You are not alone

In Christianity, all of life has worth in the highest degree because all of life takes on meaning: the bitter as well as the sweet, the wins as well as the losses. Whether he wins or loses, the Christian knows from the mere fact of playing the right game with all his might that the final outcome will be a win to end all losses. This is why Saint Paul could say of the church: " For no one of us lives, and equally no one of us dies, for himself alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Whether therefore we live or die, we belong to the Lord" (Rom 14:7,8) This is the testimony of a man who found the highest degree of value and satisfaction in both living and dying! And why? Because the game he played was "for the Lord." Think, then, of how it must feel to be trapped in a game that finally has no purpose, no meaning, no importance:



Dont be Discouraged, Charlie Brown," Schroeder tells him. " These early defeats help to build character for later on in life." "For what later on in life?" asks Charlie Brown. "For more defeats!" replies Schroeder. Charlie Brown then invests in five cents' worth of Lucy's psychiatric help. At first her advice sounds a bit more sophisticated: "Adversity builds character. Without adversity a person could never mature and face up to all the things in life!" "What things?" he asks. "More adversity!" she says. Is this all there is to man's existance: facing adversity with "maturity" and then - nothing? Are we really alone in a meaningless universe? Is there finally no one who even knows about our defeats? Is God dead? The Christian hardly thinks so. In speaking of a series of drawings he did on the subject of security, Schulz put it this way: "Perhaps the way I feel about God is best told in this last cartoon of that series. Linus is kneeling with arms on his bed, and the caption reads, ' Security is knowing you are not alone." And how does the Christian finally know he is not alone? Again, we will let Linus speak:



So do u trust that this friend is always there beside you all the time?

Fishing

Our country really is a small place, considering that most of us either never or hardly fish before ! Thanks especially to Marcus for organising such an event for a great experience to share with many, haha, right people ?

Waking up at 5 plus in the morning for all the early fishermen + fisherwomen on a saturday is really, woooo, give yourself a pat on the back. We got a bit lost on the roads, now u know why street directory is so popular, but we still managed to arrive in time to catch a good view of the sun coming up!

Spent some time setting up the rods and off we go ! Wasnt long b4 we caught our 1st fish of the day !

Everyone was having fun, enjoying the wind and the surroundings. Not to mention all the funny things we witness and did, haha. We threw our bucket(tied of course), to fetch some water to store the fishes we caught. The only problem was, our expert(not mentioning who, lol), managed to aim so well, the whole bucket went in and was filled up. And lol, thats where the fun began, how to bring up a bucket full of water ! Took 4 guys to eventually pull it up and haha the ppl ard us thought we caught what sort of fish, needed 4 ppl to pull out of the water!

Other funny events were Marcus setting up a shelter and convincing the uncles and aunties he could do it even when they offered us the bus shelter. Sometimes, the odd fisherman caught a really large fish and ppl were rushing to see it being reared in. They even brought their big nets to help catch it but haha, whenever the string broke, they quickly ran off saying they didnt see anything happen, lol.

Our other contedner for most funniest event has to be the rain the in the morning. Marcus called and check the weather report and within minutes of them saying the sky was clear, it poured! Could even see the rain coming in.

Marcus very funny, keep saying its coming, its coming, 1 more min ! Asked us to help set up the tent, but lol, no one knew how to so we just stared! Hehehe. Anyway, the rain was a short and passing shower and normal routine resumed very quickly when we thought we had to entertain one another in the tent !

The rest came in the late morning and joined in and some even managed to catch their own fishes ! Yeah !

Had a good time of fishing and packed up in the late afternoon cos of the even bigger bomb coming !

Lobsters we may be but hey we had a great time of being in the sun!

Just be thankful

Sometimes, when you think too much about things, they start giving u a headache because there doesn't seem to be a solution/ending to it. So what do u do? Give it up, throw them aside or ask for guidance? U can pray a lot for some things but sometimes they never seem to ever occur, yet at times, things happen the way u want it so one should be happy right? Well, the end result is what G0d does grant to you but he didnt tell you whats in the middle i.e. , the process of getting to it. So it's a bittersweet thing, u get what u want & God makes things happen in the best way he deems it to be pleasant in his sight and u end up thinking why your life is so complicated when the mind wanders too far from the source? Well.. the key word is thankfulness, just be contended with what you get it, be it sometimes the way to get there isn't what u could imagine it to be. Yeah to one less problem to think about !

Put them on eveyday !

Thanks

Thank you everyone for your sms and finding time out to have an unique dinner together !

Remember the saying, " It's the thought's that count ! " Always treasure your love ones be it family or friends cos every single one is a blessing from God in your life !

Happy Friendship Day

His love for us

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! - (Matt 7:9-11)

"Man Cannot commit a sin so great as to exhaust the infinite love of God," Dostoyevsky's saintly Zossima tells a woman who has committed an unspeakable crime and is afraid to die. "Can there be a sin which could exceed the love of God? .... Believe that God loves you as you cannot conceive; that He loves you with your sin, in your sin ..... All things are atoned for, all things are saved by love. If I, a sinner, even as you are, am tender with you and have pity on you, how much more will God." Peter ..... asked him, 'Lord, how often am I to forgive my brother if he goes on wronging me? As many as seven times ?' Jesus replied, 'I do not say seven times; i say seventy times seven'" (Matt 18:21-22). This is not arithmetic, but a biblical way of saying, " I say infinitely." Could it be that Peter's Lord requires more of his children than he asks of himself? Could such a Lord even think of banishing his children from his forgiveness - especially "forever"? Would this not make God the greatest celestial hypocrite? Apparently even "children of wrath" find it difficult to sustain this kind of cruelty

The heart is a slave

- The Parables of PEANUTS

A New Year

2008, a new year.

A new start once again, but God is the same as ever before so its another year of being challenged to hold onto him in gd and bad times.

A look back into 07. God has been good always. One of the many blessings to give thanks for is MMM, M'kkdesh Makan Ministry. I guess as i look back, it was a success cos God bless this fellowship by always bringing ppl to come and be part of it. Everyone in their own ways supported it very much and some of the church ppl even know abt it, haha, we r famous ! Can we copyright the MMM thingy, haha? May those of you who set aside time on fridays enjoyed and grown to love one another company.

Maybe cos i'm ard more often this time rd, i get to see and interact with everyone on a more regular basis. Getting to know the cell better has being a wonderful experience. Of course, we grow older yr by yr and we do change so its a constant need to keep updating oneself to know every individual. ( Now most ppl know hw much clothing i have, haha, just stop asking me to buy so often, getting complains @ home le, !)

Aug was cell retreat, working with elena, xinyi and mattathias allowed me to be part of something special as well as to know them better as individuals. As i mention to them b4, i hardly know xy and matt much b4 the retreat com thingy so its a gd start, haha.

Friendships grew, one of which was with Guorong, someone whom i'm very thankful for all the support, time, prayer, shopping experiences, nonsense and much more. I guess it's one of those God divine appointment situations where ppl come in to walk with u when u most need it and then having to move on but still, i've learnt a lot through the ups and downs of this friendship and i'll treasure what the values of this friendship is and put it into gd use for the future. Thank care Bro, do i need to type out a thesis for the word friendship, haha!

Many other old and new friendships were strengthen and formed and it's going to be another challenging year to try to keep up with all of them. It's been great to know the guys & gals better last yr and the great fellowship that God has bless all of us with. Of course, this is going to be extremely long post if i comment and thank every single one of u so till next time la. 24 hrs is never enough when u want to spend time with people and chill out to know one another better!

Study wise was gd, didnt do that well in the 1st half of the yr but still, i was thankful to be at least heading in the correct direction. Sem 2 exam results were a surprise to me, didnt really study hard enough and instead of studying more, i think i set more time aside to contribute to things outside of studies. The last day b4 so many diff exam papers, i still was blur over certain things like those 25 mark question thingy that will determine u fail or pass the exam kind but i'm really thankful, even like for eg after deciding to go for the bb/gb nite walk in the middle of exams, its not abt earning pts, its all abt being obedient and ya, clearing all 8 subj was a really nice feeling to have esp when u know divine intervention was involved in the results.

Now for 08, i suppose there r lots of things to do and do. Ah !! one of which is the whole new responsibility of being in a ministry. Never been in one, although everyone outside of cell thinks i'm in sound, lol ? and wooo 5 mth commitment isn't a joke, i wonder how i'm going to survive especially since i've to teach the kids as well! Oh well, 1 step at a time and God will lead me on, just have to trust him in that.

Cell grp has been a great support to me this past yr esp all the various events which they took part in. However, i want to lower my contributions somewhat to allow others to come in and do things in their own unique ways. I dont mind doing it but i always feel that everyone shld try to help out a bit in the organising from time to time even if it isnt their talent. In our weakness , He is strong ! Another thing is the fact that been involved in the children side will mean lots of brain juice gone so ya, need to polish shield to deflect all the arrows flying from cell side, wahahaha.

Try not to read too deep into the last paragraph thats above, i know some of you can process a million diff scenarios from this, haha. And oh yes, may you dear reader have a wonderful God fulfilling year ahead.