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she has been greeting me with a hug every sunday during service. we have not caught up for so long and i finally managed to pin down a date and time to meet with her.
i got to know that she started on a part time job a few months ago. not an easy job as it’s somehow like direct sales. she shared with me how she approached the job she has on hand. she sees it as a way of meeting new people and enlarging her network and circle of friends; all in the hope of making a difference in people’s lives and being Christ’s influence. she shared how there was a case when the resident declined to make any purchase from her in a little hostile way. she went away praying and communing with God. interestingly, a while later, that man opened the door and asked her to go back. he asked if she was a singaporean and commented that he knows how hard it is for a singaporean to work in singapore. he asked how much did she have left and he purchased all of it and asking her to keep the change.
she went on to share about the job and i hear and see how God is blessing her with favour. she said that she is doing pretty well compared to her fellow collys and she gives thanks and glory to God. she also shared how she is reaching out to her back-sliden boss.
we went on and on. there were 2 occasions that her eyes were watery… . we were so moved as we recount what and how her family and her have gone through the past years with the grace of God.
i’m so moved in my spirit hearing her share. it’s been 6 years since her husband and her came to accept Christ. they started in my cell group and i was reminded as i sat opposite her that it was for people such as her that raised in me the burden for chinese ministry. her life is such a wonderful testimony and comfort to my heart and soul. as i sat there looking at her and hearing her share, the thought that “it’s all worth it” came to me on at least 2 counts. i may be in a spiritual drought now but hearing her and seeing her was like all that i needed to get me going.
and i’m so excited for what’s going to be in stored for her. i’ve seen that leadership potential in her. and a few years back, i saw the need to disciple & build her up. i felt (then and reaffirmed again) that she is to reach a group that most of us who started the chinese ministry cannot do. and that is the mandarin speaking mothers. i’ve seen her grown in this area as well. when she was in my chinese cell group about 4 years back, i remember how she was hesitant and fearful about reaching out to her group of good friends and was actually being influenced by them. subsequently through the years, she overcame that and started reaching out to them; using her life as a testimony and she managed to bring a couple of her friends to church.
and the thought of how this job can enlarge the circle of people she can get to know excites me even more. and i’m sure God will bless her richly in her sales as she focuses on Him and His Kingdom.
i’m also thankful for what God is doing in her family. i can go on and on. there’s so much to share about her and her family… . may the LORD continue to bless their family so that His glory may be manifested greatly through their lives.
I was asked by Pastor Carol if they could do an interview of me and filmed it for screening in the english service for their PEACE series.
I kept putting this interview off. My schedule is packed and I didn’t know what to say or share. Frankly, I asked Pastor Carol, “Why Me?” cos’ I’m not sure I’m handling all that well myself. And so I Google on the meaning of pressure cooker just last night. It said “Any situation, job, assignment, etc., in which a person is faced with urgent responsibilities or demands by other people, constant deadlines, or a hectic work schedule.” And I thought that does sound like the world I’m in. Just the weekend that passed, I found myself in such a situation. Last Friday, after CG, my mum told me that the long time cyst that’s on my dad’s arm has become inflamed and it is much swollen than before. She told me to check on him the next morning and if need be, to bring him to the doctor…. I forgot about it the next morning until my domestic helper reminded me. I took a look and it was very swollen and inflamed…. And I made a mental scan through of my schedule for the next 2 days. I was about to rush out of the house to buy some stuff for Whampoa CG that afternoon. And then I’m supposed to meet B in the evening and get home early enough to prepare to lead worship the next morning. Then on Sunday, I have Bible Study class after service until about 6pm. And then there is family gathering at night with my aunt’s family to celebrate my mum’s birthday… Ok, looks like plan to meet B has to be shelved aside. And no way would I be able to touch the weekdays because work these couple of weeks is hi-stressed at work…. .
So, after Whampoa CG, I went to fetch my mum from her workplace, got home, picked up my dad who is wheel-chair bound and went to SGH’s A&E. We reached about 8pm and didn’t get to leave till 11pm. Though we spent 3 hours waiting, we could not get to see the surgeon. We were tired and decided that the anti-botics would do for now. And I just have to find some time to take leave to bring him to the specialist clinic again. Then on Sunday, after I got home from my Bible Study, my mum told me my dad went to burst the infected cyst…. Ok, the mind started running again. I need to get his wound cleaned up soon. The family gathering to celebrate my mum’s birthday had to go on as I have postponed it before. Ok, that’s leaves us with going back to A&E after dinner to get the surgery done or to get him to a 24hours clinic to clean up his wound as a temporary measure. My mum’s preference was to get the surgery done asap but I told my mum that I can’t afford to wait another 3 hours at the A&E on a Sunday night and that the 24hrs clinic would have to do for now. She finally agreed. Thank God, the GP was able to clean up my dad’s wound and asked us to take him back to the clinic this coming Thursday for review before he conducts a minor surgery on the rest of the cyst. The GP will only be on duty after 8pm on Thursday night… and that’s fits into my schedule perfectly. I wouldn’t have been available if it was any earlier cos’ I have a lot of work to finish off at work. It was a stressful weekend. I felt that everything and everyone wanted a piece of me. And I just had to decide amidst all that I’m in what can go and what has to be done. My friends and colleagues make comments to me that I always seem so calm and steady. I remember my colleague from my very first company told me that I’m like tian ta xia lei, tang bei gei. You know, there were quite a number of occasions that the doctor said my physical ailment was showing that I could be under stress but I didn’t think or felt so. A minister from US also released words to me quite some years back that I put up a very strong front despite the tremendous stress that I was going through. I went hmmm…. Ok….
You know, during this interview is a very good exercise for me. It’s causing me to look back at my life and affirming the work of God and His help in my life, way back to when I was very young. And I’m still learning and stretching my faith to trust in God and His promises and goodness. How do I think we can have peace in a pressure cooker world? For me, it’s trust in God; claiming upon His promises and goodness. Also know and trust that He is sovereign. With that, it comes with surrender of ourselves and our worries, anxieties to Him so that His peace can fill us. It’s also about having that eternal kingdom perspective; knowing what’s important and what happens in eternity. That helps me prioritize my life.
On the practical side, through life’s experiences, I learnt that when all that is on hand becomes so over-whelming that we handle and tackle one thing at a time. Cos’ when you look at all the demands and problems all together, you will only be gripped with fear and anxiety. The other thing is about planning. I remember a conversation I had with Ps Tiak about 4 years back. That season, I felt that I have to spend more time with my family. You must understand that I’ve been serving in ministry for almost 20 years now; with the exception of 1.5years in between. As when we were all young, we didn’t like to spend time with our parents or be at home much. So, when that burden came, I felt quite strongly about it. But with my work and ministry, I found it very difficult to carve out any time for my family. It’s then that Ps Tiak shared with me how he set in his weekly schedule, specific time for his family and children. Then it dawned on me that even if I may just have time once a month to bring them out but it is better than nothing. I then also realise that it’s not so much about not having enough time but having to be disciplined to plan my schedule and slot time in for my family and ensuring it happens and making it a quality time. I’m thankful that I’m now able to take my parents out for dinner at least 3 times a month.
My work is demanding of my time, I’m still serving in the ministry; leading a cell and leading worhip and taking care of my family. I do not think my life and my world will change much from now but at least I will become tougher and better at handling the pressure cooker world.
scrapped a LO for the Word given for 2009, for our church.
Isaiah 43:18-19
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”
an ex colly shared this with me and it’s very meaningful. i googled and learnt that this was published in 2005/6… but whatever is good for the spirit man and soul and whatever is God glorifying, let’s consume it….
this is a short interview with Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life” and pastor of Saddleback Church in California. you will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having “wealth” from the book sales.
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said:
People ask me, what is the purpose of life? And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body– but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act – the dress rehearsal.
God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn’t going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you’re just coming out of one, or you’re getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that’s not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ-likeness.
This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys – you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don’t believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it’s kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life,there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter owbad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.
You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you’re going into self-centeredness, “which is my problem, my issues, my pain.” But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God nd others.
We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don’t think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.
So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. We made no major purchases. Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation. Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.
We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God’s purposes (for my life)?
When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don’t get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn’t put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He’s more interested in what I am than what I do. That’s why we’re called human beings, not human doings.
In the happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
In the difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
In the quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
In the painful moments, TRUST GOD.
And, in every moment, THANK GOD.
Rick Warren’s personal Blog: http://www.rickwarren.com/
in an effort to reach out to relatives and friends who came for ps peter lim’s rally, our chinese ministry organised bbq at various cg’s over the weekend.
daniel and ZM’s cgs combined and we held it at wensing’s parents place.
it felt like a reunion as both cgs come together.
i’m thankful to God that after a couple of years that daniel and ZM took over the multiplied cells that there has been growth in both cgs.
for one, there were new members who joined us since, eg. meiting, evangeline, xiumei, poh fong, and some other who are new friends e.g. huimin, jasmine’s friend. i’m also thankful to God for how lihua, angie, jesslyn, joel have become regulars. it’s also a great joy to see jasmine growing in the Lord and for the way she is bringing her friends to church.
thanks be to God, indeed. it is in the lives that are changed by God, that i know He is REAL!
i have always wanted to participate in some sort of CSR activity and with my kind of schedule, i’m thankful for the “convenient” opportunity presented through the invite extended by one of our company’s business associates – AC. he is donating towards a habitat project to be held in chiangmai and it was happening lack to back with my company’s off-site in chiangmai.
the invitation was given to our staff to asia for volunteers to participate in a 3 days’ build that would begin on a sunday. due to my ministry commitment, i was going to give it a miss when AC said it is alright that i join them a day later.
i must say that i didn’t think much about it except to wonder what a team of 10 can build within 3 days? they sent us information of the habitat programme bit by bit and nearer the trip, i got a sense that it can be quite a tough job.
they sent us info of the family that we are building the house for and they also shared with us the state and condition of their current home. it did stir my heart and i was glad for this CSR initiative to be able to do something for the less fortunate.
i got in a day later than my singapore collys. by the start of the 2nd day, they have already done quite a bit.
we started the day’s work by forming a human chain and passing buckets of cement to the various parts of the house. it was good work on the arms. those buckets of cement were not light. we then distributed ourselves to the different parts of the house and started work with laying of the bricks.
i must say that it was more diffcult than i had thought. first, i was expecting those red, small bricks but what we had were much bigger. secondly, there were “guidelines and rules” you had to adhere to. you have to make sure it is not lower than the markings they have set and you have to keep piling cement until they are of the right amount so that the brick stands to adequate height.
it took me half the day to finish just a small portion of the wall. my colly said newbies are usually slower 
second day’s lunch was much more spumtous than the first day as our thailand business associate arranged for food from his cousin’s restaurant. think i loved the sticky rice the best! interestingly, i saw that they have purple sticky rice too in chiangmai. in singapore, u can get it from QQ rice.
our progress is quite fast; so they say. the schedule was quite spaced out with quite a fair bit of time for rest and relax.
we left our “mark” in the house by engraving our name/initial on this cement floor. reminds me of the hollyhood celebratities’ hand print
on the last day of the project, we had a house dedication ceremony. it was meaningful. we “handed” the new house to the owner and his wife. and we could see that the owner was closed to tears. our business associate shared with us that the construction labourer gets but just 250 baht a day!
it reminded me of the needy in the world. and if u ask me if i would want to participate in yet another habitat programme. yes – i would be open to consider but what’s to me that is more important and urgent i feel is to share the gospel to the needy and lost. so much needs yet so little labourers!
stayed up late friday nite to complete a SB layout of debbie & esther… it’s a “princess” theme and i squeezed my creative juices to complete the layout over several nights and alas… i have to say that i’m not satisfied with it… sob sob… as i see all the wonderful layouts of other SB’ers, i know i have a long way to go and more layouts to do to “arrive” lol… it’s ok i guess… it’s just like learning acquiring a new skill – need to put in the effort and practise.
i planned to bring my PC to the vet this (sat morning) but was feeling a lil under the weather and decided to do it another day. caught a small flu bug just before leaving office on friday evening for CG and have popped in 4 panadol cold tablets since friday night till date… the other thing i was planning to do this morning was to go to bugis junction to buy a box of chewy junior for mdm leong & pay her a visit… . i left home at 11.45am and not sure if it’s a prompting, i thought i had better call her to make sure she would be home by the time i reach. true enough, she was going out with her daughter… gift of knowledge(??)… hmmm…. ok… i’m on the PIE now and it’s too early to go to whampoa…hmmm….hmmmm…..
okie, let’s go to toyogo warehouse in toa payoh to get another(!!) storage box for your SB supplies… did that and thot – how about going to whampoa hawker centre to eat that yummy hokkien mee? i actually have not been back to the hawker centre since it re-opened. i did not even go to the temporary one while the old one was being renovated.
i was in our Take It To The Streets t-shirt and it was a very different feeling from what i remember of years back… where you would find fellow brightonites in the same tee having lunch before our Take It activities. there was actually a man who was looking hard at me and my tee when i was at the hawker and i thought, is he one of those who our ministry has reached out to before? and a very quick thot followed – of what we have impacted and left behind for the residents these years? well… with all of men’s limitations & weaknesses, surely, there would have been some “less-than-ideals” but may God turn all of it around for His purpose and Kingdom (Amen!).
and no… 
the hokkien mee stall was not yet opened… i thot koko said they would be opened for lunch… maybe i remembered wrongly. so, i ended up having wanton noodles for lunch… it sure took me a while to decide what to eat. u know how u planned on doing something and then some unplanned circumstances upset your plans. so many wanton noodles stalls, which one good… ok, this one got article write-up, can’t go wrong. $2 a plate – small plate but ok cos’ can have some more yummy refreshments at the party later. [it was definitely a small plate cos' i was very hungry even before we could have our refreshment later in the afternoon lol ]. the noodles is not bad but spicy and that got me thinking of the guo ji (hmm.. did i get the name right?) wanton noodles in lavender food center *slurp*slurp* wenxin and i have been thinking about that stall’s wanton noodles for a long time now 
one of the highlight for the day would be when kk lim told me both his wife and himself went to join zhiming’s CG the night before! wow! i thot that was awesome. he told me lina invited him (how wonderful!!). he asked how come he didn’t see me there. i told him i am in a different CG and ours meet at boon keng. he then said, oh that’s nearer his place and maybe he will join us next time 
.
there was another ‘progression’ at our sat fellowship. you chun’s lifting of hands was more distinct and for sure this afternoon. i caught up with him and learnt that he is very worried and actually very pessimistic about the condition of his leg. he went for his appointment at the doc on thurs and i think because the doc did not comment on the condition of his leg and that he could not do a scan that he is thinking the worst situation now. he said have to wait for another 2 weeks before he sees the doc again. he kept telling me how his leg doesn’t have the compression, doesn’t have a lot of sensation etc… and i kept telling him he will be fine, don’t worry, don’t be too pessimistic… that i think he must think that i am so un-sympathetic. like what chau yong said, you chun said he will testify for God if he can be healed (and i thought pleasantly to myself – oh, sure it will be a done deal then!) and also to have some time to settle some issues first – this i reckon to be his mum who is in a nursing home. she is actually over 90 years old and actually have been in a coma for the last 7 years already.
after the fellowship at whampoa, chau yong, bao shun and i went to visit uncle tan. he was in a better state compared to last sat. at least, he was sitting up. last week, he was in bed and asleep and couldn’t wake up despite us calling out to him. today, the patient next to his bed told us that he has not been willing to eat and talk much.
and i’m really very thankful for brother chau yong and bao shun. both of them have such a BIG HEART for people. their compassion and how they go out of their way to reach out to people really puts me to shame so many times. bao shun is so thoughtful. he remembered me mentioning the week before that my home PC is down and asked if i had any luck doing what he asked me to do last week. i said no and he asked if he can come to my place to have a look. wow! i thought – but of course! and yup, he helped me fix it for which i’m so thankful and delighted about. remember i was supposed to bring it to the service centre this morning and didn’t… *yippee*…
opps, sorry… had a blog diarrhea 
