Saturday, 26 July 2008

Lewis

Last week my third nephew was born into the world. He is my sister's second child.

My brother, his girlfriend and my cousin visited my sister and Lewis in the hospital. Lean Choo visited Lewis a few days later.

Anyway, it was a very interesting hospital visit. In short, the room was very noisy for an extended period of time. But to my amazement Lewis remained very calm and peaceful. There were times that he looked like wanting to cry but somehow he calmed down again.

That incident reminds me of having peace in the midst of a storm.

Here are some pictures of Lewis.



Welcome to the world Lewis.

May you grow to be a man after God's heart. :)

Monday, 21 July 2008

Weird Dreams?


The last few days have been pretty eventful for me. I will take some time to blog about it this week. But for now I would like to blog about dreams.

Last week I woke up remembering my dreams. The dreams were very interesting.

The first dream is about a kind of large animal/monster/creature (octopus, snake or both) that is destroying the city and the house I am in. I see the large creature destroying things in the city. I see part of the large creature appearing in the house. I remember seeing Lean Choo and I running away from the house to escape from the creature. There are two twists to the dream too. The first twist is about me seeing some crews (possibly film crews) in the house signifying that the entire thing is a movie production. The second twist is the discovery that Lean Choo and I are the only ones who can stop this large creature. Cool right? :)

The second dream is about one of my aunties and I. We are in Jakarta. I am helping my aunty to carry her bag. I can even remember the colour, white and pink/red. As I cross a road and reaching the end of the road somebody took away the bag by force. I attempt to get it back but the person takes out a knife to threaten me. Later on I report to my aunty on the lost bag. My aunty says that there is $26,000 in the bag. I think my aunty is bringing the money on behalf of somebody to be passed to another person. In my dream I am wondering to myself about the matter of paying back the money, by installment?

I do dream a lot. But I don't always remember the details of my dream. Sometimes God speaks to me through dreams especially when I was a younger believer.

I am wondering if the above two dreams mean anything or if they are just weird dreams. May be only time will tell. For now what I can do is to record it in case I need to refer to it in the future.

Thursday, 17 July 2008

Just Acia

I seldom blog about food. But it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy eating. Today let me introduce to you Just Acia.

Around two weeks ago Lean Choo, May Hoong and I had dinner together after our meeting on Sunday afternoon. May Hoong brought us to this place in Dhoby Ghaut MRT. That's right Dhoby Ghaut MRT.

She told us that the area (the shops in the MRT area) used to be quiet. However things changed after Just Acia started their open concept restaurant.

The ambience of the place is good. It is good for meetings and mentoring sessions too.

Their set meals are reasonable in pricing (sorry, I forgot how much) and tastes pretty good. (do note that I am not fussy about food though)

One pull factor for me to come back again is below. They give free flow of drink and ice cream for just $2.95. I think that's a pretty good deal.

If you around the area next time you can give it a try. Any queries can be directed to May Hoong. :)

Monday, 14 July 2008

One Tough But Wonderful Week

Last week was one tough but wonderful week.

Last week was the first week of our new district structure. Whenever a new structure kicks in the administration load would go up (e.g. new floor plan, restructuring forms, etc) I thank God for Lean Choo who shoulders most of the admin work. We are excited about our new structure. We know that this new structure will benefit everyone in the long run. My heart and prayers are for those who are adjusting to their new groups. May each one adjust well and may God bless them greatly!

On Monday, I had lunch with Ee Lee with some others. Later on some of us spent some time praying and prophesying over Ee Lee as well. We are proud of what Ee Lee has done and will continue to do in Santiago. At night Lean Choo and I were in the airport sending off two people to Australia. Wynnie flew to Brisbane and Jia Yin flew to Melbourne. Both for their studies.

On Tuesday, Barnie flew to Adelaide. I didn't manage to send him off. I was spending time with a friend. I do not know this friend for long but God has allowed our paths to cross. I appreciate him for spending time with me and for sharing his heart with me. I am praying for God to continue to lead him and guide him. He is precious to me.

As various ones are furthering their studies overseas I have been communicating with our Hope Churches overseas as well to ask their help to embrace our people. It is so good to have spiritual families in different parts of the world.

On Wednesday, I had my first ever singing class. I signed up for this course just to help me to sing a little better (e.g. it's important for a service leader to know how to sing a little so as to flow better with the worship leader) and to accompany Lean Choo. After the class, I had the privilege to join Ps Jeff to share some thoughts with some upcoming church planters.

On Thursday, I was rushing to prepare for my sermons on Saturday.

On Friday, I was working on my sermons and on the Combined Team Rally (CTR) chairing. I had a good time praying with Ps Jeff and also some others preparing for the night. The CTR was certainly prayerful. After the CTR, many people stayed longer to be prayed for. It was so good seeing many people hungry to receive more from God. After finish praying I went back home and do more preparation for the following day sermons.

On Saturday, I arrived in Nexus slightly before 12pm preparing myself to preach in the two Youth services and Tertiary service. Thank God for helping me through the three sermons. What struck me most about the three services were the many people who came to know Jesus that weekend. The last time I was in Youth 1st Service around 3 people came forward to receive Jesus into their lives. Last Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised to witness so many people wanting to receive Jesus that the front area was filled up with people. In the second service, many people also responded to Jesus. In the Tertiary service, we ran overtime. Thus at the end we just led everyone to pray along if anyone would like to receive Jesus into their lives. At night Jasmine sent me a text message that six people from the Poly group responded to Jesus. Praise God!

I am so happy seeing so many people receiving Jesus into their lives over the weekend. I really want to affirm my brothers and sisters in the Youth and Tertiary Services. "Thank you for not keeping the love of God for yourself. Thank you for loving your friends by inviting them to come to service so that they can have the opportunity to know Jesus."

Last weekend services have stirred up my compassion for the lost once again. It is just so good seeing people responding to Jesus. God has been blessing our young adults ministry with salvations. But I believe that God wants to give us a lot more in the near future. May God continue to enlarge us in every way!

After the Saturday services Lean Choo and I went to CN & Christine's place for their housewarming. It was so good seeing many new friends there. Many of them are internationals. I was reminded about the first care group that I led in Singapore in 99. Lean Choo was in that care group as well. Our care group then had many international friends as well. The difference is that CN & Christine's groups have a lot more labourers to care for their international friends. :) I am excited seeing what God is doing through CN & Christine and their wonderful team.

On Sunday, it was a good service. It was so good having people going for their baptism as well. (I will blog separately on this). I had some fruiful meetings in the afternoon before spending the evening with my aunty and cousin. My cousin just arrived in Singapore to further her study. I was impressed with my young cousin's faith in God. God is going to use her to touch lives.

Last week was one tough but wonderful week. Sometimes the work is hard but the joy is great. Though I have been a believer for almost 14 years God has never failed to surprise me with new experiences again and again.

As I thank God for last week I now shall look forward to this week. The same God who was there last week is the same God who will be there this week.

Sunday, 13 July 2008

Some Recent Photos

I just downloaded some recent photos taken with my simple Samsung mobile phone. It is said that a picture speaks a thousand of words. Behind every photo below there is a story. Can you guess it?





















Clues:

1. My regular weighing machine (1 photo)

2. Farm visit with Church Staff Family (7 photos)

3. SBS Bus with VIP Seats (1 photo)

4. Sending Ronald off to Perth (the baby boy's name is Nathan) (3 photos)

5. A personal water dispenser (the number "8" refers to eight glasses of water per day) (1 photo)