1518!

It had been challenging for the past few days. On last Saturday, we parked our car in Wisma Atria when we went for mentoring. Some four hours later, when we went back to leave Wisma, the car refused to start. Being a technically challenged person, I instantly called for help. Thank God that my brother-in-law was also around that area and he came to my rescue.

He diagnosed that it was a car battery problem. I was a bit puzzled with that as we just got our car battery replaced only about 12 months ago. I was quite sure that I had been told that car batteries were supposed to last longer than that.

Anyhow, we called AA (Automobile Association) for help and they sent a mobile mechanic to the Wisma carpark. He did some test using some wires and then he installed a new battery in the car. Viola! The car was well and running again. But it did cost us a bomb to have it fixed.

At the start of this entire saga, I was really quite flustered with the situation. But my wife reminded me of the 1518 principle; that we should learn to give thanks in all circumstances (not for all circumstances but in all circumstances)

1 Thessalonians 5:18
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

I was supposed to be traveling into Malaysia on that very evening. Although I cannot thank God for the car's battery failure but I can certainly thank God that this happened in Singapore and not in Malaysia! It would have been more troublesome if it had been otherwise.

Thank God that my brother-in-law, Frankie, was also in Wisma. What were the chances of that happening? Singapore may be small but it is not that small!

Thank God for a godly wife. I was thinking the #*!%$@ principle but she reminded me of the 1518 principle!

Most of all, thank God for the opportunity for me to build patience and trust in Him. This is invaluable in the character building side of things in my life.

Apparently, God may not think that I have learnt the 1518 lesson well enough. The same car problem happened again on Monday morning while on our way to the office. The situation is very much similar to what happened at Wisma. The whole thing costs me quite a lot of money. But my response is very much better than the first time round.

God is so good… He loves me so much that he will not let me go until I learnt the 1518 lesson well.

A Vibrant Serving Family

Claudia and I spent our weekend at the Sofitel in Johor Bahru for our Family Camp.

When we came back to Singapore at just before midnight yesterday, we were both really exhausted on the outside but yet refreshed on the inside.

For this year’s camp, we are very privileged to have Pastor Denis and Hai Eng to be our guest speakers. Besides pastoring a growing church in Kuching, they also oversee various ministries at the Movement level.





Pastor Denis (in white) & Hai Eng (in blue)




When I first joined the family group activities a few years ago, I was not used to the numerous distractions that came from the children. Although the parents did their best to ensure minimal distractions, some of them were really unavoidable.

However, over the years, I have gotten used to this sort of environment. In the midst of some of these distractions, we were still able to focus on the teachings and praise & worship.

One of the many things that Pastor Denis shared that hit me was the disproportionate emphasis on the academic sides of education over the character building of our children. He said that we had hardly seen any parent disciplining their children when they do badly for their moral education but we had definitely seen many parents getting upset when their kids do badly for their Mathematics or Science or languages.

Our character in Christ last forever. We need to ensure that the character building side of things get the emphasis that it deserves.

Besides the teachings and the workshops, there were also many other recreational activities. The families went searching for good eating places all over the Senai area in Johor. One great disappointment was that it was not during the durian season and no good crop of the king of fruits was in sight.

There was also the Telematch. Many of them were really quite competitive and losing did not seem like an acceptable option for them at all! It was good holistic fun all the way!

When we left the Sofitel for Singapore, my heart was filled with such a great sense of hope and joy that we have such families in our church. Families that care for each other and families that desire to make a difference in their spheres of influence.

In a world where many families are crumbling, our Hope families remain strong beacons of light to direct people to the true light of Jesus. Thank you Jesus for our family group!





Me speaking to our people









P&W





Wan Leng (our family group leader) getting a well deserved massage!






Families at play

Outpour . Outgrow . Outreach

Yesterday afternoon was a fruitful time I had with the University group. The theme for our camp is “Soul Survivor - Outpour.Outgrow.Outreach”! Every year, we have such a camp to equip and prepare ourselves for the freshmen harvest.

One of the most encouraging things for me is to see many many new faces in the camp. It is no doubt that God has been adding many new people to our groups.

Wen Jiang (aka Joshua) has also been appointed to oversee the entire University Ministry. He has taken the step of faith to take on a new job that has given him more time to serve the needs of the people. He reckoned that this would give the Kingdom more mileage in the long run. He is indeed a Kingdom-minded leader!

The camp started on Monday night where the whole group went for a walk that lasted close to 4-6 hours. They even build an “ark of the covenant” to reenact the Israelites wandering in the wilderness days. They only reached their camp site at around 5am!

On Tuesday afternoon, I taught for close to 2 hours on the biblical concepts and aspects of church growth. We deliberately took the time to walk the many bible verses so that we will all be grounded on these growth principles. It is important for all of us to understand that God wants, helps and expects us to be fruitful. Anything healthy living thing will grow.

After the lesson, Wilson (a one year old believer from last year’s freshmen orientation) drove me to the Serangoon area. I was so glad to have the opportunity to really get to know him better. He shared with me about his family, his school days, his army days, his dreams, his care group and his walk with God. I was most blessed when he told me that his mum told him that she could see a tangible change in him since he became a Christ-fellower.

Last year, he was the fruit from the 2006 University camp. This year, he is a participant in the University camp. Last year, he was an inward looking pre-believer. This year, he is an empowered believer who wants to influence his world for Jesus. This is fruitfulness personified!

It is moment like this where God's vision and the purpose for all our labor become clear to me again.

Praise God for people like Wilson. May his tribe increase and fill all over our University campuses.

The Night My House Was Raided & Heart Shredded

I was home slightly later and all excited to watch the FA Cup Final. My mobile was beeping crazy from my sister's sms-ing. She and her hubby were holidaying in Milan. She is a real soccer fanatic and she kept asking me for updates from the game.

By the way, she had also promised me that she would litter Milan crazy in revenge for our Champions League defeat!

Part way during the game, my phone rang. Sam Gan called me and told me that around 2 of them would be coming up to my house to watch the game after their leadership meeting. I said ok but told them that they had to be a bit quiet as Claudia had gone to bed early to prepare for her service leading on the next morning.

When I opened the door for the 2 fellows, I was totally surprised to find that it was not 2 but 7 of them. I totally felt like my house was raided! Anyhow, it was great fun. The fun thing was trying to contain our excitement in a silent fashion. It could very well cause fatal constipation!

Out of the whole lot, there was only one Chelsea supporter. He had to try even harder to contain his excitement every time Chelsea launched a promising attack. He was obviously fearful of the rest of the United hard-die.

Unfortunately, my sister has to now extend her littering campaign to the neighborhood of Chelsea as well! We did not win!

It was a terrible evening for me. My house was raided and heart shredded.

After the night will come the morning! Thanks be to God, the Mandarin preaching on the following morning really revived my own spirit greatly even as I shared the Word!

I had a really wonderful time with our people. They were all excited and raring to go for the Kingdom. I was challenged and strengthened.

Thank God for our Mandarin group!

Slow Down People..We Don't Have To Be #1 In Everything!

Below is an article sent to me by our correspondent in Quito, Ecuador (Ms Sharon Wong)

Life in the fast lane: city life speeding up, says study

It's official: city life is getting faster. Using residents' walking speed as an indicator of the pace of life, British research published Wednesday ranked Singapore, Copenhagen and Madrid as the world's most frenetic cities.

The study found that globally, people's walking speeds have increased by 10 percent over the last decade, with the biggest increases in the Far East.

In Singapore, walking pace rose by 30 percent and in Guangzhou, China, the figure was 20 percent.

But some cities usually noted for their intensity feature relatively low down the scale -- New York is rated eighth, London 12th and Tokyo 16th. The most laid-back places are Blantyre in Malawi and Manama, Bahrain.

The research was carried out by Professor Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, in Hatfield, north of London, who measured the average time it took 35 adults in each city to walk 60 feet (18 metres).

"By 2040, we'll be arriving before we set off," said Wiseman.

"The psychology is basically that people's walking pace is determined by how much they think they're in a hurry; how quickly they think they should be doing things.

"I believe a lot of it is technology-driven. What's amazing is that these days, you press send on an email and, if someone hasn't responded in 10 minutes, you think: 'Where are they?'"

Wiseman compared his results with statistics collected by Professor Robert Levine, from California State University in the United States, ten years ago, to see how much we have speeded up.

People worried about whether their lives were too frantic should ask themselves questions like whether they were often first to finish meals, if they felt frustrated when stuck behind others walking down the street and whether they walked out of shops if there was a small queue, Wiseman said.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/070502/1/488k6.html

Battle Of The Bak Kut Teh

I did not grow up particularly liking Bak Kut Teh. It was ok but it wasn’t a big thing in my life.

However, since young, I had discovered that many folks around me seem to have a great love for this dish. I had seen many people; young and old, male and female, gathering around bowls of soup, small dishes of vegetables and sipping tea from ridiculously small tea cups.

I only grew to like it more when I started to sample from the Bak Kut Teh shop across the Joo Chiat Church office. The liking got more intense when some of the church friends began giving me tips of the “die die must try” stores around the island.

Here’s another two that I had purposely ventured to check out.

Tiong Bee Bah Kuk Teh

The first store is near Balestier area (Jalan Datoh). It is a small and simple store but the food is really good. It is the peppery type (not the herbal sort) and the Braised Pig Trotters is really nice (we give the fatty part a miss but the lean part is pretty good).

Because it is a small time business, the service is quite personal. It gives me the “mum’s cooking” sort of feeling. Warm to the heart and great on the palates.

It only costs Claudia and me $12! Good value for money.

Please do try it and tell the lady boss that it's my recommendation. Scoring points with her may earn me more food in the future!
















Outram Park Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha

The second store is the famous Outram Park store. It is located in PSA Tanjong Pagar Complex.

It is so crowded that they have close to 30-40 tables at the store. If you enjoy queuing and want to develop lots of patience, go during lunch hour.

The soup is really peppery and the meat is really quite special. According to the boss, the pigs are shipped in from Indonesia and they do not slaughter the pig straight after arrival. This is because the pigs will be seasick and it will affect the taste of the meat. (great cooking tip for hungry cannibals waiting for shipwrecks sailors!)

I do not know if this theory is true or not but the meat sure tastes differently good.

The Braised Pig Trotters is rather average. There are also many other dishes on the menu. It is a very well run store with lots of stuff waiting to serve you.

This is certainly worth a try. I bet most of you do not know how non-seasick pork taste like!

Again, do tell the boss (Frankie Gwee) that I recommended you to his store. I took pictures and I told him that it was for my blog!

The whole meal costs us around $18.

By the way, some of you did tell me that you took up some of my past food recommendations and tried out some of the dishes. Do let me know your thoughts.

Remember… the testing of the pudding is in the eating.

Enjoy!

Honoring Our Parents

As this coming Sunday is Mother's Day, I thought that it would be appropriate to put up a synopsis of the following lesson.

I hope that it would help us to love our parents even more. It is my understanding that many of our parents have yet to cross the line of faith. Thus it is important for us to be Salt & Light in our families.

Text
Ephesians 6:1-3
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 "Honor your father and mother"-- which is the first commandment with a promise--
3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."

Title : Why We Must Honor Our Parents?

1) Because God Commands Us To Do So (v1-v2)

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"-- which is the first commandment with a promise—“

This verse is taken straight from the 10 Commandments in the Old Testament. The first 4 of the 10 Commandments deals with man's relationship with God. And the last 6 deals with man's relationship with one another.

This commandment is the first in the second list of 6. Thus it must be something that is very important to God.

It is God's commandment that we love our parents.

Unless it opposes the truth of God, we should always do our best to honor and obey our parents. This calls for wisdom and a pure heart.

Why is God so autocratic about this? Because God knows that family is the basic fundamental unit of society. And when the social fabric is broken, society will be fractured.

A few very practical ways of honoring our parents are to provide financially for our parents (if we are already working), sharing the happenings in our lives with them, affirming & appreciating them (writing cards to them has worked very well) and praying for them regularly.

2) Because God Blesses Those Who Do So (v3)

"that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."

It is the first Commandment with a promise of blessing. Again, it reveals how important it is to God that we honor and obey our parents.

How Does God Bless Us?

a) A Full Life

"that it may go well with you”

A happy family relieves stress.

I am sure many of us have heard the saying that a house is not necessary a home. How true is that statement! God does not only want us to have a house but He wants us to have a godly home too.

b) A Long Life

“that you may enjoy long life on the earth”

Do you know that 70% of all illnesses are psychosomatic (illness of the heart and mind)? If our home environment is improved, not only the quality of life but also the quantity of life will be improved as well (all other things considering equal).

Conclusion

Honoring our parents is not an Asian thing, it is a biblical and right thing to do. Have a most blessed Mother's Day weekend ahead!

We Are The League Champions 2006/07!

A Vision Realised!

I was away in Thailand for the past week. It was a good time of learning and fellowshipping with leaders from all over the globe. It was also a great time of feasting. The weighing machine tells me that I have gained at least 1kg over the past week :( I had eaten so much good food that I could stop eating for the next 3 weeks and probably still survive.

The camp was held in Khon Kaen (north-eastern part of Thailand). We need to drive for around 6-7 hours from Bangkok to reach Khon Kaen. David Chen (pastor from Hope Bangkok International Fellowship), Arlene (pastor from Hope Hong Kong), Claudia and I decided to take a little road trip from Bangkok to Khon Kaen.

We stopped along the way to eat some fantastic steak. I had a complete lesson on the different types of steak (T-bone, prime rib, ribeye, sirloin etc) from the very informative menu. The pieces of meat were big and thick adn juicy! I did not know that Thailand actually has their own farm that produces such good steaks!















After our dinner, we continued our journey towards Khon Kaen. Part way during the ride, our car engine made a strange noise that we had not heard before. And then shortly after the coughing, the car died. We were stuck in a god forsaken pitch-dark part of the highway.

Being leaders, all of us began to offer our opinion of how we should handle the situation. We managed to agree on a few things.

Firstly, we prayed for the car but it still did not work.

Secondly, someone had to stand in the front of our car to signal to the oncoming vehicles so that they would not hit our car or worse still, us! We used a small torchlight and our handphones to do so. The oncoming vehicles were traveling at such breakneck speed in such darkness and it was rather dangerous.

Thirdly, David, being a Thai, would be responsible to call for help.

While we were doing all these, a truck pulled over. David told me that they were members for some “love your city” program that offered to help those in need. They tried to start our car but to no avail. Then they warned us of robbers in the area before leaving us (more like abandoning us). That wasn’t very helpful! Telling us the danger and then fleeing off!

David then called the local police to come to our protection and rescue. They agreed to come but they did not.

We also called our church back in Bangkok and the Bangkok church called up the members of a church that is some 100km away from where our car died and they came to our rescue.

The "city lovers" and the police failed. But God never fails as He works through His people. Imagine driving some 100km (one way) at 1am in the morning to help us. This is so unreal!

Pastor PN once shared a vision about how we would plant so many churches all over Thailand that if our car is to breakdown anywhere in the country, we merely need to sing a very familiar Hope song and Hope people would come to our rescue.

It did not happen exactly in that way but it was close enough! They even mobilized a member who used to work in a garage to help us. They tried for around an hour to resurrect our car but to no avail. They even apologized to us for not being able to help us after we had woken them up at around 1am and making them drove some 100km to some “ulu” place to help us. We did not even know how to respond to their apology!


















Anyway, we manage to reach our hotel in Khon Kaen at after 3am in the morning. What was supposed to be a 6 hour trip turned out to be an 11 hour adventure.

Looking back, it was fun to spend time with friends doing life in such unusual circumstances. But we all told David that once is enough! More importantly, I am truly amazed with the realization of the vision. Whenever Ps PN shared it, it would draw many heartfelt laughter but we got to experience it first-hand.

I am truly grateful for our Hope family in Thailand. May such Christ-followers cover the whole earth as the water covers the sea!