According to the Jewish calendar, today, October 3rd, is the day Jews celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles which is actually, the day Jesus was born. Today, I was baptised and it is absolutely humbling and awesome to know that I was resurrected from the dead the day my Lord and Savior was born for the sole purpose of dying on the cross, taking all my sin and shame, to save me.
I have new life in Christ and it’s gonna be so good from now on 
I was making my way home one day. Fatigued, shoulders – drooping, eyes – sleepy, hair - unruly, when I noticed Chen Yu walking next to his mother. He had a gleam in his eye and a skip in his step. No care, no worry, no teacher who seemed to speak gibberish in that weird language called English, no problem sums or books to read. He was with his mum and there, in that moment, he was happy.
In class, he was a quiet boy, well behaved and well-liked among his peers. Primarily because of the language barrier, he never participated much in class discussions. I never saw him so enthused apart from that day and looking at him jump around as both mother and son made their way home, lifted my spirits in a way nothing did that day.
A few weeks later, I saw him lying there on that cold, hard bed of the ICU ward in NUH. Tubes at every corner, machines beeping at timed intervals. At that very instant, my heart sank. Here was a boy so innocent, so fragile fighting for his life and I’m sure he fought hard for his parents, his family, his friends and everyone who prayed for him. He was a brave boy, courageous, determined and always willing.
His demise has impacted me a great deal. To know that he will never occupy that chair in the front left hand corner of the 2/7 classroom will always bring me heartache but I’ll always remember him as the boy who skipped by his mother’s side who brought hope, joy and love to me and I’m sure, many others in his life.
Chen Yu, 2/7 and I miss you and we love you. We know you’ll always be with us in spirit. Happy Children’s Day.
If life were to be described as food, mine would be an ice kacang. For non-Singaporeans, ice kacang is a Singaporean delicacy. Its sweet, its cold, colourful and something most Singaporeans look forward to for desert, after a hot, steamy, humid day in this rock we call home.
My life’s been sweet. In the beginning of the year, it could only be described as rocky road ice cream flavour, but God helped me break that rock to let me taste the sweet honey in it. *Sings sweet honey in the rock, sweet honey in the rock. For He tastes like honey in the rock. Oh, taste and see, that the Lord is good, for He tastes like honey in the rock.*
And the best part of the ice kacang, the little treasures that we find inside that heap of ice, the atapchi, cendol, jelly are like the little miracles in my life that He’s carefully set up for me to enjoy.
At times, while I enjoy my ice kacang, I get a brain freeze; just like how I freeze when my phone beeps with news that I passed my choir auditions or I have been offered a teaching position at NIE.
But soon after, the sweet juices of the ice kacang explode in my mouth and its texture and exotic flavour tingles my heart with inexplicable joy
He is so faithful, so mind blowingly good that sometimes I fall at His feet and cry because He found me, in the wreck that I was, and reminded me that I was made in His image. That my destiny’s been paid and assured for at the cross. I will not be afraid, nor will I be discouraged for He goes before me and will be with me; He will never leave me nor forsake me.
Now, let me go enjoy my ice kacang.
Wazzaa!! Hey guys! I decided to give a shoutout before I leave for yet another holiday in Malaysia, my second home.
Yes, I know. It’s been eons since I last updated. And yes, I also know that it’s been pretty hard to have a decent conversation with me because of my erratic schedule. I’ve been busy, or should I say the Lord’s just been doing wonderful things through me.
Life’s been good. I’m enjoying studying. I’m still looking for ways to fall in love with Geography (*gags*) but Economics and Literature really get me riled up.
I have much to be glad and hopeful for. Many good things happening in my life. Shall not bore you with the details (I intend to be brief.)
Well, it’s the holidays and I’ve decided to take a break from tuitions and studies to enjoy the hillside views Cameron Highlands has to offer while having strawberries dipped in whipped cream and maple syrup. Till then friends!
Peace out!
When your life centers around Jesus, when church becomes a place of comfort and security, a day spent without the company of kingdom friendships, feels like a day spent in the flesh.
When I can’t feel you, I have learnt to reach out just the same.
When I can’t hear you, I know you still hear every word I pray.
And I want you more than I wanna live another day.
And as I wait for you, maybe I’m made more faithful.
– Brooke Fraser, Albertine
His strength, made perfect in my weakness. Jesus, you reign!
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
Does not behave rudely, does not seek it’s own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1
I am so excited to blog about the things we talked about during care group today that I’m blogging from the car, while on my way home.
We talked about condemnation today and many of us shared about the many condemnations we faced in the week.
I think there’s a reason why care group falls on Friday. We are faced with many trials and setbacks in the week and care group is just the perfect place to vent those frustrations, confess your weaknesses in the company of friends who know Jesus, who don’t judge and who encourage you to believe God because it is when “I am weak that I am strong”. Even the quietest, most timid guy in my care group shared how he had a huge argument with his dad and felt condemned by the devil on his way to care group.
But that’s a whole other story.
Alright, now, back to where I was. Being in Christ means God doesn’t look at our sins but at Christ’s righteousness instead.
Pastor Benjamin gave us an illustration of this verse and it spoke volumes. He represented us with a pen, a really ugly, purple, worn out pen. And He placed the pen in the Bible representing Jesus.
You see, God Looks at Jesus, only. He sees His son’s loveliness, His dedication, His beauty. Our ugliness, our sins aren’t visible. In fact, God’s already forgotten them much like they never ever happened. Doesn’t that just blow you away?
Until very recently, I believed that when I go to heaven, up to the Father, I will be judged acoordingly based on my sins. That a technology savvy angels will show my life on playback on this huge tv screen. Scary right? Embarassing right? But don’t worry, nothing of that sort will happen. If a big screen exists in heaven, it’ll only show your deeds done in faith.
Bryan said that he knew this guy who was responsible of the deaths of some 250 000 people in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge genocide. He’s going on trial soon and logic tells us that he’ll probably be sentenced to death. It had come to Bryan’s attention, that this fella, this murderer in the eyes of so many Cambodians, had recently accepted Christ as his Lord and Saviour. You know what that means? Yes, it means he’s going to heaven. Why? Because Christ took the wrath of God, the curse of all his sins on Calvary’s hill. I know if he took the life of someone I know, someone I love so dearly, I wouldn’t have forgiven him but Jesus already has. There are scores and scores of people who probably curse him, condemn him, want him to pay for the many lives he took but he’s been forgiven by the most important man already. I guess that is why he came to Jesus.
Today I realised God’s greatness. It don’t matter how big my sins are, or how many I’ve committed or will commit in future. It’s been credited to Jesus’s account. I am debt free. To know all of that made me love Him more. It doesn’t entitle me to sin, mind you but I know I can rest in the fact that I won’t be condemned by them.
It is man’s ability to remember that sets us apart. We are the only species concerned with the past. Our memories give us voice. They bear the witness to history so that others might learn, so they might celebrate our triumphs and be warned of our failures.
They are many ways to define our fragile existence, many ways to give it meaning. But it is our memories that shape it’s purpose and give it context. The private assortment of images, fears, loves, regrets. For it is the cruel irony of life that we are destined to hold the dark with the light, the good with the evil, success with disappointment. This is what seperates us, what makes us human; and in the end, we must fight to hold on to.
Adapted from Heroes
I think, in life, there are many times we look up at the heavens looking for hope, comfort and answers, perhaps. It’s those times we look up to God and say “Hey, throw me a lifeline, will ya?”
Yesterday was one such day for me. A gruelling day just hard to get by. I realise now that maybe I try to hard, too much. That I should just depend on the free favours of God. Wait and enjoy the fruit.
Lifelines will come my way – phone a friend, 50/50, the lyrics of a song, an anthem. But a bigger, better lifeline I will always have is Jesus.
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