Our Recent Trip to Australia (Part 3)

We flew from Gold Coast to Melbourne. Daniel (my brother in law), Melia (my sister) and Titus (my nephew) picked us up in the airport. In Melbourne, we spent a lot of time with them as well as with Anthony (my brother), CE (my sister in law) and Noah (my second nephew). I will share more about our time with them in part 4.

In Melbourne, we also spent some time with some brothers and sisters in Hope Melbourne (Waverley & City Centres). I accepted Christ into my life on 29 July 1994 in a care group meeting of Hope Melbourne, Waverley Centre. I left Melbourne to Singapore in June 1998.

We visited Waverley Centre Sunday service. It was great to be able to come back for a visit after 9 years. I have many wonderful memories of my time with the Waverley centre. It was a place where I knew God and grew spiritually. It was a place where I learnt what it meant to really serve God fully. It was a place where I captured God's vision for the world. It was a place where I witnessed great life examples, transformation of lives, the visitations of God, etc.

Back to the visit. The video clip we brought was shown in the service. After service, we spent some time with some brothers and sisters who would be going back to Singapore in the near future. It is nice to get to know them. We hope to be able to know them better, perhaps when they are back in Singapore for holiday. Below are some pictures we took with them.

From Waverley Centre we went to another part of Melbourne to meet some brothers and sisters from the City Centre. It brought back some memories to me as well. One, my younger brother, Anthony accepted Christ in the City Centre. Two, I met Ferry again. Ferry and I met and in the Waverley Centre. However, he later on went to join the City Centre. Three, I used to join City Centre's services occassionally in the past to do skits for their Indonesian Services.

Back to the visit. We went to someone's house and had a great time of fellowship and sharing with Ferry and company. The group was a very joyful group. We laughed a lot during our time together. We showed them the video clip there as well. Below is a picture we took with them.

The next day was Monday. We were leaving Melbourne on Monday evening. On Monday morning, Ferry came a long way from where he lived to the place where we stayed in Melbourne to spend some time together. We had a breakfast and some quality time together in a nearby Milkbar. Ferry's photo is below. Ferry is actually Jorry's elder brother. (Jorry is a key leader in our Indonesian group in Singapore). Can you the resemblace? :)

Both Lean Choo and I really enjoyed getting to know some brothers and sisters in the both centres in Melbourne. I had a good time catching up with some old friends as well. I am really thankful for the big family that God has given me. Wherever I go, in many parts of the world, I can meet people who love God and desire to fulfil His vision for the world. This is indeed is a privilege and joy that God has given me. Thank you, Jesus!

Our Recent Trip to Australia (Part 2)

This is part 2.

We moved from Brisbane to Gold Coast on Sunday night. We spent the next few days in Gold Coast doing our annual retreat.

Effectively, we only had four days for this retreat. We spent some time playing, planning and praying.

We actually stayed in the same apartment as we did in 2004 when we went to Australia to attend my brother's wedding. What a loyal customer. :)

This was my second trip to Gold Coast. I think it was Lean Choo's third trip. This time I decided to visit one of the worlds as I thought it would be quite strange to go to Gold Coast twice without visiting any of the world at all. :)

Some of our Gold Coast photos are below. Enjoy! :)

The apartment from a distance

The living room with a model from Singapore

This model loves kitchen

The view from the balcony

The Famous Surfers Paradise

I was posing

The Movie World

The Police Academy Stunt Show

Do you like Shrek?

Shrek 4D show was quite cool

That wasn't me

I look thin here

Lean Choo loves flowers

Who poses more convincingly?

A rare couple photo

The painting was large

I am thin in comparison to...

I guess I really like to pose

Our Recent Trip to Australia (Part 1)

Lean Choo and I are back from our trip to Australia. We left on Thurs, 11 Oct (night) and came back Yesterday (early morning). We went to three places in Australia which are Brisbane, Gold Coast and Melbourne.

We really thank God for giving us a very fruitful trip.

We had three objectives for our trip. Firstly, we would like to build relationships with our brothers and sisters in Hope Brisbane and Melbourne. Secondly, it was a time for our annual retreat. Thirdly, we would like to spend time with my siblings and their families in Melbourne.

As it would be too much to blog everything into a single entry I am going to do it in four parts. I will do this chronologically.

We arrived in Brisbane on Friday (12 Oct) morning. Ps Wenan fetched us in the airport. He drove us to our hotel and then we spent some time together. At night we had dinner with Ps Wenan before we joined a student care group (they call it "life group" there).

........................Some scenic views in Brisbane....................

On Saturday we had lunch with some student leaders (mostly unit leaders). At night we had dinner with some brothers and sisters in which some of them are returning/going to Singapore soon.

........Lunch with Sarah, Evelyn, Kelvin, Chia Yen, Han, Joy...

On Sunday morning we joined a young working adult DMM meeting. Then we had a quick lunch before we joined a WFL class (they call it CDS -Christian Development School- there) After the WFL class we attended the afternoon service (for students and young working adults).

In the service, they showed the video clip of our Young Overseas Graduates and Internationals Ministry. We managed to produce the video clip just in time for this trip. We didn't know that Kelly was very popular in Brisbane. People really cheered when they saw her appearing in the video clip. Eugene Chong was quite popular as well. :)

After service, we had dinner with some young working adults before we moved to Gold Coast. After that, Eddy and Boy kindly drove us from Brisbane to Gold Coast.

..................Eddy's young working adults group and us.......

We were really touched by the warmth and hospitality we received in Brisbane. From the time Ps Wenan fetched us in the airport to the time Eddy & Boy drove us to Gold Coast we felt and experienced Brisbane hospitality all the way through. We received many meal treats and they kindly brought us around Brisbane in their cars. This experience has challenged me to up my hospitality level down here in Singapore. Hospitality is indeed one tangible expression of love and care. I believe that sometimes or often we underestimate its power in touching hearts and lives.

Besides hospitality another thing we saw in Brisbane is that the vision was very much alive there. It is so gratifying to see like minded people in other parts of the world. Though we live in different parts of the world we share the same heart beat and passion.

Well, I shall end the part one of this blog entry here. To Ps Wenan and my brothers and sisters in Brisbane, thanks much for everything. We had a great time there with all of you. To my brothers and sisters in Singapore, it was a great trip and it is good to be back. See you around again soon!

6 weird things about me

from Jasmine Poon's blog. Rules: Each player of the game starts off by writing 6 weird things about themselves before choosing another 6 of their friends to sabotage. People who get tagged needs to write in a blog on their own, 6 weird things about themselves and state the rules clearly.

Below is what Jasmine wrote...
1. I don't like mushroom!
2. I teared throughout the teaching taught by our Hope Founder in 1996
3. I swallowed a chewing gum when i was young and I thought I'm going to die in the next 1 hour!
4. I like Chemistry, my favourite subject!
5. If I have chance, I love to travel to 238 countries in my life time. (I will be very old by then and I need to be super rich)
6. I love cartoon smurfs - a small blue creatures....
Tag : Nel, Lennon, Leanne, Donald, Ps Jeff, Micheal Santoso

6 weird things about me...
1. I read hundreds or even thousands of comics in my childhood.
2. I used to swim for up to 13 times per week at a point of time in my life.
3. One of my uncles was one of my school teachers in the secondary school.
4. I didn't know what the word "study" meant, perhaps until secondary school.
5. My siblings and I attempted to extort from a cousin. The plot was discovered by his mum.
6. My friends and I joined a basketball club and played against a group of girls quite often.
Tag: Eugene Chong, Jasmine Yeo, Desmond Lee, Christine Chean, Shirley Melinda, Daphne Low

Being innovative

Some time ago I had an opportunity to sit in a very unique cab in Singapore. There were only five of them. The cab driver was a very friendly guy. His cab wasn't attached to any cab company in Singapore, it was privately owned.

The main bulk of his customers were from a shipyard. Basically, there were people living somewhere in the middle of the sea and only came back to the land every 30 days. They would then spend their one day in the land to shop provision for the next cycle of 30 days. The cab driver would drive them for the whole day to get their stuff. As different groups of people come back to the land each day, his business was basically quite good. On top of this type of customers he also accepted private bookings. (If anyone wants his number, I have it)

The cab driver told me that the he way he reasoned things was quite different to other drivers. For example, if many drivers would tell him that a particular location is not good for business he would purposely go there. He reasoned that if nobody wanted to go there there wouldn't have enough cabs in the area.

I found this cab driver to be innovative. He was thinking out of the box.

I believe that in whatever we do in life it is important for us to be innovative. This is especially true for the work of ministry. We need to maintain our freshness. The world out there is competitive and changing very fast. We must do the work of ministry with the spirit of excellence and innovation all the time to stand a chance for progress and growth.

This may be a high call, especially to those who do not consider themselves to be a creative person. But our God is more than willing to give us wisdom when we ask it. He is the Source of all of good things in life. Those who choose to believe in Him and walk in His ways shall receive a greater share of those good things.

Thanks Mr. Cab Driver for reminding me on the importance of being innovative.

A touching moment...

Last Sunday afternoon, after a prayer meeting, some of us gathered together for a briefing for our upcoming YA event, 13. It was a touching moment for me as I saw the Y, YY, YYY generations working together for a worthy cause.

Indeed, this is a glimpse of the kind of the church that Jesus is building. A kind of church where people do not allow their differences (age, background, personality, etc) to divide them. Rather they decide to complement one another with their unique strengths. This is a kind of church where each member is not interested in exalting their own individual interest but the interest of the Kingdom.

For those who are not familiar with the definitions of Y, YY, YYY in our young adults ministry, here they are:

Y - those who are in their thirties
YY - those who are in their mid twenties and late twenties
YYY - those who are in their late teens and early twenties

That touching moment provides a perfect platform for me to publish in writing what I shared from my heart verbally during a district missions nite on 20 Sep 2007.

I want to be reminded continually that God has put the Y, YY, YYY generations together to accomplish His purpose in our world.

Below is what I shared that night (not a verbatim copy but almost):

Sharing from the heart to the YYY and YY generation:

I am now part of Y generation. One regret that I have is that I didn’t cultivate dilligence in the early part of my life, when I was part of the YYY and YY generation. In fact today I am still cultivating dilligence though I am thankful that I have progressed.

You see, when I was younger I depended too much on my intellect and the grace of God. I am very far away from being genius. But since young I knew, through a test, that my IQ was higher than average. And somehow I depended on it, at least partly, for survival.

I didn’t understand the word “study” perhaps until Secondary School. Even after I understand the word I didn’t study much still, a trend that continued even until my university studies. Thankfully, I somehow repented I think during my last year of my university studies.

One day when I was in Primary 3 or 4 my teacher was so fed up with me as I didn’t do any of my homework at all, a usual habit for me. He commanded me to leave the classroom. I didn’t want to. He dragged me but I held on to one table and then probably to a chair. But he was stronger than me. I was out of the class. I then wandered away to a particular area in the school. I think the teacher was trying to find me. Later on when I came back to class it was another teacher. He was quite nice to me. Perhaps he was scared that I would wander away from school.

In my life I did many stupid things. When Lean Choo and I got married the theme of our wedding was “Only by grace”. Indeed it was only by grace that I survived physically, emotionally and spiritually to get married that day.

Though I have many stories to tell about my mischiefs and grace encounters I do regret wasting my life a little bit by not being a dilligent person.

YYY and YY people, I urge you not to repeat my mistake. Learn from mistake. You are only in your late teens and twenties once. Do not waste it away. Don’t allow the world and your peers to distract you. Invest your life fully into the cause of the church. Live out the purpose and destiny God has for you fully.

YYY and YY people, you know, it is not about me. It is about you.

Many years ago God birthed into my heart a burden. The burden was for me to be in a place in the world where I can find people from various nationalities to win them for Christ, disciple and train them and release them to the various parts of the world to plant churches or contribute in some ways to the church of Jesus Christ.

When I was Singapore, in the early years, I saw a mental picture of a greyish building with many classrooms, a large auditorium with flags of many countries of the world there. Then I saw a mental picture of the map of the world. One picture of this greyish building appeared on the map then it multiplied to many greyish buildings all over the map. There was fire on top of the picture of one greyish building. The fire also multiplied and appeared on other greyish buildings on the map.

I believe this is it. This is the place. Singapore is getting more multinationals by the day. Singapore is an excellent training ground for world missions.

YYY and YY people, indeed, it is about you. In the years to come, some of you will be leaving Singapore to extend the work of God in different parts of the world. Some of you will be in Singapore to strengthen the base. Some of you will be going while some of you will be training and releasing people to go. Some of you will be in Singapore but you will travel quite a bit to support and strengthen our teams out there. Some of you will be in Singapore but you are pumping financial resources to advance God’s work abroad.

That’s your destiny. In the years to come, whether you are a church planter, a full time staff, a pastoral leader, a specialised minister, a marketplace minister we share the same destiny. God has a vision for the world and He wants us to fulfill it. God wants each us to sign up fully for the cause of the greatest corporation in the universe, the church of Jesus Christ.

YYY and YY generation, live out your destiny fully. Invest your life fully to the cause of the church of Jesus Christ. Do not waste your teens and twenties away. Make it count for yourself, God and the Kingdom.


Sharing from the heart to the Y generation:

I have not forgotten you. How can I forget my own generation?

Whatever I spoke about the YYY and YY generation apply to you as well.

But there is one thing that I would like to speak to you about.

I believe that God wants you to be a mentor to the YYY and YY generation.

In a way, you eat a little bit more than salt than them. As such why don’t we invest our lives so that the YYY and YY people can flourish better than us? Why don’t we allow them to learn from our successes and failures so that they will eventually do better than us in all fronts.

In a LC in Kuala Lumpur some years ago a man of God gave a word of prophecy. He prophesied that God is going to use some people who are not apostles to shepherd and raise apostles from those under their care.

The future apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, pastors, specialist ministers and marketplace ministers are among the YYY and YY generation. But many of them need spiritual mentors. Many of them need career mentors. Many of them need life coaches. Many of them need spiritual fathers and mothers. Many of them need friends who have gone a little bit further than them.

Y generation, that’s our calling and destiny. Would you join me to raise the next generation of leaders for the nations?

Let’s live out our destiny fully as well.

Lessons from a broken chair

On Tuesday, I was sitting on my chair at home. On several occassion I heard a funny sound, perhaps a cracking kind of sound, for several times. I ignored the sound and didn't think of it at all. The time came for me to sit on the chair one last time. I sat on it and the chair broke and gave away completely sending me to the floor with some pain on my buttock.

As I went down I screamed a little bit because of the surprise/shock. Lean Choo was in the house but she ignored me for awhile. After some time she came and told me that she wasn't sure whether it was for real for whether I was just acting, hix, hix.

I learnt some lessons from this "broken chair" incident.

1. Do not ignore warnings

The chair gave me warnings but I ignored it to my own peril.

At times we tend to ignore the warnings of life as well. These warnings can come from God, others, circumstances or our own conscience. If we do this we are doing this to our own peril.

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches." (Revelation 2:17a - NLT)

2. Appearance can be deceiving

Prior to Tuesday I had never imagined that this kind of chair can ever collapse. But appearance can be deceiving. In life, we must look deeper than appearance. There is nothing wrong with good appearance by itself. But is there substance behind the appearance?

Appearance can be deceiving. What looks good is not necessarily good. The opposite is also true.

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12 - NIV)

3. Credibility is earned through integrity

I like acting. Nowadays, I do not have much opportunity to act though. However, when I was with Lean Choo I would act from time to time. As such, when the incident happened she didn't know whether I was acting or whether it was for real.

It is just like the story of a boy who cries out "tiger" when there is none. When there is a real tiger and he cries out for help people think that he is fooling around again.

Indeed, credibility is earned through integrity. People would believe in your testimony if you have been consistent and honest in your words and deeds. :)

Does it mean that I have to stop acting? :)

4. It is important to feel secure in life

I know what my wife was thinking of when she saw the incident. She thought that I was heavy. That's why the chair gave way.

But I know that that's not true. The incident had nothing to do with my weight. :) Definitely, it was the chair's fault, not mine.

Good thing that I was secure. I wasn't affected by what Lean Choo thought of me. Praise God, he he.


One broken chair and four life lessons to learn. I guess I can now lay the chair to rest in peace for it has served its purpose and more.

Our Young Overseas Graduates and Internationals Ministry

Under the large umbrella of Young Adults ministry we have in our midst our Young Overseas Graduates and Internationals Ministry. Currently, this group is of the size of a large care group which is going to birth a new care group soon. Presently, the beautiful people in this group include those from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hongkong and those who studied abroad in places such as Melbourne, Perth and London.

The purposes of this group and ministry is two-fold. Firstly, it is to assist believing young overseas grads and internationals to transit or adjust back to life in Singapore and to working life. Secondly, it is to reach out to their pre-believing friends especially those with of similar background as them.

Three Sundays ago (9 Sep) after service we had our very first Returnee Party. This party was a party on behalf of Hope Singapore to welcome some returnees to our church. Returnees can be defined as those who are moving from one Hope Church to another or those moving from one country to another. We really had a lot of fun together. Members of this group and ministry are really warm and fun loving people.

Besides an informal and fun time, good food and warm fellowship we had the honour of Ps Jeff sharing some words to encourage the returnees. We closed the party by giving Ps Jeff supposedly surprise birthday celebration. Unfortunately, he was too experienced for us to be able to surprise him. We will try again next time. :)

Here is one photo from the party:

Zynne is one of the sisters in the group and ministry. The people in the group love her very much. After spending some months in Singapore she is going to move to Adelaide very soon to work there. Though we are going to miss her a lot we know that God is going to use her to be a blessing there. She is going to join Hope Adelaide and she is going to be our representative there, introducing Hope Singapore and our ministry to the people there.

Zynne....................................................With CN & Christine

Perhaps this is a glimpse of what is to come. People coming in and going out from and to many parts of the world. I believe that this group and ministry will contribute significantly to world missions in the days to come.

I thank God for CN and Christine for leading the group and ministry well. I thank God for every single person in this group and ministry as well. May God continue to add to this group and expand their influence to the furthest parts of the world.

To those who are outside the group and the ministry you can truly help by praying for them and introducing your young overseas grads and international to them. On behalf of them I thank you much in advance. :)

He confirms...

This year God has been speaking to me a particular word. Interestingly, this word has been repeated by different people through different prophecies in different times in different places (even continents). Indeed, our God is a very consistent God. And to me it feels great to find God speaking to me about the same thing again and again. It gives me assurance that indeed this is what God wants to do in and through my life.

In the ministry front, in the beginning of the year we developed the following acronym:

Faith

Resilient Love

Urban Discipleship

Inspired Outreach

Tarrying in Prayer

CULTURE

This acroynm represents what we feel collectively as AG4 leadership on God's prophetic direction for us for the year 2007.

In our recent church anniversary celebration God used Ps PN's message to bring some assurance in my heart that He indeed wants us to grow our faith and prayer life.

Ps PN's message was about faith. Abraham against all odds believed and became a father of many nations. Indeed, we need to keep believing in God's promises and sovereignty rather than in the magnitude of our challenges. When I look at the accounts of the Gospel I see faith as one huge factor whether somebody is going to receive their miracle.

The testimony of how Hope Bangkok started the church was also shared. During that time they had prayer meeting weekly. God spoke to them and they interceded according to the revelation received. The result was that the church saw God's divine favour upon them week after week. I really believe that many times we really undermine the power of prayer and intercession. We tend to overly rely on our hard work and skills. And when we pray we tend to pray instant prayers instead of labouring in prayers and listening to the Holy Spirit on what we should pray and intercede.

I really believe that as we serve God dilligently, develop our skills and rely on Him fully we will see mighty breakthroughs in our lives and ministries.

Thank you Lord for confirming your prophetic direction again and again. Help us to continue run this race with faith, prayers and great perseverance for we know that our labours shall never be in vain and that the best is yet to come. Amen!

A Fascinating Video Clip

I just discovered some days ago that I could actually upload a video clip onto my blog.

That's great news. You see, I have in my posession a fascinating video clip.

Some things in life are worthy to be immortalised. In my humble opinion, this video clip is one of them.

The stars of this fascinating video production are Charmaine, Lisa, Esther and the wonderfully tame cheetah. Where am I? Well, somebody must sacrifice to make this clip possible. :)

The moral of the story?

One of them must be that missions and fun can indeed go hand in hand. :)

The Olympia Ultimatum

The Olympia Ultimatum is our 2nd YA event of the year.

Talking about young adults recently a thought came to me about the existence of three types of young adults in our community. They are simply single y (y), double y (yy) and triple y (yyy). Y people are people like me, those who are in the third division. YY people are those who are in their mid and late twenties. YYY people are those who are in their late teens and early twenties. The common thread? All of us are young adults! Yes! :)

Back to the event. It's so good to see mostly YYY people running the event last Saturday, 01 Sep. May they continue to do more for the Kingdom in the days to come!

The event was meant to start at 2pm. At 2pm+ it rained very heavily. But people prayed and the rain stopped completely around 15 minutes later. We ended being blessed by a cool weather for our event. Praise the Lord!

The event was very interactive and entertaining. Those who were there enjoyed themselves a lot. The game shows we watched on TV or YouTube shifted venue to East Coast Park. Our young adults' creative sparks, enthusiasm, laughters, intelligence and athleticism coloured East Coast Park that fateful Saturday afternoon.

I want to thank Clarence Tan and his team for putting up a very good event for all of us. I have to also mentioned Desmond Lee, the advisor to the committee, one of the YY people involved in the organisation of the event. Guys and gals, if you are reading this, "Good job. Keep up the good work."

Some friends did join us for the event and they enjoyed it. One of them came for service the next day and rededicated his life to the One who loves him a lot.

Below are some photos of the event, courtesy of Lay Lay and her camera.

Enjoy!

I will still believe

This blog entry is a recent personal reflection of mine.

There are times in our lives where we are surrounded by difficult and seemingly impossible situations. Wherever we turn to we see difficult and seemingly impossible situations. What do we do in such situation? What should we do in such situation?

Yesterday morning, I was reminded of a precious lesson I learnt many years ago. I learnt a new pointer too. The passage is 1 Samuel 30. In this passage, David went through an incredibly difficult situation. He might be justified to react in many ways but he did not. His godly responses were mainly two responses. Firstly, he strengthened himself in God (v. 6). Secondly, He sought the Lord for a solution to his very difficult situation (v. 7-8). In the remaining verses we could see how God honoured David by giving him a mighty victory. Had David responded in other ways he wouldn't have experienced the victory. Had David responded according to his flesh his seemingly impossible situation would have been turned into a truly impossible situation.

This morning, I listened to a particular Indonesian praise & worship song for the first time ever and I was greatly ministered by the song.

Below are the lyrics of the song in English (my translation).

You Work in a Miraculous Way
Jonathan Prawiradi

When I cannot see You
I will still believe
You always know
What You need to do for me

When I feel that You are far away
I will still believe
You always know
The timing to act for me

Chorus:
You work in a miraculous way
My mind can’t fathom it
How You work things out for the good of me who loves You

"Yes Lord, come what may I will still believe. Thanks much for speaking to me afresh in the last two days."

P.S. If you would like to listen to melody of the song you can go to http://ww.kidung.com and look for the following title, "Kau bekerja dengan cara yang ajaib"

God knows better

On Tuesday night I wrote an e-mail to my lecturer requesting a conversion of the course I am doing from credit to audit. That was the first time that I had ever made such an application in the course of my studies in the Bible College. I decided to do this as I felt that I wouldn't be able to really complete the assignments well and that I had some important ministry and family considerations. I was concerned that ministry would be affected if I spent the time doing the assignments. There were several family matters that I needed to look into as well including getting a flat in a central area. I didn't like the idea of converting the course into audit as it would mean that i would need to retake the subject again next time. But I thought perhaps God was teaching me a lesson about letting go.

On Wednesday I received a reply e-mail from my lecturer. He told me that it was already too late for me to apply for the conversion. If I wanted to I should have done it during the two weeks of lectures some time ago. He told me that if I didn't submit my assignments he would give me F as my grade and this would bring down my overall grade in my transcript. Later on I also learned that this F would not be able to be erased completely from my transcript ever. Now, the big problem was that the due date of the assignments was the next day (Thursday). This was already an extended date for me. And I had 5 assignments to submit having done around halfway for 1 assignment. The gravity of the situation left me with no choice but to apply for an urgent leave for Thursday and Saturday (I work every Saturday) and for a day off next Monday to complete my assignments. Thank God that my lecturer gave me another extension until Monday. After that 3% of my marks would be deducted per day.

On Thursday, I almost completed 2 assignments. I hope to complete them fully by today. Today, I also hope to complete another 1 assignment, make continual progress in another 1 assignment and started to work on my final assignment, a research paper requiring at least 20 sources.

I thought perhaps God wanted to teach me a lesson about letting go. But God knows better than me. It seems that the lesson that God wants to teach and remind me instead is about how He knows better how much I can be stretched. Just when I thought I couldn't stretch further God proved me wrong. I am surprised that I was able to almost complete 2 assignments on Thursday. I am surprised that I have some good momentum to finish the remaining of the assignments. Come Monday, it will be an achievement to complete 4-5 assignments within a stretch of several days.

I do not know what my grade will be but I am very sure it will not be F. I also have the confidence that the ministry and the family matters at hand will not receive F as a grade as well. This is as my God knows better.

I am back from Nairobi...

I am back in Singapore. The trip to Nairobi, Kenya was most fruitful. I could see the hand of God moving before, throughout and after the trip. Thanks much for those who prayed and interceded for me, Charmaine and Team Nairobi. Please continue to pray for Team Nairobi as often as you can as your prayers can move their mountains.

Li Chuang and Lisa are doing well. God continues to provide for them. The ministry work continues to progress as well. It has been a privilege for me, AG4 district and AWAM to be able to partner with them to advance the Kingdom in Kenya. Li Chuang and Lisa gave us great hospitality during our stay there. They took care of us so well that I was a little bit embarrased by it. They are indeed some of the most giving people I have ever met in my life.

In this trip Charmaine and I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Esther and some time with Pooh. Esther and Pooh were from Hope Bangkok. They are now in Nairobi, Kenya as God gave them a vision for Kenya. I was greatly inspired and encouraged listening to Esther's sharing and testimonies. God gave her a vision for Kenya after she did a 40-day fast, just drinking milk. In the last 6 months things have not been easy for her (also for Pooh) but as she continued to hold on to God's vision and persevered she saw God's provision and intervention. Actually, there is another brother from Hope Bangkok, Kevin. However, he was in Bangkok when we were there. He will be coming back to Nairobi some time soon. Indeed it is most encouraging to see three young adults stepping out from their comfort zones to be involved in the work of missions.

In case you want to see how they look like here are some photos:

Esther and Li Chuang

Charmaine, Esther and I

Pooh (left), Kevin (right) and a friend (centre)

While I was in Nairobi God spoke to me from Ephesians 6 about the reality of the spiritual warfare. God spoke to me in a fresh way that the struggle is indeed not against flesh and blood. My heart was convicted to up prayers and intercession in Singapore both for the work in Kenya and Singapore. If you are from AG4 district and AWAM group and reading this blog entry please join me to pray and intercede regularly for the work of God in Kenya and Singapore. As the struggle is not against flesh and blood we can't fight the battle with our flesh and blood only. We must do all we can humanly possible and pray hard for God to move by His power.

Before I sign off here is one interesting photo. Indeed nothing is impossible for those who believe. Come and talk to me if you want to know the secret behind it. :)

Cheetah and me

Greetings from Dubai

I am on my way to Nairobi, Kenya to visit Li Chuang and Lisa and some sisters from Thailand. This is going to be my second trip to Kenya in two years. But this time I am travelling alone. Last year I was travelling with four others. I am meeting Charmaine there though. She is flying from Johannesburg. I don't really like to travel alone. But I guess this is a small price to pay in doing God's work.

For my first leg of the trip (Singapore-Dubai) I was allocated a window seat. When I bought the ticket I requested for an aisle seat (I like aisle seat) and I was given a seat number accordingly. However, when I arrived in the airport they changed my seat twice and I ended at a window seat. For some reasons, that particular seat was very cram. That was the down part. The good part was that the person sitting besides me was a nice person. We chatted a little bit asking about each other's trip. She and her husband (in their fifties I think) are from Scotland. They are on the way back to Scotland after a one-month holiday in Australia. I am very happy with myself that I initiated the conversation. I can be a very shy person. To me sitting besides a complete stranger is a completely different ball game as compared to getting to know a new visitor in the service.

Right now I am at Dubai airport for a 10-hour transit. Dubai is really a very busy airport. People are everywhere. Apparently there are quite a number of things we can do here including shopping, eating and going for message. Eugene Phang told me that there is a wireless connection available throughout the airport. He is right. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to write this blog entry.

If you are reading this blog entry I would appreciate your prayers. Pray as the Holy Spirit leads you. I am getting very excited. In my heart I am sensing that something very good is about to happen in Nairobi. Thanks in advance for praying. May the Kingdom advance powerfully in Kenya!

If you want to see the impossible

Last Saturday I was in the Indonesian service when I believe God gave a rhema word. The rhema word is as follow: "If you want to see the impossible you must grow your faith."

On Wednesday, we had a Leaders Huddle session which was opened to any Christ follower in the district who wanted to come as well. We explored the topic of faith deeper that night. The below is the summary of the lesson.

Faith according to Hebrews 11

"If you want to see the impossible you need to grow your faith."

There is something about believing in God, that makes God willing to pass over a million people just to anoint you. I believe God will always turn out to meet you on a special line if you dare to believe Him. (Smith Wigglesworth)

Some facets of faith from some verses in Hebrews 11:

1. Confident of God’s power and promises (v. 1)

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

* Things that we can’t see can be as real and better than the things that we can see. However, as we can’t see it, it requires faith for us to believe its reality and goodness.

* Part of that growth in faith is to believe that we are a supernatural being and that we are to live a supernatural life.

A supernatural life is simply living our life in the realm of faith and not in the realm of sight. A supernatural life is simply living our life with God’s power, wisdom and promises to accomplish His purposes.

2. Perceives the divine design (v. 3)

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

How can we apply this in our life and ministry?

* I believe the word therefore I experience the reality of the word

* We need to be careful not to modify our theology or belief based on our experience or lack of experience.

3. Acts on God’s promises (v. 8-22)

“8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. 13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. 17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. 20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. 21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. 22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.”

4. Esteem Christ above all (v. 24-26)

"24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."

5. Overcome tremendous odds (v. 29-38)

“29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. 31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. 32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.”

Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials. (Smith Wigglesworth)

Conclusion

"Lord, please grow our faith! Amen!"

Reference

1. Personal Bible Study by Thomas Nelson Publishers

Guarding My Heart

The last several weeks have been quite intense for me. As part of my Bible College program I took an intensive 2-week course in the last week of June and in the first week of July. We started the course with the introduction of the course syllabus and by the end of the second week we needed to hand in an assignment. It was a group assignment thus as a group we faced a challenge of merging 4 different opinions and working styles. The remaining of the assignments are due this week and in the next few weeks.

In the last three weeks Lean Choo and I have also been spending time with my brother, his wife and our second nephew from Australia and on a separate occassion with my cousin from Indonesia who just came to Singapore to study. We had a great time with them. This week some relatives are coming from Indonesia. Next week my sister and her family are coming from Australia. It seems that we are really becoming an international family.

On Saturday afternoon I attended NG12 Male Group Shepherding or rather NG12 Cool Hunks Gathering? Unfortunately, I had to leave half way as I needed to preach in the Indonesian Service. I asked for the guys to pray for me as I struggled with the lack of time to prepare for the sermon. They guys prayed for me readily. That was brotherhood. I struggled a little bit with my sermon delivery but I was surprised by the responsiveness of the people in the service to the preaching. I really believe that God answered their prayers. Thanks a lot, bros. (you know who you are) Next time, it's my turn to pray for you.

When I look at my schedule for the next two and half months I have to take some deep breaths. Besides having to submit my assignments, making a trip to Kenya and doing some other things I noted 2 interesting 3-week stretch. In Aug, I will be preaching for 3 consecutive Saturdays. In Sep, I will have the privilege to solemnise and share the message for three couples for 3 consecutive Saturdays.

In the the midst of this busyness I was recently reminded of this important exhortation from the Word (Prov 4:23 - NIV):

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

When we are tired, stretched and under a lot of pressure we may allow certain character flaws to manifest that we wouldn't allow under normal circumstances.

Through my personal experiences there are some character flaws that we need to guard our hearts against whenever we are in those pressure cooker situations.

*Unkindness

We can be unkind, impatient and rude to others in those times. We feel that we have the right to do these things because of the difficult situation we are in.

* Pride

When we are busy doing many things we can develop a false sense of self importance, "I am doing many things therefore I am important."

* Self Pity

When we are overwhelmed by things we can have a pity party with ourselves, "Why must it be me all the time? Why am I the only one doing these things? Why aren't others sharing my loads?"

The last few weeks have been intense. The next 2 and half months are going to be intense too. It is time that I am more conscious and deliberate in guarding my hearts against those character flaws.

I must guard my heart for it is the wellspring of life.

"Dear God, please help me and I shall be helped. Amen!"

NG12 Band of Brothers

The guys in NG12 sub district have been having their monthly macho gatherings since May this year. It is great to see men coming together to have fun together and to spur one another on to become all that God makes them to be.

Here are some photos from the gatherings.

In case you are wondering, Kam Weng and Ronald were special guests in the gatherings.

The next gathering will be this Saturday, 2-4pm at Marc Ong's house in Queenstown.

The dates of the remaining gatherings for this year are below.

Thurs, 9 Aug

Sat, 8 Sep

Sat, 13 Oct

Sat, 10 Nov

Sat, 8 Dec

NG12 sisters, please don't disturb the guys on those dates, okay? :)

Having said that, do keep NG12 guys in prayers. They are going to be a great blessing to many brothers and SISTERS in many countries of the world.

And the sisters say...