Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
Went to a Fairytale wedding and floated home on a cloud...:)
1) Dinner setting...all painstakingly personalised
2) Candles amidst the hand-made flowers
3) Sweet sisters all part of the entourage
4) Lovely ribbons with confetti in the wind...
This had to be the most beautiful wedding I had attended so far...I think for myself I am totally sinking in dreamy mode and was really awed by the wedding and the beautiful sights that I have seen yesterday.
I was part of the band that played for Steve and Gelene's wedding at the National Orchid Park at the Botanical Gardens yesterday..to put it simply a very sweet picture, what I have also dreamed of...hahah a dream wedding for me if you call it ...macham like those movies kind...garden wedding with lovely chairs, ribbons in the wind....having your food al fresco ...before the hot sunny weather of Singapore zap you back to reality that we really have to pray for no rain and a nice cool weather...otherwise...hahah sweat bath...:P
The garden walkway where the couple held their Holy Matrimony
The band, led by Jacob belted out Jazz hit some of Steve and Gelene's favourites all afternoon and thank God that the rain stopped after much prayers....it was really a nice colonnial bungalow atop a small hill set in the Orchid Park called Burkhill Hall. The surroundings are just filled with beautiful orchids and willow trees...our music and crowd had certainly attracted a lot of tourists busy snapping and filming away...Korean, la Indians la...Ang mo lah....swinging to the music....
I played the opening verse of "What a wonderful World" for the couple with much trembling and the cute little flower boy and girl simply ran in with the basket of flowers and the rings and caused quite a lot of laughter when the little boy ran to the wrong "uncle"!!
Remember me and Pam had teased Steve backstage when we were on duty when he says his wedding vows, "If all else fails...get THAT NAME RIGHT!!"It was really amazing the Steve's mother side are all relatives from Taiwan and were mostly pastors!! We were intrigued by his interesting relatives and friends from all over.
The highlight of the wedding should be when Steve and Gelene took a a dance to the song "L-O-V-E"and then Steve playing Desafinado for his lovely wife under the stars...:P okay someone grab a hammer and wake me to my senses... more photos coming up...someone PULeease teach me how to overlap the photos when i post them! this is terriblE...:P
Here's to a dear bro and fellow band member Steve, and his wife Gelene, Congratulations to you both! May God continue to bless you with much flames of love and joy in your marriage!!
Friday, February 24, 2006
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Don't cry my dear...:)
Don't cry my dear, don't cry...
The Lord is nigh and He hears you,
The Lord loves you and He comforts you...
Dry your tears, it really breaks my heart..
"Call unto the Name of the Lord and be saved!!"
Don't cry my dear, don't cry...
This is just a phase and it would soon pass.
Let the Lord lead and not the devil have a foothold!
Stormy weather and cold harsh winds...
Are there to make us appreciate the sunshine better...
Don't cry my dear, don't cry...
Know that we will be there to be with you praying...
The Lord is nigh and He hears you,
The Lord loves you and He comforts you...
Dry your tears, it really breaks my heart..
"Call unto the Name of the Lord and be saved!!"
Don't cry my dear, don't cry...
This is just a phase and it would soon pass.
Let the Lord lead and not the devil have a foothold!
Stormy weather and cold harsh winds...
Are there to make us appreciate the sunshine better...
Don't cry my dear, don't cry...
Know that we will be there to be with you praying...
Sharing from a good read part 2
(Continued from Part 1)
The apostle Paul had the same response to the presence of Christ in his life. In Philippians 3 he presented a long list of credentials and accomplishments (v 5-6) that would impress all his readers. A "Hebrew of Hebrews", this Pharisee had established well his significance in religious circles. Yet Paul realised that all this was worthless if he was to truly gain Christ. In the face of the supremacy of Christ, he regarded all things but "loss for the sake of Christ" (v7).
When Christ enters the arena in our lives, there need to be no competition, for He has no peers. No one is even in second place. He is, and deserves to be, fully supreme. Therefore magnifying Christ in our lives means a total, non-negotiated commitment to His significance.
Living to magnify Christ also means that we reflect His essential nature. Since He is truth, for example, we are truthful. His mercy, justice and compassion, righteousness, love, grace and patience should be clearly evident in all we do. And as people note the unique difference, we readily give to God the credit for what we have and and have become in Him.
Ironically, some Christians, obsessed with their personal significance, when threatened will readily lie to maintain their worth; they will withhold love, mercy, and grace when it conflicts with their sense of significance. This is not kingdom living. To cross the line of righteousness to accumulate or guarantee our significance will always be a competitor with Christ significance through us. It is not until our significance compulsion is satisfied by our applying redemptive realities that we are free to magnify Him even at a loss to ourselves.
The apostle Paul had the same response to the presence of Christ in his life. In Philippians 3 he presented a long list of credentials and accomplishments (v 5-6) that would impress all his readers. A "Hebrew of Hebrews", this Pharisee had established well his significance in religious circles. Yet Paul realised that all this was worthless if he was to truly gain Christ. In the face of the supremacy of Christ, he regarded all things but "loss for the sake of Christ" (v7).
When Christ enters the arena in our lives, there need to be no competition, for He has no peers. No one is even in second place. He is, and deserves to be, fully supreme. Therefore magnifying Christ in our lives means a total, non-negotiated commitment to His significance.
Living to magnify Christ also means that we reflect His essential nature. Since He is truth, for example, we are truthful. His mercy, justice and compassion, righteousness, love, grace and patience should be clearly evident in all we do. And as people note the unique difference, we readily give to God the credit for what we have and and have become in Him.
Ironically, some Christians, obsessed with their personal significance, when threatened will readily lie to maintain their worth; they will withhold love, mercy, and grace when it conflicts with their sense of significance. This is not kingdom living. To cross the line of righteousness to accumulate or guarantee our significance will always be a competitor with Christ significance through us. It is not until our significance compulsion is satisfied by our applying redemptive realities that we are free to magnify Him even at a loss to ourselves.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Monday, February 06, 2006
Sharing from a good read...:)
Been reading this rather small but "heavy" in content book that can really pierce right into your heart...
It's a book called "Perilous Pursuits" by Joseph M. Stowell. Took me quite some time to come to that book cos I found it a bit tough to grasp, plus all the other books that are lined on my shelf..sorry Jeannie and Jer! :P
It touches about the Christian's search for significance and the ultimate source of our significance in our service to the Lord. Simple and powerful, this book has touched on the intimate details in my walk with God and has actually really "rebuked" me, by allowing me to do a spot check on my heart motives in serving the Lord and also to let me see where I was drawing my sense of significance and assurance from.
Many a times, I have stepped onto the bandwagon of ultimately wanting to do many things and fulfilling my time up for God and also have felt the strain and insecurity when people do not seem to recognise my efforts. The book actually brings me back to recognising God as the source of our significance, and got me questioning each and every of my actions and my thought pattern by simple everyday events, events which I have seemingly masked my other "right" motives.
I realise that deep down lying within me is someone who could really want that attention, that pat on the back, that extra affirmation from ..People...ultimately serving God and honouring Him with my thoughts and actions could be so easily waivered when I remember a particular sharing by Alan back in Uni days, when we are tested by our trigger point. To me my trigger point is easy, its simply getting that attention. I remember Alan ever shared, what's our first response when we receive that praise? or that question on who had done that great job? that great presentation? My huge sense of self worth would start screaming, "Me! Me! Me!" At the same time, trying my very best to stay composed that the people would eventually realise who was to get the credit.
Let me share about two sections from the book how we should go through the process of redemptive restructuring when we realise that our lives are simply living off the wrong source of significance:-
Excerpts from "Perilous Pursuits" Chapter 7 - Redemptive Restructuring
"It's always worked for me before." How many times have you heard someone say that? Whether it's in business, at home, or in the culture at large, most people fall into familiar patterns or modes of behaviour. The problem is things change, and the old ways don't always work.
Some business learn this lesson too late and lose out. Boarded-up factories all over the country prove this. Other change, retool, and grow. The same principle hold true in the spiritual realm. How much retooling do we need as people who have been redeemed from the old way of life? Let's see.....
Two Kingdom Objectives
American industry realised quickly that new objectives needed to be established in this new global environment. Instead of mere quanitity, quality became the objective of corporate output. Instead of policies that served the company, it became necessary to make policies that served the consumer. Citizenship in Christ's kingdom also requires that we adopt two new objectives.
GOD'S GLORY
At the beginning of this book, I referred to Westminister Shorter Catechism, which teaches that our chief purpose is to "glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Here is the first objective of kingdom living. Obviously, this cannot be lived out until we have secured our significance in Christ. Liberated from the obsession with our significance, we are now capable of dedicating all that we are and do to His glory.
Paul spelled out this objective clearly:" Do you not know that your body is a temple of God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body" (1 Cor. 6:19-20). As we saw earlier, the scope of objective takes in every activity (1 Cor. 10:31).
So pressing was this agenda for Paul that he declared it to be his objective of his life as he sat in a Roman prision waiting for Nero's decision on his life. "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil 1:20-21). The objective of Paul's life was Christ, and his gain awaited in the next world. Most of us live as though our gain is here and now we gobble up every opportunity to gain advantage for ourselves. Not so! Kingdom objectives direct us to invest our lives in magnifying Christ in this world and experiencing our gain in the world to come.
When we have the significance in Christ, we are secure and can step aside to let Him live through us. Two models who sought to advance God's glory and gain through Christ living within are John the Baptizer and the apostle Paul. Christ became preeminent in their lives, both in action and attitudes.
John the Baptizer gladly heralded the coming of Christ even though the Gospels report that the baptizer was a stellar, well-known leader of his day. He had all the headlines! Crowds followed him. A household name, John was the center of many discussions among the intelligentsia and the religious leaders of his day. When Christ appeared, though, this high profile leader has an immediate response:"He must increase, but I must decrease" (NASB). John recognized the supremacy and priority of Jesus Christ; he was glad to humbly advance the significance of the Messiah.
(To be continued...)
It's a book called "Perilous Pursuits" by Joseph M. Stowell. Took me quite some time to come to that book cos I found it a bit tough to grasp, plus all the other books that are lined on my shelf..sorry Jeannie and Jer! :P
It touches about the Christian's search for significance and the ultimate source of our significance in our service to the Lord. Simple and powerful, this book has touched on the intimate details in my walk with God and has actually really "rebuked" me, by allowing me to do a spot check on my heart motives in serving the Lord and also to let me see where I was drawing my sense of significance and assurance from.
Many a times, I have stepped onto the bandwagon of ultimately wanting to do many things and fulfilling my time up for God and also have felt the strain and insecurity when people do not seem to recognise my efforts. The book actually brings me back to recognising God as the source of our significance, and got me questioning each and every of my actions and my thought pattern by simple everyday events, events which I have seemingly masked my other "right" motives.
I realise that deep down lying within me is someone who could really want that attention, that pat on the back, that extra affirmation from ..People...ultimately serving God and honouring Him with my thoughts and actions could be so easily waivered when I remember a particular sharing by Alan back in Uni days, when we are tested by our trigger point. To me my trigger point is easy, its simply getting that attention. I remember Alan ever shared, what's our first response when we receive that praise? or that question on who had done that great job? that great presentation? My huge sense of self worth would start screaming, "Me! Me! Me!" At the same time, trying my very best to stay composed that the people would eventually realise who was to get the credit.
Let me share about two sections from the book how we should go through the process of redemptive restructuring when we realise that our lives are simply living off the wrong source of significance:-
Excerpts from "Perilous Pursuits" Chapter 7 - Redemptive Restructuring
"It's always worked for me before." How many times have you heard someone say that? Whether it's in business, at home, or in the culture at large, most people fall into familiar patterns or modes of behaviour. The problem is things change, and the old ways don't always work.
Some business learn this lesson too late and lose out. Boarded-up factories all over the country prove this. Other change, retool, and grow. The same principle hold true in the spiritual realm. How much retooling do we need as people who have been redeemed from the old way of life? Let's see.....
Two Kingdom Objectives
American industry realised quickly that new objectives needed to be established in this new global environment. Instead of mere quanitity, quality became the objective of corporate output. Instead of policies that served the company, it became necessary to make policies that served the consumer. Citizenship in Christ's kingdom also requires that we adopt two new objectives.
GOD'S GLORY
At the beginning of this book, I referred to Westminister Shorter Catechism, which teaches that our chief purpose is to "glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Here is the first objective of kingdom living. Obviously, this cannot be lived out until we have secured our significance in Christ. Liberated from the obsession with our significance, we are now capable of dedicating all that we are and do to His glory.
Paul spelled out this objective clearly:" Do you not know that your body is a temple of God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body" (1 Cor. 6:19-20). As we saw earlier, the scope of objective takes in every activity (1 Cor. 10:31).
So pressing was this agenda for Paul that he declared it to be his objective of his life as he sat in a Roman prision waiting for Nero's decision on his life. "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil 1:20-21). The objective of Paul's life was Christ, and his gain awaited in the next world. Most of us live as though our gain is here and now we gobble up every opportunity to gain advantage for ourselves. Not so! Kingdom objectives direct us to invest our lives in magnifying Christ in this world and experiencing our gain in the world to come.
When we have the significance in Christ, we are secure and can step aside to let Him live through us. Two models who sought to advance God's glory and gain through Christ living within are John the Baptizer and the apostle Paul. Christ became preeminent in their lives, both in action and attitudes.
John the Baptizer gladly heralded the coming of Christ even though the Gospels report that the baptizer was a stellar, well-known leader of his day. He had all the headlines! Crowds followed him. A household name, John was the center of many discussions among the intelligentsia and the religious leaders of his day. When Christ appeared, though, this high profile leader has an immediate response:"He must increase, but I must decrease" (NASB). John recognized the supremacy and priority of Jesus Christ; he was glad to humbly advance the significance of the Messiah.
(To be continued...)
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Ai4 Sui4 Mai4 Mia3
Famous Hokkien verse for "wanting to look good, forsake your life" (loose translation)...
Brand New Shoes, bite your toes!
Black lace trims, cut your heels!
Put them on, flaunt your new buy...
And start limping your way to the copier!
Pry them apart, when no one is looking...
Plaster the feet with already blisters, half-cookin'!!
Dragged my feet past the Singapore River,
Great temptation to throw them over!
Kept my cool and con't limping all the way to dinner...
Wished my feet were at least two sizes smaller!!
Brand New Shoes, bite your toes!
Black lace trims, cut your heels!
Put them on, flaunt your new buy...
And start limping your way to the copier!
Pry them apart, when no one is looking...
Plaster the feet with already blisters, half-cookin'!!
Dragged my feet past the Singapore River,
Great temptation to throw them over!
Kept my cool and con't limping all the way to dinner...
Wished my feet were at least two sizes smaller!!
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