Prayer - Dao Gao

Last Sunday, we had a very wonderful presentation on the power of prayer. Tian Loong shared his testimony two weeks ago about his challenges at work. He shared about how he got into trouble in his work and was facing an impending grilling by the bosses.

It was when he came to complete weakness that he broke down in a bus and cried. He cried to God for help and admitted his own inability to have victory over the situation.

After his humble admission for help, God delivered him big time. Not only was he not reprimanded in his work, he was given an opportunity to serve in a national level project. He did so well that he was awarded one of the best Chinese teachers in Singapore.

Tian Long was also featured in the front page of the National Chinese Newspaper!

So, it was with this heartfelt gratitude to God that he, with Meagan and Lihong, presented this powerful song about prayer.

May it touched your heart as it has touched ours!

10000 Steps To Healthy Weight Loss

Pastor Torchie, my Aussie friend who bought me the Pedometer sent me the following website.

Do check it out.

http://walkingrunning.suite101.com/article.cfm/
10000_steps_to_healthy_weight_loss

If we were to take 10,000 steps every day, we would cover around 8 kilometers. That is quite a lot of walking to do. Today, I left my house at around 830am and came back only at around 1115pm. In between, I walked around quite a fair bit but I only managed to cover 7.178 kilometers :(

I shall be more deliberate to walk around more...

My New Toy... Pedometer

A couple of months ago, one of my Aussie pastor friends was in Singapore. I noted that he has lost quite a lot of weight. He told me that his secret was to walk more. He told me that there is quite a big campaign in some Aussie quarters where they are encouraged to cover certain distance by walking every single day.

If my memory serves me right, they are encouraged to take between 10,000 to 20,000 steps every day.

Anyhow, I was inspired and he said that he will buy one of these measuring tools for me. It is called a pedometer. It is an instrument that helps us measure the amount of distance we covered everyday via walking.

Yesterday, my new toy arrived from Australia!

So like an eager beaver, I wore it immediately to measure how much distance I am able to cover everyday. For now, as this is new and I am still quite conscious of its presence, I find it hard to stay still even while I am talking to someone. I am just eager to cover more mileage so I would walk around even while talking to people.

I am like some sugar-intoxicated hyper-active child with worms in the backside that just cannot stay still!

One of my colleagues once commented to me that people in Singapore are generally too lazy to walk. We would drive to eat even though it is just a short 10 minute walk away. He also commented that walking is one of the best exercises that we can engaged in.

When I was in Europe, people there love to walk. And I mean they really LOVE to walk. But then again, the weather there is quite different from the one that we have here. Whatever the case, I will be walking a bit more with my new toy!

You can read more about the pedometer at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedometer

Walk on people…

Labor bureau: Japanese man, 45, died of overwork

The article below is shocking but true. Hopefully, this will not happen in Singapore...


By JAY ALABASTER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jul 9, 4:08 PM ET

A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.

The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man's identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.

In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, according to Mizuno.

He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. The man's daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.

The ruling was handed down June 30 and will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, Mizuno said.

An officer at the Aichi Labor Bureau on Wednesday confirmed the ruling, but declined to comment on the record.

In a statement, Toyota Motor Corp. offered its condolences and said it would work to improve monitoring of the health of its workers.

There is an effort in Japan to cut down on deaths from overwork, known as "karoshi." Such deaths have steadily increased since the Health Ministry first recognized the phenomenon in 1987.

Last year, a court in central Japan ordered the government to pay compensation to Hiroko Uchino, the wife of a Toyota employee who collapsed at work and died at age 30 in 2002. She took the case to court after her application to the local labor bureau for compensation was rejected.

3 Great Days!

The last 3 days have been such a blast!

It kicked off with a wonderful prayer meeting with all the care leaders and above in the whole church on Friday. The prayer atmosphere was fantastic as we prayed and interceded for the church and for one another. One leader told me that it was wonderful to be among people who really want to pray. I could not agree more.

Then on Saturday morning, Claudia and I were at one of our core leader’s mum cementation. Although it was a sad occasion, there were many comforting stuff. It may not be appropriate to share here. Anyhow, I enjoyed the time with some of the other leaders over breakfast. It was a heart warming time together.

In the afternoon, we were invited to join the JEDI (led by CN and Christine) for their prayer meet followed by some food and fellowship. I really enjoyed the time of prayer together. I also had the opportunity to connect more with the many of these upcoming exciting leaders.

Saturday evening was spent with the Adults 2007 Camp Committee. We had our dinner together and I took the opportunity to envision all of us for the 2008 camp. Let me assure you that it was very exciting to even just think of the idea. More details will be furnished when more homework and groundwork are completed.

Sunday morning started with the service prayer leading. I was pleasantly surprised by the youthful and bright outfit for the whole worship team and the choir. They looked really cool (unlike me)!

After the prayer meeting, I took a short walk to Cineleisure for our Mandarin service. I preached from the book of Acts. Believe it, it was not easy but God worked through me anyhow : ) We were all challenged and promised to pray and work towards seeing 3 new people in each of our Mandarin care group by the end of the quarter.

Most of all, I was really excited to meet at least 5 new young people in the Mandarin service. The energy and creative level has certainly gone up a few notches.

After lunch, Ying Soon and I walked from Cienleisure to YWCA for the water baptism. Upon reaching YWCA after the walk under the hot sun, I was once again baptized in my own perspiration.

For this round, we have a total of 107 people getting drenched for Jesus. An 87-year-old uncle got baptized as well. Many of his children and grandchildren were at the ceremony. In my recollection, he could be the oldest baptisee in our church as yet.

After 3 days of meeting and praying and speaking, I was thinking of ways to reward myself. And thanks to some recommendation from the Adults WAM team, I could not resist the temptation from Cat Mountain.

I asked Claudia to drive me to a durian place and I spent $15 on a really good Cat Mountain Durian. Some told me the XOD24 is better but I am a novice at this… so I just went for the better known Cat Mountain breed for now.

Check this out… in less than 15 minutes’ time, the Cat Mountain will be subdued by my tummy!

Book Recommendation - Joshua

After poring through the book of Acts, I am presently almost through studying the book of Joshua for my devotion.

In order to help myself gain greater insight into the book of Joshua, I bought “Lessons From The Life Of Joshua” by Henry & Richard Blackaby from Hope Resource.

At the start, I was having difficulty concentrating on this book as it is quite deep and has numerous insights that needed time for digestion. However, as I set aside time to really read and study and follow the thought patterns of the writers, I have gained so much insight.

Joshua was indeed a marvelous leader. And from this book, I can see how God had been preparing and molding him for such a task as taking His people into the Promised Land. Joshua’s past was difficult. He grew up observing how his leaders and friends live life of faithlessness. He also had to pay the price of the people around him by wandering in the wilderness for up to 40 years.

Through it all, Joshua continued to focus on God and never let these circumstances and people detract him away from God and His purpose.

I am about 75% through now with the book of Joshua and this Blackaby book. I have grown to appreciate many insights into Joshua’s life and I have been challenged to follow like-wise.

I would like to encourage you to do the same as well. Take time to read through the book of Joshua and as the same time, read this Blackaby book on the side. With such focus and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I am very sure you will gain many insights as I did.

Do share your insight with me. I yearn to learn together with you…

Some Thanksgiving & Some Updates

Firstly, I want to thank the Adults Team for doing a wonderful job on Sunday. I was really blessed by the short film and the dance. It was really pushing the frontier of the Kingdom forward. I applaud such courage and initiative for Jesus!

I also want to specifically thank Emma for leading the whole project well. She is a very “on the ball” person. On the night before her wedding, she was still coordinating things in the Adults service!

Thus far, I know that 4 persons have crossed the line of faith already. Let’s continue to pray and fast (fast on CG day) for more on this coming week. God will move as we continue to work and trust in Him! We serve a faithful God!

This week, we will talk about "Chasing After The Wind". Life is more than pleasure. Pleasure should never be the end. Pleasure comes when we live in the purpose for our lives! Let's expect great things this week...

During the Adults Camp in Shah Alam, we did a survey among the Adults on what are the three most challenging topics that we want to learn in order to do better in the marketplace. There were altogether 505 people that were surveyed.

The top 3 topics picked are…

1. How to handle conflict and confrontation
2. EQ in the workplace
3. Time Management for personal and organisational effectiveness

We will work towards helping all of us doing better in all arenas of our lives. More Kingdom advancement coming up!