Pot Luck
Jingyi, Adrian, Mark – Root beer float with bananas
Kelvin – cock tail
Steve – Chicken nuggets
Donny – Yong Tau Foo
Jing Hong & June – Sesame paste soup
Ivy – Milo Jellies
Wanli – Fruits platter
Sabrina – Old Chang Kee
Jonathan – Egg bread
Christina – Chicken wings with oyster sauce
Estee – nice dark brown cupcakes with bright blue flowers
Jacinta – Tuna sandwiches
Calista – Potato salad
Xiaowei – Hong Kong dim sum
Today Bro. Bruce and Bro. Victor Tan are leading the cg. Thank God for their time to lead all of us as Bro. Ziwei set off for mission trip. They have been especially encouraging and warm.
We have a short praise session, testimony and offering time. Then its POT LUCK TIME!
It was a wonderful pot luck today! Almost everyone prepared the dishes personally. There was so much food to eat that we have our stomach so full of them.
It was funny when Jingyi mentioned about a COMBINED PROJECT, to be done by Adrian, Mark and of course Jingyi himself. Guess what’s the combined project? – Root Beer Float with Bananas! What an exemplary creative deed.
When it comes to Estee, it was super funny. She’s a perfectionist when it comes to baking. Initially she wanted to bake brownies, but realized that she might not have sufficient time to do since we were at all the airport to send Bro. Ziwei off for mission trip in north east asia. Thus she decided to try out instant cup cakes instead. However this was her first time making it, the first cup cakes she made was so huge and out of shape that she discarded them all. Then she proceeded to bake the 2nd time. This time, it is a little better, but still looks “ugly”, as she exclaimed. Thus she decided to add the candy cream (bright blue in colour) on the top of the cup cakes. Well….. to me….the cupcakes are simply pulchritudinous!
June and Jinghong have made a Sesame Paste Soup of Love. It was the perfect dessert for our pot luck!
Really want to give thanks to Donny’s parents who helped us cooked 40 pieces of Yong Tau Foo. It was not just plain Yong Tau Foo, because when we eat the “Tau Pot”, we can taste the delicious soup oozing from it!
Donny is really a faithful steward of God. He was supposed to attend cell group today, but went to help out at Children Church as Bro. Ziwei has asked him to. However, he has some rashes on his skin yesterday night, and was feeling very uncomfortable. Yet he insisted on going to help out at children church and missed our pot luck session. Thanks for being so sacrificial Donny.
Even more commendable is Ivy’s Milo Jellies. She went out with her mum early in the morning to buy the ingredients needed for this Milo Jellies. Initially she was very secretive at first, kept insisting on giving us a surprise. But Estee was smart enough to guess it first!
Jonathan’s egg bread is very delicious. Though it was cooked by his mum, he protested that he helped by beating the eggs and adding in the sugar…. Hahhaha…. What a good boy!
Christina has the potential of being a chef. A young girl of her age is able to whip up such a effort-consuming and delicious dish!
Steve, Jacinta and Calista dishes are almost wiped out within half an hour. Thanks so much for contributing such a sumptuous dish!Labels: Friends
Bollywood in Japan
With a cup of warm fragrant green tea right beside me, and my cutie daddy in the bathroom, I am now seated in my living room, typing down my precious thoughts.
About 2 weeks ago on a nice Saturday late afternoon, I came back from cell group. As I walked back from the bus stop to the car park below my house, I suddenly heard my father shouting at me. The scene that greeted me next was really hilarious. Till now, I can still laugh over it!
When I turn around, I saw my father HIDING BEHIND A TREE. To give you a better picture, my father has a very round and plump figure. The tree that he was using as “his hideout” was a very SLIM tree. Imagine my plumpy daddy standing behind a tall slim tree! The funny part was because my daddy is so plump, the tree cannot cover him totally. So as I look at my father from a distance, I can see my father whole body, with the tree in the middle of his body. Yet my father still thought I could not see him!
The next hysterical part was the game of hide-and-seek. Since my father was behind the tree, I tried to walk a little towards the right to see him behind the tree. In order to avoid me, my father moved a little towards the left behind the tree. Since he’s so cheeky, I decided to play along with him. So I walked towards the left, then my father shifted towards the right! So this game went on for about 20seconds around the tree in the car park! Can you believe it?!
On the second Saturday, it was a nice afternoon as well. There was no cell group due to Dr. AR Bernard conference. I was at home that day. My mum was seated at a little nice yellow chair in our small living room. I decided to “disturb” my mother. I went over to her, sit down on the floor beside her, and leaned on her body.
Then she started to take out a little plastic file full of singing lyrics and started to sing Japanese song! So with me beside her, she placed her arms on my shoulder, pat my back, and sing a beautiful Japanese song with joy. Wow…. I felt so much warmth.
Now my father has finished bathing. He has just opened a can of Carlsberg, and now reading the newspaper, and giving me his “fair” share of opinion.Labels: Family
The Causes of Failure
Ever wonder why there are certain things which we seek to do and it always seem that things do not go the way we desire or plan? How about trying to buck up in your spiritual walk with God, yet felt so discouraged time and time again?
Bible says,
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
1 Corinthians 16:13-15
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.
Let all that you do be done with love.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NIV)
Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
The above three verses truly convey the attitude that we should embrace towards every thing that we seek to accomplish in life, may it be big or small. We seek to be faithful steward of God and give our wholehearted effort towards every tasks that our bosses, church leaders, parents and elders, colleagues and friends have entrusted us.
Blessed indeed, are the pure at heart. When we have fellowship with our friends and talked about various issues, for e.g. education, career, relationships and problems….., what are in our thoughts? Do we start to judge our friends when they express their true thoughts or opinions? Do we speak redundant phrases just because we need to highlight a certain good in us in our conversations?
Let everything that we do, be done with Love. Throughout my days as a Christian, I realize how important this is. If I go to work with passion prepared in my heart, I will be more diligent and efficient and enjoy my work. If I talk to new friends with a heart to truly understand them, and love them, and to truly desire to meet their needs, I will be more fruitful as a child of God, and evangelism becomes something that’ s natural and enjoyable.
God has a pair of very powerful eyes. God knows every hidden thing. It is mentioned in Matthew 10: 26, “…there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.”
I felt that the most hidden thing that can ever happen is the thoughts in our heart. Don’t think that the thoughts are buried deep in our hearts that God cannot see and hear what your heart is thinking or talking inside your body. We really need to guard our heart in everything that we do. The moment that we have the slightest trace of impurity in our thoughts, we must immediately stop and pray!!!!
Because if we do not stop whatever we are doing, or deeply concentrating on, and start praying and guard our hearts, we will not be in a good position to finish the tasks we are set to do with excellence. And we may even go the wrong path.
The article below is very very good. Written by Os Hillman, it explicitly describes our attitude towards excellence.
Think about this……..
Do you misappropriate your company assets such as stationery? How about using your company assets to do yourself a personal favour? Do you “cheat” so as to gain greater profit in certain areas? Do you take advantage of people? Are you faithful in things that you’ve being entrusted? Do you engage in backbiting / gossip?Do you make EMPTY promises?
If you do, you are giving devil a foothold over your life.
Look at the article below :o)
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The Causes of Failure
by Os Hillman, August 8, 2006
You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it. - Joshua 7:13b
The first battle for the people of Israel traveling from Egypt was at Jericho, once they crossed the Jordan River. God had given them a great victory at Jericho, and Joshua was now ready to move to their next battle at Ai. After they spied out the enemy camp, they determined they needed only a few thousand men to gain victory. They went up against Ai only to fail miserably. They lost 32 men in a battle that should have been an easy victory, but instead they were forced to retreat.
Joshua was devastated. "Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?" (Josh. 7:7a)
In this case, the people fell short because they failed to uphold the standard God had set for them. God had told them not to take any plunder from their first battle. However, Achan hid some forbidden treasures, and God was now judging the entire nation for one man's sin.
Whenever we act without God's complete blessing on our activity, we can expect God to thwart our plans. God's word to Joshua was that he could not stand against his enemies as long as there was disobedience among his troops.
Whenever we launch a business endeavor, we should make sure there are no unclean things in our dealings that would allow us to be vulnerable to a failed effort: unpaid vendors, disgruntled employees who were not treated fairly, lawsuits, dishonesty. Many of these things can hinder God from blessing our enterprises. These things can remove the shield of protection from our workplace, which God wants to bless, but cannot because He is committed to upholding righteousness. His name is blemished when unrighteousness is allowed to permeate our lives.
Is the Lord able to bless your enterprises today? If not, you may need to go back and clean up a few things before He can do so. Take whatever steps are needed to ensure the blessing of God today. Labels: Sermons and Revelatns
Life is a Luxury
Today I am on leave!
I woke up at 10am in the morning. Took a soothing bath with Body Shop shower gel “Dewberry” and conditioned my beautiful long hair. Hahahaa…… then went out for breakfast with pinkie dog (my brother) and my mummy. I have seafood koka noodles at a coffeeshop nearby, and proceeded to Northpoint shopping centre to buy some stationery at Popular bookshop + grocery @ Cold Storage supermarket. Tonight’s mummy gonna cook dinner. We bought some breakfast Ham + Broccoli! :o)
Right now, I am seated on my nice sofa, with my back facing balcony. Natural sunlight is in abundance. I am using it to write down this blog, so that I would not have to switch on the lights and save some cash on electricity.
It is so windy right now, the breeze are strolling pass my apartment. I am listening to Omar’s album “Free as a Bird” and am repeating on this track “Surrender”. This is beautiful music. Inside the album, there is a short verse on music:
“Within each of us is a loving, magical, powerful being… a Real Self.
Music, friend that it is, cocoons us from our worries, enabling that hidden self to emerge.”
I felt so close to nature suddenly. A day away from work, and coming into rest is so enriching. Life slows down suddenly. The evening sun is especially melancholy. The breeze is especially comforting. The forest outside my house is especially nice to look at.
I remember reading some books when the authors mentioned that they were writing this certain journal in a particular nice place, with beautiful sunrise, beautiful forest and garden around them. How wonderful if I can spend my whole life writing, and immersing myself in a home set up within a nature park.
Imagine staying in a cottage/Victorian/Tudor house, in an Autumn season, with the Maple trees around your cottage, and their leaves are all over the place. You have wooden fences around you and a little garden full of flowers. Wow…..
Anyway, I am day dreaming. But I am thankful to God for this imagination. At least my brain is not dead……hahahha….
To me, life can be beautiful no matter what circumstances you are in, or what has happened. We have a choice to Let go of our present, and our past, and Let God have a hand in everything we do.
Ever since I became a Christian, I have so much joy in me. I became more sensitive to the little things around me, and more appreciative of the life that God has given me. Joy of the Lord is indeed our strength.
God is my saviour, and I will always be eternally grateful to Him.Labels: Feelings and Thoughts
Bear one another’s burdens
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Gal 6:2
It was a great Saturday afternoon. Cell group is at 2pm. I was on my way to the kelvin’s house near Braddell mrt, with a Honey Green tea with pearl in my hand.
As I reach the house, I did not finish my bubble tea. And thus place the tea on a coffee table behind me as we gather and sit down before cell group starts.
As I have placed my green haversack together with the bubble tea, I accidentally spilled the bubble tea when I reached out for my green haversack. The pearls spilled on the floor, together with the green tea.
The next thing I did was to say a loud “Oh No!”.
Guess what happened next…..?
My cell group members seated beside me immediately reach out for tissue, cloth and whichever thing they could lay their hands on to help me wipe the floor. Ivy was diligently looking for cloth in the kitchen, Wanli was helping me wiping the floor, same for Donny, Jinghong, Adrian and Jingyi.
I felt so touched wor. Even though this may seem like a small matter, but I felt great love overflowing from them. They are faithful even in the little things. They really share my burden. Imagine the whole floor spilled with honey green tea, so sticky and unpleasant. But they are so diligent in helping me. I felt so blessed.
Thank God.
Its one thing to preach about what you believe, but another to act it out.
These brothers and sisters really glorify God in these little acts.Labels: Friends
Xiangcen
Departure was not always easy. We went to see Xiangcen off on Sunday morning 3am in the morning. Slept at 9.30pm, woke up at 1.30am, went to fetch the youths… and be on our way to airport.
This was the first time I saw Xiangcen in such a suppressed expression. I could felt the pain in her heart. I spoke to Steve, and he was very sad.
Through this departure, you can see that Xiangcen is such a Woman of God. As a teacher, she has impacted so many students life. You can easily see the fruits of her labour by the great no. of students who came in the wee hours of the night to wish her bon voyage. From Secondary Two to Secondary Four students, they all came with a heart to see their teacher for the very last time.
I give Xiangcen her due honour. Donny mentioned that something is very missing when Xiangcen not around. Estee said she missed Xiangcen. Stefan has a deep impression of Xiangcen. Wanli, Christina and Jacinta had cried their eyes red.
I felt something as she went through the departure gate and register in the immigration counter. As I saw her back view, I felt that life is so hard to manage at times.
On one hand, Xiangcen is doing something she has always dreamed of. And as she prayed, God opened doors. Yet on the other hand, its so hard for her to leave her loved ones. Her last hug with Steve left me with tears too. Love is a sacrifice.
I still remember her sharing with me about her plans, what she has planned, what has happened and how she felt. And it seemed all in a flash, that I am here, wishing her bon voyage. Time slips away like a theft.
Going alone to a faraway country, traveling alone in an aeroplane, it all seems that she is alone and helpless. The physical state of darkness, brightened by a glistening hope. She is strong and independent. God is with her.
Through it all, the friends and family behind the glass can only look at her helplessly, as she walked pass the immigration counter, towards her boarding gate. Step by step, inch by inch, not willing to let go of sight, even for a few seconds. Her faint silhouette was captured diligently by all our eyes.
Thank God for this wonderful sister. And I pray that God will bless her stay there, and bring her back safely to us.
A Tribute to Xiangcen = Olenju, especially designed by Talented Nico.
Labels: Friends
