A Special Prayer on this special day...
Dear Lord,
I thank You for a mother who has shown me what a parent should be. I thank You for blessing her with Your grace so that she may bring up a child like me. I thank You for filling her heart with love so that she will always be able to love us when we are most unlovable. I pray today that You will open up the flood gates of heaven and pour unto your daughter the blessings that you have stored for her. Let her storehouse overflow with your goodness, let her heart overflow with your love and let her life be filled with favour upon favour. Lord I ask that You grant her good health that she may enjoy running after her grandchildren. I ask that there will never be a day where she will find herself lonely or alone because You will always be there for her and you will send the right people to her at the right time to support her and to walk with her. Lord I pray that my mother will always look and feel as young as she is now and let it be a testimony that those who abide in You will also be filled with life and excitement. I pray that You will always delight in her as she finds pleasure in serving You.
In your most precious name I pray, Amen.
Mum, I bless you today with this prayer as a son who has never in any felt unloved and unworthy of Love because you have never failed to show me that I'm lovable despite all my shortcomings. You are our anchor when life gets tough your children feel safe in your arms everytime you embrace us. I want to let you know that I appreciate you for everything that you have done for us and I pray that my wife and I will be able to model you when we have children of our own. I love you!
Your Only Begotten Son.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Focus
Thank God for carecells. They keep you grounded and they help you tune in to God...
I love my cell and I missed them terribly. I miss the fellowship. I miss teasing the ladies and watching them go speechless. I miss seeing how everyone suddenly turns quiet when Ah Lai asks questions. But most of all I miss hearing them share about what God is doing in their lives at the present moment. It reminds me that God is very real and He is just a prayer away.
Today's cell outing was simple yet refreshing. It was dinner at IKEA followed by desserts at Anchorpoint and I had a great time catching up with some of them. It was extra special today cos' I was able to bring Hunny along with me. We got permission for us to attend cell outings together for this period cos' she needed someone to help her around...baby's getting too big!
A big "Thank You" to Ah Lai for helping us remember last week's sermon. He asked us to recall what God was saying to us during the service as we were listening to the sermon. It's interesting how the topic on our calling as a Disciple spoke so clearly to most of us. More importantly, them message seemed to remind most of us one similar thing...which is to keep our focus on God. A very good reminder to me especially after what happened this week. I was so caught up at being angry with the "friend" who embezzled our money that I didn't allow God deal with my heart. I was quick to curse and even quicker to condemn. It didn't help when I found out that the police didn't take our case seriously enough to act on it. I was so busy seeking justice that I didn't even have the time to seek God.
It's time to tune my frequency to the right channel. The word of the week is Focus....
I love my cell and I missed them terribly. I miss the fellowship. I miss teasing the ladies and watching them go speechless. I miss seeing how everyone suddenly turns quiet when Ah Lai asks questions. But most of all I miss hearing them share about what God is doing in their lives at the present moment. It reminds me that God is very real and He is just a prayer away.
Today's cell outing was simple yet refreshing. It was dinner at IKEA followed by desserts at Anchorpoint and I had a great time catching up with some of them. It was extra special today cos' I was able to bring Hunny along with me. We got permission for us to attend cell outings together for this period cos' she needed someone to help her around...baby's getting too big!
A big "Thank You" to Ah Lai for helping us remember last week's sermon. He asked us to recall what God was saying to us during the service as we were listening to the sermon. It's interesting how the topic on our calling as a Disciple spoke so clearly to most of us. More importantly, them message seemed to remind most of us one similar thing...which is to keep our focus on God. A very good reminder to me especially after what happened this week. I was so caught up at being angry with the "friend" who embezzled our money that I didn't allow God deal with my heart. I was quick to curse and even quicker to condemn. It didn't help when I found out that the police didn't take our case seriously enough to act on it. I was so busy seeking justice that I didn't even have the time to seek God.
It's time to tune my frequency to the right channel. The word of the week is Focus....
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Justice Vs Mercy
A very long time ago one of our church members met with a fatal car accident. Another car had sped out from a side road and crashed into his car. The church member left behind his widow and daughter. In court, the reckless driver was filled with remorse and he apologised again and again to the family of the deceased. Someone in the family of the deceased said he pitied the driver who recieved quite a harsh sentence - jail term. He felt bad for his family because he was the sole breadwinner and his children were still very young. But someone else pointed out something very true... who then was going to show pity to the widow and young daughter? If you were the widow, would you have asked for a lighter sentence for the man who killed your husband? Tough question isn't it?
I found myself in a similar situation for the whole of last year. Ok, maybe not as serious but the principle is the same. To cut a long story short, a "friend" embezzled our money which was meant for the renovation works for our new flat last year. All evidence led to this fact, he already had the intention to cheat us from the very beginning when he issued us the quotation and subsequently the fraudulent receipts. After he was found out, he could not provide us with concrete commitment to pay back the sum owed, neither was he able to give us concrete evidence to prove his story of how he lost the money. Under such circumstances, we had no choice but to assume that he had misappropriated our funds and had no intention of paying. With no out-of-court resolution possible, we decided to report the matter to the police and press for criminal charges, with the understanding that we would not be able to get any money back.
I asked myself if I was too harsh because if he were to go to jail, his 2 young children would be left with no father in their formative years. Since he was already an undischarged bankrupt, he will probably stay as one for the long time. But then again...who and how is anyone able to make up to us for all the emotional, financial and relational strains that we had to go through for the past year? Was he even repentent? The answer is no. He even tried to cook up some story implying that I was actually the one who in his own words, "pestered" him to renovate my flat because I wanted to save money in order to pay off my credit card bills. Even though I already knew that he was an undischarged bankrupt. Wow...it's not enough to cheat me of my money, now he has to insult my intelligence as well.
The police report was first made in March 2006 and we have not pursued the matter hoping that the law would vindicate us. And in all fairness, he had an entire year to make things right. He could have apologized and return the embezzled funds, he could have apologized and work out with us how he may slowly return the embezzled funds, but more importantly, he could have simply apologized for what he had done. We would have been merciful. But nope...he has shown no remorse and absolutely no repentence. Thus I'm inclined to believe that we've made the right choice in pursuing the matter. He should have thought about his kids before he came up with that elaborate plan to cheat us of our money. When I spoke to the police today, I did not even feel the slightest bit uneasy about it. Maybe it is time to seek justice since mercy does not work anymore...
I found myself in a similar situation for the whole of last year. Ok, maybe not as serious but the principle is the same. To cut a long story short, a "friend" embezzled our money which was meant for the renovation works for our new flat last year. All evidence led to this fact, he already had the intention to cheat us from the very beginning when he issued us the quotation and subsequently the fraudulent receipts. After he was found out, he could not provide us with concrete commitment to pay back the sum owed, neither was he able to give us concrete evidence to prove his story of how he lost the money. Under such circumstances, we had no choice but to assume that he had misappropriated our funds and had no intention of paying. With no out-of-court resolution possible, we decided to report the matter to the police and press for criminal charges, with the understanding that we would not be able to get any money back.
I asked myself if I was too harsh because if he were to go to jail, his 2 young children would be left with no father in their formative years. Since he was already an undischarged bankrupt, he will probably stay as one for the long time. But then again...who and how is anyone able to make up to us for all the emotional, financial and relational strains that we had to go through for the past year? Was he even repentent? The answer is no. He even tried to cook up some story implying that I was actually the one who in his own words, "pestered" him to renovate my flat because I wanted to save money in order to pay off my credit card bills. Even though I already knew that he was an undischarged bankrupt. Wow...it's not enough to cheat me of my money, now he has to insult my intelligence as well.
The police report was first made in March 2006 and we have not pursued the matter hoping that the law would vindicate us. And in all fairness, he had an entire year to make things right. He could have apologized and return the embezzled funds, he could have apologized and work out with us how he may slowly return the embezzled funds, but more importantly, he could have simply apologized for what he had done. We would have been merciful. But nope...he has shown no remorse and absolutely no repentence. Thus I'm inclined to believe that we've made the right choice in pursuing the matter. He should have thought about his kids before he came up with that elaborate plan to cheat us of our money. When I spoke to the police today, I did not even feel the slightest bit uneasy about it. Maybe it is time to seek justice since mercy does not work anymore...
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Timeless
It's finally over....all the hard work and practices over 2 months for 2 days of presentation which ended yesterday.
Thank God for the 100 plus people who responded to Him. Praise be to God also for the seeds that were sown to those who came but were not ready to take that step of Faith yet. I pray that the reality of His timeless love will continue to capture your hearts as you recall the things that were being shared in the musical.
We finally had the luxury of heading home to rest after service today. No more rushing from PL to AR for rehearsals. But it somehow felt a little funny cos' I kinda got into the routine of things during the work up towards the presentation of Timeless. There's a sudden sense of loss cos' a part of me actually do enjoy the practice sessions with all the folks in church. I'm really proud to be a part of this team. Not because we were good cos' we were no where near the standard of the pros, but the willingness to learn and serve alongside each other with no expectation for personnal gain really encouraged me. We had no professionals amongst us, only simple folks who made themselves available and allowed God to mutiply their five loaves and two fishes.
To my fellow "choir" members, I'm proud to serve along with you. Thanks for keeping in tune 95% of the time (ha ha), thanks for grooving in beat 98% of the time, but most of all, thanks for giving your best to the Lord 100% of the time! The 140 over souls that gave their lives to Jesus are our inheritance. I hope to serve with you guys again soon!
To my lovely wife...Hunny, nothing beats serving God together with you. I thank God for sustaining you thoughout this period and I salute you for roughing in out for Him despite your condition. You have taught me a great lesson in "trust and obey".
Lord,
Thank You for letting me ba a part of this. Most of all, thank You for Your Timeless truth - that You loved us so much that while we were and still are undeserving of Your love, You came and died for us.
Thank God for the 100 plus people who responded to Him. Praise be to God also for the seeds that were sown to those who came but were not ready to take that step of Faith yet. I pray that the reality of His timeless love will continue to capture your hearts as you recall the things that were being shared in the musical.
We finally had the luxury of heading home to rest after service today. No more rushing from PL to AR for rehearsals. But it somehow felt a little funny cos' I kinda got into the routine of things during the work up towards the presentation of Timeless. There's a sudden sense of loss cos' a part of me actually do enjoy the practice sessions with all the folks in church. I'm really proud to be a part of this team. Not because we were good cos' we were no where near the standard of the pros, but the willingness to learn and serve alongside each other with no expectation for personnal gain really encouraged me. We had no professionals amongst us, only simple folks who made themselves available and allowed God to mutiply their five loaves and two fishes.
To my fellow "choir" members, I'm proud to serve along with you. Thanks for keeping in tune 95% of the time (ha ha), thanks for grooving in beat 98% of the time, but most of all, thanks for giving your best to the Lord 100% of the time! The 140 over souls that gave their lives to Jesus are our inheritance. I hope to serve with you guys again soon!
To my lovely wife...Hunny, nothing beats serving God together with you. I thank God for sustaining you thoughout this period and I salute you for roughing in out for Him despite your condition. You have taught me a great lesson in "trust and obey".
Lord,
Thank You for letting me ba a part of this. Most of all, thank You for Your Timeless truth - that You loved us so much that while we were and still are undeserving of Your love, You came and died for us.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Choupinette
It means Sweetie Pie in French. Hunny and I love this place cos' it brings back so many memories. We used to visit this cosy little French bakery before the Easter rehearsals 4 years ago. I remember buying their hot crossed buns for the cast members. Some may say that it's not as good as Provence.in Holland Village, but Choupinette is so much more than just another bakery. Besides the tempting selection of freshly baked breads, cakes and desserts, they also offer a very decent dining menu.
Check out the bread in the baskets behind...they're almost sold out and it was only 130pm.
Hunny loved the bread...
So did I...and I really needed my coffee...
I was commenting to Hunny that it felt as though we were at some coner cafe somewhere in Europe. The only thing that was missing was a river beside us with a gondola...then we saw this...
No river but close! Haha... a sampan in a LongKang would do fine too!
It took a long time for us to order our lunch cos everything in the menu looked too good to miss, but we eventually narrowed our choices to these...
Hunny had her Chef Salad...
...A very big bowl of Chef Salad.
I went for the Steak Sandwich cos' they were out of the beef stew with mashed potatoes.
I could not finish the whole sandwich cos' my tummy was filled with the bread I ate earlier. Hunny on the other hand, finished everything...baby must have been hungry. Just look at the look of satisfaction on her face....
We even bought back 2 loves of bread...which we finished both this morning during breakfast!
Check out the bread in the baskets behind...they're almost sold out and it was only 130pm.
Hunny loved the bread...
So did I...and I really needed my coffee...
I was commenting to Hunny that it felt as though we were at some coner cafe somewhere in Europe. The only thing that was missing was a river beside us with a gondola...then we saw this...
No river but close! Haha... a sampan in a LongKang would do fine too!
It took a long time for us to order our lunch cos everything in the menu looked too good to miss, but we eventually narrowed our choices to these...
Hunny had her Chef Salad...
...A very big bowl of Chef Salad.
I went for the Steak Sandwich cos' they were out of the beef stew with mashed potatoes.
I could not finish the whole sandwich cos' my tummy was filled with the bread I ate earlier. Hunny on the other hand, finished everything...baby must have been hungry. Just look at the look of satisfaction on her face....
We even bought back 2 loves of bread...which we finished both this morning during breakfast!
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