Joy

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."(Gal 5:22-23)

Are you feeling joyful?

The Holy Spirit brings JOY. If you are not happy, you are not in the will of God. Be happy!

2 causes of unhappiness:
1) Unfavorable Circumstances: "My life sucks!"
2) Pity Partying: "My life sucks. I choose to be unhappy and I'm telling the world on Facebook and Twitter so that you can pity me. So quick, start pitying! Me!"

Okay jokes aside...

Recently, I've been unhappy, fearful and stressed about stuff in my life. But if the fruit of the Spirit is Joy and Peace, I should be confident about my situation, that everything's not just gonna be alright, but gonna be GREAT. Because God is on my side, and He has come to give life, and life more abundantly!

If you know that you can't do it, good! Because His strength is made perfect in your weakness. You are going to find yourself doing things that you were never good at. You will conquer the your greatest fears. It is because of who you are in Christ.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us," (Eph 3:20, NIV)

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." (1 Cor 15:10)

By the grace/power of God, you can overcome all weakness, all trials, all temptations, all fears, all failures, all sickness, etc

But its not psycho-ing yourself to be happy. Talk to God. Tell Him about your frustrations. Ask Him for His grace to overcome. Then believe, even when you doubt. Just a small mustard seed of faith, even if mixed with fear, can cause you to walk on water in the midst of a storm, just like Peter.

All glory to God!

3 Truths

It's one thing to know a truth. It's another to have experienced it yourself.

Recently, I've experienced 3 truths:

1) "You don't really know what you've got 'til it's gone."

Mike Shinoda got this right when he rapped the song Where'd You Go (Fort Minor).

What can't you afford to lose if you lost everything else?
What can you afford to give away to retain those that really matter?

2) Pain gives birth to maturity.

It increases our pain threshold, our capacity to handle things.

3) God always has a beautiful ending.

This thought came to me yesterday, 

"If you could see the Lord's intended outcome, you would rejoice."

Just like how He blessed Job after his crisis, He will do so for us.

We have every reason to rejoice.

"Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord--that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful." (James 5:11)

2011: Promotion and Multiplication!

Some months back, Dr. Niko prophesied that 2011 will be a year of Promotion and Multiplication for our church. Thanks be to Weiren for reminding us about that!

Not going to let the evil one steal the word this year.
Not sure if I shared this before but I'll just share it anyway. Last year in October, I felt God showing me that City Harvest Church will grow and expand so rapidly that we will be amazed. He said "Be ready in season and out of season! You and your companions will contain the growth if you will prepare yourselves!"

In other words, some of us, including myself, will rise up to be shepherds, because of the growth. I didn't think of correlating this word with Dr. Niko's prophesy until this week. But of course the promise is conditional; I gotta prepare myself. I wondered, in what way can I prepare myself? Just like what Weiren preached today, one way is to study the Word!

It's such an amazing revelation that the Logos is Jesus Christ! We've heard that Jesus is the living Word, but somehow, this is like some new revelation. It must be realizing that Logos is not just the written word, but God Himself. Cool.

Anyways, one reason why I blog is to keep a written record about the events of my life, my thoughts, feelings and funny crap. Those archives proved to be darn useful. Especially when you apply for scholarships (which I currently am doing so).

It's hard to remember all the dates of events, like exactly which day did I start/end my work as a Game Programmer at Envisage? When did I do my SAT test?

For those of us who joined W406 early, how about this: when did Weiren become our Cellgroup Leader? Was it 2007? Which month was that? 

Well? Can't remember can you? :P

Actually I can't either XD

I checked my email accounts; the first email I ever got from Weiren was Thu, Aug 16, 2007 at 12:10 AM. Hmm...

At any case, it was 2007, and how quickly 3-4 years has passed. Or slowly. Feels like we've known each other forever.

Okay I shall stop this retrospection, before I submerge myself in nostalgia. The point is, I blog to keep track of memories. I like to keep track of stuff. I'm an archivist, a scribe, whatever. Looking at data makes me feel powerful. In a couple of years time, we'll look back and see that 2011 would be indeed a year Promotion and Multiplication!

Psalms 91

I was browsing through a Christian bookstore the other day, and I happened to notice a book about Psalm 91.

The guys and I were worshiping God at my house when Isaiah gave a word of encouragement from Psalm 91.

I was playing guitar for W539 and Yufen too encouraged us from Psalm 91.

All this in a span of 4 days. Interesting. I think I'll meditate on the Psalm. I really like the last part of the Psalm:

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”
(Psalm 91:14-16)

Seek First

"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things shall be added to you."

Satisfied soul!

A healthy soul life leads to a healthy spiritual life.

Proven in my life.

After certain events in my life, I felt that I can't be successful game designer in the future.
Feeling discouraged and down, my spiritual life couldn't progress much.

But after hearing the word of God from Weiren, things changed for the better.
God came to give life and life more abundantly. (John 10:10)

God wants me to prosper and pursue my dreams! :)

Weiren also said that all men and women greatly used by God experience immense pain and hurt in various points of their lives.

This set me free, knowing that the pain I experienced is not just a failure, but it's ultimately to change me to a mature person, to increase my capacity, and to sympathize with other experiencing the same things.

After my soul life is satisfied, my spiritual life also improved. When I read God's word, I could understand it more clearly with revelations from God.

Thank God for His word!

Anecdotes and Musings

Loads has happened since I last posted. I couldn't find time to frequently post cos I'm back in camp, so I'll try to summarize the series of events...

Met another CHC guy in camp again.

Was waiting for the shuttle bus one day again, and this dude, a little plump, wearing specs, and donning no.3 (Clerk uniform, same as mine) walked towards me, STARING intently at me, as though I'm some fascinating specimen of human lifeform. It was really awkward, as he was staring at me with a "hey didn't I see you somewhere before?" look - for like 10 seconds. When he finally reached me he said:

"I've seen you before."

"Do I know you?"

"You're an usher right? In church"

"Where did I meet you?"

"In church la!" (yea, I realized I asked the obvious :X)

So I found out that his name is Joel, also from service 1, and he's in choir. Hmm. I guess people notice you even when you think you're not being noticed. They're everywhere...watching your every step... Okay spooky talk aside... :P

-------

Shortest. Leader's Meeting. Evar.

We had games, praise, worship, prayer, admin all in 1 hour! Amazing! Must be a work of God! Weiren said something about more time for Monopoly Deal- I mean godly fellowship.

Tan Jin + Chimpy!

Jin shaved to support some cancer movement, but he says that his head will feel cold in school. Thus, he brought Chimpy to warm his head. Chimpy is his pet soft toy, like how Polar is mine hahas :P

Chui has many fans! (no pun intended)

This awesome contraption has 3 fans that can blow at different directions!

Reminds me of airplane engines.

Table of fellowship.

Samuel :O

Sam and Brandon.

People.

Me.

Jin really looks like a chimp here XD

Chimp on a bigger chimp.

Brandon poked Chimpy's nose.

Raymond and Jeremy (Kuang)

Cheesy Fries.

Most awesome Bar Chor Mee!

无与伦比.

Actually I'm not sure if I can use the 词语 that way, but what the heck.

Jay Chou is incomparable nonetheless.

-------

One word from the Father,

and my life is never the same.

Was going through a season of darkness and discouragement, largely due to self-disappointment and failure. But thank God that He spoke to me, while I was in camp! Was alone at a desk, feeling terrible and thinking about these bad events, when suddenly I felt God say "It's okay, I love you and I want you to try again."

IMMEDIATELY, my bitter feelings of sorrow turned into joy, and all the heaviness was lifted.

I'd like to believe that physical discipline was partly the reason why God spoke to me; I hadn't gone on a run for a week, but firmly decided to run 8km that day. Encouraged myself during the run with the song "Free" by Planetshakers playing in my head.

There's freedom in the name of Jesus,

Freedom from all shame.

There's freedom in the name of Jesus,

Freedom from all pain.

There's freedom in the name of Jesus,

Freedom from all sin.

There's freedom in the name of Jesus,

Freedom in the name of Jesus.

Weiren invited me to play for his Bible Study class - thank God for this privilege. Thank God that I could hear the word about Hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit. Thank God for a great DG, and an awesome sermon on the Fatherhood of God by pastor Kong!

Deeply touched by that sermon. In fact, it's my favourite lesson in Christian Lifestyle!

Gotta go now, hope I'll have more time to post in the future!

Be Strong and of Good Courage

"Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and of good courage;

Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed,

for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

(Joshua 1:9)

1) "Have I not commanded you?..."
God commands us to be strong and of good courage! Its not a suggestion!
And its because He knows that you can be strong and bold, and He made you to be that way.

2) "...Be strong..."
Stand up strong in every circumstance. Be persevering, dependable, faithful.
Be strong!

Whatever born of God overcomes the world. Strength also speaks of capacity. You are a problem solver, full of God's wisdom and perseverance.

3) "... and of good courage..."
You are courageous and confident, unafraid of anyone. You are not afraid of what others think of you, and are unashamed of the gospel of Christ.

4) "... Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed..."
Let the peace of God guard your heart against fear and discouragement. "strengthen the hands that hang down" (Heb 12:12); stir yourself up! Why? Because:

5) "... for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
In difficult times, God has not abandoned you. He is always, always with you. When you realize that God lives inside of you, you won't be afraid of anything or anyone.

When you speak with a superior, you will be confident, because God is in you. Every reply is made with boldness and wisdom, as though God is saying it.

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

So we may boldly say:

"The LORD is my helper;

I will not fear.

What can man do to me?"

(Heb 13:5-6)

Just want to enter the presence of God more, for in Your presence I am safe.

Words from Asia Conference

"But the path of the just is like the shining sun,

that shines every brighter unto the perfect day."

(Prov 4:18)

1) As a righteous child of God, our life should go from glory to glory. If not, we're backsliding.

2) Reaching out to the youths by building RELATIONSHIPS
  - Be Present: I will be there for them in their down moments, be a listening ear
  - Be Patient: youths fluctuate, struggle with BGR and a host of other stuff. I gotta be patient with them :)

3) “Being Christians, life without miracles is no life at all. When you live by the Fourth Dimension, you can do the work of 100 men, and you will witness miracles.” - Dr. Yonggi Cho

"Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isa 43:18-19, quoted and prophesied by Phil Pringle)

4) God will be using City Harvest to do greater works - we should leave our past achievements behind and press on towards the new things that God has installed.

5) God deals with our low self-esteem by introducing to us a new self-concept
Our TRUE SELF = Image of God
- not afraid of rejection
- says what can be done, no what cannot be done
- nothing is impossible to him
- thinks positively
- self-determination: does not take "no" for an answer

Imago Dei

My, my, my... wow! Asia Conference was wonderful!

Due to much busyness and work, I was unable to update my Blog for a while. It carried on to Asia Conference, which was tiring! It was like.. report at 7am for usher ministry, serve until lunch break, do my work until evening, go back and serve for night session, reach home at 12am-1am, sleep for 3hrs, wake up at 5.30am, report at 6.40am for usher.... and it goes on.

Thank God that I made the prudent decision of serving only 3 days, and spending the last 2 days with my beloved W406! Longevity for the win! In either case, it was really fun serving God as an usher, together with Enyun, Ernest, Min Yee, Jing Yuan, Sunthari + group 11 and 12!

Thank God I was granted leave just a few days before Asia Conference.
Thank God for catered food! :D
Thank God for Tan Jin, who accompanied me to do my work on the first day, who helped me find a power socket (we went all the way to Foyer 1).
Thank God for Enyun, who gave morning calls. (Oh yah, I think I still owe her money for cab fare)
Thank God I could attend all sessions, except the "Cai Qin" one which we decided to skip to queue up earlier for Grand Finale ^^
Thank God for strength during the stressful and down moments.
Thank God for awesome preaching of the Word in every session!
Thank God for wisdom and anointing to serve as an Usher.
Thank God for turning things around, when things couldn't get worse.
Thank God for Pastor Kong's word about reaching the Youth and the spirit of love + unity after the preaching.
Thank God for getting into Hall 8 for the last 2 days, when I'm not serving.
Thank God I recovered my lost Bible and notebook.
Thank God for an awesome Asia Conference experience!

On the second day, I was posted to guard the back door of Hall 10 during the session with Dr. Bernard. I stood between the extreme cold of the air-conditioned auditorium and the scorching heat of the sun. Was a weird feeling, like a balance between Yin & Yang.

Guess who I met?

The C3 Band!

That's Joe Pringle on the right of me, and Ryan Smith besides him.

The lady singer joined in :)

Yay! Joe Pringle shook hands with me, and even asked my name haha. He was then complaining about walking to hall 8 under the sun. He said something like "But you guys are Singaporean! It's too hot for me!" lawls.

However I was getting agitated as Dr Bernard started preaching, and I was still guarding the door! I wanted to hear him preach! Nevertheless, I kept speaking to myself, to serve with a right attitude, as unto the Lord. It was hard to keep out those negative thoughts.

Finally when I was told to stand down from guarding the door, all the negativity sudden disappeared. :)

Thank God that I could get into Hall 8 for the last 2 days.
On the 4th day, my brothers and I arrived at 3.40pm while the rest of the CG met at 10am to queue. We may not be able to get into queue, much less to Hall 8. We tried to walk into the queue in Hall 10, by an Usher stopped us, and directed us to the front seats of Hall 10. However, we managed to get pass the Ushers, and walked all the way into the end of the queue.

I prayed with my bros for the service, and asked God that we can get into Hall 8, to experience and receive from Him in a more tangible way, and not so that we could get "better entertainment". I felt a sense of peace that we will get into Hall 8, without the need of cutting the queue.

So when Josiah said "Why the queue stopped moving? What if we can't get into Hall 8?",
I replied "We will get into Hall 8, don't worry."

In the end, not only did we managed to get in, but we could join W406!

On the last day, my bros, Chong Hui and I took the shuttle bus that my brother Isaac hired, and we reached Expo at around 8am. There was no Hall 10 for overflow, so we may not be able to attend the session at all. Thank God that Pastor Stephen let us in through the back door!

However the Ushers had a second line of defense - we needed to show our tag, and I believe they were looking out for the "Guest" tag. None of us had a "Guest" tag, we only had the normal ones. And I forgot to bring my tag. By God's grace, I pushed through with the crowd, past the frantic Ushers who were shouting "please show your tag!", and all of us made it to Hall 8! :D

Pastor Bernard's message in the Grand Finale was awesome! It really renewed my mind, about how I viewed myself. We were originally made in the image of God, and Christ restored us to that image when we received Him as our Saviour.

"Now if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Cor 5:17)

Our new man is really the Imago Dei - the Image of God. And the Image of God has the attributes of God - holy determination, undaunted confidence, creative, full of wisdom and capacity, etc.

That Word really inspired faith in me - I can be a relentlessly determined person, because I am created in God's image!

5 days of John Avanzini = much sowing of seeds.
非常期待 the harvest!

Praise the Lord!

Meat of the flesh, Meat of the Word

WOOT met with Robin and Janelle, my former bosses, last night. Bryan also tagged along :)

As some of you would know, Robin was also my lecturer back at NYP. He gave me a job after my graduation. Janelle is like a Project Manager/Producer, so that makes her my boss as well, I think.

Robin brought us to Phinn's Steakhouse at Bugis, and he treated us! Thank God for he's generosity! I felt kinda bad as I ordered the most expensive steak :X

But like what Pastor Kong always says, "If you feel led to give, I feel led to receive" :3

It was great conversing with them. As expected, Bryan and Robin discussed about Game Engines and programming stuff, half of which I didn't know about. Well, we got to the topic of Armor Valley, the game which I worked on when I was working for Robin.

Great news! They managed to ship the game, and the game received good reviews! This guy seems to love it a lot - he gave it a whopping 9/10!

Actually, the average score is 3.5 stars or 7/10, but that's great too. :)

Armor Valley!

After the sumptuous dinner, we went home. There was a conference call with Yufen and the CGCs at 10pm. Really thank God for refreshing my spirit during the whole prayer, as I felt that I was burning out through all the ministry. Thanks to Ernest for sharing my burden and giving good counsel. He reminded me about satisfying my soul(i.e. playing games :P), which I haven't been doing for the past week.

God revealed to me that I'll need a rhema Word, a promise from God for this season. Cos the ministering is only going to be more and more, and it will be the promise of God that sustains me.

When our world seems to be crumbling away, and all that we desire is falling before our eyes, only God's promise to us will give us hope; we can trust that everything's gonna turn out alright, because God said it, we believe it, that settles it.

God is good, all the time!

Anyway, I hope to share a great piece of news soon! God's truly gives seed to the sower!

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water, (full of life)
That brings forth its fruit in its season, (fruitfulness)
Whose leaf also shall not wither; (never not-doing-well)
And whatever he does shall prosper.

(Ps 1:2-3)

A Living Sacrifice

Wow I had an encounter with God this morning! :D

I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to offer my life to God, to obey and do His will.

God reminded me about who I am - a man of God!

I'm not very sure how everything is gonna turn out, but I believe that God is working in me to do for His good pleasure.

This year will be the greatest year yet!!! XD

1st Zone Meeting of 2010!

I went for Zone Meeting last night! Totally love Zone Meetings! The atmosphere is always full of joy and love! Everywhere you turn, you see smiling and laughing faces! It makes you feel so at home, like you're in heaven =D

I'm believing for the day our cellgroup will reach this level :)

After a time of worship Weiren began to ask everyone to prophesy. He first asked Jasper to come to the center and got Raymond and Johnathan (I think, can't really rmb) to lay hands and prophesy over him. Weiren also prophesied over him. Jasper was very impacted and later told me what they said was very accurate!

So this process repeated a few times with different ppl each time! So awesome to see everyone moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit!

I was prophesied for last, cause I was playing guitar haha.

Tan Jin, Eugene (Tay) and Brandon took the step of faith and prophesied over me, but after the meeting, Chui Laam, Cindy and Jasper (can't rmb if there was anyone else) also had a word for me, just that they didn't share it during the meeting cos they were already 3 people who gave the word.

Wow I'm super encouraged! Especially what Cindy said:

"Your pure heart for God and love for people will draw people to God"
(or something like that)

It didn't get a chance to prophesy though, hope there'll be another opportunity :)

Kinda sad that Enyun couldn't make it cos of work. Since I'm the only one from w406 there, I got arrowed to collect O level results hahahaha. Weiren shared the following verse:

But God shall shoot at them with an arrow;

Suddenly they shall be wounded. (Ps 64:7)

Super funny! Thinking about it makes me laugh hahaha! Alright till next time!

2010 New Year Herald

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW CREATION; the old has gone, the new has come!"

(2 Cor 5:17)

Praise the Lord! Happy New Year all!

2009 was an awesome year, but 2010 is gonna be greater!

I believe God spoke to me that the areas of my life that I wanted to change in 2009 will change in 2010! This means all the bad habits and disappointments in 2009 are past, and I will have victories in 2010!

2 Areas I believe I will breakthrough:

1) Passion for God: the same or greater passion that I had when I was a young believer.

2) Faithfulness: Being faithful to God, faithful in the little things(like punctuality :X).

I guess that if I have these 2, the rest will follow - financial blessings, joy, ministry promotion, etc. Thank You Jesus!

Let's take a look back at some of the cool stuff in 2009:

Awesoments of 2009:

• "Boomz" and "Shingz" added to the Singaporean dictionary
• Left 4 Dead - Awesome Multiplayer shooter
• Fireflies - Best Song (In my biased opinion)
• Dark Knight - Best Movie (Again, in my biased opinion)
• Windows 7 - Best Windows OS (Now that ain't biased)
• Jay Chou - Best Chinese Celebrity alive! (This ain't biased either!)
• Most Retarded YouTube video:

MUST WATCH!

Achievements of 2009:

• 1st time being a cheerleading flyer!
• Read finished Harry Potter series!
• 3 Polar Bears in my room!
• Learnt cheng yao dance
• Learnt Sorry Sorry dance
• Attempted to cut Show Luo's hairstyle
• Listened to the radio (hey, that's a big achievement for a guy like me :P)
• Completed Call of Duty 4
• Drank about a bottle of Heineken
• Drank beer with Sprite
• Ate 5 meals a day for about 2 weeks
• 75 posts
• Kept a Blog alive for more than 3 weeks

Good and bad happened in 2009, but I'd rather let go off the bad and thank God for the good :)

So here's some things to thank God for...

1) Graduation! (12th March)

Wow! Time does not just fly - it soars with jet packs on! Thank God that my last year in NYP was a most fruitful one, as I worked with Bryan Yeo and Robin Chia, the Top and Second of the entire Digital Entertainment Technology cohort!

Graduation!

These 2 buddies are not only awesome in their work, but also fun, helpful, and great people to work with! We made the best Final Year Project evar! =3

So yeah, I ended up with exactly 3.5 GPA! Thank God its not 3.49 wahaha.

2) 20th Birthday! (10th April)

2009 marked the end of my teenage years(sadded). Anyway, the 10th of April was incidentally Good Friday, and our church had our Easter Celebration during my birthday! I had lots of fun celebrating my birthday together with W406! I remember we had lunch at some Chicken Rice stall near Raffles City (imagine that!).

Thanks, W406, for the new jacket!

After which, we went to Esplanade and did all sorts of random stuff. Took plenty of photos and did some cheerleading stunts wahaha.

But most of all, want to thank God for saving Sheryl, Melody and Zining! That was the best birthday present evar! Thank God that they brought Jolin later and she too got saved! XD

3) Faith Camp (June 2009)

My 1st ever Church camp! It was loads of fun, and the sessions of seeking God were awesome!

Indeed we are the next generation of leaders, to take the baton from pioneers! Thank God for this privilege!

4) Game Programmer Job (5th July)

This job was really God-given. My elder bro told me to pray for a job specifically, so I did.

I prayed for:

- Work as a Game Programmer

- Salary of 1.6k-1.8k

- Nice boss

- Get the job in 2 weeks

My workplace in Johor.

That's right, its my boss' house.

I sent out like 2 or 3 applications, 1 of which went to my previous lecturer at NYP, who had his own game company. Bryan Yeo, Robin Chia and I made the best game project for the module which my lecturer was teaching, so he was willing to hire me!!! Praise the Lord!

Screenshot of the game I worked on

So I got a job as a Game Programmer, had a monthly salary of 1.6k, a friendly boss whom was my lecturer - all these within 2 weeks. God indeed answers specific prayers! Thank you Jesus!

5) Revelation of the Word of God (August)

I was in one of my most down periods around this time, but thank God that Weiren shared about the Word of God! He said that if we live by the Word and believe it, nothing can shake our lives. Not trials, not testings, not temptations. Our lives will ALWAYS be fruitful, NEVER having a dry season.

¹ Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
³ He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

6) Callings: Armorbearer & Leadership (August)

During this season God began to reveal to me 2 great callings in my life:

a) Be Weiren's armorbearer.

This means to serve him faithfully, anticipate his needs, refresh his soul, protect him from enemies(critics or whatever), stand by him during tough times, honor him, and to help him fulfill his destiny.

At least that's what the Armorbearer book said.

b) Grow the connect group to 200. (O.O)"

Wow okay, I'm glad I posted this - it reminded me of my callings. God only gave me the vision to grow my connect group after the calling to serve Weiren. The saying that God will only give you your destiny after you help someone fulfill his destiny is true.

Looking at this 2 callings, there's only 1 thing I can say: I can't do it.

No wonder Pastor Kong says that the dreams God give you are so big that you cannot accomplish it without God.

7) God's grace in NS (September-December)

I just can't believe the amazing grace that God has given me during the whole course of my army! God answered my prayer for 9-5 vocation, so that I can serve him! Throughout these 3 months, I have been under good and lenient supervisors! (Or at least much better than I imagined NS supervisors to be)

8) Risk game with Weiren! (30th December)

Played Risk for the first time in years on the 2nd night of the Chalet! I never really liked Risk cause:
- it seemed like more of a luck game than strategy

- the game lasts for hours

Weiren revolutionarized that! He taught us how the play Risk properly with various strategies and tactics. After a trial game, all of us became very "jian"(cunningly sinister)!

It was a pretty exciting game, which enemies became allies and allies became enemies, which the weak overcame the strong, which lasted for 3.5 hours. XD

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Wowzer that was some long post! Thank God for an eventful 2009! However we've entered into a new decade, a new era of breakthrough!

This Season

Torchlight
I started playing this game called "Torchlight" recently, after my friend showed us the game. Its a Diablo 3 wannabe, with the gameplay mechanics, items, skills, etc. pretty similar to the Diablo style.

Torchlight,
by Runic Games

Right now playing as the Alchemist, although I'm pretty noob; I'm still at level 9 while Josiah is already level 16 or higher wahahaha :P

It's a pretty fun game; a game to play while anticipating the release of Diablo 3! XD


This game is developed on the Ogre3D game engine! And its a very polished game! Can you believe it?! Even Bryan was amazed that Ogre could make such a game.

Nice artwork.

Deepavali Celebration
Alright enough about Torchlight. Last friday, my camp had a Deepavali Celebration, and all of us had to attend it. SAF is wise in wanting to build cohesion between the different cultures and races in Singapore, but we all kinda felt that it was eating into our free time, as it was after working hours.

Nevertheless, we went and it turned out to be quite entertaining hahas.
It was a little boring at the start, and the food was too greasy, but things got better.
The dance performances by Restricted Authority was good, with the last hip-hop dance item being the best! The most entertaining portion of the event was dressing up 4 men in a an Indian Sari!

Bryan was one of them, and that day I had the shock of my life. I saw a side of Bryan that I never hope to see again. All 4 men, including Bryan, acted like women, dancing those Bollywood moves and making some obscene notions. The whole room was full of laughter and shock.

Too bad cameras are not allowed in camp, or I would have posted those abomina- I mean unbelievable scenes :P

Personal Life
As for myself, I believe that now is the season for me to have a breakthrough relationship with God, to know Him as a friend, to have conversations with Him frequently. Now, I only know Him as a source of strength, wisdom, anointing and provision. Weiren told the CGCs that we have to go up one level higher in a spiritual maturity before our breakthrough as a Cellgroup will come. I believe this is the next level that I will achieve :)

Its quite a struggle to patiently wait on God and to seek Him diligently. Perhaps the issue is faith. This is the verse for my season:

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Heb 11:6)

In other words, I have to believe that God will draw close and speak with me as I diligently seek Him.

15 days, serving the nation

Hey guys, I'm back!!!

Much has happened during this 15 days in NS. Some were good, some not so good, but God is always good! :D

The food at NS is not bad actually! :D
I was very much surprised as I have heard people describe NS food as inedible. Of course there are times when the food quality isn't very good, but its free anyway XD. The best meal was the Western one, with chicken chop, fries, rice, bread, veggies and ice-cream! All these for Freeeee!

It's pretty boring in NS right now...
Right now there's nothing much to do as my real assignments haven't been given yet. Thus, my friends and I usually sleep, stone, play paper games, talk rubbish, play Reversi, read books and news, and go to the canteen for a snack. We played so much Reversi that we invented new strategies and became much better at the game. Bryan and I were so bored that we invented a paper game. Although I feel it is a waste of time, I count this as a time of rest as I know that once the real assignment is given, I might be very busy. Oh well, I'll enjoy it while its like this ;)


My superiors are cool! :)
Our officer, who is in-charge of us NDP clerks, is really friendly guy :) Very shuai also!
My RSM is very particular about timing and dressing, while my CSM has a fierce look with a bulldog face. Nevertheless, they are reasonable and fair people, and rather approachable :)

Thank God that I get to stay out everyday!!!! :D
He answered my prayers!
The bad part about staying out is that I have limited time for myself. There were days I had to wake up at 4.45am just to get to Sungei Gedong, which is even further from civilization than Lim Chu Kang. To get 7 hours of rest, I have to sleep at 9.45pm, which proved impossible. Thus, I have been sleeping 4-5 hours everyday for the first 2 weeks. (-_-)zzZ

I didn't have much time to play computer or guitar, and was caught up with ironing clothes, preparing for the next day, doing NS admin stuff, checking email, account for my finances, sync prayer, quiet time and so on.

I felt burnt out on many occasions, and hard to feel the presence of God in my prayer, because I was too physically, mentally and emotionally drained.


Thank God for Weiren's word about...
Having a satisfied soul!
I had the privilege to play guitar for Weiren's Zone meeting!!! XD
I felt so honoured and happy that Weiren gave me this privilege, but was quite reluctant to go at the same time. I was feeling really burnt out already, not to mention the heavy stuff I gotta carry. BUT I was glad I went! The word was really for me at the right time!! Basically, the Word was telling me to set aside time to do the things that I like to do, so that I can serve God effectively and joyfully :)

I am a minister of life... I must first have life in myself...
body, soul and spirit!

Thank God for Bryan!
who coincidentally is in the same camp, same vocation, same office as me! He started driving my friends and I to camp and back home everyday! This means more sleep time! You rawk bro!

Thank God for new friends!
They are:
- A guy who is Bryan's and my senior in our course in Poly!
- A friendly artist who helped us through our first day in our battalion :)
- A "chao keng" dude who brings joy to the group XD
- A musically-inclined dude who taught By2 drums for 1 day!!!


Well that pretty much wraps up my NS experience thus far. Till next time, when I have time! :P

Revivalists Meeting! :D

Weiren asked me to play guitar for the first revivalist meeting yesterday. When I saw everyone, I was like woohoohoo! These young people are God's chosen generation to bring revival to all the campuses, and the future leaders of the church :D

Among the people there were Weiren, Wanyi, Felicia, Johnathan, Yugene, Jing Yi, Xue Ting, Huiting, Daniel, Ming Hui, Karuna and myself. I think I may have missed out 1 or 2 people. I try to remember everyone and their names but my memory fails me time to time :P

Its like WOW. Weiren believes that most of them will become CGL by next year, meaning we will have CGLs as young as 15?

Weiren's word was awesome x6! Its like 6 of the CGC meetings put together!!! All from this one verse:

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1 Tim 4:12)

A revivalist has these 6 characteristics! Time will fail me to explain all these in detail, cos each characteristic can be a sermon by itself. But it really helped me get back my vision and passion for God :)

It was truly a privilege to be part of the revivalist group and witness what God is doing in their lives! Thank God for the opportunity to be there XD

FAITH CAMP!

Yea I'm back from Faith Camp, and was totally awesome!!! NOAH! :D
So here's a glimpse of the fun moments:

Day 1

At registration

Playing icebreakers and learning cheers

We nearly lost every game to Joseph on the first day, who played as our nemesis the whole time. I guess we aren't talented in sports and physical activities haha. BUT we kept a good attitude at all times, cheering also for the other houses!

The night session was phenomenal!! Presence of God was very strong and Weiren preached an AWESOME message! Everyone was talking about it! I was feeling quite down as Noah lost at almost every game. However, when God's presence and anointing came, suddenly all these things became insignificant - it doesn't matter even if Noah doesn't win. That is because the reason for this camp is to get the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the impartation from the Leaders, the passion for Christ and the presence of God. That's all that really matters at the end of the day!

That night, I had the laugh of my life. I literally LUP (Laughed Until Peng)! Hey I just invented a new word! Anyway, there was this guy named Melvin (or Belvin) who liked to do Yoga stunts. He was hopping around with one leg with the other leg behind his neck. I've never laughed so hard for a long time!

Me and Melvin

Melvin doing yoga stunts.

He told us that he slept like this for 1 hour that night. LOL

Day 2
We slept for like 4 hours and woke up for morning prayer. We were all feeling tired but the presence of God showed up very tangibly! We had a great time seeking God together :)

We played Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in the morning! We won about 3 out of 10 rounds, which is not too bad, considering there are 4 houses. I helped Noah win 1 round, singing Through It All! :D

Later we had a break before the night session. We did the placard for Felicia, talked rubbish, snacked, camwhored and more. Occasionally, Qiming would be chased around by various sisters, especially Adeline.

P.S. I stole some pictures from the CG Blog.

Mervin and Eugene
before the night session

I'm beneath the shield lol


On guard!
Where did Sheryl jump out from?

W406! :D

Day 2 night session was great! We had performances from Campus Superstar finalist Rachel and Strikeforce! Rachel is just 15 years old and she looks so mature! She has a wonderful voice as well. I'm just amazed at how God can use someone so young for His glory!

Rachel Ling,
Campus Superstar Finalist

Strikeforce really BLEW THE HOUSE DOWN! Their radical performance was full of energy and power! Really love the rhythm! I recorded part of their performance:

The Strikeforce!

Tonight was also the Project Runway Finals! Congrats to our models, even though we didn't win - cause they really took a step of faith, and they will always be winners in our eyes!

Noah's top models,
James and Felicia!

Pastor Zhuang delivered an inspiring message about the Presence of God. I'm so glad that Jolin, Eugene and Melvin responded to the Altar Call! :D

Edwin led the final praise songs which filled the hall with excitement! It kinda felt like Emerge! Everyone was jumping, singing to God at the top of their voices. We all crowded to the front of the stage! Edwin and Pastor Zhuang also dived into the audience with the brothers tossing them about LOL. Pastor spun a few rounds in our hands :X

The crowd going wild!

W406 Again! :D

Qiming conducting his famous "We're Never, Never, Never gonna lose" cheer based on the hit song "Nobody" by Wondergirls

When most of the crowd has cleared the hall, I went about on a camera-ing spree.

Edwin's head popped out of nowhere.

Jing Yuan and Sunthari

Huimei and Myself

Later Huimei introduced me to Chui Laam and Geraldine although we already knew each other. Only when she asked them to "get my number" that I realized what she was up to haha. I have no idea why she thinks so highly of me.

Huimei please don't pull this kind of stunt on me can? XD I'm not that good as you think I am; just ask Weiren :X "我不配..."

Speaking of Jay Chou songs, I was really high that night and sang out loud as we were bathing. Anyway, back to my camera spree...

Random picture of bros

Ready for battle!

Now presenting a MUST WATCH video of the retarded things we did:

That's Zining doing her gymnastic gig, Melvin hopping on one leg with the other leg behind his neck, some brothers behaving like monkeys on the pull-ups bars

Day 3
We had a great session with Faji! He asked us to invite our friends for the celebrity weekend, and within 10 mins, we have 110 confirmed friends! We broke camp at 3pm, and Qiming treated all of us to lunch!!! Bless his kind soul! I pray for God's strength to be with him as he enters army tomorrow.

Noah had the lowest points at the end of the 3 days, but I believe we were the most spiritual! When Faji did the shout of faith, most that fell under God's weight were from Noah! The only person that had a word from God through Pastor was Joel from Noah! The brothers also prayed together before we slept every night!

Conclusion
The Faith Camp is truly a faith camp! I discovered that I have an abundance of faith after the camp, to be Cellgroup leader, to reach out to the lost, to shine for God in the marketplace, to see a new generation of young leaders who will take Singapore by storm!!!

Finally, I would like to end by saying that all of you guys in W406 have the potential to do great things for God. Pastor Zhuang, Weiren, Faji, and the rest told us that we are the next generation that will accomplish great things for God not just to inspire us. There is substance in their words - I too feel in my spirit. Many of you will become CGLs! You are the generation of the greater works, the generation that will bring City Harvest Church to 100,000, the generation whose hearts are pure before God!

Praise the Lord!