testing before blessing

I was reading the book of Joshua; read the part where Achan was destroyed by the Lord because of what he did—he disobeyed the Lord by taking what was not his.

The Lord gave Jericho over to the Israelites and they were told not to take anything from there. After defeating Ai, the Lord gave them everything that was in that place. And Achan was killed because he disobeyed the Lord by taking the things in Jericho.

Drawing a parallel to reality, before God would bless us with anything, He will put us in a situation to remember that He is God. That everything comes from Him, and there’s nothing that He cannot do. And yes, this is shown through this passage in Joshua where the Lord blessed them with everything in Ai but didn’t allow them to take anything in Jericho.

True enough, if our lives are not aligned with God’s heartbeat, then whatever that comes our way will cause us to stumble and fall away from God.

 

Puffing out!

This is the fullest attendance we’ve ever had so far and we are just short of Junk in our midst because he’s overseas… If not, it would have been a FULL ATTENDANCE outing! but that’s alright because it gives us another reason to meet again just so that we may achieve full attendance. HAHA.

It’s really quite amazing how much we can share and talk when we only meet once in a blue moon, and I really mean ONCE IN A BLUE MOON. We do meet occasionally when we are in school but not the kind of planned meetings… and we also don’t exactly talk much when we are in school. Haha.. So ya.. It’s cool and I thank God for this friendship that we are building as time passes I can always remember what Yile said on the 7th day of camp “I think we share a very unique bond.” And I really agree with her very much!

I can’t wait for the day that they come and attend my baptism I really love them very much and would love to see them saved too! like I always said, you know I love you when I care enough to share Christ with you much love!

 

stumbled? i hope NOT.

“In all things you do, don’t stumble the people around you..” Someone once told me this, I can’t remember who, and that’s the first time I learn the word “stumble” in the Christian context.

As I grow up in my walk with the Lord, I learnt that it is biblical to not stumble people with my life and I learnt how not to stumble people, Christians and non-Christians alike. I learnt the importance of not stumbling people because it has the power to cause people to drift away from God as well as to come to know God.

I’m saying this because I’ve been stumbled by certain things lately and I cannot resolve this within myself. I’ve been praying and asking God to send someone that can help me out of this but I really don’t know who’s that right person to share this with.. I’m just praying that it doesn’t affect my r/s with God and the only thing I can learn from this is not make the same mistake as them that may cause my younger ones to be stumbled.

“Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks, or the church of God-” 1 Cor 10:32

 

SHIFT Kukup

I’m starting to miss those times spent with them.. As I think back, I really will miss serving the youths

 

那些年…

Something really worth jotting down and sharing happened today:)

It’s the first national event EB today (well, perhaps you can say yesterday cos it’s past midnight..haha). It’s by far the longest EB I’ve ever had—13 hours! But I would say it’s a different EB atmosphere altogether because other than the unusually longer hours, the people were nicer to one another and generally more loving towards one another I would say. maybe loving is not the word but everyone is less hostile to everybody else. It wasn’t hostile or fierce but the points were still brought across (I hope and at least it seemed so..).

However there were times when I got quite frustrated because some of them really like don’t know anything but thank God I managed to keep my cool.. it’s the first time for some of them you see.. Yupp.

Ok, that’s cool but the highlight is after the EB when the7ups came together to talk about something. (Co had to resolve that issue even though JC alr said it was ok) so yupp, we did its amazing to watch how we’ve grown and how we are growing as we deal with issues in life.. I really admire Co’s courage to bring the issue up face to face with JC along with the other seniors. It really showed how much we really mean to him and how much he really want the 7 of us to remain as one.

I thank God for a leader such as him. I really think it’s not easy to take up that role in SC because the higher you go, the lonelier you get. And that is very true because not many will know what you go through, how you feel and from what perspective you are looking at things from. I only pray that he will continue to allow God to lead and guide him in this process and that we will really remain as one even at the end of our term

 

It’s His, not mine!

do we really think that what we have belongs to us? No, nothing that we have belongs to us. Deuteronomy 10:14 tells us that EVERYTHING belongs to the Lord.

Since everything belongs to God, why do we still find it so hard to give to God what belongs to Him?

 

The Flute Uncle

I was sitting at McDonald’s, ready to eat my lunch when music from a flute suddenly caught my attention.

And because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, all fear is gone.
And because I know, I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

I felt my heart beating very fast and I couldn’t control myself to continue eating. It’s that feeling. I know it’s a tug from God to do something…ok, to give him money…ok…then to talk to him. No God, I don’t want to talk to Him. I didn’t literally said that but I could hear my heart struggling. The more I struggled, the harder my heart beat. It was a familiar tug and I knew I must do it. Continued eating, tried reading my book, thinking that the feeling might fade but no, it’s just got stronger.

Ok, God, one more song then I’ll go.
One song passed.
One more and I’ll go.
The second passed.
One more Lord.
The third passed..
Ok God I’ll do it now.

I was convinced that if i didn’t do it, I’ll regret. So I did.

uncle, 这个钱是给你的…
哦，谢谢…
uncle，刚才你吹的歌很好听，你有庆祝圣诞节的吗？
哦，有有！我是信主的！你呢？
哦~信主很好！我也是信主的！
哇！很高兴认识你！
uncle，我也很高兴认识你！
And the conversation went on for another few minutes… (:

Thank God for the opportunity to bless this uncle and to know for myself that he is also a Christian (: i really thought I had to share the gospel and was ready to share already before he said he’s a Christian. And when he said he’s a Christian, I was like “woah… God, you must be kidding me… Haha..” you have no idea how scared I was and how much I struggled.. It’s been too long since I had that tug from God.. Haha.. (: but I really love the feeling of being able to be a part of doing God’s work. Nothing can beat the satisfaction of being used by God(:

 

The (Brownie) Promise

I promise to do my best

To do my duty to God

To serve my country and help other people

And to keep the Brownie Law

I was a Brownie in primary school and this was exactly what I recited and had to know by heart in order to get the Golden Badge (the badge that we pin at the center of the scarf).

Back then, I memorized and recited this, not knowing the REAL meaning of it. I merely did it just so I could get the Golden Badge. I didn’t know what exactly the Promise was about…

Now that I’ve grown up(well, at least older than back then), now that I know what a promise is, I realized that the Brownie Promise is quite closely linked to our “promise” to God as a Christian. 

I believe that the day we accept Jesus into our lives is the day we tell God and promise God that we will do our best to lead a godly life, to our duty to God which means to serve Him with all our heart soul mind and strength, to serve our country and help other people so that they may see the love of God through us, and to keep the Brownie Law in our context would mean Mark 12:30-31 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.”.

Just my thoughts and opinions. (:

 

Thanksgiving for SHIFT 2011

Looking back, I really thank God for the opportunity to serve as a SHIFT leader in R-AGE. Although there was a long period which I couldn’t be there due to Sports Club commitments, I still thank God that I could be teaching and sharing with this group of young(er) people. 

I could still remember very clearly the day that JAT sat me down at Mos Burger @ Clementi, and talked about my plans for 2011. I was quite reluctant when he asked me to take up this role as a SHIFT leader because I knew there would be this period that I would surely miss out on the growth of these young(er) people and I really didn’t like the idea of it. Nevertheless, I still made the decision to take it up because I believed that if God wants me there, then He will do anything to maximise my time spent with them. It was also at RHEMA 2010 that God gave me the confirmation that my ministry is with the young people. It was also at RHEMA 2010 that I gave JAT my decision. (:

And today, almost at the end of the year of serving, I really have no regrets despite that MIA period because I saw how God worked in His own ways. He granted me favor; that even after that long period of MIA-ing, I was still able to hang out with the young people and to share my life with them. Although when I came back to church, I was only left with about 2-3 months with SHIFT, I saw how they have grown from strangers to friends, friends so close that they are like brothers and sisters. It is really heartwarming to see and know how much they have grown. Thank You, God. (:

As the year comes to an end, I only pray that their friendship will continue to grow and blossom, and their love for God will only grow deeper and stronger… (:

 

Just some thoughts at the end of Y2S1

So yesterday officially marked the end of my year 2 sem 1 in NTU and today marks the start of my holidays.

Honestly, I don’t feel any excitement about this holiday at all. Yes, there’s a lot of activities that’s in store but I’m just not excited or looking forward to any of those things, seriously. I don’t know why there’s a need to get myself so busy during the holidays. Isn’t holidays supposed to be a time for rest? Hmm.. I used to be excited about all the activities that I had during the holidays but now…I just want the holidays to rest :/ time is really passing too quickly and I can’t seem to be able to catch up with it. It’s making me exhausted… Well, that’s probably why I’m not excited at all.. :/

And its THE time of the year to do some reflections again..to review what has happened the past year…to look at the goals set at the start of the year and see if any are met.

I’m feeling so tired that I don’t even feel like reflecting but I know its good for growth(:

Well, it’s been a tiring year of struggling but God is definitely good. He made me see his goodness and faithfulness throughout the year and I cannot ask for more. I have also come to a conclusion and resolved within myself that having Jesus is enough for me (and you, of course). When I saw how beautiful Jesus is, and how much MORE is Jesus, everything else on this earth really fades away… There’s really nothing that can compare.. It’s true..

It’s like when I eat my favorite food, all other kinds of food cannot compare with what I’m eating. And Jesus is MORE than my favorite food! Thats how good He is (: totally awesome.

Allow me to share a short testimony before I end.
Charles, my baby cousin is born! And just recently, he was admitted to the hospital again because he has jaundice. (pray for healing!) the point is when my mum got the news, she texted my to “pray for Charles”. I was like “God, you are good, really.” my mum is a pre-christian by the way. So it’s really quite amazing how she will actually ask me to pray for him… (: I’m hoping that she will go to church with me this Christmas. It’s a chance for her to accept Jesus! (:

Please pray with me for the salvation of my daddy, mummy and sis! (: