour of posting this blog... my "daughter jesline" sent me THE song!!! [she calls me ah pa... so that makes her my daughter... hehe... God's kinda cute!

how great thou art...

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee
How great thou art,   how great thou art
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee
How great thou art,   how great thou art 

gave and take away

"give and take away... You gave and take away..."
my heart will choose to say....

i have to confess that it didn't felt good... the feeling is terrible... but i am glad God reminded me of 1 story in particular... Abraham and Isaac in Gen 22:1-12

the childless man, Abraham was given the great promise of being the patriarch of the chosen nation.
at his twilight years, God gave him a son... with a hint of doubt, Abraham must have doted his son a lot... and even that could be an understatement....
and then, God commended Abraham to sacrifice Isaac to Him... hearing this, Abraham's neuron must have went into over-drive...

"What?!? You gave me my son... Now you want him back? Why do you give him to me in the first place?"
"i thought You desire mercy, not sacrifice... why this?"
"i have rams... sheep... throngs of them... why my son?"

these may or not may be his thoughts... but by his action, Abraham had chosen to trust... to love the MAKER, rather than focusing on the MADE... even if it seems to be "MADNESS"... i seriously didn't think that Abraham meant it when he lied to his son... neither does he knows that God is just testing him nor understands the reason behind such a command.
He could only trust...

He gave and take away... He gave and take away...
I praise the Lord when the MAKER gave
I should praise the Lord even when the MADE was taken away
because my heart will chose to say... blessed is HIS NAME

the glasses on your nose; the spirit in your heart

recently Pastor Jo mentioned about the spirit during Ministry Night ... He said that the spirit of a man determines how he looks at the world, the various happenings, the joyous occasions, the sorrowful events... it is like a pair of glasses, a red-tinted one will make everything look red, a blue-tinted one will make everything look blue... when God allows sufferings, it is not that He is powerless nor nonchalant, He is using sufferings to soften our hearts... a seed cannot grow in hard ground, the ground needs to be tilted to facilitate growth...

"do not look at what God had seemingly let you DOWN but focus how God had lifted you UP"

God can make things right... if only you let Him... if only i let Him... amen

inspiration #0

am i blessed?

when i was alone and without friends, God sent me GenACTS
when i needed You, God sent me FengQi, Ben & ZeWei
when i needed help in mech, God sent me GuoQiang
am i blessed? ...

when i was down and out, God sent me KangWei
when i was back in church, God sent me CareGroup
when i was growing, God sent me sheep
am i blessed? hmm...

when i was diverting, God sent me reminders
when i was facing death, God sent me LiXiong
when i was helpless in project, God sent me understanding classmates
am i blessed? i think i am...

when i was facing dengue, God brought family to visit
when i was doing FYP, God sent me support
when i need buddies, God comfort me via kinwee & kimchu
am i blessed? yeah...

when i need a vision, God sent His
when i need a job, God gave gericke
when i need love, God taught me
am i blessed? i am...

when i repent, God gave grace
when i sinned, God gave mercy
when i .... , God is there... here... at... in... my heart....
am i blessed? I sure am!

God is Grrrrrrrrrrrreat!

God is Great! Can someone please say amen? because the chairs and the tables cant say amen!!!God has been good to me... although there has been some bad times like challenges being thrown at me... stress increment... felt the lack of support.... bad stuffs... yet in the midst of all these, God has never let me down... at times i cant see Him, at times i cant feel him... not because He left me... but rather, i had "left" Him... After being an working adult for more than 4 months, i can finally identify how can one forget about God during weekdays and remember Him during weekends... as our friendly pastor jeff likes to put it, "去church一条龙，去work一条虫"

recently, something positive happened and it made me see the light of HOPE once again. i guess that's the how God encourage me when i felt the temptation of giving up. i mentioned in my previous entry about wanting to be a "salty sheep in the midst of wolves" and about daring to be different.... to be the minority.... God blessed me with an early confirmation and it rekindle my conviction. most impt of all, i got to receive the letter of confirmation from my CEO, Mr Markus Gericke. how cool can that be? haha... Praise the Lord...

below are some pictures taken during my company dinner and BBQ... enjoy

Mr Gericke, the man himself! together with my GM, Mr Lua on his left.... dinner at ah yat!

ellson and his abalone!!! nice!

that's my follow project engineer, edwin kiew!

sales engineer, andrew with edwin... see! i am not the only one with 断背problem... *joke*

the MAN himself giving a speech during company BBQ...

i am back!

time flies really really very fast... before i know it, i have been a working adult for close to 4 months.... that means i haven't been blogging for the same amount of time... the excuse is "my laptop crashed" haha... but deep in my heart i know the real reason... haha... i had actually gotten my laptop back for a week... i just haven't had enough kinetic energy to start moving.

since this is my first blog after so long, i wouldn't/couldn't write much stuff with depth... [though it may not be Twenty Thousand Leagues deep, got at least one metre bah] anyway here's some photoscheck out my notice board... got much more stuff than the previous one...

the famous Bat Kut Teh from Klang, KL

that's my company laptop... kena blue screen again... *sigh*

PS
many thanks to my friends who kept bugging me to blog. really felt appreciated and loved. esp to kc! kw din mention much though... haha... oh ya.. edwin got ask about it as well... haha.. thanks, guys!

my first day at gericke

my very first day working at Gericke... it reminds me of the time i first entered primary school, secondary school, JC, NS and even university... a place of strangers, a place that's unfamiliar but that means it is also a place of mulligan!
a place where you can have a "fresh" start. as we live our lives, there will be events or incidents that we wished that we can reverse the situations, shoulders that we wished that we hadn't rubbed, people we wished that we hadn't hurt... our Lord Jesus will and can forgive sins and us we will be spiritually healed but there will still be physical and emotional consequences to bear...

so in this new station of my life, i pray that i will not only have a good start but also a good finish... be salty bright sheep among wolves!

here's me at my workstation... that's my ancient lappie... Tecra Centrino 1.2

bachelor of engineering... i have that... *sigh*

sigh... today i kena threatened by uncle at Park Mall noodles house [can rem the name of shop so anyhow smoke one] myself, huan yan, yi zhong and ben were at this shop, having lunch. we were sitted outside. there was this strange looking man who walked passed us and into the shop. as he walked, he kicked the chairs so that they wil be under the tables. huan yan commented "violent" while i said “他是老板吗?" That uncle came back and pointed his fist at me and said something which i do not understand but can roughly deciphered as "dun be KPO!" i was so shocked... haha... why do i kena this? anyway... he went for coffee, tea or whatever. after he finished, he went back to me and shouted something and then finally the L.J. coupled with the action. haha... *sigh* maybe i just happened to have the ah beng face... after all, my degree is B.eng

bangkok [day 02]

sunrise in bangkok


me and taxi driver "wan"


team @ HOPE place


that's the Grand Palace


@ the Grand Palace


dun frown... let me tickle you...


tuktuk... the roller coaster on the road



the Thai King was there addressing to the nation last dec!



the world largest golden teak mansion... belongs to King Rama V



ok ok ok... fine... i admit... i am homesick...

bangkok [day 01]

from the left to right

liping, qiaoping, shuling, jasmine, ritchie

jas & ritchie on their way to Rompo Mansion

the view's pretty good at Rompo...

this is the raan aahaan that Pastor Pakich treated us!

in return, i treat him to swensons...

this black chip is the "card" for the subway in bangkok. works like our EZlink card.

thai camp: mission heartbeat

not just excitement but E-X-C-I-T-E-M-E-N-T

i am excited not just about the camp... but the group that's going also!!!

the group is pretty diversified! we got pastor YanFang, ellson & qping from uni, ritchie from NS, shuling & liping from poly and Jo-N from TWAM. [btw yan fang => jasmine]

Praise the Lord for the experience... Thai camp is indeed very spirit filled and the warmth of the thai bros and sis simply amazes me...

MISSION SUNDAY is the segment which i was looking forward to. i want to see what God will speak to me through pastor PN's preaching. it was fantastic! i felt my heart stirring and burden increased for the lost. i had came to thailand for confirmation about my mission heartbeat for the 3rd world countries. i had to have genuine burden for mission because mission is pain staking, diffcult and even dangerous and without genuine burden, it is impossible to press on when situations arises. i was struck by pastor PN's statement, "if you do not have burden, make a decision, then pray for burden." immediately, i realised that everyone SHOULD have burden for mission... be it go-er or send-er.... as i prayed, my heart pumped faster and faster... it wasnt fear or anxiety... in fact, i felt peaceful... it was pumping with excitement! i just responded during the altar call and got up the stage...

today i went to for my 2nd round interview at gericke and i got the job! praise the Lord! this job allows me to travel to countries in the asia pacific region... i eagerly await to see how this may help in mission...

i responded... what about you?

power of remembering

bodyshop tea tree facial foam... woah... my brother sure knows how to pamper himself! haha... let me use just a little.. he wouldnt know... haha :P

smells very familiar... where did i smell this before... with a jolt [how B1 will behave will he ask if B2 knows what he is thinking], i remember the period of time where i attribute this scent to... it was about 4 years ago and my face was filled with acne... with the exception of my eyelids and lips... the rest of my face is.... *haiz* anyway the tea tree smell had brought back some memories that i had tried to convince myself as mere nightmare.... haha...

more than once, memories which i had forgotten, came back to me with the aid of certain smell, scent or even sights...

*axe brand medical oil in air condition environment reminds me of a time when my mum had motion sickness during a ride from pontian

*心太软 reminds me of my first puppy love from mayflower

*wen jiang reminds me of the sentence 'ellson, 你还要做christian吗?'

human beings are very prone to the illness called "out of sight, out of mind". that i believe is one of the main reason why Jesus instituted the Holy Communion. it is for us to remember of His Promise, His sacrifice and that He is coming back! preparing the Lord's supper is a form of SERVICE on to Him, sharing a word about it is WORD, partaking with brothers and sisters is FELLOWSHIP and committing our lives with it in mind is PRAYER... its a 4-in-1 ceremony. really glad to have the gift of Holy Communion to remind these simple yet important Truths...

so let us remember 20032007 as well.... :)

uni bro meeting...

just came back... yeah... a little late in the night... but it was all worth it... i had a meeting just now... with WJ, ben, tim, weilong, jan and me... it was a wonderful time of open sharing and somehow, i felt that it is going to be the begining of spiritual revival in uni district... esp the brothers! we had discussed some things that can help the brothers to grow to become leaders in the future... this is afterall what God had in mind for man... man are suppose to lead as a shepherd, a watever L, a husband and a father... so brothers... be excited! be anxious about everything that is to come... revival is coming...

the sad part is that i lost 2X dota... haha... WJ & WL just like to gang me... :(

sabbatical rest

today i had a sabbatical rest... a break from work and ministry... though i did played a game of dota... haha...

i went swimming in the afternoon and i totally enjoyed the experience! initially, i wanted to tan only... but i just couldn't resist gliding through the water... then i realised that i had gotten back my love for swimming...

due to a severe lack of stamina, i need to rest every 2 laps... haha... but this is how i had the chance to observe fatherly love in action. it was quite entertaining to see the father and the son playing together... they were playing this scissor, paper stone game underwater. who ever lose will have to stay submerged... haha... imagine you lose continuously for 5 times... felt kinda sweet and something that i would like to happen in my life... not that i want to play scissor paper stone with my father underwater... but i would like to have that kind of bond once again... this is something that i would rather die than to have in the past... but God changed me... and now i await to see miracles happening in my household... really hope that one day, i can sing this song

"as for me and my house, we going to serve the Lord"

thank God for today... that i can relax a little... be recharged for service tomorrow!

i shall continue with my sabbatical rest with some simple readings... tata~

water baptism 11th mar 2007

*sorry this took a long time... blogspot was chu-ing pattern*
about 70 ppl obeyed the Lord on 11th mar 2007! it was water baptism ceremony! thank God for the convictions and courage that they are willing to take the plunge of faith!


church level events are always good for meeting people you dont usually see yet you want to see... here's my ex shepherd, lixiong!


that's jeff in the watery grave!


XC looks attentive while WJ is...

dun worry... its only 1.2m

erm... superman just flew past?

part of the NUS family...

from left to right:

jeff's cert, ellson, jeff's poster, jeff, jeff''s book, jan

stop hurting and start living

i am one of those people that loves to take bus rides! haha... i really dun mind to travel long distance but i do hate changing bus haha... 165 -> 96... sianz! haha... anyway, there was a time i saw this eagle brand advertisement. "stop hurting and start living" it is pretty true isnt it. the heading is pretty self explanatory and i wouldnt write further...

last NUSA1 cg...

sad but true... today we had our very last outing as a cg. we are soon going to be separated into 2 different groups... ellson, guan, ven and juan... dai, ruisi, kaili and GX...

just now, we went to tian quan there to eat zi cha. haha... got chiliy kangkong, spicy fish, butter prawn, JIA JIANG chicken, mushroom XIAO BAI CAI, TOU FU and TANG YUAN!!!

cg @ tian quan


pic with uncle ronald at serene centre


reverse-O, burnt caramel, teh tetrik, lemon, pineapple tart, chendol ice creams!!!


cg @ island creamy

juan eating dai!!! haha....


everyone wants juan...


if i cant have you in my group, i just have to eat you!

even the nice nice ven is torturing ruisi

Spiritual dumbbells

"The LORD will make you the head, not the tail."
deuternomy 28:13

all Christians are supposed to live a victorious life... Pastor Jeff likes to say this, we should not in church 一条龙 outside 一条虫. How true... Many of us can pray, shout and roar like valiant godly warriors but AWOL when monday comes.

a close friend shared this to me, he said this friend, A who was HS baptised but was behaving as if he wasnt empowered by God at all. my friend was somehow affected by how his friend was living his life even though he is a christian and also having the ability to pray in the spirit. as taught, one reason why we want to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to be empowered by God. we need God's strength and power to do His work. my friend just couldnt reconciled this difference...

bible says, "...in this world you will have trouble..." God has made it so plain that there will be hardships and the christian walk is not a stroll in the park after meals but a marathon. but let us not forget about the extend of God's love for us.

* though in this world we will have trouble, take heart for our God has overcome the world

*a long gruelling marathon it may be but we have Jesus cheering and handing out powergel and 100plus

think about HS baptism as a gift. an ability to pray in a spirit. it is like a spiritual dumbbell. the more we use it, the stronger our inner man will me. and when we become stronger, we can ask God for more spiritual gifts. it will be like upgrading a 10kg dumbbell to a 15kg one. on the other hand, this ability can strengthen us only if we use it. a dumbbell will just be rusting away unless it is used for training.

all of us will have IPPT at the end of our times so let us train diligently with the dumbbells that we are given.

*side note*
cheese & egg prata, egg & onion prata and plain crispy prata! haha... i had these for dinner yesterday! it's been a while since i eat till shiok! haha... thanks, flince! for coming over to have dinner with me! :)

thanks, Dad... for the mulligan

my first interview!

i had my first interview on friday 2pm 26th Jan at a jap company called TLV pte ltd... it was my very very very first interview! the company was situated at sindo building in tannery road... since it was the first time i was there, i decided to take a cab there... i mean, you dun wan to appear sweaty and tired before the interviewer, right? and guess wat... the moment i got down from the cab... i got this nostalgic feeling... i think i have been here before but i just couldnt pinpoint when... anyway, i went to the company for the interview and he was very friendly and had actually drew me a map and taught me how to get to the nearest bus stop! woah! i would love to work with him! i really hope that i can get the job because it offers me a chance to travel overseas to places like china, japan, vietnam and many more! think about all the mission opportunities! woah! it makes me sooooooo excited just by thinking about it... anyway, as i left the building and followed his directions... i saw my landmark! haha... i was really here before! haha... when i was in the army, i used to come here to run errands... and i was particularly fond of a logistic building! haha. it had the name SYH logistic private limited... haha... coolz right? haha

SYH logistics... vision of my own company? haha.. hopefully...

heart of worship

I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself
Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

worship is not restricted to worship songs nor praise songs... worship is more than music... it is our life... in the book of romans, it says "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." every little thing we do, as long as it is holy [biblical] and pleasing to God, it is worship...

"heart of worship", a song that was written by Matt Redman. there was a period of time when his pastor banned all singing in their services taught in church to teach them about the true meaning of worship and during this time, they learnt how to worship in other ways. this is what that inspired Matt to write the song...

heart of worshipp is a matter of the heart

"do not let circumstances tell you about God's love"

"do not let circumstances tell you about God's love"

during the service, a sister named stefanie mentioned this in her testimony. how true it is... it is easy to love God when times are sweet... when life's filled with honey... when everything seems to go your way... but when things and circumstances are against you... it becomes harder... much harder to love God.

Joy is based on God's goodness and Happiness is based on happenings... cliche yet true... rick warren mentioned in his book [the "20 millions sold worldwide" book], that life is a test, a trust and a temporary assignment...

a test to gauge the authenticity of our love for God...
a time to build our trust in God
a time to build our character through temporal assignments to determine our heavenly standing

so let us not treat circumstances as a determinant to God's love but let the very fact of the demise of His Son prove His Love.... God doesnt owe us a living... we do... in any case, He already have rooms for us in the heavenly realm and we are going to stay there forever... what more can we ask?

some interesting stuff....

this is one funny cat... it likes to sleep on top of my bro's fridge... haha... i think someone was disturbing it and it is trying to get back to sleep... cuter than jesse's baby! haha



this 2 chalets are at HOMETEAM NS... a funny location... it is just beside the golf course... if you want to get away from the city... this is the place... more ulu then aloha changi... sacarsms or compliments... you decide...



very sianz... i tot the mutton soup will taste as nice as it looks... but it is too salty... i dun dare to say it too loud though... in case the chef comes out with his chopper... i cant fight as well as zhang ziyi.... better keep it to myself....



my kid found this phone in japan airport... it is really a cool phone... wonder why you dun get these in singapore..... iphones come quick and deliver us!

kboxing [my 4th time]

my girls [and ah gong] finally have the chance to witness their papa's singing powess... they must be applying ointment to their ears now... haha...

the group @ clementi Kbox


the only thing that can distract me from posing for pic... being totally engrossed in singing!!!


forcing ah gong to sing!!! haha....


i guess guan freaked out so much [by ellson's singing] that she is calling for help!