We just want to take this time to wish family members, relatives and friends, in Singapore and overseas, "Merry Christmas!"
Thank you for being part of our lives in your unique and special way.
May God continue to watch over you and fulfill His wondrous plan in your life!
Have a blessed christmas everyone!
With much love,
Michael & Lean Choo
The following story is a powerful reminder of the importance of faith in our personal life and ministry.
A gentleman is observing a fisherman fishing on a particular lake one afternoon. This gentleman notices that whenever the fisherman catches a small fish he would keep the fish. But whenever he catches a large fish he would throw the fish back into the lake. This keeps happenning throughout the afternoon.
Unable to hold his curiousity any longer this gentleman approaches the fisherman and asks him a question, “Excuse me sir, I have been observing you fishing all afternoon. I noticed that you kept all the small fish and threw back all the big fish. May I know the reason for you doing so?”
“It’s actually very simple”, the fisherman replies. “You see, I only have a small frying pan at home.”
The story is hillarious but to the point. Isn't true that many times the size of our faith limits the kind of blessing and breakthrough we can receive from God?
The fisherman can just get a bigger frying pan instead of doing the unbelievable act of throwing back all the big fish. And similarly, instead of limiting what God can do by the size of our faith we should enlarge our faith so that we can receive all that God wants to give unto us.
This christmas harvest period, I pray that each one of us will enlarge our faith so that we can receive all that God wants to bless our outreach efforts with. After all, the Bible says that the harvest is plentiful.
In life, it is important to have some hopes and dreams. For one, hope and dream are an indicator whether faith is operating in our hearts and lives.
Without hope and dream life would only be a motion instead of a delightful anticipation of better things.
I do have some hopes and dreams for this christmas.
* I hope that each person in AG4 district will truly cherish the true meaning of christmas. May each person be awed by the reason behind the season in a fresh way this christmas.
* I hope that each person in AG4 district will approach christmas outreach with a winning mentality and a faith-filled attitude (not a defeated one) this christmas.
* I hope that each person in AG4 district will do christmas outreach with dependency on God and not on mere human strength alone this christmas. (one evidence of this dependency is praying and fasting)
* I hope that each care group in AG4 district will be blessed with at least one stable new brother/sister in Christ this christmas.
These are my hopes and dreams for christmas.
What is yours?
I just came back from Malaysia National Convention 2007 in Kuching. It was my first time stepping into East Malaysia and joining the convention. I thank God for some enrinching moments in the last few days.
Here are some of those moments:
* The churches in Malaysia have grown from strength to strength. They have now planted a seed community in every state in Malaysia. They have also recently made great progress in the international missions by planting churches in different parts of the world. The emphasis on missions was very strong throughout the convention.
* The wonderful interaction and fellowship time with the Malaysian pastors and co-ordinators through the different meal times. It was great to get to know Ps Dennis and Sister Hai Eng better in this MNC. I am touched by their great humility and servanthood attitude. It was great to be able to ask some specific questions to Ps Simon about his life and ministry experiences during some meal times as well.
* There were around 20 people from our Mandarin group attending the convention. In this convention I was able to get to know some of them better. It was good to be able to catch up a little bit with Jia Huey and Nigel, ex-my care group members when they were still in the Adults group some years ago. It's good to see them doing well in the Mandarin group.
* The opportunity to participate in the convention by teaching a workshop and sharing a testimony within Ps Jeff's teaching. It was a broadening experience for me. I am glad that they laughed at my jokes. :)
* Spending some quality time with Ps Jeff & Claudia. Ps Jeff didn't have to ask me to come along with him. He didn't have to make the various arrangements to enable me do something in the convention and that I would be taken care of while I was there. He didn't have to. But I am thankful to be part of a church and a family of churches that truly believe in the value of discipleship and covenant relationship. We don't just go to church but we do life together. Ps Jeff, if you are reading this, thanks very much for the constant love and impartation. What I have received I will pass on to others. :)
Back from MNC, it is time to rejoin my team to do our best for Jesus this Christmas!
"Jesus, please be with us once again, in an even greater way than last year. Without You we can do nothing. With You we can overcome and prevail through it all. Amen!"
