Monday, August 27, 2007
God's Providence is:
dropping a guard duty suddenly on your lap at 1pm, as you have nothing on in the afternoon anyway, so that the next time you have something on in the afternoon, you'd have alr done the guard duty that would have got in the way if you hadn't. yay praise the Lord! =)
yup so gonna book in at 1600 ltr. progress on the script is slow, lazy me. coming weekend's army open house... we'll see how it goes lor, hopefully my participation during the weekends would be minimal...? haha.
and yup i survived AHM, thanks for asking. going at 7km/h. some poor guy didnt though, only saw it in the news. just scrape the damn thing la! run so much for what!
manchesterunited 1:57 PM
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Saturday, August 25, 2007
this lil excerpt from the book i'm reading now's quite nice and meaningful, so felt a burden to share it with you guys. dont you just feel so loved. haha. thanks again to marcus for lending me the book... sorry if it's a lil cui now...
in John 13:34-35 Jesus says: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
and in John 17:20-21 Jesus prays: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
so schaeffer says: "in John 13 the point was that if an individual Christian does not show love toward other true Christians, the world has a right to judge that he is not a Christian. here (John 17) Jesus is stating something else which is much more cutting, much more profound: we cannot expect the world to believe that the Father sent the Son, that Jesus' claims are true, and that Christianity is true, unless the world sees some reality of the oneness of true Christians."
well said. hah. especially when the idea behind the upcoming 中秋晚会's bout presenting this family love to a world that's cold and impersonal. looks like we've hit the jackpot hah. thank God! =)
still working on the translation of the script. not so easy, especially with all the adjectives. weekends being burnt certainly wont help. tml's army half marathon, where i'll have to finish 21click without dropping dead after it... and the next weekend will be army open house... duties not confirmed yet, but most likely also kena burnt.
cant you people give me something to look forward to. haha... and oh. 70 bucks left with fifteen more days to go to payday. not so good.
manchesterunited 2:40 PM
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Sunday, August 19, 2007
"I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
that thou might'st ransomed be,
and quickened from the dead.
I gave, I gave My life for thee; what hast thou given for Me?"
today's message and the response hymn was really a big wake up call. if anybody has the hymn pls send me.
Jesus asked in Matthew 16 "who am I?"
in Luke 17:11-19, "where is the other nine?"
John 21 "do you love Me more than these?"
and if you say yes, He says: "feed My sheep."
being the only bass guy today was a lil mad haha. anyway i think i wont be heard la haha. no matter. it's the heart and effort that matters haha. might switch to tenor after all...! we'll see how it goes.
planning for 中秋晚会's going smoothly, all thanks to God's leading. guys mark 220907 on your calenders! haha.
booking in to do army open house saikang tml heh. have no idea what's for the rest of the week though...
manchesterunited 8:04 PM
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Thursday, August 16, 2007
nights out yay haha. came home, the better to watch captain peipei at 2100hrs hah.
just back from battalion exercise, and it's quite amazing the amount of thinking i got to do after the action front drill, sitting back on my layer's seat and fiddling with my rifle... not bringing my handphone outfield helps haha, if not i'll be staring at it again. being in the middle of nowhere does help bring a certain degree of peace and tranquility, mosquitoes not included.
18click at east coast tml before going to movie screening in church. i dunno if i'll last for the whole movie... haha...
well it's time for random musing.
"Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we'll still have each other
You can stand under my umbrella"
haha and i thought this song was quite dumb when i first heard it. yes, rihanna's umbrella, mocked constantly in camp by weili and i for it's dumb chorus of ella ella haha. but after so long i just thought oh well, maybe i shld give this song a chance, maybe hear it again and look a lil closer at the lyrics. for a song that passed thru jay-z's hands it has lyrics that still makes sense, which is in itself quite an achievement. nice. a very very hot music video didnt hurt. yes it's in ipod sure haha.
manchesterunited 8:14 PM
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Sunday, August 12, 2007
okay so now the post national day break's over... haha. it's been a great week in terms of either mind soul or body haha.
oh yes i DO read my tagboard, navi. hah. whether i think they justify a response is another matter though. and yes pee as well you two had me thinking of why i sometimes even bother to blog as well... well i covered it before didnt i haha. but i have a life outside of this blog too you know, so i dont really spend 24/7 here checking the tagboard and really maintaining it and all that...
yes "girlfriend", i know you're a good girl as well haha. and read carefully i wasnt talking about you at all. you and i know we're looking at here dont we. so dont worry haha =) and maybe you can try the 'refresh' button on the tagboard you know... hah.
hello sc! hahaha. you havent been here in a long while la, i've changed it for quite awhile alr. there was still a big hulabaloo about the picture at the top, how it appeared a tad gay-ish... haha.
yup wednesday had a lil parade, and then safety day, then a cock up between the specs and officers and how orders are passed down led to a very long wait for stand by area and then a very long wait before we could finally book out at around 1700+... then went down to church!
instead of the usual wednesday prayer meet there was a special event lined up in view of the next day being national day. we had a session on sacred music... and various people came forward to share bout their favourite hymns and how did it touch their lives... great testimonies, and we are all very encouraged through all the hymns that we sung. great dinner! bread with curry muahaha.
national day ah. besides feeling sour about losing out to charlie bty for doing the 21 gun salute (haha joking all those burnt saturdays last yr!) i watched the parade with not much special feelings. well it's nice that NS40's been emphasized and celebrated but it'd have been better if the govt gave us all 40days off...?! hahah... went to kok hwa's hse with david kang and wilson wang... played some magic... then went to have la mien xiao long bao at ding tai fung with the family... still have the voucher with me who wants hah...
friday, went to meet up with my sister jiajun eleen meiling marcus weiling and later xiaohong and david yam at st andrews cathedral for 2 talks by Youths for Christ, called "perspectives". the first talk was called "code of life", about how we could see that life and nature in general, and biology and the existence of us homo sapiens, is not by mere chance, but because we're all created by the Creator. quoatable quotes;
"so one elephant having a trunk was odd;
but all elephants having trunks looked like a plot." -GK Chesterton.
"an honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that in some sense, the origin of life may appear to be almost a miracle." -francis crick.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
-Psalms 139:13-14
the 2nd talk was by one very funny and eloquent speaker who teaches at NIE, disputing the statement that some atheist intelletuals claim, that believing in religions in general and Christianity specifically is equivalent to "intellectual suicide". he raised a lot of valid points through very clever and funny use of analogies, like the one about crossing roads, the half pack of playing cards and the theory of probability, and how absurd the idea is that the BigBang is a purely random event.
think about it. BigBang is essentially, just by looking at the realms of space time energy and matter, a process of NOTHING suddenly becoming SOMETHING.
in chinese, this'll be called 无中生有. and as chinese we know this phrase isnt very positive haha.
something can be created only by another thing that is of an higher order. the machine which made a handphone is of higher order than the handphone. the man who made the machine is of higher order than the machine.
so can we say with a straight face that nothing is of a higher order than something? where did this something come from?
we can only point at the existance of God, the Ultimate Creator. the first page of the Bible would have showed very clearly how this came about. and since God created this world, how can we use the conditions of this world to find out about Him? it is only due to His grace that we'd actually know about Him. outside of space time energy matter, there's only one way we're left with to believe in Him.
why, through faith, of course.
then went to mingzhu's hse for bible study. dinner was great! there's something about homecooked meals that money just cant buy haha. we're still at the gospel of matthew, which holds a lot of teachings of Jesus for us yep. haha must really stress to pple reading the Bible for the first time that it's comparatively easier to start with the 4 Gospel books than Genesis straight haha. really treasure the fellowship of the chinese nurses, and the chance to play that small part in spreading the Good News to their friends that they bring. i'll get a lil discouraged sometimes when i ask local brothers and sisters along and they dont want to come because of the supposed language barrier... how do i go around this... hmm. seriously i dont feel out of place even tho my chinese's only just 半桶水 haha.
saturday. ypf had games day, then went to join the whole bible study class. and when we're ending 牧师 actually said he's going to get the textbook la. mind you, it's at least a hundred bucks lar. oh well. must really thank God for this blessing to really get to study His word systematically. and the only way to repay this act of grace is to study harder lor.
today was late for service argh. next week's mission sunday, and we're rendering a hymn again haha this time it's 爱，我愿意. as our brothers and sisters from penang are coming over to share about their experiences in their mission trips to northern thailand. i dont think kanchanaburi counts so i cant say i've been there before la haha. and i'm blessed with a lot of help regarding the mid autumn celebrations thanks everyone. it's open to the public as well irregardless of whether you're a Christian or not so guys keep your eyes open for this! i really pray that we'll be given a chance to share the gospel to a lot of pple, especially when this event's target audience is actually young locals like well almost everyone that reads this blog haha.
and for today's YAF yes it's a topic that everyone holds close to heart but stop short of saying yes they're interested haha. topic? "readiness for courtship". yep and we dealt with things like expectations of dating and marriage and definitions and whether one came with the other or not...
恋爱成功三部曲！
1）恒切祷告
2）身心灵预备
3）等候神的应许
yep so in a very small nutshell that was that.
sian thought can blog in peace before i book in... but now my sister wants the com. what can i do. till next week, ciao...
manchesterunited 7:46 PM
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Tuesday, August 07, 2007
well so the pre-national day break's coming to an end... not a bad long weekend actually hah.
sunday, well too bad lar all you bunch of pple that i asked along for service, you guys missed out man. the pseudo-celebration of purim was a blast haha. thus here it's a whole race's testimony of the faithfulness, righteousness, and soverignty of our God. as national day comes we need to remember ourselves and give thanks to Him for watching over our lil red dot as well yeah =)
then went to macritchie to run. wah. the guys can run man. didnt really get over the gastric and all that sleeping on thursday and friday, ended up walking on the return journey... then suddenly out of nowhere i'm being arrow-ed to lead the mid autm fest comm! haha thanks la, we'll see how it goes when it comes to things like "fresh perspectives" heh.
then went up to marcus and weiling's hse to shower and burn time before going for dr tong's talk. not exactly talk la, more like a bible study session. anyway, i felt quite bad and awkward intruding, although they were being very nice and all that and to put them at ease i kept saying things like "i very buay paiseh one dont worry" when i was actually quite lar haha. he actually has a copy for waiting for godot! haha. but it's a bit ancient, it looked like it'd disintegrate any moment so i didnt dare to borrow it. instead borrowed a book that he hasn't even started reading yet yeah it's that new yay haha. it's a compare and contrast of cs lewis and francis schaeffer, both great apologists who nonethless had different styles and ways of spreading the Gospel. book review, will depend on 1) when i finish reading it, 2) if i understand enough of it to make any intelligent contributions on it.
anyway yep was a tad late for dr tong's session (distracted by the simpsons playing on the kopitiam telly when eating dinner haha) and it's quite amazing how much there is to be seen in a few lines of a seemingly wierd story in the Bible. we're talking here about Genesis 18 to 19:30 thereabouts, the story of Sodom and the escape of Lot. learning points:
-Gen18:26-33, we see that Abraham was "bargaining" with God, from the "price" of fifty righteous in the city to ultimately ten men, that if Abraham could find in the city, would save it from God's wrath. upon arriving at ten, however, God took that as His final price, and walked off.
from this we see 2 points: 1, as a child of God we're blessed with the power to talk to Him, and in having Him listen to us, and to even "bargain", out of a heart of love (remember Abraham was bargaining to save the people of Sodom and not for any other selfish or negative ends). but ultimately His Will shall be done. and 2, God loves the righteous, so even you're stuck in a setting where everyone's selfish and indulging in sin and where your good deeds makes no visible difference and thou art alone, one shldn't feel discouarged as God will be watching and well pleased.
then when we come to Lot, we see that he actually had flaws like his love of money and his ways to gratify that want, by coming to Sodom to make money off these sinful people.
a line of dr tong's stuck to my mind: "上帝所赐的，必定没有愁苦." what's the point of being very rich and splurging on unnecessary stuff? there's no use having 100 shirts when you can only wear one at a time; more than that and you'll feel very hot wouldnt you.
monday was great hahah. met up with derek jiawei and chaisen for a day out... watched simpsons (spiderpig, spiderpig...) a movie with a incredulous story line, bordering on the blasphemous on its portrayal of the church, a lot of nonsense, making fun of popular and political icons. but it was great mindless fun haha. then we went for sakae buffet at j8, because that's the only place derek knows how to drive to from town... haha. then we went back to town, played burnout on xbox360 at cine, then went to eat tou hua then went for a stroll at geylang and east coast, where i showed them the magical carpark with rocking cars... then supper at jalan kayu at 2+ in the morning haha.
today, catch up with reading most prob... stuck at home alone, gotta book in tonight for rededication parade tml...
manchesterunited 11:59 AM
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Saturday, August 04, 2007
just back...
well woke up feeling very bad so didnt went to play soccer... sorry guys... the gastric's still bugging me. slept the whole morning away...
until late afternoon, went to church for tyrannus... it's a series of theological lessons that's really really useful. today we were talking bout covenents that God has repeatedly made with man over the ages... from the whole thing you can really see that He is ever righteous and faithful la. the rainbow is but a small reminder of this yup.
then went off to meet up with the soccerettes... present were emiko meifenggs sherlene sam linet tammi and ed. went to this very pink place called miss clarity i think. ordered creamy salmon, well i guess i shouldnt have expected too much... i really missed the one at sushi tei haha twinnie shld know what i'm talking about haha.
guess i like my salmon raw. yay monday gonna chiong sushi with the GAs...! =)
and i know i've changed to a point that i dont really fit in anymore, and that what they're talking about, i dont really feel comfortable participating in. well not all of them but you shld know. so yup. and i'm quite glad that i wasnt forced to go drink with them or something.
long day tml... must wake lichuang up too... haha....
manchesterunited 11:57 PM
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haha hi guys. yes jane, well said. haha frankly i've been praying for quite awhile to get you to not just to get to church, as being in church is not an end in itself, aaron, i hope you do see that, and that you'll keep your heart open. yup.
siok: i gathered you've read the book of esther? haha. yes indeed He's amazing, ever righteous and faithful.
speaking of which, who's free on sunday morning! i've asked siok and soph but too bad both of you not free lar. tbc's having a pseudo purim celebration... interested sms me yup.
just back from bible study class. long day tml... soccer then tyrannus then dinner... with a abnormal gastric at that...
off to get my 7 hrs of sleep now then haha.
manchesterunited 12:08 AM
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