Lemme tell you about laminin...

Well after a long long long while, I'm finally able to squeeze out a post...

Where are we right now? I guess we're about 3/5s of the way through our thesis. It's been quite a journey indeed! Truthfully speaking we've been hitting a few roadblocks (more like mental blocks) along the way, plus the feeling of going around in circles and ending up in knots - all part of the student package no doubt! I can totally empathize with my students in Poly now... so many distractions to get around, thoughts to work out, data to analyse... I can't imagine what doing a PhD will be like! Joerg reckons it'll just be double the pain that's all. Ahem. Not for now, I think.

Right now we're also out of our old place, as the lease ended on 30 June. At times like these we really thank God for providing gracious friends who have taken us into their home - TH & Su, thanks so much for blessing us!! :) I miss our old place, for its super-convenience and the good times with friends, but where we are now, the fellowship is just as warm, and we still get to walk to Uni. Moving out of our rented apartment we had to fulfil a couple of formalities, like getting the place cleaned up and carpets shampooed. Being students (read: cheap), we decided to do the cleaning ourselves, and got a really economical carpet cleaner to do the shampooing. When the residential manager came in to do the final inspection, it just took all of 15 minutes to give the all-clear! Mind you, managers are normally fussy, but this manager took a look, a couple of swabs, and led us back to the office to finalise our departure. Whew! :) It's funny, how we've just moved on from one stage to the next... it's also a testimony in itself, how things have been progressing smoothly and seeing His provision in the ways that we couldn't foresee. All the time we've been here we've seen how He's been holding us in His hand, keeping it altogether so that in spite of the challenges along the way, we have been so blessed.

Ok so now lemme tell you about laminin... or rather, we'll let Louie Giglio (I always get the giggles when I think about his name) do the talking! If you have 8 minutes 43 seconds to spare, have a look at this video.... and be blessed.

God of this city

....indeed greater things are yet to be done!



Amen!!!

It is that simple!

Well, just a random thought that I should share.

To warm you up to the same page, that I’m thinking..

Qn: Purpose of a mobile phone?

Ans: Primarily for phone call, for communication with family, friends etc

Qn: Purpose of a car?

Ans: To transport you and me to our destination

Qn: Purpose of our job?

Ans: To earn a living

So what has it got to do with the title of my entry?

Let me use the mobile phone as an analogy of life, how we live our lives in this world. For those of you young (like me) enough to remember BRICK phone. You would be able to remember the hype when iphone was first launched in USA and will eventually appear in the country you are currently residing. I’m sure the excitement is just as great when the BRICK phone first came up. No doubt the technology is always advancing, and really beyond our imagination. Who would have thought, a simple device initially invented for phone calls has now been advanced for entertainment, photo, video, www, data storage etc for all we know, we can soon use it as a weapon to fire a shot. Well that’s for man’s imagination!

The first point I’d like to draw your attention to is the ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ in our lives. A lot of time we have so many ‘wants’ and forget that the ‘needs’ will suffice. Well, I for one am guilty, admittedly one who has and had many wants, when I can easily be satisfied with the many blessings I have in my life. It is not helped by how the world wants to shape our thought. Do you need an iphone? Do you need wider plasma? Do you need the latest, the best, the next upgrade?

Secondly, I want to point out that everyone of us, though not commodities, has a purpose. The BRICK phone once served its master well and fulfilled its purpose. The iphone will serve its purpose, but no doubt will soon be phased out too! So what is your purpose on earth then? Are you serving your Master well?

So grateful...

Just a small yet nice thing happened today but I just felt my heart burst into praise... I've always wanted to write a song to testify but never got round to it. Here's my humble attempt...

So grateful to You Lord
For the ways You send a blessing when I least expect it
Like a parent whose eyes are always on his child
Who lets her wander off to explore all that life has to offer
Yet always around to catch her when she falls
So You're always there with me

When my mind is in turmoil
When my head is swimming
With thoughts of bitterness that eat away at this soul
Your Spirit moves in, sweeps those thoughts away
Breathes in new life and new hope

You move the mountains in my life
Those giants that no earthquake could shake
With just a sigh from You they crumble into smoke
Into dust, that's blown by the wind of Your spirit

You make me walk on water
When all seems impossible You just bring it to pass
I can't see it now but how can I doubt
When You've given it all on the Cross
On the Cross-
Your love never failing
Your power all consuming
Your faithfulness to the end of all time

How could I doubt
With all that You've done
and all that You are-
Sovereign Lord, let Your will be done in my life
From this day on...

[To be refined... for His glory.]

Updates

Updates

It’s been a long while and I thought I should update this journey (especially for those whose been catching up with our lives). Also thank you for praying for us and being with us for this journey away from S’pore.

At the moment we're back on our sunny island set in the sea. Lisa’s been busy with transcribing the audio files into text for her project. I been traveling to the most eastern part and most (almost) northern part of Singapore.. so far 8 schools, about 21 interviews (including interviews for previous project), 120 surveys and counting. I can’t remember working so hard this year, though it’s not as stressful as getting ready for the colloquium. God has been looking after us with the data collection phase of our projects. Infact, there are times where I have to be at two places on the same day, so it’s not something that I expect, but our God of miracles and providence, never fail to surprise.

Lisa chose to pay her fees later (my wife said she felt that God wanted her to pay later), it’s really tough time for her, guess she’s never in a position like this- 31 Mar, absolute last day, she’ll be ‘kicked out’ of Uni if she didn’t pay by then. In the most unusual circumstance, exchange rate was lower on the day she TTed the money. Another act of God providing for us. I begin to wonder about the contrasting life we had growing up, we grew up in different family environments. So Lisa’s in such a unfamiliar dilemma and anxiety. What is similar is God always has His ways and plans for us.

Hardened heart, can cry too!

When I was still at UQ in 2003, on father’s day, Lisa texted me to encourage me even though I do not have a physical father, she reminded me that our heavenly father will be with me now and forever. At times like this, when I feel emotional (I think feel like crying), I somehow felt constrained. I still remember my dad’s wake- being the only son (my elder brother died before I attended K1), I was told to lead my dad (in the coffin). I vividly remember even though it’s 25 years ago, that my relatives told me to ‘cry’ while leading the funeral possession to the cremation centre. I did well crying, admittedly ‘crying’ without knowing why I did that. Until this day, I felt the restraint to cry, have you seen me cry before? I do cry inside when I feel the touch of God, otherwise, I think I’m the good old conservative Asian! I hope it’s just not a case of a hardened heart.

My mother

I always felt that I should write about her. Even till this day- my mama never really enjoyed the type of luxury most mums would love to be pampered with. She’s always looking out for us, one recent example would be her withdrawing money when she ‘found’ out that I do not have ‘enough’ money. Her mischievous son wanting to tease her (knowing she didn’t have much) said he didn’t have enough. The rest, I do not have to elaborate, you can visualize what she did next. Despite those hard hard days when I was growing up, where mama brought us up single-handedly, she gave her best for us and mind you she never ever raised her hands on us. Such is the love she has given to my sister and me. Lisa and I felt that we wanted to bring her for a nice tour someday, she always felt an obligation to take care of my nieces. I really want to thank God she has accepted Christ and that I know God will be looking after her as well.

How hot is it?

These 2 days has seen the arrival of the 'real' summer- yesterday and today have delivered scorching heat, and today the mercury level hit 37 degrees... whoo!


So how hot was it? As the three of us walked across the street to Toowong Village to get our groceries, we came up with some interesting analogies:


It's so hot that...

...you can almost smell the sun!

...you can feel the moisture being sucked out of your lungs!

...it feels like you've stepped into a bath of sunrays!

...even the wind makes you feel like you're standing in front of a working oven with the door open!


I tried to remember the rest, but I think the heat has frazzled my already short-term memory.


Anyway, as of 4.02pm, there has been a cool change with gusty winds, so that's a relief! According to the weather bureau, this will be the hottest day for the coming week. Yay!

How do we know the voice of truth?

Caught this last Saturday, on the way to the West End markets with our godparents... what a sight! Well trust my photography skills that I managed to get a stray lamppost into the shot as well -oops! Anyways we're still enjoying a wonderfully cool summer, that now seems to be gently slipping into Autumn... beautiful!!

Last Friday we went with a friend to listen to a famous visiting Christian evangelist, at the Brisbane entertainment centre. We had heard much criticism of him before, but we also had read one of his books, and he seemed quite sound in his writing; to lay-persons like us at least, the theology seemed intact and we were encouraged by some of the ideas. But knowing that this evangelist had some less than raving reviews to go with his celebrity status, Joerg and I prayed over the course of that day, that God would send us a sign that we shouldn't go. Well there was no big storm, lightning strike, or unusual traffic jam that prevented us from going, so we took a 40-minute train ride to Boondall to have a listen to this person who was raising so much controversy.

Less of a crowd compared to Hillsong United conference, but there were still enough people to fill the indoor stadium. The musicians played worship songs, and they were good. Then the evangelist finally appeared on stage, after being held up in a traffic jam on the motorway, and it started off alright. Later as he got into his message, we began to feel more uneasy. It was then that I realised that what I was listening to was none other than a full-on version of the prosperity gospel. I had heard people talk about this before, but never personally heard it for myself. To cut a long story short, the three of us walked out midway through the meeting.

As we walked back to the train station- and having missed the half-hourly train- we reflected on what we had heard, and how it was that we ended up there. I was reflecting in particular about our prayer during the day for guidance about whether to go, and wondered why God let us go to this meeting when the speaker was clearly off the mark. Then I realised that perhaps God did want us to go. Interestingly, the speaker himself did open his message by saying that "All of you are here for a reason." I think that the reason why the three of us were there, was so that we could learn to discern for ourselves the voice of truth from voices of deception. It really was an ear-opener. But we were also wondering, how could the pastors on the stage - 10 of them, no less! -allow him to carry on speaking and condone the misleading of His people? It came to me that the people wanted to hear that message. They wanted to hear that their businesses were soon going to be booming. They wanted to hear that they would soon receive wealth beyond their wildest dreams, in no uncertain terms. And this was what they heard from him.

I guess we all do this as well- our perceptions and beliefs are biased toward what we want to hear. But we do need to strain all the things that we hear with the sieve of the Bible, so that we are not misled into believing what we want to believe, rather than what is the truth. And we can only do that if we open the Word enough to let it soak into our minds and hearts and guide what we see and hear. Don't be deceived! And oh yes, having brothers and sisters around to bounce off your doubts helps alot too!

The journey ahead

Hello Blessed CNY!

It’s taken a long time for me to get out of the block for this post. Not that I’m exceptionally busy, just a little less motivated. I’ve been thinking- well at least a week ago, about using the picture we took from our hike at Daisy Hill koala sanctuary.

The journey ahead

Life in terms of physical activity, spiritual growth and academic front has somewhat slowed down. Not as drastic as a mid-life crisis as yet, just probably God providing more space for reflection in a sunshine state of Australia. Recently, it’s becoming really slow. I like the space we have here in Brisbane- little rush for transportation, little rush for ‘work’, little rush to wake up early, little rush to continue those routines I have back in Singapore. Just that when things begin to slow do I feel really bored. Physical acitivity, I reckon is like those discipline that I need to instill into my lifestyle Church is different coz there used to be Ekklesians, Salmon runners and VWC. I miss the energy I can generate from the young people I meet. Study wise is really ‘tough’, coz I feel so restrained with the work that I hope to do.. This has been getting into me- even as I know who my real Boss is, Who I am really working for. Those things happening make me wonder, and ask ‘God, why am I here?’ The road ahead is no different for you and I, it’s expecting the unexpected, one thing for sure- there is Hope, a Hope only He can fulfill, a Hope that you never walk alone! Blessed journey ahead!

There's still hope!

Wow, dear hubby has gone and done two posts in a row! Time to fulfil my 'quota'...

I just got news of the outcome of my scholarship application... it's a no-go. The funny part was that I had been waiting for an email to notify me of this outcome; the results were supposed to have been out early last month. So after a month and a half of waiting on tenterhooks, I succumbed to my impatience/curiosity and gave the scholarships office a call. After a few tries over a couple of days, finally managed to get a human being on the other end of the line. It took her all of one minute to check on my records, and she came back on the line to say sorry, I had been unssuccessful. Sigh.

Well I could have taken the news in two ways... and I did. My heart really sank after I got the news, which was just before meeting Joerg for lunch. Man, I was brooding the rest of the day. Even the Merlo brew couldn't perk me up as it usually does- I barely tasted it! Joerg kept reminding me that it's true that getting the scholarship might have done a good deal to ease our burdens about finances, but that ultimately we could still trust God to be our provider. Thinking about it, I realised that I - in fact both of us - had put our faith in that scholarship, believing that was the answer to all our needs. We had literally banked on it! It had become such that my faith was in that scholarship more than in God's love and ability to provide for us.

So that was yesterday. Last night we prayed over it again, and affirmed our faith in Him as our provider, no matter how He chose to bring it to pass. After all, His ways are higher than ours! Today, it was a new day, and I did feel that peace knowing that God's in control and that He loves and provides for us in ways that we may not even think of, even though it seems like nothing is happening. Interestingly, these couple of weeks I've been reading the book of Genesis for my quiet time, and it's been all about people who were treated unfairly for a long time before they saw any rewards or redemption. Especially in the case of Joseph- the poor kid was sold off by his brothers to some exotic country as a seventeen-year-old, became a servant in one of the governor's homes, fell victim to a desperate housewife who then got him thrown into prison for a long while. And after he helped one of the other prisoners who managed to gain his freedom, Joseph was again 'sabo-ed' because the dude he helped forgot to tell the king good things about him!! If anyone had the right to be upset, bitter, and take revenge, it was Joseph. But what really struck me was his response. When Joseph was about 35 years old and himself a governor of the country, his brothers had to come to him for help. When they found out that the governor was none other than their little brother they had sold off so long ago, they were terrified. But Joseph said to them:

"Yes, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Don't worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives. There has already been a famine for two years, and for five more years no one will plow fields or harvest grain. But God sent me on ahead of you to keep your families alive and to save you in this wonderful way. After all, you weren't really the ones who sent me here--it was God. He made me the highest official in the king's court and placed me over all Egypt." (Genesis 45:4-8)

He's in control of every situation. That's our hope as we continue in a journey of faith together. It's also our hope that you'll put your hope in Him in all things! :)

Right or wrong?

This morning as I was reading the Word of life, something came into my mind. Yes, its has got to do with right or wrong. Basically, it's about the things we do things that require us to compromise our principle (our belief), puts us to test our moral courage. Let me explain in another way- when we are faced with crucial decision that may undermine us (even in daily decision making), do you choose to do right or wrong?

Just to test you using Kohlberg's Heinz's Dilemma:

In Europe, a woman was near death from cancer. One drug might save her, a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The druggist was charging $2000, ten times what the drug had cost him to make. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could get together only about half of what it should cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or to let him pay later. But the druggist said no. The husband got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband have done that? Why?

Imagine you are Heinz, what would you do?

a) Yes- I want to save my wife's life.

b) Yes- Besides saving her life, I did not hurt (or kill) anyone to get the drug.

c) Yes, there's no other way.

d) No, whatever it is, stealing is wrong.

Perhaps all of you have the model answer. As it's not exactly happening to you. More daily life examples, finding a mobile phone on a bus, consuming food in prohibited premises, driving above the speed limit etc. It's hard isn't it, especially when no one is looking?

Well, the point is what will the world (the way of the world) tell you to do?

It hard to make the right decision especially with world behaving in a 'me, myself and I' attitude. When we make excuses for our actions, we break down the distinction between right and wrong. If we do not take God's Word as our standard, soon all moral choices will appear fuzzy. Yes, tough remember you are not alone, so whenever you choose to make that right decision, be proud that you did (and He will rejoice with you)!

The best time to……

Admittedly (at this point in time), fishing is perhaps my favorite pastime even though there are seasons where I ‘neglected’ it. Since my secondary school days (don’t ask me how old am I), this is one hobby that I’m still having much thrill at. My mama probably doesn’t know her naughty son actually skipped school and went to his favorite playground to fish, perhaps the kampong boy in me wanted to stay in touch with nature and adventure then. Worse still- there are days where my mates and I tortured the fishes we caught. Even until now, with many years of fishing, I can’t predict the BEST time to fish- perhaps its more of knowing the surroundings, and understanding my customer (the fish) to then hopefully trick them into taking my bait.So when is the BEST time to face some of the challenges in life? I can’t provide an answer either. We do have seasons (good and bad times) in life. What I understand is God gave us this freedom to choose what we want to do, yes absolute freedom to choose (no questions asked, consequences will come though)- yes we are given a choice.
It’s tricky because on one hand the world (the society in general and the many temptations in life) will tell you to take the easy way out, choose the shortest way, use the least amount of energy etc. What would that make of us- you and I? That’s the path that takes us away from the One who created us. One way leads to knowing and understanding more of His plans for us, and the other leads to ….. (you know better!) We know God loves us, hence gave us a choice- freedom to live the way we want, but the snare will be living in opposite of His command for us! Which way would you choose?

I’ll leave you with the Word of the most mighty One:

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (New Living Translation)