What have I been busy with this December?

Heylo! i'm finally here to blog! hahaha.. been pretty busy for the past two weeks.. super tiring but satisfying! heehee.. Thank God for the two weeks break from school. A good time to fully use my time fruitfully in serving Him! :D Here's some photos of what i've been doing!

SportLight!

Our sleeping room.. hahaha..

my netball team along with Beverly! D-net! :D

Thank God for them, a bunch of funny people. hahaha!

I will definitely miss this place man!

simply love this school.. and the bible verse is just so comforting :)

Really thank God for this opportunity to serve in Sportlight! I didnt really intend to get myself involve in Sportlight due to the overloading of school projects initially! However, thank God for His grace, He lead me into this camp, and i find so much joy in serving! Praise God for answered prayers and for giving us a super perfect weather for the whole camp! it's definitely not by coincidence that we have sunny weather throughout the 3days especially in a December season! Thank God for all who labored with love, be it in the front line or behind the scene! Though discouragement may occur sometimes, we got to press on all the way.. i'm so, so thankful for this sportlight camp. To experience the power of God working and seeing how things worked so amazingly in His perfect timing! :D Praise God for opportunity to talk to people, for building bridges, for bonding of friendship =) May the Lord continue to knit all of our hearts together as one, all towards one goal, one focus which is on our Heavenly Father alone. Life is truly all about Jesus!

Celebrate Christmas in Singapore (CCIS)!

Praise God for another opportunity to serve Him! heehee.. directly after the camp ended the next day, i was at plaza sing area taking part in this event called, CCIS! Get to go around the street sharing to people about the Christmas Story! :D to be honest, i was quite exhausted already especially after the camp.. But really thank God for His strength which kept me going. the only thought that i had in mind throughout was that, this is the only time that i can serve Him fully, i must really go all out for Him! Hahah.. I was tired, but the love for God just kept me going =) heehee.. was involved in this for two days, on the 21st and 23rd :D

CHRISTMAS GIFTS!

CHOCOLATE CHIPS COOKIES!

heehee.. Amelia, Hock Cai and Chris came over to my place to bake cookies for Christmas! but chris only came to support. lol. waa, we didnt sleep the whole night! met up with them after my work on Monday. had our late dinner which was like around 11pm already, and we baked all the way till i cant really remember what time..hmmm, i think around 5am.. lol. Hockcai left in the morning for his musical practice, Amelia went to meet Ray and Rogan for the Sportlight photos and Chris went home to sleep! hahah.. and i headed to town for the CCIS! After i'm done, it was around 10pm plus, met up with Hockcai and Amelia, came over to my place again and continue baking! hahah.. i think they got the least sleep of all.. cos i fall asleep after that.. LOL. but Hockcai wake me up at 3am plus to continue baking and pack all the cookies. yea, they got to leave early the next day for the actual Christmas Musical! i went down to buy some ingredients for baking brownies.. sadly, i under-baked it! :( all my effort gone for baking brownies! anyway, next is the christmas musical!

CHRISTMAS MUSICAL- ASHES FOR BEAUTY

Thank God for bringing Amanda Jong back on Christmas! Praise God for restoring our friendship as well =)

Also for Melissa! She was under my netball team, D-Net! Thank God for her coming even though we only know each other for one day! (:

the cookies we baked :)

Bernice, LynnShan, me, Michelle! :D

me and Chia Wen!

me and Zhi Kuang!

me and Mimi!

me and Jia Le!

me, Ying Chin, Amelia!

the ladies!

Amelia, me, Malcolm, Chris!

the guys!

me and Xiu Zhen!

me and Amelia!

Thank God for the Christmas Musical! For many who came, for the drama team, the choirs and many more! It was a rather touching musical! :) Praise God for everything! the first 6 letters of CHRISTmas is the reason why we are celebrating this season! Jesus is the reason for this season! Let's not be too busy till we forget what this day is really all about! Christmas is definitely not about Santa Claus! A Savior was born, His undying love for all of us! Do you feel the love? :)

VIBE!

me, ter, amelia, martha!

ter, amanda!

Daddy Kong! he's pulling our ears!

now it's our turn! lol

Bro Ian! hahah.. Thank God for this dear brother, always being so encouraging and a blessing to see how the Lord work in his life and his family! I see a fatherly figure in him now. HAHA!

JiaHao! Thank God for raising him up as vibe leader! It's amazing to see how God is working in his life as well! This bro ar, love to suan me ar.. REPENT!! HAHAHA!

Yu Fei! a brotherly guy whom all the younger ones love and look up to! and my brother is one of them! hahaha.

evidence! lol

Giolo and my bro!

CUTE! :D

me and Sammie!! =) love this dear sister of mine.. haha.. thank God for how our path cross and always being an encouragement to each other! i'll never forget how we actually get to know each other better.. heehee :D continue to shine on so brightly for Him alright? =) PRESS ON!

me and Amelia!

Thank God for this dear sister too.. hahaha.. we see each other everyday for two weeks already! and she has been staying over at my place for a week plus! LOL. i'll never forget the time that we spent together, be it baking or doing of the montage for sportlight! hahaha.. it was kinda a week of madness for us, having so little sleep! and i still remember we told ourselves that we must rush home after the musical to finish up on the montage. in the end when we reached home, it was around 6pm. then we were like, ok, let sleep till 7.30pm then wake up and do. in the end guess what! both of us ended up waking up at 1.15am! we were so shocked lah. hahaha.. we headed down to my house nearby coffeeshop for our DINNER after that! then headed to mac and continue working on the montage. we were at mac for like 9 hours! hahaha.. we went home at 12pm to rest awhile before heading church for Uth worship. after uth, we went home and continue working on the montage.. then finally on the day itself, thank God that we manage to get it done by 7.30pm!! woahh.. it was tiring but satisfying! :D really thank God for this period of time that the both of us get to serve together.. so much joy in serving and everywhere we go, we prayed. be it on the bus, walking on the street or even talking halfway! hahaha! and we truly experience the power of prayer! Thank God for sheltering us all the way! =)

you know what? i have so many, so many things to thank God for! heehee.. Thank God for this December, for a sweet revival. May this revival never die off and continue to go on! More thanksgiving up on the next post!

School is starting for me this week.. and i pray that i will be a good steward of Christ, getting all my works done on time! Alright, till here now! =)

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!

Seeing Jesus

This is long but you will not regret taking the time to read it. Thisis what Christ came to accompish. To draw people unto Himself.


SEEING JESUS
By John William Smith


In 1962 I was preaching in Indianapolis, Indiana. I was single, and it was Christmas time. I was headed home to Michigan to enjoy the holidays with my family. It was an extremely cold day, and it was snowing.

The wind was howling out of the North, blowing thick clouds of fine flakesacross the road - it looked like a blizzard. The roads were icy in places,and there was little traffic. Somewhere near Ft. Wayne, Indiana, I saw asoldier standing under an overpass. He had a green army cap pulled as tightand low as possible over his head, his collar was pulled up around his ears,his hands were shoved down in his pockets, and he had a stuffed duffel bag standing beside him.

I was driving a Chevrolet Corvette, and I was going very fast - faster thanI should have been, considering the road conditions. As I sped by, thesoldier jerked one hand out of his pocket and raised his thumb. My Corvettehad two seats - not a front and back seat, but two seats side by side - andI was in one of them. The trunk was big enough to hold three loaves of bread and a pound of lunch meat. Not only was my limited trunk space stuffed full with the clothes and boots I would need for my stay in Michigan, the frontseat was stacked high as well, with the presents that I had purchased for my folks and my nieces and nephews.

When I saw the soldier, I was going much too fast to stop, and I was well down the highway before I gave it much thought. I told myself that I possibly get him and his duffel bag in the car - I debated about the terrible inconvenience and delay it would cause if I did, and by the time I decided that perhaps I ought to at least offer to help, I was two miles down the road and out of sight. But my Christian Conscience really went to work on me.

It was so cold, traffic was almost non existent - he was a soldier - and itwas Christmas. The inner battle raged for another three miles. Finally, I decided I would never get any peace unless I offered to help, so I made aU-turn and went back. I hoped with all my heart that someone else had picked him up.

That way, I could satisfy my conscience and not be inconvenienced - wouldn'tthat be great? But he was still there, looking more forlorn, lonely, andcold than ever. I was disgusted. I pulled up and rolled down the window.He came running, stumbling on his numb feet, dragging the duffel bag. He leaned over and stuck his head in the window. His face was bluish, his teeth were chattering, his eyebrows and eyelashes were matted with frozen snow, and he could scarcely speak intelligibly. "Thanks so much for stopping",he said. "I had about given up hope."

That was not what I wanted to hear."Where are you going?" I asked, hoping that it was in some direction that would alleviate me from further respon-sibility. "I live in Michigan, in Taylor Township," he said hopefully. Thatwas really discouraging. It wasn't directly on my may, but it wasn't too much out of my way either.

"I'm going to Royal Oak," I said reluctantly. "Oh, " he said, "I know that is. That's great! If I could just ride with you to Ann Arbor, it would mean a lot to me. I'm almost frozen; I can't feel my ears or feet any more," he said plaintively.

"I don't think I can possibly get both you and your things in," I said.

"If you'll let me, I'll get in - I promise you. I've been standing herefor three hours."

I told him to try getting in, and we began rearranging things. The duffelbag was almost as big as he was, and there was only one place for it - the passenger seat. No matter how he put it in the car, he couldn't get inhimself. I suggested that maybe he could hide it somewhere and come back for it later. He said he couldn't possibly do that; it had his kids'Christmas presents in it, and he wasn't going anywhere without it. I finally got out, walked around the car, and told him to sit down in the passenger seat. As he sat there, I wedged the duffel bag between his legs and between the floor and the roof of the car, I sandwiched all of my presents around him - and I slammed the door. He couldn't move, he couldn't see out either the windshield or his side window - but he was in. I still don't know how we did it. Once he began to get warm, he began to talk.

I found out he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri "Didn't I see you go by about five minutes ago?" he asked. I really felt stupid.

"Ummm, yes," I said. "You mean you turned around and came back?!" I nodded an affirmative.

"Why would you do that?"

I paused a long moment. "Well, you see, I was raised in a home where helpingpeople who were in need was very important. In addition, I'm a minister - actually, it's more than that - I'm a Christian, and if it weren't for that,I'd probably still be going. I have as hard a time doing the right thing asmost folks. I fought with this decision for five miles - it's Jesus who makes me do things like turn around and come back. When I don't do the right thing, I have this feeling He's looking at me, and He's so disappointed that I can't stand it.

"Oh!" he said. "you don't know how that convicts me. I'm going to tell you something I never thought I'd tell anybody. I'm no Christian, but my wife is the best person in the whole world, and she goes to Chruch all the time.I could try to discourage her, but she just keeps going. She's always trying to get me to go, telling me that someday I'm going to wish I had.

"Do you know why I'm here hitchhiking? Let me tell you a little story. I was turned down for holiday leave because I got drunk and caused some trouble at the base. I was sick about it. I haven't seen my wife and kids for six months. A friend of mine, who's single, found out at the last minute that his folks were coming to visit some relatives who live close to the baseduring the holidays. He went to our commanding officer and volunteered totake my duty, if he would let me go home. He gave me permission, but I had spent all my money buying presents, which I was going to mail home, so I decided to start hitchhiking. My family doesn't even know I'm coming. I wasn't sure I'd make it, and I didn't want to disappoint them. I've been standing there for three hours, thinking. I watched folks drive by, and it occurred to me that some of them must be Christians, and it made me feel pretty bitter - until I got to thinking about what a lousy person I am, and I knew if I was them, that I probably wouldn't stop either.

"Let me tell you something embarrassing - I got so cold, so lonely, and so desperate that I started to pray - honest to God I did - it was so humil-iating. I told God that if he would help me, I'd do better. And you know what? About that time you showed up, and you told me that you came back because of Jesus - now what do you make of that?"

"Well, first I'd say that maybe there's more to Christianity than either of us thought, and second, I'd say you'd better start doing better." Ifound out exactly where he lived, and we agreed that I could get him pretty close before I had to go in another direction. I think I knew whatI was going to do long before I actually said anything. As we approached the intersection where I was going to let him out, I told him that I had made up my mind to take him home.

About two hours later, we pulled up in his driveway. It was almost dark.He was really excited. He asked me to blow my horn, and I did. A few minutes passed, and the inside door opened slowly. The glass in the out-side door was frosted over, and whoever was looking out could only tellthat there was a car in the driveway. The outside door opened, and a five-or six-year old, barefooted boy peeked around the door. When he saw my sports car, he came out on the porch and peered intently at us. His dad opened the door and stepped out.

"Hi, David, it's Daddy; I'm home for Christmas!" He started to say more,but the boy had seen the uniform and heard the voice.

The boy's face lit up, and he turned back into the house. I could hearhim distinctly - "Mama, Daddy's home," he yelled shrilly. "Daddy's Home!Mama! Mama! Daddy's home for Christmas!"

The door opened again, and it didn't open slowly this time - it was thrown open. A woman dressed in a bathrobe and house slippers came running down the steps, her hair flying in the wind, oblivious to the snow and the cold, eyes and mouth opened wide with excitement, with joy etched in everyline of her face. "Oh, Carl," she said, "Oh, Carl, Praise God. you're home. The kids and I have been praying every day that, somehow, God would send you home."

She was followed by a skinny, fair-haired, ten-year-old girl and finally by a towheaded, blanket-toting, two - or three-year-old girl. They kissed and hugged and laughed and cried, and they danced in the cold and thesnow until the soldier finally disentangled himself from them long enoughto introduce me.

"This is John," he said. "He's a minister and he's also a Christian; andif it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here. And I'm going to tell you something honey, right here and now. I told John that I had promised God thatI was going to do better, and I am. I'm going to stop drinking, be a better husband, a better father - a better man - and we're going to start going to church together."

I have never witnessed such gratitude in my life. They all had to hug meand kiss me - even the two-year-old - and they told me what a blessing Iwas to them and that they owed me a debt they could never pay. I was so embarrassed, because I was so unworthy. I had grudged the whole thing until after we had started talking. I wanted to tell them that I didn'tdeserve any thanks.

I tried to leave, but they simply wouldn't allow it. I had to go in the house. I had to eat something and drink something; I had to accept agift from them - yes, I had to. They would not allow me not to, and themore they did, the better and the worse I felt.

I was so embarrassed. You know why? I had just witnessed something private- a family thing - something I wasn't part of - something not meant foroutsiders - and, yes, I was - I was embarrassed. And you know what else?I envied Carl. I thought that it must be wonderful beyond description tobe loved by a woman like that and missed like that and to be so unworthy- and I think Carl was just beginning to understand what he had.

I have learned since then that only those who have come to know and feelthe love of God can love the unworthy - and I have also learned that we are all unworthy.

Carl was home. I think that at that moment, home meant more to him,perhaps, than it would ever mean again. And when I got to my home and sawmy folks and told them why I was late, they were so proud of me - and I was a little proud of myself. Home was somehow brighter, warmer, more dear to me than it had ever been before.

Every human longing - bound up in the inherent yearning to be loved andto be "home" and to experience the peace and security that "home" signifies- has found its fulfillment in Jesus who said, " I go to prepare a place for you." Everything we ever dreamed of home being - what it was or was not - is in that place. Jesus has given purpose, even to the dream of death, because for those who know God - that is the way home.

"How silently, how silently,
the wondrous gift is given.
So God imparts to human hearts,
the blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
the dear Christ enters in."

Jesus comes to us in many ways. He came to me in the form of a freezing soldier trying to get home for Christmas. He came to a freezing soldierin the form of a young minister trying to find his way to God. Either one of us could have missed Him. Jesus will come to you this Christmas too, and His coming will be in an unexpected way - don't miss Him.




With thanks to Tom and Mary

Kids!

Saturday at Welna's place cum seconday classmates gathering! Here's some photos taken :D

the three of us on a cab to her place...

cute dog! we were attracted to it.. hahaha

i love playing with dog! heh :D

cool stairs!

Qi En and me!

we happened to wear the same shirt that day!

our band. LOL.

does it look cool to you? HAA! me playing guitar! LOL.

haa trying to be funny...

peace peace...

she's just being herself. HAHA!

our favourite action last ime... hahah..

LOL

Thanks Welna for opening up your place! cosy home and nice. heh.

Sunday at Nursery after first service

the children are just so cute!!

me and amelia! thank God for a good sleepover :)

so nice!! LOL. the banner for sportlight. heh.

Monday- work at Kumon.

the kids around me totally make my day man!

hahah..
since sunday, whenever i happened to pass by any kids, they are always doing something funny which made me ended up laughing away.. i'm sure Amelia will agree with me on this. HAA! :D

one of my students at kumon!

he's like so cute lah.. hahah..

everyone was doing their work,

then he suddenly became so excited and screamed.

then all heads turned towards my direction.

hahah..

and i warned him not to do that again.

jing said i looked so fierce towards him.

haha!

and some of the kids are like quite scared of me..

but i'm not that fierce!!

one boy everytime see till me,

he will end up crying doing his work..

but i did nothing bad to him!!

hahah =x

anyway towards the end of the lesson,

the three kids seem to be enjoying their time there with me.

LOL!

cos after they were done with their work,

they were like cant bear to leave the place and keep on talking to me.

hahaha..

cute lah they all =)

yea i enjoyed my work today with the kids :D

k super tired now.. till here! ;)