Moving on from Christmas

Moving on from Christmas, this is the time to start reflecting on the past year and start planning for the upcoming year.

So what will my resolutions for 2012 be? And how have I performed for 2011? I guess you will find out on New Year day itself.

Would really like to spend the countdown at airport but see how lah...

Testimony on Straits Time

I never thought Straits Times would publish such stories, but I am impressed that they did. Yet I wonder how many people really read them and ponder on the real meaning of Christmas rather than thinking Christmas as just a merry day of feasting and giving?

Moved by God's love after fall
Chinese national Liu Chengyu, who works as an electrician here, is celebrating his first Christmas because of a spinal fracture from a bad fall in July.
The former atheist, who found God through the ordeal of his injury, said: 'I used to think Christmas had something to do with Santa Claus but the day had no meaning for me until now.'
Tonight, the 44-year-old from Jiangsu province will stand before a 500-strong audience at the Fairfield Methodist Church Chinese Christmas service in Tanjong Pagar Road to share his conversion.
His injury happened when his then employer asked him to repair a light at the workers' dormitory in Punggol where he lived. He lost his balance on an unstable ladder and fell 2m.
Mr Liu received a basic checkup at a hospital, was given some painkillers and discharged the same day. He was back at work after four days of rest. 'I had no choice. If I didn't work, my family in China would have no money,' said the father of a five-year-old daughter and an unemployed 22-year-old son. His spouse is a housewife.
But the pain in his lower back became so agonising that he lost his appetite for 10 days. His employer, however, refused to take him to hospital again so he went on his own.
During his 10-day hospitalisation in August, doctors found that he had a compression fracture in a lower spine vertebra. They advised against an operation as he would risk paralysis.
His employer insisted he pay the $6,000 hospital bill before it reimbursed him, except he had no money. Then his one-year contract expired in September and he found himself out of work. He had no roof over his head too. 'I felt suffocated by my burdens,' Mr Liu said.
At the urging of friends from his former workplace, he attended the migrant worker church service at Fairfield Methodist Church 'to find hope'. He said: 'At the service, I was deeply moved by the love of God and I felt my burdens lifting.' He was baptised a month later.
He eventually found temporary housing with a friend. A lawyer is helping him pro bono to recover medical fees from his former boss.
Because of Mr Liu's medical condition, he is still in pain and unable to sit or stand for long periods, but he does not blame God.
'I am born into a world of sin so suffering is normal. But the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas to save sinners like me gives me strength to carry on,' he said.
Huang Lijie

Musing about Christmas

For to us a child is born
To us a son is given... - Isaiah 9:6a

Entering into Christmas, it is intriguing to see people wishing Jesus 'happy birthday' on Facebook and Twitter. But the more I think about it, the more inaccurate I feel.

I was just musing, how can it be that Christmas is the birthday of Jesus? Technically speaking, Christmas is not the birthday of Jesus, because the son is not born, He is given. He has existed eternally. Remember that the Word is with God, and the Word is God? Now, if Jesus is eternal, can someone tell me why are we celebrating His birthday? Isn't birthday a celebration of creation? Yet, I think there are reasons to continue to celebrate if we mean the arrival of the God incarnate on Earth.

All in all, at this stage, I just find it weird to celebrate Christmas as the birthday of God. It just doesn't sound right.

Christmas isn't Christmas till it happens in your heart

As a worshipper

And so I served my last time as a stage guitarist for Uni-YA.

For those who are wondering, I did not opt to step down because I am facing problems and issues. Neither is it because of my lack of spiritual life. It is also not because of my lack in skill. In fact, I felt that over time, my own skill has improved a lot and my musical acumen has grown over the past year in serving. It is also interesting to note that I am beginning to be able to fully express myself in worship when I am playing the guitar for praise and worship.

As I reflect through the past one year or so, it has been short but it has been exciting for me, as a worshipper of God. Tiring as it may be due to the need to go for practice and reach service venue early, as well staying back late for evaluation, the price for serving on stage has never been too great as the joy I experience by serving on stage. It is like Eric Liddell who told his sister that when he ran, he felt God's pleasure. It is as if for me, when I played on stage, I felt God's pleasure.

A lot of my reflections from my first time still stand, as I have posted back in 27 July 2010.

It is also interesting to hear comments that I always look happy while playing on stage. Result of joy from the Lord perhaps.

I will miss serving on stage. The reason why I stepped down is to focus more on mission work, and pastoral duties. I never thought I will need to do that one day. One year ago, I thought I could handle pastoral duties with floor managing and stage guitaring. One year on, I guess it is time for me to be more focused and not let myself be towed down by other stuff.

Till next time we serve again, I will never forget the fun we had serving together as a Uni-YA band.

Testing some functions

Just testing some functions in Google.

Thanksgiving

I was in the Celebrate Africa event earlier this evening, and during praise and worship, the worship leader mentioned something along the line to ask us to remember how God has brought us through all these years. I thought it was interesting, because it was right at Nexus 6 years ago on 10 Dec that I began my journey with the Lord. How funny is it that 6 years on and I was standing there in Nexus listening about the mission works currently being done in Africa.

But yet, as we continue to pray and fast for the season, I think it is an apt time for us to give thanks to the Lord, for who He is, for He is good and His love endures forever. 

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” - Exodus 3:14

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever. - Psalm 118:1

If there are nothing else we can give thanks to God for, we give thanks to Him for He is good, His love endures forever. That is the love that dies for us while we are still sinners. We give thanks to God for who He is, not who we think He is, nor who other people conjure Him up to be. And I ask myself, what can I give thanks for for all these years?

Give thanks to Him for the family He has given me. They have provided for me well all these years.

Give thanks to Him for the country I am born in. It has sheltered me well all these years.

Give thanks to Him for the education I have been provided. It has molded me well all these years.

Give thanks to Him for the friends I have made in schools all these years. It has been fun.

Give thanks to Him for my first lifegroup in Hope. They have worked hard and prayed hard for my salvation.

Give thanks to Him for my second lifegroup in Hope, and the first one I led. They have endured a lot of my nonsense and inexperience as a noob LGL. And they have brought much fun in the times we have together.

Give thanks to Him for my third lifegroup in Hope. I lump my time in YG transition, Jan's LG and eventually Weiling's LG together. It was the time when I experience great support in the LG while I searched for job.

Give thanks to Him for my fourth lifegroup in Hope, and the current one I'm leading. You taught me a lot on fellowship. To grow from a LG starting from three to now, it was not easy but the fellowship is worth it.

Give thanks to Him for my sheep all these years. They have too endured a lot of my nonsense.

Give thanks to Him for the CLM of my batch. Those are great fellowship and support. There was always great laughter and encouragement everytime we gather.

Give thanks to Him for the MACHO back in the NUS days. It was great having a bunch of brothers with similar vision for God serving together.

Give thanks to Him for the various matric committees that I have served in. I have learned a lot from these experiences and it refined me as a disciple in all these experience.

Give thanks to Him for the YG Camp 2011 committee and the YG conference committee 2010. Those were great privilege to be planning camps and conferences that had impact on people's lives. I am glad to be able to be part of that.

Give thanks to Him for the usher ministry. Though I am no longer a usher, those years in ushering molded me too. I started off as an usher, it will always be a special ministry in my heart.

Give thanks to Him for the worship ministry. It is in the worship ministry that I discover a passion in worship. Though I find freedom in worship playing guitar for God, I will soon be stepping down from the ministry. Yet those were great times.

And many more.

Brothers and sisters, what can you give thanks to God for today? There is still one thing we can give thanks for if all else fail, that He gave us His one and only Son. That's the reason we celebrate Christmas, isn't it?

那些年

看了这部电影，还真的让俺感触几深一下。

想起那些年，高中暗恋的女生。。。

那些年，高中在教室里踢的足球。。。

那些年，学校胡闹的日子。。。

那些年，当兵吃蛇的日子。。。

那些年，在路上看过，在网路上聊过的女生。。。

那些年，打的电动。。。

那些年，在大学留在教室念书的日子

那些年，在大学捡到的ち，养过的猫。。。

等等。。。等等。。。

也有几句话说的不错，例如男人在喜欢的女孩子面前，其实是很胆小的。我现在还是在喜欢的女孩子面前一样胆小。。。

虽然已没像当年那么幼稚，但是比以往更笨，更白痴。。。我是指在喜欢的女孩子面前的时候。。。

回味。。。 那些年

Remembering His Story

It just so happens that this week is a time of reflecting and evaluating my own walk with God. It is a good time to do so too, especially when all the events confluence together to make it a special time to do so. I will hope to elaborate more on this on Saturday. But as I was reflecting, I was reminded of Psalm 78:

My people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth with a parable;
I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
things we have heard and known,
things our ancestors have told us.
We will not hide them from their descendants;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob
and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
to teach their children,
so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,
and they in turn would tell their children.
Then they would put their trust in God
and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands.
They would not be like their ancestors—
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him. - Psalm 78:1-8

I do believe that there is a reason for God to exhort His people to remember His deeds. This consistently happens throughout the OT when God or the protagonists set up markers to remember the things God has done for them. One incident that I can remember clearly comes from Joshua:

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” 

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” - Joshua 4:1-7

The act of reminding ourselves the deeds of God serves to... well... remind ourselves of His deeds in our lives. This may sound a bit 'duh' but I just thought to myself, how many times do we apply the 'Recency rule' in our lives and based our relationship with God on the current events of our lives, without thinking through what He has done before that? A lot of time, we may have lost track of our own walk in God because we have lost track of what He has done and the miraculous transformation of our rebellious heart into one that follows Him.

Even as we pray for Christmas, pray for harvest, pray for anything and everything, let's ask ourselves if we have really set up sufficient markers in our own journey with God where we can remind ourselves of His faithfulness and goodness in our lives? Do we look back and marvel at His majesty and wonders in turning our lives inside out since the day we were found? Our history is indeed His Story.

Oceans will part

It was very ironic. I was happily running my marathon somewhere towards the 25km mark (I think) and suddenly I found my muscle rub cream missing. As a result I decided to slow down and started walking instead. Halfway walking towards MCE, I was looking at the sea, and thought to myself... I don't like the sea and ocean after my STM (I think I was having that thought or somewhere along the line of making sense of my feelings towards the sea).

Perhaps God has a sense of humor which no one can comprehend. Just then, my MP3 was playing the song - Oceans will part.

I guess God has a way to make us slow down so that He can meet with us and speaks to us. How ironic, when we are singing Oceans will part, oceans parted and destroyed life, and I wonder if people really know what they are singing about, when they ask God to show them the work of His hands, when it is not going to accept the answer.

I guess I am still in the midst of making sense of what I saw in Japan. But following that, I think it was good 3 hours plus walk with God and hearing from Him, being ministered by His Spirit.

When I watched this video on Chris Tomlin narrating the process of recording the world edition of 'How great is our God', I just felt the same way as I did in my previous post. God deserves to be honored in every languages and tongues.

Feel like leading a multi-language PnW now...

我神 真伟大， Besarlah Tuhan!

I was on my way back home when I was thinking of the world edition of Chris Tomlin's How Great is Our God. Something touched me deep within on the bus. It is the fact that God is and can be praised and worshipped in all tongues and languages - a fact that should make it worthwhile for us to go the effort to witness His gospel. And this by itself testifies His greatness.

How great is our God
All will sing
How great is our God
All will see
How great, how great is our God

我神真伟大
歌颂你圣名，真伟大
全地都看见
我神真伟大

Besarlah Tuhan
Puji Dia
Besarlah Tuhan
S'luruh semesta ajaib
Besarlah Tuhan

なんて偉大な
我らの主あなたわ
全地わ知る
偉大な神

(Sorry, only able to provide the translations in languages which I understand... to ensure a certain degree of accuracy over what I took from the internet)

And John said in Revelations that he looked and 'there before him was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb'.

And there they worshipped the Lord.

Besarlah Yesu.