1-2 and 9!

No, these are not the combination numbers to any lock but these are some fantastic numbers that had made me rather happy over the weekend.

Manchester came from behind to beat Fulham 1-2 at the Craven Cottage. United had to dug deep into the reserves to earn what is probably the most undeserved yet most important 3 points of the season thus far.

And it was Cristiano Ronaldo’s 88th minute blast after beating two Fulham players and leaving behind a trail of other dust-eating opponents that sealed the game. It was beauty! It was poetry in motion!

Fulham had only themselves to blame. They had a host of chances but they simply did not put them away. They were also unable to beat the woodwork nor the excellent Edwin Var Der Sar. This is probably the only sar that the Fulham players hate more than the other contagious sar.

And because of that, we are now 9 points ahead of defending champion Chelsea. 1-2 and now its 9…













And with regards to the Lille game, my informant had given me some education on the rules of the beautiful game. It is totally legitimate to take a quick free kick. It is no different from taking a free kick in your side of the half. Certainly, you do not have to wait for the referee’s whistle before taking a free kick on your half of the field, or any other part of the field for that matter.

Unless you are requesting that the referee help you ensure that the wall is back a full 10 yards, then you would need to wait for the whistle before taking your kick.

So here you go again, 1-2 and 9. Hopefully, we will be crowned Barclays Premiership Champions of 2006/07!

Death and Dying

For quite a large part of the past few days, I had been helping my mum in the hospital. Time was spent asking her of her well-being, settling hospital administration, traveling, checking insurance and coordinating with the rest of the immediate and extended family. It really did take patience and some work.

One leader was telling me about the challenges her family faced in taking care of her dad. The dad has been wheel-chair bound for 5 years. He was obviously frustrated with the lack of progress and it in turn, affected the entire family as well.

Then just yesterday, I was msn-ing with another friend in our church. He was relating to me of how he had to take care of his mum who also fell sick during the CNY season. He told me that it really tested his patience and by God’s grace, he managed to pull through. I could totally identify with him at that point.

He continued to say that it was scary that we would all have to walk down the same trail as we age. He then said something that struck me. He said that he had no fear of death but only the fear of dying. Death takes only an instant while dying could often be prolonged pain. Death is to be with Jesus immediately while dying is waiting in discomfort to be with Jesus (assuming that he/she is a believer).

Firstly, it causes me to really be more sympathetic towards those who are sick. It is really not a good thing to fall sick and worse, to remain in sickness. It causes me to want to have greater faith to trust God for healing as we pray for people.

Next, I can now understand a bit better of those who have family members that have prolonged sickness. It really does suck you dry physically, emotionally and often time, financially as well. I know of many of our church members that have such long term family commitments. I really salute them and am committed to pray for them more regularly.

Lastly, it forces me to take good care of my given temple of the Holy Spirit. I really do not want to burden those around me unnecessarily.

By the way, mum is a lot better now! Many thanks to Jesus.

A Most Eventful First Day Of CNY

The day started as usual when I traveled all the way to my parent’s place to pick them up to go to my auntie’s house. This has been the usual practice since the days of Abraham!

When mum got into the car, she was telling me that she did not sleep too well that previous night and had to go to the toilet a couple of times throughout the night.

Later that morning, she puked big time and the scary thing was that it was mostly black stuff. She also had fainting spell and my extended family suggested that we go to Eastshore Hospital to see the doctor.

We did just that and then it got worse. The doctor was saying that the black stuff could actually be blood from the stomach and it was best that mum remained under ICU care in the hospital. Being totally inexperienced with these stuffs, I agreed to any suggestion that was made. Our mum’s well being was foremost in our hearts then.

So my immediate family (dad, wife, sis & bro-in-law) and I spent the most part of the first day of CNY at Eastshore Hospital. We were running here and there to talk to doctor, to settle the hospitalization registration and call the extended family to update on the progress.

Later in the evening, mum had a scope inserted through her mouth to find out the cause and possibly even stopped the bleeding. We prayed together along the way.

It was only until after 6pm that the doctor gave us a report on mum’s condition. She had ulcers in her stomach and they were bleeding. The doctor had managed to stop the bleeding and mum had to stay overnight at Eastshore for further observation.

We also specifically told the doctor to seriously tell mum that she had to watch her diet. Actually, I needed to listen in as well!

After settling mum in the hospital, we then left for my aunt’s place for dinner. While there, another family that had known my aunt for a long time was also there. I distinctly overheard one of the children in that family pointing at me and telling her mum that I was her pastor in her church!

I had not met her before. I started small talks with her and her two other brothers. She had been in our church for 8 years already and I had never seen her before, let alone have a decent conversation with her! So we did some serious catch up over CNY goodies.

We left for home after the long dinner and we were totally zonked off when we hit the sack.

This would be the most eventful CNY I have ever had. Thank God that mum is alright and she's resting at home now.

On reflection, I am most thankful that we get to spend quality family time together caring for one another! It was not a pleasant event but there were many wonderful and sweet takeaways for my family...

Our Reunion Dinner

For this year, we decided to eat out for my side of the family reunion dinner.

We went to this very nice Chinese restaurant at Mosque Street. It really does serve fine Chinese cuisine with a difference. Its a little bit like fusion meal for some dishes. My sister, Patrina, was the one who discovered this place.







Taste Paradise (name of restaurant)





I enjoyed the dinner very much. The time together with my family was wonderful as well.

Allow me to introduce my family…






My dad...







Dad's wife







My sis & bro-in-law (Patrina & Frankie)








Wife and me....







Frankie and me







All in the fam...







Allow me to introduce the dinner…





The appetizer








Working on the Yu Sheng







The Main Event (all the good ingredients into one!)









Scallops & Asparagus







Mango, some fruits and Vanilla ice-cream





We missed out on snapping on a few other dishes as we were too exicted to eat them up! As I can recall, there were at least a fish, shark fin soup, a staple dish and one another dessert.






Typical...guys waiting for the gals!

I love my family and I enjoy spending time together with them. I also did my little part to move my whole family up the spiritual scale.

Dear Anonymous

I had wanted to reply you through the comments post but I was afraid that you might have missed it.

Regarding your question about spiritual gift, I would like to help more. You can reach me at church@hopesingapore.org.sg. Simply write to the email address and attention your email to me. I can possibly even meet up with you after one of the services and we can talk it over.

I just want to do my best to ensure that you can the best help possible.

Some Photos Of Table Fellowship

I realised that I had been spending quite a lot of meal times with friends lately. Here's a compilation of some photos to share with you...





Some of the staff and I on our way to KL







With Willie & Joseph in KL's Chinatown









Having breakfast on the 39th floor!

In some Teochew eating place








Having supper with Hope Spore leaders

Telex From Punggol

just back from conf...great learning...thankful for friends...now sermon prep...excited...pray pray...bye bye...

A Short Commercial Break...

It has been a learning and fellowship-filled conference thus far. I enjoyed the fact that we can get away from the ministry and work for a while to just sit down and learn.

Two nights ago, quite a few of the Hope Singapore leaders went out together for supper. Sunny Kong was again our leader in such venture. He seems to always know where to find food! It was really a fun time together.

Anyhow, am just taking a break right now and have to get back to the conference...

We Are The Champions!

After a whole day of meeting, we finally had a chance to have dinner with Wenan & Lilian and LO & Pat.

We met at Changi Village and brought them to this Bak Kut Teh place that we discovered some weeks back. It’s a very decent place and the food is pretty good.

After the meal and some chat (good to hear Aussie stuff from them), we proceed to a coffee shop where we ordered and our teh tarik while staying clued to the television. There were around 30 people around us, mostly supporting Singapore as we played Thailand in the 2nd leg of the ASEAN Cup.

The guys were fixated while two of the girls (not my wife) were talking about Hong Kong and other stuff. I could hear it but I was focused on the game!

We realized that Hope Bangkok may also be praying but with righteous people like Wenan and LO, we are betting that God would probably listen to our prayers a little more intently. And I am right, God indeed hear our cry and Singapore emerge as Champions!

Like what Wenan has very wisely put it, winning the ASEAN Cup is sort of like winning the World Cup for a very tiny nation like ours. Perhaps we can compete against Asian giants like China, South Korea and Japan in days to come. And it would almost be like heaven if Singapore can one day play Brazil in the World Cup finals!

We are the champions. Now to make my night complete, may God hear my prayers and help Man U beat Spurs later in the night…














We Are The Champs!

Crap Around Crabs

Just came back from picking up DC from the airport. After his short flight in from Bangkok, we brought him to some coffee shop near our house. Lo and behold, Wenan from Brisbane is there at the coffee shop as well. Talk about living in a small world.

We had been trying to meet Wenan for the longest time since he was here some 3 weeks ago. The last time I met him in Australia, we even spoke about having a short holiday in Brisbane such that we can spend more quality time together.

But now, totally unplanned, we got to meet him at a coffee shop tucked somewhere in the outback of Singapore.

So here we are, friends from all over the world, doing life over a plate of shared chilli crab. We updated each other on the happenings in our lives. Our conversation ranges from church building project to soccer (Spore and Thailand & of course Man U!) to upcoming baby to food to common friends.

Just earlier the same evening, I had spent some very meaningful time with Choon Yam over satay and noodles and Western food while talking about fitness and health!

Be it crab or whatever dish, the time around the table is most precious to me. Food, fellowship and friends. I can only say that I am putting on weight for the Kingdom sake.

Jesus was the sacrificial lamb that was slain. I am the fatten calf that will be slaughtered.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Last night, we took the congregational leaders out for a dinner. Claudia and I had wanted to take the opportunity to simply express out heartfelt gratefulness and appreciation for their hardwork over the past year.

These are some of the people that Claudia and I prayed for regularly. These are some of the people that we think the world of. Our role is to help them be the best that God has made them to be. Our role is to help them be successful in all areas of their lives.

We invited the leaders and their kids to come. With children, things were definitely a lot more lively, noisy and unpredictable. And it was fun.

We ate and talked and laughed as we shared stories of our lives, childhood and other experiences. It was a very meaningful time for me as I got to hear many stories about our lives.

The truth is that we do not get to do this often as we are always living in a time crunch. To build deep and meaningful relationship, time is needed. There is just no way that we can microwave deep relationship.

This is the same as our relationship with God as well. There is just no way to develop a deep and strong relationship with God without taking the time to do so. It has to be intentional.

We ended our evening by sharing our success stories in the bunker of ministry in 2006. I was so totally inspired by what God had been doing in and through their lives.

Thank you Jesus for these people…






Hong Teck & Mag









All In The Family! (James Is Down With Fever)








Auntie Shirley & May Ann










Wan Leng & Mabel