Heart for a change , heart for a moving God

Yay! Today is 27 December!! It’s just merely 5 days more to 1 January 2008!!! Thinking of it, time really fly so super-fast in this year… many a times, we are so happy celebrating the start of the new year but we somehow forget certain things that we should draw learning points from and things that we must be grateful for!

First things first, the most best thing I am REALLY SO HAPPY is that I’ve welcomed God into my life!! Yay! All thanks to Bernard into LETTING ME KNOW CHRIST! It’s really something indescribable in my life… accepting Jesus into my life, a tower of refuge and strength, a pillar of support of motivation, and a God of Love and Compassion! People say they see my grow a lot spiritually, some things which I don’t even know myself till now! But at the crème of the top, its all to God who made me of who I am right now! Grow spiritually? God’s works. Being a shepherd? Also God’s works!! As the statement quoted from the bible - “ We are not saved by our own works, but by God’s grace.” God’s grace saved me! And yes, He really did!!

Mann… God really reminded me of his grace and kindness…it brought me back some memories before I knew this God.. and when I see how joyful I am right now , how a changed person I am right now , and when I see how changed I am , I just couldn’t stop praising God … YES GOD IS IN THE BUSINESS OF CHANGING AND TRANSFORMING LIVES ! My life was changed… and yes I know its eternal… what about YOURS?

I have grown myself of being a better sheep, a better caregroup member, and YES!! BEING A SHEPHERD!! That’s one goal I made to myself - a shepherd by end of December!! To say, after I converted to Christ in August, being a shepherd just crossed my mind! But little did I realize that God answered my prayer of faith during camp! The role of a shepherd is not a bed of roses - but with God leading me to it, nothing is impossible. (For God nothing is impossible - Luke 1:37) SMALL FAITH → GREAT MIRACLES!




I have had known much more brothers and sisters in my church!! It’s really a lot!! From the day I converted, from one friend I knew, my social circle grew tremendously!! Just wanna to thank those who supported me throughout this few months, lets grow together!!

I believe even YOU have sinned, or did many wrong things that you shouldn’t have done it. Shall we all honestly and courageously admit all the sins we have made to God right now?? Sins are not-escapable things on Earth. If we run away from our sins, the sins that we committed cross our mind. We don’t even pay attention to why we committed them. So shall we lay out all our sins and promise ourselves that we’ll prevent it from happening??

It is HARD but POSSIBLE. I have done it. Succeeded! So can you! Lets be a bunch of victorious Christians who are brave to admit ourselves. Remember? Human beings are SINNERS! Its called human nature. Admit them. But we always repent them!! So lets bravely admit, repent them, and have a heart of repentance!

Repenting is a hard thing, but if we GET OUT FROM OUR COMFORT ZONES AND DO IT, it’s possible. It’s a magical change.

So people, for whatever we have done in this year, lets continue. If we do good things, lets continue. If we do bad things, put a STOP for it. Why do bad things? Is it worthwhile? I do bad things before, like saying expletives, I admitted and I changed. But because I let God be in control of this sin and he changed me!!

Have a great 2008 and in whatever problems, lets seek God - for He gives the very best to us and not the less!

Here’s my very own quote to end this year:

“ Nothing is the world can’t be done. As Napoleon said - Impossible is found in the dictionary only for fools. Nothing in the world is limited. What is limited is only found in your mind and thinking.”
~~ Eugene Saw.

An additional Christmas gift!

Yoyo!

Haha this gift is actually given to me on a day before Christmas Eve, by my Shepherd!

And that is ………… I AM ALREADY A SHEPHERD!

Wo-hooooo!! haha.. God has met my objective of being a shepherd !

And my sheep is……………… BENJAMIN !

Haha… you may not think this may be a gift… but HEY ! No ! This is an everlasting gift ! A gift of being a Shepherd !

This wish of mine started when Samuel (siew) and Rubin converted to Christ on the same day ! That day I was really very eager to know who the shepherd of each of them was!! I kept on telling them , “ If you guys convert , I’ll be your Shepherd!”

Haha… quite pai seh… did not kept my word… haha no lurhs… at least they are placed in good shepherds too !

Hey Ben , I’m your shepherd now ! And I really guys we’re kinda fated to be shepherd-sheep.. we’re in the same class , same school , same level , same church , same Caregroup !! which I don’t know if others sheps-sheeps have this same kind of fate !!


I’ll work hard being one !

You be a good sheep and I’ll be a greater shepherd !

Take care !

For those who still desires to be a shepherd or CL , no worries , if God can answer this prayer for me , God can do the same to you too!

Remember , our God is not a God who has favoritism on other people! Amen !


Today's Inspirational Quote:

"Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an
opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer,
service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To
yourself, respect."

-- Oren Arnold

I had a special Christmas! Did you?

Hello!! And Merry Christmas to you and all readers!! haha.. this day is one which I really anticipate after converting into Christ since August… all because today is the day which Jesus Christ was born! Yes ! To many Christians and new-believers , Merry Christmas to you and your family and may God bless you tremendously in every area of your life!

Today is also a day where I had the BEST Christmas so far !! Remembering last year , Christmas to me was nothing , because I did not find any significance in celebrating it… duh?? But now Christmas is one which every Christian in the world , male or female MUST celebrate for the born of Christ ! Cos Christmas is made up of the word “Christ” ! But to me in the Eugene’s version , Christmas = Christ + Mas where Mas = Massive ( e.g. massive event worth celebrating for!) Amen !

Well this year Christmas started special. Not because I did it , but because the WEST family did it !! haha… thanks to the people who planned this ! You guys are great ! We had Christmas Caroling ! It simply means carol = singing ! Yes ! We planned for Caroling to be done on Christmas Eve , and its really worth it much more than I thought ! haha… cos this was my first time caroling , I had doubts like “What are we gonna do all while?” but it was really done so great ! cos we wanna live up the name of Jesus Christ !



The whole West folks met and we exchanged prezzies at Kaien house…his house is worth storing up to 30-40 people at one time… we fellowship , made friends , gift exchanges and we also did a surprise celebration for our DL , Dewen !! Haha… happy bade Dewen !

We rehearsed 3 carols and I can say my group’s a bunch of great singers !! haha…. Btw thanks to Keith , our guitarist.. we started off at about 8:30pm and ended at around 10pm …yeah… we went to about 5 houses I think… and they are really big houses… terraces… although we may face couple of rejections , but as u know , our happiness at the end of the day overtook the sadness of our rejections !! it was really very very great…. We moved from house-to-house and still I don’t understand is that ALMOST EVERY APARTMENT OWNS A DOG !! hey, and they’re really sometimes huge in size… so we cracked jokes like , “ Are we caroling or visiting the Zoo?” haha!

The residents of some apartments which we caroled in were really very hospitable people ! I think almost two of our houses we went , the residents were with great hospitality that they treated to us drinks and food !! ( cos as it was the Eve of Christmas , majority of the houses we went into were either having family reunion dinner or BBQ) and furthermore terraces are HUGE…so they allowed us to enter to carol for them…

So actually after we caroled , the residents told us to stay for drinks and some fruits… and food ! haha.. one very special visit , the family had just coincidentally perhaps ended their BBQ , so I guessed they had many unfinished food.. so they told us to stay and eat !! haha… it was really so so good… food like Satay , Prawns , Chicken Wings , Sausages were treated !! haha I believed God rewarded us with this treat after knowing how hard we worked..

Some residents asked about our church and one of them even knew our Pastor !! and if I’m not wrong she even said that she would write to Pastor Jeff complimenting about our visit !

Haha… to end off , folks , TRUE CHRISTMAS IS :

“ MAKING OTHERS HAVE A BETTER CHRISTMAS”

Simple.

No gifts , no matter how expensive , can replace the true happiness of a real Christmas.

How many of you love camps?

Hello! xD

Yes, I’m back after a smashing good time at Singapore Sports School! If you have read my previous post, you will find out that this camp at SSS is my church biannual camp held twice a year! And its called…The X29 - It’s our Chapter! Hmmm…. Why X29? Cos in the bible , in the book of ACTS , it only ends at chapter 28 ! so in this camp , we gotta this mission to do our own chapter , the X29 ! ( A.K.A - Acts 29) … Got it?? Hehe… ;)

Haha… can you describe what’s the main difference between church camp and a school camp? Well to me, church camp is lot more interesting and fun-filled in every day and every night of me! And have that when we play, we rock the place upside down, but when we listen, we put our ears in it! When we want noise, we create noise for you! But when we want silence, it can be a silent … very silent.

This X29 camp has really touched my live so so much! God has spoken to me in worshipping sessions and teachings, God has taught me many life values that I can bring back to my sheeps, God has moved me so much that I cried (publicly), God has stirred so much during this camp… Amen!

I remembered days leading to the camp I was really very very busy with ministry..my other brothers and sisters had like already 5 camps each , and me?! Only two!! Sad me… haha… previous one was at OBS .. … Monday, Wednesday & Friday had WFL , Wednesday had CG , Thursday had Shepherding , and Saturday had West Harvesters ! But I really wanna thank all people who help me “organized my week” for me , that is that each and every event involve God - so never a time will I feel lonely

Well X29 ! - Why? Okay if you are a Christian , X29 will mean Acts 29 in the bible , so since Acts only ended in chapter 28 , we gotta that mission to write our new chapter ! - X29 : Its our new chapter !

4D3N for $120 … worth it?? Haha… its really worth it with all of the things added all up together, plus facilities and accommodation, food, environment, I believe $120 is a small sum of money the church REALLY PUT IT MUCH MORE THAN $120 - so … we should not dread about the price yeah?

In this camp I also learnt a lot of values such as teamwork and unity, lots of lots of love from our dear people … one example I wanna share is that during the first day of camp was games , so there were games like Captain’s Ball and Hockey - sticks done ourselves ( btw wanna thank my shepherd Yunian for staying up till 7pm after shepherding just doing it for me ! Love ya!) So one of the hockey games I was called to play - representing the whole unit of West

So , okay , I went down with nervousness… I mean duh ( who never had it)… got the rules cleared and game started ! Few minutes after start-off , that time was really really not easy defending against one of the other districts… and I was really really thirsty… Few minutes later I saw my WHOLE WEST UNIT come down , right from the seating gallery to the playing field ! That time I was really very touched , no matter whether people who came down and supported us knew me or the other of the other of the teammates , what their simple action - of coming down and supporting down - just having their presence in me , scored 100% in teamwork. Nothing else. Thanks WEST and thanks people to Dewen , Christine , Yunian for coming up with the cheer !

I really had too much fun …. Just simply too much… one main thing was that I really love our PRAISE & WORSHIP ! Yup ! the songs are terribly great , the meaning in them are wonderfully awesome ! and after every teaching , our worship and praise can be so spirit-led that we don’t mind overshooting it ! like one example we had this P&W “concert” all the way until 1:30am , WITH PEOPLE ASKING FOR MORE! Really so so cool…

Well I felt God spoke to me tremendously over this four days… he really stirred my heart so much that one time of the camp.. I think the last 2 nights , while we sang “I love my family of God” , I really cried all out - God had indeed placed my in a wonderful family of God - children of God where we listen to God’s word and play in God’s presence - like during PRIASE ! that time I really remembered how much my whole CG and unit supported me all the way - my CG respected me , and my whole UNIT came down just to support me during the Games. Thanks, my dear people.

Well during this camp , haiz…. It really ended so fast.. !! 4D3N is so fast… haha… but I’m glad that during this camp , I really learnt lots of things - making friends , treasuring love for one another , the value of love , the importance of respecting one another… and also knowing how much God loves you !

Just wanna give the best kudos to the many people who really taught me the word of God -the brothers , the pastors , my leaders… thanks ! Still remembered on the last night Christine had DMM at 4am after resonance and Dewen met the guys at 2:30am… persevering leaders never fail to get committed followers… amen…

So let me end this post with another quote:

( Kudos to all people) :

Today's Inspirational Quote:

"An inexhaustible good nature is one of the most precious
gifts of heaven, spreading itself like oil over the troubled
sea of thought, and keeping the mind smooth and equable in the
roughest weather."

There are so many things installed in December!

Hello!

From today till the last day of the month, God already has planned so many things in the month! I always know He wants us to end this year 2007 with a big bang.. and also end it with fun and vivid memories ! Praise the Lord !

Well in this month , there will be events from church leadership courses( which’s completed) , the X29 camp at S.S.S , church’s party @ Suntec City , Youth Christmas Party @ Sentosa , HGSS class gathering … so many more… and also my dear Jesus’s birthday ! Agrhh….. CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!!!

I really also wanna add another benefit of being a Christian , and that’s is being a Christian has so many happy moments of praise and worship , but , being in a great church also adds as another God’s blessings…. Hope’s really great I tell you…

I still remembered before I was a Christian , my month of December would be really boring… what really occupied me was going to the library ( lame right?) , surfing the net… and MSN with my friends… that’s all ! Sounds like its very normal to you , yes to me having this “plan” is really killing me from boredom… so sometimes holidays I don’t really like… cos I have no siblings , I have quite little external activities…. Just at home facing the “ four walls like a prison”…

So all thanks to Bernard , (he’s the one who first brought me to church) , one who made an all-good impression in my mind , I am under the wonderful house of my great church … and you know what? Saturday, which is church day , is one of my MOST EXCITED day in the whole week… cos that day not I’m gonna meet my brothers and sisters , but I’m PRAISING GOD AND THANKING HIM with all my heart ! Amen !

Well basically my church courses is $15 over a 3-day period…. We talked about

a. Essential Spiritual & Self Management
b. CG dynamics
c. Discussion GPS
d. Outreach
e. Follow up
f. Shepherding ( it really touched me most in this part)

So is talking , teaching and teachings… but of course our course teacher isn’t that siao lah.. haha…. He chose not to go from the “ textbook way “ which can say its TRADITIONAL ! He taught us through his own real life examples…. Games and activities… ice breaking session ( in which I really made great brothers and sis ) .. and most important invaluable teachings I bring back…and I can say every teaching really hit me… ( in the sense it touched my heart)

So one day we were spilt up into groups … and luckily God blesses me that I’m in the group where all the Westlanders ( West people) are in…. actually I initiated the idea of it one larh… haha…. But to say out of my perspective if you’re in a group of the people you know , it makes work and life so much smooth and easy…
So we were told to plan for one Christmas Matthew Party and one game for Christmas if I’m not wrong…. So ok as Bernard as the team leader I was at peace…haha

And so we planned and planned… cracked for our brains for minutes and minutes… finally came to an idea… but to say even though our plans did not draw much votes and laughter , but I felt that it is the team spirit that counts , not the rewards we get at the end … amen?

This course taught me many many many things ! All thanks to God who gave this opportunity to us !!

Yay ! Camp camp camp! Really exciting ! I had went for one before - but its OBS …. Church’s camp is a lot more diff. than OBS or whatsoever… cause when we took the decision to come for this camp to meet God and hear God speaking to us amidst our tight schedule …. God will really bless us so much more ! Amen ! really exciting… I’m really looking forward… its simply indescrible !

Really supporting yunian ( shep ) , Christine ( UL ) in their concerts performance and in everything they do… make WEST C proud hor ! haha… many the Father Lord bless them !!

So so you can see….. so so much of schedule.. class gathering etc etc…. but this month is really meeting God face to face… and also making God known !!!

Amidst so many things that we face everyday , the one who strengthens everything - God.

May God shower you with blessings every moment ! ;)

Today’s quote ( APPLY IT ) :

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you
could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget
them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well
and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with
your old nonsense."

-- Emerson

Blessings? Many to share !

Hello !

During my stay here in Beijing , the blessings I had receive were truly countless.. from badminton to at home to my roundabout flights ! Although my two-weeks stay is relatively short , but I wanna share it !!

Starting from my departure from Singapore , I was kinda worry that I might go lost in the airport , or even juggle up some important procedures… like forgetting to fill in arrival or departure forms etc… but I was rest assured because I “ submitted the worry request” to God through my quiet time and prayers.. so whenever I was worried I would just pray in my heart.. and it works ! Even though sometimes my anxiety still remains.. but prayer is always easier to do than to remember my fears ! Amen !

God really blesses me in my badminton trainings… on the first day of my trainings I was really damm worried that I would find difficulty coping with the new environment and also.. scared of how the coach would train me … as you know.. china coach trains like as if next day would be the Olympics..

My coach and I :



Oops... distracted... !!



But day after day I kept on praying and praying… and I can only say God’s responses to our prayer - but we must be patient ! I was not confident with myself until the third day of training… and what I wanna tell u is that we gotta be patient for God to respond to our prayer… like what Matthew 5:8 says “ God blesses those whose hearts are pure”.. so the thing is when my seek God for anything , make our hearts pure , and we’ll see God answer through our prayers faster than we could imagine.

As days past , my confidence in badminton and my interest in it built up fast.. Everyday my uncle would drive me to the badminton hall at 10am EVERYDAY and fetch me back at 12pm… each day passes like that , but of course lahs with my computer at home , I would sometimes watch movies on Youtube or simply watch tv… So it’s a blessing that God blesses me with the computer mostly !

There was once I was really stressed out for serving the wrong stroke repeatedly and I think that the coach was really fed-up with me … I was really sad with myself… really disappointed… so from that moment onwards I decided to seek God’s mighty help… and in fact in turned out to be very mighty !

Some strokes :







Getting all ready... :)



Is this correct ? Look he has such great kinetic movement whie I'm just lazily standing ! ...



I prayed in my heart for God’s help and that he would be able to bring me confidence and more determination…. And so I “submitted this worry request” to God.. and yes ! He heard from my cry of help…. But honestly I did not feel the change so obviously… we need God to have some time right ? And so yup about 5 minutes later , I did one stroke , one stroke which really made a great difference… suddenly I heard the coach said “hao qiu” - which means good ball in chinese… I was like so so happy in my heart… I was like thanking God lots and lots for answering my call… and yes He will always answer ! Amen !

This was one which still remains in my mind… I couldn’t forget…

Every night I would keep all my friends in prayer… from my school friends to church friends.. to all the friends I have… its really too many to count… but I believe you are in my prayer as well..

Are you one of my friends I chat on MSN with ? If you are , thanks for spending time with me !

There are really blessings I have which maybe too many to write in this entry… but I believe we all experience blessings everytime right ?

Wanna say I really miss you all during Beijing !! So back in Singapore I’m all excited to catch up with you !

Today's Inspirational Quote:

"There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions
as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing
them."

-- Dr. Denis Waitley

Its improvements and improvements.....

Hello !

Simultaneous improvements have been pouring over me again and again... one improvement that I had received is one that its so special.... to me... its also as a encouraging inspiration..

This special achievement is that I have completed the book of John of the bible... to say honestly perservering on to complete the book of John was never easy... there were times that I had complete no interest in reading on.. but I can say God saw my heart and He filled me with encouragements...

After since I conveted to christ in August , my reading had been very inconsistent... I didn't know the order of reading back then... until yunian realized this point while doing unit QT... new believers sequence is John , Matthew , Mark & Luke.. I thought to me that just slipping through the bible and finding any interesting chapters , I just read... but no no no..

While I was doing QT few days back , I didn't know I was fast to completing John... then I saw Matthew.. i was like so happy... finally ! At least I'm moving on and not lagging behind... but I still believe.. - QUALITY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN QUANTITY

So now... i am setting myself personal goals to complete book of Matthew...... as the days go by... even though I'm in BJ now but the word of God still comes in !



Second improvement is that my badminton improved ! After weeks of badminton , I have found that I fell more confident when i step into the court to play... I believe its because that PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT !! The more we practice , the more we train , the more we know about what we're doing and the more we are confident !

These few days of training there were almost-perfect strokes I had... some strokes were careless.. some because I was little distracted with the environment.. but to say... the coach loves giving UNEXPECTED strikes..which surprised me most of the time..

But... I will keep on improving.. until the day where I really give up.. TOUCHWOOD !! What give up ? Bullshit..

haha but if next year I feel that I still need to improve. , I will consider coming back during the June or Dec hols.. in deep consideration,..

well friends... time to knock off.. in whatever u do , all the best !

Today's quote : ( the quote's very good ) :

"Would you like me to give you a formula for... success? It's
quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You're
thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at
all... you can be discouraged by failure -- or you can learn
from it. So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can.
Because, remember that's where you'll find success. On the far
side."

-- Thomas J. Watson, American Businessman, Founder of IBM