Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Endurance

Colossians 1:10-12

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.



Was spending some time pouring my heart out to God, all my fears of today and tomorrow. Sometimes will be overwhelmed by responsibilities and concerns of others and self, tiredness, and not being able to see or hope for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Then i was comforted by the above passage, to be strengthen by His power to have great endurance. And i looked back at the past 12-months, re-counting the times God has provided endurance in work, studies, relationships. Times when God is faithful, and being reminded that it is at all times.

If i'm like a wet clay spinning 'round to be molded. I think it's painful to feel & see the best part of your clay being chipped off while you're caught up in this crazy whirlwind. But the molder is always above the whirlwind, he sees the masterpiece in you, and he is full of love and in control.

So i will embrace the purpose, learn to abide and be in peace.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Bless the broken road

So early back home in orchard today, saw my room lit by the setting sun brings a special relief to my soul, i can't remember the last time seeing natural light shining through the window.

one word - nice! =)

last weekend accompanied my mom to attend someone's wedding dinner, talked to a friend abt movies, work, life. realised that despite my perspective on work life, actually i'm considered very blessed to be staying at where i am, receiving the salary that i have, and the long hours and tedious work is actually not too bad. will learn to count my many blessings that follow through daily without noticing.

so fu yao asked me abt this wedding gig, another good friend asked me abt her bday bash band, a few more couples asked me to play the drums at their wedding, and my best friend asked me to be the driver instead, lol.

the most delighting gigs to play drums for, besides CBC / worship sessions, would be weddings. feels good to have all these coming around now and then.

felt tired but so relaxed now, can't blog more though i wanted to, need to do some things before i sleep. Seriously, now would be a good time if i am:

1) bathed
2) sitting sweetly by the river at esplanade beside someone special
3) having a McD choco milkshake at hand
4) listening to the below.

ok, there goes the wishful thinking. signing off..


Bless the broken road

Sunday, July 05, 2009

digging thru travelling journal



I dug up my wrinkling travel journal that I wrote when i went to melbourne early this year, just gonna write some excerpts of it before i sleep. so many events and beautiful scenery that i gave up writing it all while day 3 in melbourne, ha. I miss melbourne with my bro, and wmm retreat. =P

-------

I got off at Perth, hot, Malaysian "desertly" whether, Perth.

The quarantine check took so long that I fear I might miss my transit flight. Thank God I was very much on time, a very helpful Australian man guided me to the Qantas counter to exchange for a bus ticket voucher (woth A$8) and took a bus ride to the domestic flight terminal.

Perth felt homely, with not many people. Simple but modern facilities (very unlike Changi), and in the bus with the caucasians, i really felt like a foreigner. Asked a lady about the time, tweak my watch;s time abt an hour later, and enjoy the desertly scenes passing by, on route to the domestic terminal.

In this 2nd flight, I am the only (if not more than 2) chinese person in plane. This time i get the window seat with nobody sitting beside me, ha! =P

I was so tired (due to last night's 4+ sleep and the travelling) but i try to keep myself awake in order not to miss meal time. I tell you, meal was great. (pic). haha, yeah. it is heineken, and i had fish with lemongrass sauce (looks like kind of a special curry), grain-filled loaf of bread with butter and cheddar bread, and ended with beer. I am not really fond of beer, just that it keeps me warm in flight.

while doing all that, i look out and saw the most beautiful rainbow of my life =)

-----


The low-quality picture wouldn't justify what i have seen with my own eyes - a horizontal rainbow across, endlessly, a border between mushrooming marshmallows clouds and blue nothings above. The plane flies on, and it keeps coming. This endless rainbow, look long enough, the mushrooms emerge, multiply, in different shades, various patterns..

When i thought it can't be any more beautiful, then comes sunset.

Heads of mushrooms, like roasted by fire, turns red, highlighting its uniqueness amongst the all-blue in white clouds. And the rainbow slowly translates time by bringing its green lower merging its orange red higher before it hits back to sea blue, and all starts to fade, leaving the tail wings of the plane shining like a star in darkness.

(sips beer)

8pm sunset.




Monday, June 29, 2009

wmm retreat

wmm retreat was surprisingly great! so much fun and mental relaxation though didn't sleep much on sunday night, tok tok tok. it's been such a long time since i had a real rest, tanjong puteri is still a great place for a very short retreat. the various fun games, standing on the back of wayne's car and enjoying the wind n view of golf resort, the resort's big space and cold air-con, the glorious food. nice.. =)

uncle Albert's sharing abt worship being the Harp and Bowl ministry sounds chim but it's not difficult to understand.

..fun la, the retreat.. =)

ok, gotha catch some sleep and wake up early to do some own work before working tomorrow. don't wanna spend more than ten mins blogging. paid some bills just now thru e-banking, tomorrow gotha go pay the rest, woah, money - hard come easy go.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

How are mornings beautiful

How are mornings beautiful? When you wake up early due to the sound of falling rambutans, open your groggy eyes and stumble out to the garden to see dozens of morning flowers blooming yellow against the rising sun.

How are mornings beautiful? When you felt the cold dew kissing your feet and dad's there plucking the fruits. When beds of vegetables and young shoots waking up to your footsteps, and the bird-chirping silence danced alive.

How are mornings beautiful? When you look back and mom's packing the fruits, she prepares breakfast thereafter and had a sip of coffee. And you switch off the fan, knock the door to wake up your sis. she walks around in blurriness and brushes her teeth.

How are mornings beautiful? When the immense gratitude to God rises up from your heart that you're truly blessed to be born into this family.


...

=)

ok, gotha pack for wmm retreat, fetch new friend and go to church.

Talk and talk


It's nice to be back to TEENz twice after exam is over. Though July is coming too soon and I might have to stay longer in Singapore to study and have more rest after weekday's strenuous work which I am yet to get in full terms with. Arg, I really need to depend on daily grace to get through this dynamic routine again. mold mold mold...

So.. attended TEENz. Was unusual at first, cos so long never come, but became real nice, see all the young ones in TEENz, talked to old friends till very late, catch up after the months gone. Talked to teens, drummers, coordinator... blah blah.. talk and talk.. sit and talk, stand talk, phone talk. see my sis lead worship, listened to her give testimony. "hao4 lian4" to my ex-cell member that she's my sister. ha. Talked abt Transformers 2 with him while listening to testimonies. bad .. bad... he haven't watch the movie yet he knows all the fight scenes, amazing.

Received sms & calls from old primary & secondary school friends.. Surprisingly received one from Taiwan. Encouraged him to attend church in Taiwan, he said got approached by them b4 but said he likes to depend on himself, wah, sian. unusual, like suddenly there's a small group of non-christian friends to listen to their problems.

then there's this long conversation with a missionary a few days ago, got me all excited about short-term trips and I've planned. So already submitted this plan to God and see how will it be materialised ba.

tomorrow is sunday service and gonna fetch another new friend. Hope that FGC is a good place for him. Wow i'm so hoping that wmm retreat is relaxing n great fun, wah haven't pack yet, guess i will pack tomorrow b4 going church.

i'm tired now but feels like there's a million thoughts swimming in my head.


I will Love - Hillsong

Soon (Hillsong United)

Soon and very soon
My King is coming
Robed in righteousness
And crowned with love
When I see Him, I shall be made like Him
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon
I'll be going to the place He has prepared for me
Then my sin erased, my shameful garden
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I'll see Him
There my soul with be satisfied
Soon and very soon

Soon and very soon
See the procession
The angels and the elders round the throne
At His feet I lay
My grant, my wishing
Soon and very soon

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I'll see Him
There my soul with be satisfied
Soon and very soon

Though I have not seen Him
My heart knows Him well
Jesus Christ the Lamb, the Lord of heaven

I will be with the One I love
With unveiled face I'll see Him
There my soul with be satisfied
Soon and very soon
Soon and very soon
Soon and very soon
(Chorus and ending)

Friday, June 19, 2009

God is Cheering for You

this really encouraged me.. =)

yay, after a 12-hr work day, finally, going back to JB... =) =)


God is Cheering for You
by Max Lucado

If your God is Mighty enough to ignite the sun, could it be that He is mighty enough to light your path?

God is for you. Not "may be," not "has been," not "was," not "would be," but "God is!" He is for you. Today. At this hour. At this minute. As you read this sentence. No need to wait in line or come back tomorrow. He is with you. He could not be closer than he is at this second. His loyalty won't increase if you are better nor lessen if you are worse. He is for you.

God is for you. Turn to the sidelines; that's God cheering your run. Look past the finish line; that's God applauding your steps. Listen for him in the bleachers, shouting your name. Too tired to continue? He'll carry you. Too discouraged to fight? He's picking you up. God is for you.

God is for you. Had he a calendar, your birthday would be circled. If he drove a car, your name would be on his bumper. If there's a tree in heaven, he's carved your name in the bark. We know he has a tattoo, and we know what it says. "I have written your name on my hand," he declares (Isa. 49:16).

Monday, June 15, 2009

Emo is the new cool.


Emo is the way of life, the new cool. Because emo is who you really are. because you experience life in a more realistic, artistic, emotional level. normal people won't understand. life sucks, it's quite unfair, you never get what u need and want. and sometimes people hurts. It is quite impossible to move on, but someone sees, someone out there will one day see you as you are, just hang on. tomorrow will be better. he/she will come back soon. Emo is real, nobody feels joy in whole, happiness is fleeting and shallow. So brace yourself..

..

what a load of crap! =P

Somebody else came to give you life, and life abundantly. So don't live the lie so comfortably. If not you will reach beyond 17 or 21 very soon and wonder why you've wasted your high school life chasing after the wind. Wind is things you will regret. God is not wind.


---------------------


ok, now i have it out of my system. life after exam is good, weekend, i went to my sec sch friend's home for wii with the gigantic tv n home theatre, then buffet steamboat. Life as a working young adult does have its perks. though my friend still don't want to come to church at the end of the day, but it's nice fun n we had many meaningful conversations.

work life came crashing back in again but it's enjoyable. k la, gotha go read some great books, do some OT, swim and sleep.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Unashamed - Starfield



Unashamed - Starfield

I have not much
To offer You
Not near what You deserve
But still I come
Because Your cross
Has placed in me my worth

Oh, Christ my King
Of sympathy
Whose wounds secure my peace
Your grace extends
To call me friend
Your mercy sets me free

And I know I'm weak
I know I'm unworthy
To call upon Your name
But because of grace
Because of Your mercy
I stand here unashamed

I can't explain
This kind of love
I'm humbled and amazed
That You'd come down
From heavens heights
And greet me face to face



*Updating my new phone's software thru internet, google the phone's market price and had a shock, it's about the same price as my old phone! times have changed.
It's a W980.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

hope in despair

thks, God. progressed really well, i'm almost ready for exam. Stepping into the critical two weeks, and I can be home back to JB & happy. =)

let's hope discipline will be at its peak, if not then forced to be friends with exp subway/starbucks.. =(

oh ya, just got a new phone to replace my 5-6 yr old phone, my friend helped me subscribe to a new Singtel plan, phone's free. Now it's lying in my JB home, i haven't even seen it yet. not bad la, from the brochure, it's double-screened, 3.2MP camera, 8GB space for mp3 and best of all is it can FM transmit (the only reason why i choose tis phone), hehe (can go around intercepting other ppl's radio), tech-wise, way beyond my old phone. but u can bet i will under-utilise the phone features. hopefully will get used to the shake-shake skip song feature and see whether the auto detech song mood really works accurately.

I think i just got a mp3 player that happens to be a phone & camera.

typed "hope", found some photos that impressed my heart. :) till then, be focused.




Saturday, May 23, 2009

bobby lee is indeed the scientist


sometimes i do..


exam so soon, missed JB.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Arizona University - Obama speech


Downloaded & watched the whole 30mins speech from iTunes, i'm inspired, yeh, next step on.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

..



urgh. just a couple days more, push thru, push thru.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Invisible drum kit


Actually, since 10 yrs ago, I already have my very own invisible drum kit, and i have 2 sets, one is in front of me, another is in my head, it follows me everywhere =P

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Mother's day with grandma

I had a great day of rest at grandma's in Kluang on Saturday. =)
That's the Mother's day cake.

Watched good tv channel together, reading her old books, a nice australian pictorial cook book, help pulling tapioca out from the ground.




Home is sweetest


"Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers, and sisters, aunts and cousins, but only one mother in the whole world."

- Kate Douglas Wiggin

Friday, May 01, 2009

Brace yourself like a man

http://www.newlifechurch.org/podcast.jsp --> TheMill podcast --> CO-ED --> Co-ED - Brace yourself like a man - Aaron Stern

(when download sermon title might be "brace yourself like a woman", ha)


A very, very important sermon by Aaron Stern that changed my concept of manhood and challenged me to rise up to be a man.

I recommend you to listen to this if u're a guy =)

[Caution: not for the faint-hearted]


Job 38:3
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

1 Kings 2:2
"I am about to go the way of all the earth," he said. "So be strong, show yourself a man.

1 Cor 16:13 (NASB)
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

1 Cor 13:11
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

When I survey / pages

I think I am one with my office chair. Ok, i'll stop the loathing.

Alan wrote a really beautiful email about our cell group today, it really warms my heart to see that, hey, there's actually this wonderful side in each of us. I think that email is classic, and Alan downplays himself when he is writing about himself, ha.

(my TnT cell group is awesome, if you're interested, ask Titus)

And solely for my own super-duper feel-good's sake, this is how he described me:

Always the bearer of very funny cold jokes as well as a very visual communicator with God. Victor has a very unique gift that is expressing himself in art forms. His two strongest anointing are music and poetry. God gives him something, he processes it, and shares it with the rest of us from the stage and from his blog. To us, Victor is a very special person in our eyes because he has such a character that is so likeable, so clever, yet so modest. We have a lot to learn from him. :) Currently, he's a busy dude working 42 hours a day so he has to skip CG sometimes, but we always welcome him with open arm. Pray that his workload will lessen as well.

haha. "yeah, woo hoo! but am i really that good? how weird it is to be seen as too artistic and seemed not normal", I heard myself.

Well, if it's true, I wish I could express myself better in person and in conversations, and wished I were really that clever. hehe.

Partly felt a little glad to be working, made me more practical, sensible and less cloudy. Loved the way you aged nearer to a level when love is spending time with others, patience, and seeing beauty in brutal reality and sincere weakness. Of course I am not there yet, let the first step urge the second ba.

----------
Pages
----------
Have you ever heard of the story of the legend of....? Where the common folk turns hero, maybe by dire circumstances, through the lost of something really important, or by hard work or chance. The story of a lifetime, the classic romance, the pauper turned prince, duckling to swan, darkness to sunrise, nerd to super-cool, insignificance to greatness, deepest impossible hurt/emptiness to healing and soaring.

Probably today there's nothing, but what if we are a character in a story, and the pages kept flipping. Given a chance, hold His pen, what would we choose to write or draw in the next page. Or if you are as speechless as I am when holding the heavy little pen, at least, what would we name the title of the next chapter, which page would we put a bookmark on, which page would we tear off/treasure. Which way would you look at, will you flip back, read the current page or flip forward first? Which page excites you most? The colorful ones, the empty ones, the torn ones, messy-writing ones, or neatly written and perfumed one?

What makes a great book? Of course a great cover would be the best, everybody sees the cover first. I guess. Oh ya, and then the contents, everything in the story went well, some cute little hiccups, but everything went really, really well. hmm.. What would the ending be? The friend who stayed loyal till the end when the world crash & burn? The square-peg and round-hole strangers who ended up in the greatest love story & marriage? Modern-day Robinson Crusoe? The dysfunctional family that changed the society for good? The predictable normal guy/girl who lived and wonders? The fearless and wild that ended up broke/rich with little tingles of uncommon sense and meaning?
What would u prefer? Fiction, non-fiction, children, self-help, religious, jokes, fantasy, instructional?

hmm..

If the character dies in the end, if even mid-way, will you read it? Will you skip the scary parts of the chapter? Will you first read the part where the character gets married to whom or stays single forever, what choices of further study is given and taken away, when will children be given, great chances being spotted and taken, any preventive steps to take note of, anything to prepare for?

Oh, I remembered. If we write our pages wrongly, we can always send it to our neighbour for review. Remember your neighbour? He is nice, but some people find him quirky, nosey. Some don't see him before therefore think there's no such guy in our neighbourhood. Some of my friends ignore him cos he's not really the type they hang out with.

As for my perfect little house, a little messy (actually a lot and some things falling apart) but perfect, he always come knocking on my door looking for a nice chat with fantastic fresh smelling cookies to offer. No strings attached.

After a while, guess what, i got to know that he is a New York bestseller author! What priviledge and chance to have him look through my self-written pages. He helps change the lines, adds vivid colour and dynamics to the storyline, but before this, he guides me on the technique and concepts of writing. I didn't know there is so much thought and effort needed in even writing a sentence, in plotting a good twist, to engage the senses and capture my heart and readers.

Now my book is better, in a way. At first I thought it won't be my book anymore due to the numerous amendments, but as I look through again from the first pages, seems like it brings out the best in me, of course it has the unmistakeable signatures of my neighbour, but strangely it is something I can call my own.

The book is currently going into the 3rd chapter, and it's already about 2-inches thick. Continue writing anyway, love it to bits. Lately he said that he's going away for a while, a conference somewhere, and asked that I give him the book a while and watch what surprising things he is able to write. He promised to keep in touch. Well, I am still not sure until now, in fact, it is my book right. Dunno la, I think i'll hold it for another day to decide.


--end, i think--

---------------------------

I created a new survey at the right upper column, fill in ba. =) And i would love to hear comments if the above short passage makes u think.

Monday, April 27, 2009

i hate working for more than 13 hrs,

but there's peace in my heart, and something that tells me it's gonna be okay. Labour day's coming soon, and i'm gonna be so free to study, hehe.

I think I have already lost the artistic side of me, when all do is writing poetry, browsing art paintings, finding a good deviantart pix, visit nature, listening to music, play slow jazz and crazy rock on the drums, in a studio by the beach.

That phase is over, now i enjoy a call to my sis or close friends, mom's cooking, being with my family, waiting for bro to come home, listen to instrumental music/sermons, and lying on the bed talking to God till i fall asleep.

What's up with me.

Friday, April 24, 2009

So, do, la, fa, mi, do, re..



Sound of music in Belgium train station, fwded by Jeff. below, the prayer. Something nice to look n listen to after 1 illness & 1 passing away..


The Prayer - Josh Groban

I still could remember vividly what are the last few sentences she told me, a few weeks ago. She was actually scheduled to be the WL for coming Sunday's service upstairs, songs already selected by her. So, the songs will remain, will be led by yoyo.

"We ask that life be kind
And watch us from above
We hope each soul will find
Another soul to love

Let this be our prayer
Just like every child

Needs to find a place,
Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe
E la fede che
Hai acceso in noi
Sento che ci salver."