Life Encounter

His hand is ever extending!

2009-06-25T09:10:00.001+08:00

Just hours before my first paper today, and I was reading a book and stumble across these verses:-

1 John1:9 (Amp) If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action].

Psa51:1 (Amp) Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions.

How beautiful & amazing is our God! That He is faithful in His love and abundance in His mercy! He will continuously embrace her if we come back to Him. I just love Him even more more more!!!

Happy Father's Day to this wonderful man!

2009-06-22T12:28:00.002+08:00

Just seeing his endless time & effort, sacrifice & love that has poured out on me... I really thank God every day for such a wonderful family, for the things that He has done to keep this family one! Pray that this family will experience more of His love!

Dad, I love you!

Just some thoughts...

2009-06-19T11:50:00.003+08:00

1. Done with 2 interviews... Thought the group interview was better as the attention was divided to other 5 people. 3 more to go...

2. Am sitting in the library, looking out at the clear blue sky and wonder why I am sitting in the library studying...

3. Finally finished my Cadbury Old Gold Dark Chocolate bar!!! Too distracting and bad for my belly!

4. Attempting to finish Psychiatry this week... Hopefully I am sane after studying everything!

5. Another thought from FIREPROOF "Fireproof doesn't mean that a fire will never come, but that when it comes, you'll be able to withstand it." Love this show a lot!

6. Still loving waiting on Jesus - allowing Him to teach and mould me... 1Cor15:33 "Bad company corrupts good character!" Who are the people around you? Is it life or destruction?

7. Chuen is coming tmrw!!!! Wohoo!!!! Something to look forward to!

Warren Barfield - Love is not a fight

2009-06-12T12:38:00.001+08:00

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Lyrics | Warren Barfield - Love Is Not A Fight lyrics

Love is Not a fight, but it is something worth fighting for

John Waller - While I am waiting

2009-06-12T12:26:00.000+08:00

Lyrics | John Waller - While I’m Waiting lyrics

Fire proves His Love!

2009-06-12T01:29:00.004+08:00

Gosh!

Saw the weekly POINTCAST from my church back home, and came across them inviting people to come watch this movie called "Fireproof"

It is about a marriage restoration, and in that journey, the guy gave His life to Jesus!

I am in awe at how amazingly God works through people's lives...

This quote caught my attention:-

"Don’t follow your heart, because your heart can be deceived. Lead your heart!"

It's 3.35am now, so will talk more about this movie next time :-)

Wait for Him!

2009-06-10T15:25:00.001+08:00

Was reading this book, and this particular paragraph spoke to me.

“When you are trying to wait on God, the enemy will pound your mind continuously demanding that you “do something”. He wants to move you in fleshly zeal because he knows that the flesh profits nothing (John6:63)”

And this is totally opposite to what God says…

1Kings19 God told Elijah to go up and stand on the mountaintop (wait over there) and He revealed to Elijah in that still small voice

Isa40:31 Those who wait upon the Lord will rise on wings of eagles. The will not grow weary of be faint!

Psa5:3 …in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

Psa37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways…

Psa46:10 Be still, and know that I am God…

I am not suggesting, not revising or studying or preparing for interviews… but in the midst of all these, gotta make sure my heart is at peace; it is constantly waiting upon Him vs constantly at a go – trying to rationalize and take matters in my own hand and do something all the time. I am limited in what I do with my own strength, but with God the SUPER-natural and the EXTRA-ordinary will come!

Season after season!

2009-06-08T10:21:00.003+08:00

Just felt compelled by God to blog again. Know haven’t been a good steward of my blog, but know that God wants me to put some of the thoughts and things He has spoken to me into words – so that whoever that come across this blog may read it and be encouraged!

This season is a great challenge – unlike what I had in mind (I told Ps M that this semester is a great semester where I have plenty of time to rest/relax/reflect/spend time with people). God has put a stop on those time laxity! And what Rick Warren said in his interview is depicts God’s heart.

“Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort. God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.” (here for more)

God is interested in building us more than making us feel comfortable! So, I know, when I am comfortable – I better enjoy while I can, thank God for it, and be prepared what God is gonna do soon!

Psa90:14 Satisfy our morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

Love how God says, as we start our day by inviting Him into our lives, and asking Him to fill us with His presence, the rest of our day & subsequent days to come – we will have joy & be glad!

I’m ready to step into this season with Him with me!

Core competency!

2009-03-16T17:35:00.001+08:00

Started reading this book:- “The Next Generation Leader” by Andy Stanley. It is really awesome, as the books talk about 5 key points that the next generation leader should possess:-

Competence - Courage - Clarity - Coachability - Character

Am reading the first ‘C’ now – Competence. Here are some thoughts that captured my heart:

“The secrets of leadership – the less you do, the more you accomplish. The less you do, the more you ENABLE OTHERS to accomplish.”

“The real value to an organization lay within the context of your giftedness.”

“Be mission driven, rather than need driven.”

“You can’t aim for a target unless you have identified it.”

“A leader who is not leading from the right “zone” will create an unfavourable environment for other leaders.”

“Leaders attract other leaders…”

“Your weakness is someone’s opportunity.”

“Great leaders work through other leaders.”

“Leadership is about multiplying your efforts, which automatically multiplies your results.”

“The secret of concentration is elimination.”

“…vision always seem unrealistic when they are first hatched.”

“… your organization reflects your strengths as well as the strengths of those around you.”

Seeing God everyday!

2009-03-14T06:57:00.000+08:00

Mat5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God

This verse has been stucked in my heart for the entire week. It means, we will see God when we have a pure heart. I did ask myself, “But how to have a pure heart?”

Was doing my devotion this morning & came across this verse:

1Joh1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful & just & will forgive us our sins & purify us from all unrighteousness

As I present my sins before God, as I unload every bit of the flesh before the cross, this verse says God is faithful & just! He will continue & continue to forgive us & purify us. Not just pardoning my sins, but He will do a “clean-up process” deep within my heart & soul, removing every bit of standards that is not from Him – selfishness, laziness, negativity, wrong thoughts, discouragements, wrong intentions, gossips… everything!

I wanna see God move among the people in Urban Life, being their God of Breakthrough, going before every single one of them & lead them to new & higher ground of faith & belief! Deeper intimacy with Jesus!!!

I wanna see relationships being strengthen in UL, where each of us will go deeper & beyond the superficial friendships to people that encourage each other, pray for each other, support each other when one face challenges.

I wanna see barriers are being bridged! People who are distant from God will draw closer to His presence!

I wanna see healings & miracles take place. We live in a world where our mind overrides every possible supernatural thing that can take place. I wanna see a greater level of faith, knowing that nothing is too big for our BIG GOD!

I wanna see people that come to UL become people that BELIEVE, BECOME & BELONG!!!

I wanna see them loving God together & loving the people in their lives!

I wanna see salvation come to my family’s doorstep. I wanna see more breakthroughs in what God is doing now in my family’s hearts.

I wanna see God move in my relationship with Chuen, where we can will continue to love God together, serving Him as partners & continue to encourage each other to higher levels. We are trusting in His plans for us – plans to prosper us & give us hope for the future! Our future is secured in His hand!!!

This I declare everyday!

Jesus What A Saviour You Are!

2009-02-21T07:50:00.001+08:00

You are my strength
When all my strength has ended
You are my hope
When all my hope is gone

You are my joy
When my world is full of sorrow
You're the peace in my tomorrow
For I know that You'll be there

You are my song
When my melody has ended
A light in the storm when
I can't find my way
You are the One who gives
My life a reason
Someone to believe in
You help me carry on

Jesus, what a Savior You are
Savior you are
Jesus, what a Savior You are

You are my rock
When I need a place of refuge
A hand reaching out when
I stumble and I fall
You are my all in every time
And season
You are all I've ever needed
Every time I call

Jesus, what a Savior You are
Savior you are
Jesus, what a Savior You are

You heard my cry
You answered my plea
You gave up Your life,
Gave me everything
Now forevermore I'm devoted to You
And that's why I sing my praise to You.

Jesus, what a Savior You are
Savior you are
Jesus, what a Savior You are

Tragedy revisits!

2008-12-07T21:12:00.001+08:00

Flattened houses, buckled roads, uplifted vehicles, uprooted mature trees, fallen electric poles and layers of mud and debris marked the carnage that left many injured, crying, in shock and in fear of more landslides.

Among the heart wrenching stories are that of a father who tracked his son down in the rubble by calling him on his mobile phone only to find his hand sticking out still holding onto the phone; a mother who rushed in to save her son but lost her life; and a mother of a two-month-old baby who perished while the baby survived.- The star 7^th Dec 2008

Hearing this news really made my heart sank deeply. Firstly, I rejoice and thank God for His faithfulness & His protection over my family. Really thank God that it happened about a kilometer away from our place, thank God that it happened at a time where my family weren’t on their way down the hill, I thank God that we are saved – the entire household.

On the other hand, my prayers are with those who became the victim of such disaster. It became something so common now… heavy rain & landslide – it got to be Bukit Antarabangsa. Lives are robbed away by an event that took place for few minutes. Houses and families torn apart. The extent of love of the mothers reaching out to save their kids. Just pray that God’s peace and comfort will be with these families. Pray for strength and unity that rest deep in their hearts.

Just reminded of this verse:-

Joh11: 25Jesus said to her, I am [Myself] the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on) Me, although he may die, yet he shall live; 26And whoever continues to live and believes in (has faith in, cleaves to, and relies on) Me shall never [actually] die at all. Do you believe this?

Salvation & eternal life through Jesus Christ!

Seasons of Love

2008-12-06T21:38:00.003+08:00

Really blessed by this song! As my year coming to an end, it really spoke to me what has my year been measured of... What has 2008 been filled with? Did I share His love? Give love? Spread His love? 525,600 minutes in a year, how much of it is filled with His love??

All:
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Moments so dear
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure - Measure A Year?
In Daylights - In Sunsets
In Midnights - In Cups Of Coffee
In Inches - In Miles
In Laughter - In Strife

In - Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure
A Year In The Life?

How About Love?
How About Love?
How About Love?
Measure In Love

Seasons of Love.
Seasons of Love.

Joanne:
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Journeys To Plan

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand
Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure The Life
Of A Woman Or A Man

Collins:
In Truth That She Learned
Or In Times That He Cried
In Bridges He Burned
Or The Way That She Died

All:
It's Time Now - To Sing Out
Though The Story Never Ends
Let's Celebrate
Remember A Year In The Life Of Friends

Remember the Love
Remember the Love
Remember the Love
Measure In Love

Joanne:
Oh you got to you got to remember the love,
You know that love is a gift from up above
Share love, give love, spread love
Measure, measure your life in love.

ALL
Seasons Of Love(2x)

Joanne:

Measure your life, measure your life in love

Winning the invinsible war!

2008-09-08T22:51:00.002+08:00

I was just recapturing the thoughts that Chuen shared with me the other night with one of my urban life member…

We initially planned to have a girls’ outing – playing basketball, among our Urban Life girls last Sunday. However, due to some challenges, it was cancelled! My friend asked me, “Why whenever we plan something for the girls, it always didn’t turn out…”

Here’s the thing…

The work of enemy, the world & our flesh are constantly battling against us – churches are prosecuted & mocked, believers that are ridiculed or insulted, ministry constantly facing challenges & obstacles… the list goes on. But if all these don’t happen, it shows that the church is unknown or unheard. Our ministry is not sound. The enemy doesn’t think it’s worth his time trying to put away or bring down what God is trying to do in this world. The enemy sees that the church is weak enough, hence he doesn’t need to do anything but just sit back & watch as the church fades away from the eye of the world.

But if the enemy is making every effort to bring down, to stop, to oppress the work of God that churches & believers try to do – trying to bring the message of reconciliation in Jesus Christ, it shows that we are doing the right thing! We are heading the right decision! We are fighting the right fight! We are claiming whatever that is rightfully ours (given by God)!

We can’t just give up, or feel discourage we just face a few strikes from the enemy; we gotta keep defending & attacking back until we claim everything that belongs to God & ours! & we are not doing it alone, but God is with us & for us til the very end! So, DON’T GIVE UP! Kick off the thoughts of negativities, the thoughts that says “Someone’s can do a better job” “I am so lousy” “I’m hindering others’ growth” but put on the helmet that Jesus has given us – helmet of salvation.

Phil4:8 (Msg) Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

Zeal & Passion for God!

2008-09-07T07:16:00.000+08:00

Rom12:11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.

Joh2:17… “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”

“What is your passion?”

“Is your passion God?

“Is God’s passion your passion?”

“Is your passion serving God?”

“Is your passion hot?”

What is the condition of your heart when comes to God & His Kingdom? Is it still burning fervently or is the fire fading away?

He comforts me!

2008-08-24T00:07:00.000+08:00

Been in peadiatrics rotation for 4 weeks now. Seriously, I’m considering it as a carrier option 2^nd to General Surgery. Kids are just so wonderful. Even though they are not well, they are jumping around, feeling happy, just playing… It is such a “naïve” yet pure attitude. As long as their parents are there with them, they are comforted! Just sitting at their parents’ lap, hugging them & having their parents carrying them around or sleep with them – that’s enough! They feel safe in their parents’ presence!

What about us? Do we find comfort from our Father in heaven? Or do we seek comfort elsewhere – friends, partners, studies, success, items, video games, tv… Well these stuff offer temporal comfort & relaxation, but do we want something temporal or something eternal? A comfort that will last, that never fades nor empties, that is constantly fresh & overflowing???

2cor1: 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

But this verse says God is a God of compassion – He understands what we go through, what we face, how we feel, how many challenges we have to overcome – He feels for us, & not just that, He has a solution!!! Cause He is a God of all comfort!! The word here is ALL!!! A-L-L!!! This means, He has all the solution!!! All we need to do is be like a child, sit on His lap, embrace Him, rest in His hands, and let Him take your weight, let Him pat your back…

He called us children… but do we acknowledge Him as our Father?

This is Our Story, This is Our Song!

2008-08-01T22:58:00.010+08:00

Due to popular demand (popular being loosely defined as 2 requests), Wen Hao and I have decided to share a bit about the journey which ultimately led to Facebook presenting us as “in a relationship”. Ah, the joys of facebook. The number of congratulatory wall posts we received 1.2 seconds after our changes in status were flattering indeed and thus we feel it is only fair that we give the 2 people what they want (our story).

Seriously though, the reason we’ve decided to do this is really to give thanks to God without which none of this would have happened. As we sat back and reflected (along the banks of Torrens River, pausing every 30 seconds to protect [me : “WARGH IT IS GOING TO PECK ME SAVE THE MUFFINS!!– because they are awesome” wh : “SHOO!” *does not work so we move to another patch of grass* X3 ] our muffins and ourselves from black swans and pigeons ahh sweet memories indeed) on 5 years of friendship prior to this, we couldn’t help but marvel at how much we’ve grown as individuals, at how we never quite expected this to happen and yet it did at just the right time. We’ve each had our own fair share of living, tainted with experiences good and bad. And through it all, we see God’s hand at work guiding our every step just as He continues to do today. A lot of life’s lessons we learn in retrospect, and though we know we have a long way to go as far as this relationship is concerned, our hope is that by sharing some of the things we’ve learnt and experienced thus far, you dear reader, will be blessed and most importantly, that we will be able to give God the glory that He fully deserves.

The Beginning

We cannot quite pinpoint when things started to change between us. All we know is that sometime in the beginning of this year, something changed.

Chuen – And to be quite honest, I freaked out a little for no other reason than the fact that this was him. We’d been good friends for so long and were pretty good at it too. We always joke about how our friendship started over a cup of bubble tea. Which is a story for another day. (It basically involved him thinking I was a nutjob whose only highlight of the day apart from making it to class on time without getting a parking ticket in the process was bubble tea from MAC Centre.) But I digress. Maybe it was because I suddenly realized that hey, here’s a guy, one of my best friends, who shares my interests, listens, encourages and best of all, shares my heart when it comes to the things of God. Everything I’ve always wanted and prayed for in a man. My man, to be specific. Experience has taught me to never act on anything (especially something of this magnitude) without first thinking and praying it through. That and also the fact that when it comes to love and relationships I come from the 19^th century school of thought where chivalry was the norm and girls were meant to be seen not heard, the pursued and not the pursuer. And so I did (thought and prayed that is)

I can’t possibly continue this without first saying that the past 18 months in Adelaide have possibly been the best yet in terms of my walk with God. I’d like to think of 2007 as my Year of Self Discovery. Where God brought me on a journey that started right from the basics of my Christian faith. Where He reminded me once again of my identity as a Child of the Most High God. That I was created with love, and made for a purpose. That though life on earth will never be without trouble, through even the worst of times, God’s love for me will never change, His power absolute. With that said, I prayed (and ok, questioned as well because I was naturally worried that this was just a passing thing) and distinctly remembered telling God that my conviction lies in the fact that He loves me, knows my heart and therefore knows just the right one for me. And that was that. I was very deliberate about telling no one in the beginning for a few reasons, chief of which were – I had to at least be sure of what I was feeling and I really just wanted to hopefully hear from God without any external influence that may subconsciously affect my view of things. Understand that I am in no way propagating that we are our best counsels and that accountability bears no importance. I have to stress that this was during the earliest possible stage of our whole (or rather mine at this point) journey. Think of it as the equivalent of the blastocyst stage in the human embryonic development. (yikes just realized what a totally geeky analogy that was. Obs and gynae was my last big rotation la ok) So anyway, not long after, I shared this with someone whom I knew would pray along with me. And so we did.

Wen Hao - I am constantly reminded of the time in A Levels where we were waiting for our lab session to start. It was noon time and at that moment I began to spark a conversation with her – the girl who was always running late for classes yet always managed to grab hold of a bubble tea in between classes.

Little did I know of what would happen from A Levels to IMU to now – she’s continuing her medical degree in Adelaide & I am in Melbourne. Our relationship grew from mere classmates to close friends to best friends – where we share hearts & thoughts together, and now God has put us in a journey of courtship. I’m truly blessed by our courtship now. I remember the early days in college when I had a crush on her, but she was attached to a friend from church, and the feelings faded away. Although their relationship ended more than a year ago, it was never in my mind that it is possible to take our friendship to another level – simply because we were so close. But God had another plan in His mind, & I thank Him so much for bringing us through a personal journey of discovering each other since early this year. I was told by a friend that if we each fixed our eyes on God, it will be like a triangle, and we will soon meet under His covering! But if we fix our eyes on each other, we will leave God out of the triangle & we step out of His canopy of love. After all, He is love & only in Him, will we truly understand & discover the real meaning of love.

The In-Between

Chuen – Picking up where I left off, I was at this stage still doing what I knew best to do. Praying and constantly reminding myself that if this was something approved by God, all I had to do was continue seeking Him and allowing Him to speak into my life. (Bear in mind that up to this stage and actually right till the end, none of us had mentioned anything regarding the issue of “us” for, as we later found out, much the same reason – we didn’t want to ignite anything prematurely or in wh’s words, “let my heart rule over my head”) I truly thank God for showing me through relevant people in the bible that every God ordained journey no matter what the destination always, always, starts, continues and ends with growth. So no matter what the outcome, we still win. With that in mind, I made the decision to focus and pray not for the end result, but rather to fix my thoughts and eyes on Jesus, the One in whom my total dependence lies. Where 2007 was my Year of Self Discovery, 2008 so far has been and I believe will continue to be my Year of Revelation. It’s amazing how many things I’ve learnt over the past year through my own time with God, church, connect group and just life, in general. It’s like everywhere I turn, I feel God revealing something to me in the form of new perspectives and revelations, to name a few. My faith has been stirred and challenged on so many levels that at times it’s all I can do to keep from bursting into song and praise at the grace and power of my God.

Wen Hao – Throughout these 5 years, our friendship has grown from strength to strength. In the early days I wasn’t a Christian, and I remember the times when she tried to share with me how amazing God’s love is (but I was not convinced by it. You see, I grew up in a Buddhist family – even then I did not practice that religion). This perception shifted mid 2004 when I accepted Jesus into my life. I remember calling her that night and hearing her screaming with joy on the other side of the line just tells me how much my salvation brings gladness & joy to her. In the early days, when my parents found out I accepted Christ they were upset about the decision. The response wasn’t what I’d expected – instead of rejoicing with me, there were arguments & I remember the times where she & Chris stood by me – constantly comforting me & helping me to lean more on God & believing God will open my parents’ hearts.

True enough, now seeing how my parents allow & encourage me to be involved in church, and hearing them saying “God bless!” & asking me about church when I was in Melbourne, the testimony stands strongly that God has shifted my family’s heart to a new dimension. Sometime this year, at camp God gave me a personal vision of my family’s salvation, and I called her immediately, & hearing her say “I’ve been praying for your family since day 1” touched my heart immensely. I thank God for such a faithful & loving friend!

The feelings started early this year. In fact it was triggered by my friend saying “You want your best friend to be your partner” & having Chris saying “If you have a girlfriend in the future, both of you can’t be as close anymore.” I prayed about it, and said to myself, “I’ll wait till mid April to decide”… I spent time asking leaders & considering their advice, reading books about courtship, fasting & praying about this relationship. Throughout this period, we stayed in touch via the internet & phone, and somehow got even closer. At the same time, she mentioned that there’s someone in her heart & she has been praying about him. Inside me, I sorta “guess” it was me since she never wanted to reveal who this person really is (that’s really unlikely for her since we share a lot together) We agreed to reveal it to each other when we meet again… Come April, a friend advised me to wait till I go over to Adelaide in July. I decided to take that step & prayerfully hoped that God would groom us to complement each other and grow us to be mature enough to enter into a courtship. AND HE DID IT FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!

The Now

Wen Hao - It is 7.30am as I land in Adelaide for the 2^nd time. It is Tuesday morning, and I can see many different people walking around – some rushing off for business meetings, some returning home from trips & others are like me, visiting! While waiting for her, my thoughts brought me to the phone call I made to KL the night before. I told my parents I was going to ask hers. Although mum said it’s unnecessary, since relationship only involves 2 parties, but I felt it was essential – knowing that her family loves her alot; and it matters to ask for their blessings. Thank God for the APPROVAL! – I passed the most difficult stage J (Chuen : Earning 100 brownie points from the parents in the process)

I never really came out with ideas or a “plan” as to how I was gonna ask her to be my girlfriend. In my heart, I knew the moment was gonna come naturally during my stay in Adelaide. I intended to ask her the following morning over breakfast, since she decided to make pancakes – by the way, it’s the BEST pancakes I’ve had! No doubt!!! (Chuen : HAH TAKE THAT CHUN PENG! HAHA ) It didn’t really work out (Chuen : for reasons that will remain between the Villagers and Chun Peng HAHA), but as I was flipping through the Adelaide map over breakfast, I realized there was a botanical garden over there. She suggested we should drop by after her hospital visit, and I felt that was it!!! So, while cruising along the evening lights at the garden, we brought up the commitment that we had & I told her the person that I’ve been praying about is her! And that’s how it started! A side bench at botanical gardens during a beautiful evening setting in Adelaide town!!! Something that she said stayed in my heart, “Even if you had asked me in April, I would have said “yes”, but I know it won’t be the same as this time. The wait was worth it!” Now I know the time is right! I am at peace about this decision, my leaders & our parents have given their blessings, & friends who know us well congratulate us… It tells me the time is right! Even as we reflect on our friendship over the years as we had breakfast along Torrens River, we agreed that God’s preparation & timing is perfect. It’s our core belief that God is gonna be in the centre of this relationship & we hope that our journey can be a compass that points our friends to Jesus – the Author & Perfector of our faith!

Chuen - So yea, fast forward a few months and here we are. We look back and rejoice over what we have now and all that we have learnt and grown into in the process. Our journeys individual and together are far from over and just like how we surrendered our lives to God the day we made the decision to live for Him and not ourselves, we surrender this too. We may not know what the future holds, but we know and fully trust in the One who does. So at this juncture, what do we do knowing that we’ve only just begun, believing that greater things are yet to come yet acknowledging that our future lies not in our hands? We stick to what we know to do – to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We entrust and surrender our lives daily to the One who knows our inmost being and loved us enough to suffer for our sins, loving us still today and we try as best we can to live our lives according to the purposes of God hoping that in the process, people may look at us individually and together as living testimonies of God’s love and grace. Because we’ve had a taste of how God has touched and changed our lives and believe that in the same way, God can turn your world around too.

So this is our story, this is our song. We’re praising our Saviour, all the day long!

Normal state vs Fundamental state

2008-07-27T10:29:00.003+08:00

"When we accept the world as it is (by living in the normal state), we deny our ability to see something better, & hence our ability to be something better. we become what we behold. what is not normal, is embracing the fact that another state exists."

-Prof Quinn (Building the Bridge as You Walk On It)

Hand & Feet for Jesus!

2008-07-26T18:07:00.002+08:00

It has been a fortnight since 2008 Hillsong Conference. It certainly has been a blessing moment for me. God really shaped my character & core being as a whole – enlarging it to prepare the way for His people.

I began this conference, fasting and knowing that God wanna realign my vision… Not knowing most of the speakers that were coming this year, there weren’t any expectations. As the conference begins, God constantly reminded about “JUSTICE” “POVERTY” “COMPASSION”… I know my heartbeat is to reach out to the young people, so the poor & needy never cross my mind. Not that I don’t feel for them, but this issue never compelled me to move “the other side of the road”. I told God, “Yes, I know about these people, tell me more. Enough telling me about them!” I sorta avoid/run away from these 3 words God constantly placed in my heart.

I remembered this pastor mentioning this verse:-

Mat25: 34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

“God’s heart is always with the poor. If you wanna serve God & not involve these people that He cares, You are not serving God!”

That statement spoke to me deeply. God cares for these people so much, and if I wanna serve Him & please Him but not think/care/remember/consider/do something for those who are in needs & living in poverty, I am not serving God. If I sing “break my heart for what break Yours” and not doing so, then God’s heartbeat is not my heartbeat.

Felt that, for now I should just “do” it… If it pleases God, I’ll do so, and I know as I continue to serve Him in this area, I believe He will cultivate this heartbeat in me. He will break my heart & make me fall in love with these people.

Gal2: 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This conference speaks to me about “Loving God & Loving His people!” Never less than that. Felt that it is much more impactful than the previous conference, and the conviction really shaped my heart to be more like Him. I thank God for the good start & I am excited to be a hand & feet to extend His kingdom.

Sydney 2008

2008-07-20T23:06:00.001+08:00

Prepare the way!

2008-07-07T09:40:00.002+08:00

Mark1: 2It is written in Isaiah the prophet:

"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way"—
3"a voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.'

I am still learning that it is never about me transforming lives, or never about me impacting the lives of others. It is ME MAKING WAY for God to do that. It is ME setting the environment right for God to move. Our part is to path the way for His Spirit to move among the people we lead. Say Urban Life – it is up to us to stir up an atmosphere of praise & worship so that everyone is in such a conducive environment to encounter God. Even trying to reach out to our friends, all we need to do is bring them to church, & let God’s presence impact them.

What are some of the ways that you can prepare for Him to move? A phone call? A house visit? A word of encouragement? Or simply just buying a friend a gift? It’s not always spiritual. It’s just being practical at times and meeting the needs of the people around us.

Something that God really spoken to me lately through Ps Matt – I was telling him that “we can bring the horse to the water, but we can’t make the horse drink” & he says, the key to this statement is “we gotta make the horse really thirsty. Then regardless whether we lead them to the water, they will automatically go around looking for water to drink because they ARE THIRSTY.” I was like SO TRUE!!! Also praying that God will give me to wisdom to this matter.

He keeps on coming!

2008-07-05T09:11:00.002+08:00

Favour, favour, favour!!!

That’s all I can say from our great & awesome God! Why?

I just finished exams last Wednesday and freedom from books, revisions, medicine is really fantastic… Just waking up doing nothing, or walking around the city without studies in my mind… All medical students understand how I feel now.

But let me tell you what happened on my Long case (this is the exam part, where we are required to spend an hour with a patient, find out why they are in the hospital and examine them, then formulate all your information and present the case to 2 doctors and they get to ask you all sort of questions regarding the patient or nothing at all) last Wednesday.

To start off, I left my house at 9.45am for my 11am session. It sounded a lot of time there, since the time to Austin Hospital takes about 40mins, but when I reached the train station, I was 4 mins away before my train arrives. Relieved! Then I look at the next train time, and it’s 30 mins later. I was like, THANK GOD! If I miss this train, I will certainly be late for my exam – which is a big NO NO!

Next, while I was doing my long case, I was interrupted by a social worker for a while. I thought, “Gosh, I’m gonna waste some time here, but anyway, it’s good to hear what she is going to say to the patient” So, I sorta copied down what she mentioned as part of my issues to be discussed later with the examiners. After she left, the invigilator came and told me I have 10 mins left. In my mind, I thought it was time since 1 hour has passed. So, my heart was like “Wohoo!” But this is the funny part; few mins later she returned to tell me that I get extra 5 mins since I was interrupted earlier. I was like, “Common God!” Apparently the other patients in the ward went to complain to my invigilator, asking her to give me more time since it wasn’t fair that I was interrupted. HOW AWESOME IS OUR GOD!

The rest was great as well… My patient was very cooperative. She was clear & given me all the information needed. My examiners, I thought they asked difficult questions which I couldn’t answer some, but overall, thought I went in with confident & answered the questions the best I could. So, yah my Wednesday was just favour after favour from God!

Gen28:15 “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."

Victorious, I will be!

2008-06-24T13:15:00.003+08:00

Psa144:1 Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.

2 He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.

A friend sent me this verse yesterday! Find it so stirring. Trusting God that He has equipped my hands for the past 4 1/2 years for this exams, & He is gonna bring me through the MCQ & patients victoriously! Will draw His strength & immerse in His power as I go through this week!!!

Activate it!

2008-06-19T16:36:00.002+08:00

Was replying an email today, and remembered on the famous bible passage about Peter stepping out of the boat!

A lot of times we said “We’re waiting for our destiny, our calling!” “Still asking God what He wants me to do.” “I don’t wanna do the things unless God speaks to me about it.”

Sounds familiar?

But if we continue to remain in the “boat” (at a position that we’re waiting, not stepping out) we will never know or experience what God has in store for us. Likewise, for Peter to fully experience God’s miracle, He has to STEP OUT! Even for the disciples, before Jesus die on the cross, do you think they know what their callings were? I’m sure all they had in mind at that time is to follow Jesus! Follow what He is doing, apply what He is teaching & imitate Him as He imitates God! God’s work only happens if we make the first move. Always been that way! He will reveal to you what your callings/purpose are, but you must first step out & start searching. That’s when faith comes in. We need our faith to be activated to receive our calling.

Mat17:20He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

The word little in Hebrew is not less/small or anything. In Hebrew, it is actually “no”!

Look, Jesus said you just need faith as small as mustard seed! Do you need a lot? No! But I believe at that time He is saying “apply your faith into your life!” “IT’S PRACTICAL TIME! YOU’VE HEARD THE THEORY!”

Daddy you're the best!!!

2008-06-16T22:38:00.002+08:00

HAPPY DADDY'S DAY!!!

The next level!

2008-06-09T23:19:00.001+08:00

Remembered what Ps Rusell shared about moving to the next level.

Luke5: 17One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. 18Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. 19When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. 22Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 25Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. 26Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

This story about Jesus healing the paralytic man as a result of the faith of these 4 men!

If the 4 guys just remain at the same level, the crowd is hindering them from reaching to Jesus (the miracle). But they saw the need to move towards the next level (up the roof, broke the tiles & lowered their friend down), the paralyzed man was healed! Imagine us miss this miracle cause we didn’t see the next level God has set before us.

It’s never an easy journey to move towards the next level… the thought of carrying the paralyzed men up the roof, break the tiles and slowly lower him down without him falling, that’s a tough job. But Jesus sees everything, He bless accordingly. He is pleased to see the faith-stretching moments!

What is your next level that God has set before you?

Are you willing to walk towards it?

Deligence!

2008-06-09T00:42:00.001+08:00

Heb6: 10God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. 12We do not want you to become lazy (in NLT-dull or indifferent, NKJV-sluggish), but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

This portion of scripture has been ministering to me these few days!

During the exams fever, we tend to get caught up with revisions, deadlines to meet, etc. Our role as a child of God shrinks back to a certain extent… We started having less catch ups, we rush through devotions, hurry off or sometimes skip church to try and study as much as possible in that 2 hours.

But this verse says God knows our position and condition. In the 24 hours, we tried to juggle the time with studies and catching up with people, attend church & meetings, etc. He feels for us when He sees we began to feel overwhelmed or stretched in our ministry.

This verse says He remembers our labor! & God encourages us to keep pressing on, pressing on with His strength to do the things He has called us to do, to minister to the people He has entrusted to us because as we have this “hope made sure” given by God. It reminded me of Ps Shawn’s post regarding faith. In Heb 11:1 Faith is hope made sure!

Now this is not the blind faith others are talking about, but a hope made sure from God that what lies in the future – eternal life & eternal relationship with God!

That’s why it goes on saying that “we should not become lazy or dull or indifferent” – as in we stop doing what we are called to do because of exams. Rather we should imitate those champions like David, Paul, Abraham, Joseph – these people who persevered through trials in their lives with God’s strength and knowing that God is always in control of their situation! Look how God bless them and carry them through all trials! He is able to do that for us today!!!

This scripture is really encouraging. It tells me that despite all circumstances, as long as we trust in Him, things will be fine. God sees and knows and will bless accordingly! Love every bit of the encounter of I have with Him and His people.

Something is happening!!! :-)

2008-06-02T23:58:00.004+08:00

3 weeks left to go!

Hrm, somehow really thank God that His peace is constantly within me. Although there is so much to study, so much to improve in my case presentation, but everything seems to be fine when God is in control!

Today, we had our first ever AUSTIN HOSPITAL PRAYER MEETING! One of my course mates told me they are gonna start a prayer meeting where people – Christians/non-Christians alike can come and pray together for our exams. I was like “Cool! I’ll come!”

So, this afternoon, as soon as I finished my lunch, I rushed off to the hospital chapel. My group members were like “Oh! You’re going for the prayer meet. Can you pray for us too?” I was like “Of course!”

Although at the prayer meeting, there were only 4 of us, as we pray for the hospital & the patients, for each other & our exams, felt God’s presence so strongly in our midst. Then one of them said “Let’s just tell the guys in the lecture later about this prayer meeting. Lets all of us go to the front and each say something about this meeting!”

How many people know that I am totally not the “in front of stage making announcement” guy! I was like, er… “God, do you really want me to do that?” Then, felt God saying, “So, are you making a stand for me? If yes, now is the time!” In the end, I did it. Said what I wanna say (which was just telling everyone what we do during prayer meet), and went back to my seat and got ready for the lecture.

Towards the end of the day, one of my group mates asked us, “So, how was prayer meet today?” & we sorta told him it went well, and my friend invited my group mate along for next week’s prayer meeting, and he said “Yah, maybe I would!” How awesome is that!!! God just reminded me that He is at work even in my work area. I never make it an active point to talk to my friends at work much about God, but now God is saying that He is setting the condition right for Him to be made known to the people in this hospital. I’m excited now, and desire to see more and more people turn up for prayer meeting, just to receive His blessings!

The fire within us!

2008-06-01T18:12:00.004+08:00

Someone once said, " If you don't have a passion worthy dying for, you have nothing worth living for. If you are not willing to suffer for something, you really aren't passionate about anything."

I quote this from the Passion Quest blog. What a powerful statement – this statement stir something within me. It somehow realign my direction as I walk my life journey with God.

Like what the blogger said “If you have one, is it worth living/dying for?” Common, this statement is provoking. It somehow brings me to a point where yah, “Am I sold out to the passion that I have?”

So, what is my passion??? I know I love God a lot. I know that it is my desire to see young people rise up, and start believing God for more and trusting Him to take their natural circumstances to a supernatural intervention! I get excited when I see my friends excited about what God is doing in their lives, and what they believe God is about to do. I get stirred when I see them pumped up to do what God has set for each of them. THIS IS MY PASSION – SEEING EACH OF THEM GROW INTIMATELY & SOLD OUT FOR OUR LIVING GOD!

It is a cause worth living for! I believe even as I am called to be a doctor to serve this community, God’s work will work through my career and my interaction with people!

During this season of my finals, I have so much inadequacy! I need so much miracles & interventions. I dunno how but I need God to work through every bit of my life – in my spiritual journey with Him, in my life as a medical student, in my role as a son, in my Urban Life group, in my personal time with my friends – I need You to take control. The time I have is sufficient, but I need You to make it more effective. Bible says, “The more they are oppressed, they more they grew!” I pray the same prayer will work in my life.

During these 4 weeks of time pressing moments, I’m not gonna let it dilute my passion! My passion is gonna grow even more out of the oppression that it is gonna face/facing! It is gonna be 4 weeks filled with God’s favor & intervention! God, You take Your place and do as You please!

You Reign over me!

2008-05-25T23:47:00.001+08:00

Spirit of God,

We cry out for You now

We cry out

Where would we be without You Jesus

Where would we be without You Lord

As church began a new song they recently wrote, the bridge of that song so captured my heartbeat now!

4 weeks away from my finals, 4 weeks of intense classes where I gotta learn whatever that is need to learn in this last rotation, retain the information, and at the same time, revise my past 5 rotations over the entire year of my clinical studies in Melbourne.

At the very moment, I really don’t know how I can do it – the situation at the moment now is just so overwhelming if God is not in the centre of my life. I keep reminding myself that God is in control, and I can draw strength, wisdom, peace and rest from His Spirit. As I cry out to Him, He will respond!!! Really thank Him that I am going through these weeks with a peaceful mind regardless of the amount of syllabus I have to cover, peers around me complaining and comparing how well you need to do with your case presentation, questions and answers they know more than I do… Not gonna let the situation choke me!

John15: 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

God showed me this when I was reading the bible the other day. I am positioning myself in You!!!

Love u heaps mum!!!

2008-05-11T17:00:00.002+08:00

My story

2008-05-05T19:26:00.004+08:00

ECF just had their campus weekend on 4th-5th May. Ps Steven was asking me to share my testimony on how has God changed my life, so that the testimony can impact other students! Sharon told me the weekend was amazing, good message, amazing students sharing their passion to see their campus changed!! So excited to see what is God gonna do as the students avail themselves to God's work and believe the possibilities that God can do through their lives.

Love that keeps us going!

2008-05-02T23:25:00.001+08:00

Share is all I need

2008-04-18T23:43:00.000+08:00

Finally got my hands down to blogging!

A lot had been happening!!! The word “revision” echoes in my mind every time I step into the hospital, but thankfully I’m constantly immersed in God’s peace & assurance. I know it’s not an excuse, but I’m blessed to be able to study without feeling stress or panic.

During Urban Life discipleship, Sharene shared about “miracles” & them coming through Jesus, and we were divided into groups where we share our testimonies about what miracle has God brought into our lives. So happen, my group got the topic about “family”!!! Wow!!! I was reminded by what Ps Steven said to me during my last holidays in KL about blogging my heartbeat about telling people about God & how is it different compared to talking it to my family.

Which brings me to the reason of this blog!!!

I have been a believer for 3 years, and every now and then I talk to my friends about God, or share faith with people seeking & wanting to know more about God. It can be challenging at times, because all I want is for them is to get to know who Jesus is, and the things He can do in our lives as we welcome Him into our lives. I don’t do it because church ask me to, or because I wanna be a noble guy to convert everyone, but I do that because I personally encounter such great experiences with Him as I open myself to Him. I want people to have a chance to receive such encounters like I do.

Psa34:4 Taste & see that the Lord is good…

Bible says, taste & you will know. You gotta enjoy it. First encounter is crucial. It’s like me finding a good shop which sells decent laksa in Melbourne, and I went around telling others about it. But until my friend truly tastes it, he wouldn’t know how good it is. He will have an idea about the taste, but he never had an experience because he never tried the laksa.

But I find this exceptionally hard to share with my family. Not that I am doing all these with my strength, but with mum & dad sharing faith isn’t that simple. I don’t have the intention of forcing the details down their throat, but I would like to tell them, why I chose to believe in Jesus, & how much He has sustained me & love me. They see the evidence of God in my life – my life has changed for the better & they themselves affirmed that… but I can’t seem to find proper words or decent opportunities to talk about it.

I might be fearful – afraid that dad will shut me off, don’t wanna offend mum since she’s a strong Buddhist believer, or don’t wanna give them an impression that I’m so sold out for God… I dunno, but I believe it’s harder to share things with the people you’re closed with. Not that they frightens me, somehow, there’s a hindrance. (sounds like I’m contradicting myself)

God has been gracious to me. Over the past 3 years, my family has changed from being so rejectful about God to acceptance that I’m a Christian, support me whenever I go to church, and even had the intention to help me look for one when I first got to Melbourne. Even when mum had her operation, I thank God that I was able to pray for her… Chuen always tells me the change & open doors God has done in my household

But what I truly desire is to see them coming to know who Jesus really is. I know I need God for this miracle, because I dunno how & what way & when things like these can happen. All I need is to believe!!!

Another thought?

2008-04-06T09:10:00.002+08:00

I was reading Jesus M.D. today (love this book a lot) - it's just talking about how this missionary doctor view Jesus Christ as the Great Physician & what are some of the things he learnt, and encountered as he journeyed his life as a missionary doctor. I have no intention whatsoever to be a missionary doctor at this point of time(maybe God will do something in future - I don't know) but I just wanna know more about God's thoughts about being a doctor - a doctor that carry His gospel & light around.

Just finished a chapter and this part really caught my attention:

"It convinced me that being a physician on a mission field, like being a Christian committed to serving Christ everywhere, would mean facing situations for which I could never be fully prepared. It would mean taking the risk of trusting God to use me despite my own inadequacies - in knowledge, skill & experience." - David Stevens

Thought of the week??

2008-04-05T20:08:00.004+08:00

"Serving God is not about ABILITY. It's AVAILABILITY. When you avail yourself to God, He will then will you with the ability"

"When given a task, I don't see it as a hindrance. I don't take it as a challenge. I see it as an avenue of growth. Something that God wanna teach me. If I don't take it, I might miss whatever that God wants to equip me."

Perception shift! Something that I'm pondering about...

UL4 Core group invades Mornington!

2008-03-23T22:12:00.001+08:00

Hope enters life today!

2008-03-23T18:28:00.002+08:00

Avalon – Come & Fill my heart

Free, I long to be free
I long for the day I'll believe
That all you say you see in me is true
That's hard for me to do
It's hard for me to die to myself
Entrust my life to someone else
So come empty me out
I'm no good without
You inside of me

Chorus:
Come and fill my heart with hope
Come and fill my life with love
Come and fill my soul with strength to carry on
Because from here the climb is steep, the road is long
Come and fill my days with dreams
Empty me of all the empty things
That I hold onto
Come and fill my heart with you

I need you in my life
Need you like the air that I breath
You've become the very heart of me
And I, I can't believe my eyes
Can't believe the dream that I've found
Lord, your love has turned my world around
So come fill up my heart'
Till I'm like you are
So deep inside of me

Search me, Lord
Try my heart
Come and take me now and make me new
So that all of the world will see you
Overflow in my life

Today is all about Him. All about Him going up to the cross & conquered death to fulfill what is spoken in the lyrics above!

Just being immersed in His love & grace is all I need. It’s sufficient to carry me on. Words can’t fully describe that. It is only revealed by your personal encounter with Him. Really thank Him for all the blessings and His unfailing love for me. From strength to strength He has carried me on throughout these years. Nothing I do can make Him love me less or more. Thank you, Jesus!

Shift!

2008-03-18T17:19:00.000+08:00

Felt really overwhelmed & burden yesterday and today. About studies, the thought of exams in June, ministry and random thoughts just made me feel so stretched & tired. I recognized the plot the enemy was setting to weaken my faith especially since I got back from Leaders’ retreat over the weekend. The retreat was empowering and very ministering.

As I was taking the tram back, the bridge of “Sold Out” really spoke!

“I’m holding onto You, All my desires in Your hand. I’m running after You, Jesus!”

Just draw my attention to what God says that He is always in control. His providence is always there to those who seek Him first.

As I got back home, start doing my devotion and just worshipping God, just felt so elevated. Just felt the exchange is happening. He is taking my burden & giving me His yoke for His yoke is light. I am able to find rest in Him!!! & as I was reading the bible, this verse spoke so strongly:

Isa52:1-2Awake, awake O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again. Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.

It talks about clothing ourselves with God’s strength & glory. Clothes give protection, display glory to those who sees us in it! It talks about don’t let the things of the world and people to pull me down. It talks about shaking off the things that hinders us from coming to God. It talks about breaking free things/thoughts/words/situations that bring us down!

Just wanna proclaim this word every morning!

Cooking galore continues!

2008-03-14T13:54:00.001+08:00

Bring Him glory!

2008-03-13T17:56:00.001+08:00

Isa49:3 He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor."

The Message version says “He said to me, "You're my dear servant, Israel, through whom I'll shine."”

The NLT version says “He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.””

God says His servants will display His glory. Through us, His name is adorned!

It got me thinking – How do we reflect His glory? How do we live our life in such a way that His name is lifted high?

It makes me look back to my parents. What are the things/life-events that will put a smile on their face? That they will be so pleased?

I can think of a few…

I know they will be very happy to see their children grown up healthily, living in a good life condition, successful in their career, find their life partner and start to build their own family. More than that, parents will be blessed and thankful when their children grown up with heart & attitude of thanksgiving towards them – for all the sacrifices and time labored to raise their children. In their heart, I can just sense the thanksgiving prayer “Thank God for such a blessed child. Thanks for building this child up to have Your character living actively deep within him.”

I know this will make them proud. This will make them shine. It will definitely bring glory to the family.

Likewise, our Father in heaven will be pleased if He sees His children live a life that glorify His name – life that is constantly pursuing His purpose & will. As we faithfully serve Him, submit and obey the things He has wished in our lives, and trustfully walk in the road that He prepared for us, His love is truly manifested to everyone, His nature and His character is made clear for everyone to experience, and His purpose is to rebuild the relationship that was once lost will be fulfilled.

I believe once we reach the finish line, once we return heaven, He will be standing there – arms wide open, excitedly embrace us with a warm hug and said “Son, welcome home! You’ve make me proud! You’ve bring glory to my name!”

My new home!

2008-03-01T09:07:00.001+08:00

This time tomorrow!

2008-02-09T22:21:00.000+08:00

This time tomorrow I’ll be sulking and mourning my way back to Melbourne…

The thought of leaving home just made me feels so lethargic and malaise! As though I’ve caught this mebournitis! Feel come-what unwell now, sick maybe… Not as energetic as I was anymore, and certainly less vocal & loud (which is something unusual)… but the cause is definitely not pathological…

But yah, from busy schedule to mountain-high studies, irritating flies & weather to winter, homesick to fav-food-deprivation mood… All these familiar voices are calling me back, & trust me it is not “calling me softly with a song”…

But one thing I’m certain, that I’ve fallen in love with KL tremendously, that I love my family & church unfailingly, my tolerance for lousy Malaysian surface increases & I still overcome KL’s “erratic” weather.

I just gotta keep Dec 2008 as my focus!

CNY eve dinner! thx Mum!

2008-02-06T23:03:00.001+08:00

Praise Ur Name!

2008-02-04T00:00:00.001+08:00

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Was singing this song (Blessed be Your Name) in SNL, and this part of the song struck me deep! It simply just shows me God’s heart towards His people.

Felt that God’s saying, “Do you praise Me when I pour out blessings on you?” “Have you considered every good work that happens in your life actually comes from Me?” “Do you not see that even in the darkest valley, I am there with you, walking you out of it?”

Sometimes we just forget to do so! Or worse, neglected Him being the One who is the ultimate master mind of our life! And when things didn’t flow according to our ways, we blame God for not helping us. We turn our backs away from Him because we remember only one of these trials and forget the many times God’s blessings were poured unto us. We stop trusting in God and trying to work it out on our own. We shut ourselves from God, not God distance away from us.

Why can’t we have a lil David in our hearts? Why can’t we praise God even in our darkest moments? Why can’t we hold firm and trust in Him to bring us above our trials? Why not a lil more faith? That’s why God calls David “a man after God’s heart”! Let’s have a heart of David – having the word of praise constantly at our mouth, having a heart that is steadfast, having the assurance that God being our Father will always help us through in whatever situation and His plans are always to prosper us!

P/s:- I did my 3rd round of running for 25 mins! Wohoo!!!

Blessed 40th!!!

2008-02-02T02:32:00.001+08:00

The discipleship (L to R):- Me, Aaron, Ian, Pa, Bern, Jeremy, Victor
Aaron's touch on behalf of us!
The leaders (L to R):- Mark, Kelvin, Ps Shawn, Pa, Si Peng, Ps Tim
Hope he likes the cake :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Exercise Part 2

2008-01-29T23:40:00.000+08:00

I am in my I-must-keep-in-shape mood now! With strict diet restriction (er, konon la) and consistent exercise, I'm trying to burn off my tummy that seem to have grown to a significant shape, a shape that I won't go on elaborating.

So, like I promised in my previous post, my exercise routine is not gonna be last. So, today I did my 2nd jog on my treadmill, but this time around I was on for 25mins. Wohoo!!! Progressing!!!

Thinking of my 3rd exercise routine now... Probably should do some crunches later. Did 100 last Sunday, and another time yesterday.. 6 packs are emerging! Another WoHoooo!!!!

Starting point!

2008-01-27T18:17:00.000+08:00

Mark today's date everyone!

I woke up early -0730 and had a 15 minutes run on my treadmill!!! FINALLY, did my exercise for the first time since I got back to KL!

Some of you must be thinking - 15 mins is too short, and what a waste of time, but I'm trying to build my stamina again... So, watch out for more updates on my exercise routine! This post is definitely first for 2008, but not the last! :-)

Shaping the right perception!

2008-01-23T00:06:00.000+08:00

I was listening to his Ps Steven Furtick preaching about Perception!

He said, “how you receive someone/thing depends greatly on how you perceive someone/thing.”

Totally agree! Our perception greatly shapes our mind to see certain things in a certain way. Even in your toughest situation, if we view it from God’s point of you, we deal with the situation a lil’ different compared if we deal with the situation with our own mind/strength/knowledge/ability.

He went on saying, “We may be in a certain condition, but that is not our ultimate position!”

What power words spoken! Because of a different perception! A perception from God’s point of view, not the world, not the self!

We sometimes think we are able to deal with things because the world shaped our mentality in such a way – if we can’t handle/solve the situation on our own, we are loser! We are not strong enough to live in the society these days! Or maybe some of us have this thought of “I can do it since I’m a brilliant student. Nothing is too difficult for me to handle!” Some of us try so hard to conceal their tough situation from others, fear others may laugh, or perceive that they are weak. Because of that, we put on a mask every time we leave our room. We fake a smile or an “I’m fine/ I’m good” answer whenever we are asked how we are doing. We are too egoistic to face defeat!

But what God says? “Trust Me!” “I’m the Author & Perfecter of your faith!” “My grace is sufficient for you!” “Take upon My yoke for it is light, and you will find rest for your soul!” “I am your refuge & strength!” “I made you the head and not the tail!” “You are more than a conqueror!”

His promises tell us differently about ourselves, and help us see a situation at a different perception. Like the scripture about the Prophet without Honor, Jesus wouldn’t perform miracles because the people in His hometown lack faith or lack a believing heart. They still perceived Him as the young carpenter, whose sisters were with them. Their viewpoint of God limits God’s ability to perform miracles in their lives.

Like what Steven Furtick said, “Don’t be immunized to Him that you miss His essence!”

Strong words eh? Lets allow God to reexamine our soul and shift every thought & perception that is not aligned to God’s word! Shake off every self- & worldly perception that is still leeching us!

THE WAY WE RECEIVE DEPENDS ON THE WAY WE PERCEIVE!

Live LOUD!

2008-01-19T02:42:00.000+08:00

Was talking to Chuen yesterday and she said “The words of one person can be so powerful. Because of one encounter she had with a doctor when her grandma was critically ill, she was inspired. The doctor might not be the person that walk her entire medical career decision, but she surely had planted the first seed!”

The power of one person’s word! Whether you realize it our not, you are actually making a difference. We are constantly influencing the people around us without us noticing it.

During my junior’s farewell, she shared how this friend left a footprint in her life. She said 2 ½ years ago, when she first met her friend, J, she was actually crying in her room. But she was so thankful of J for being there, comforting her. When she was sharing this with J, J hardly remembered this encounter – maybe, he was there offering her tissue box; but this “one day” was vividly remembered by my friend.

Your action and presence matters! You may not notice it, but you are making a mark!

Why am I so passionately illustrating this? This is because recently, I have a couple of encounters with different people saying that they do not wanna return to Malaysia after graduation. Say lifestyle overseas is much better than the one in KL. Well, I have no problem with that, because, facts remain as one! Undeniably true. What saddens me was when I hear them saying that our country is “beyond repair”- lack of rights, privileges, opportunities; political issues; corruption – thefts, robberies, crime; the list goes on. To a certain degree, well this might be true. “The grass is always greener on the other side”

Speaking of overseas, I mean the developed countries. Yah, it is definitely cleaner, healthier air to breathe in, better pay and lifestyle, maybe less corruption. But don’t forget, the developed countries been thru what developing countries going through before. We don’t know, because we weren’t born in that generation to see/experience it. What about gun shooting? What about sex promiscuity? Parents’ abandonment? Kids’ upbringing? Do any of these developed countries doing any better than our country? I can’t put a “yes” answer. You tell me!

But I believe, if young people start to have this mentality and start to flee from this country and never return, I wonder what our country will turn out to be. Probably worse? I don’t know. But if we start doing/saying something, I believe there will be changes! Because as lives are changed, values and characters will change for the better, and with that, actions change too!

Maybe the person that you share lives with will one day be a leader in a big company. With that, the values of this company might change. The way they handle business, treat their employees, deal with marketing strategies. Or who knows, this person might turn out to be a doctor, saving lives and doing mission works for the poor, or maybe borderless doctor! Or another possibility where this person’s life might be changed thru’ one word of encouragement that comes from you during a cold, dark night where this man is in his lowest moment. God puts many crossroads in our lives, where we meet different people, and speak into each others’ lives at different point of time. We sometimes help shaped another person’s defining moment without us realizing it.

It’s not a matter of becoming a hero, change the world or whatever. But I believe it is about impacting lives. Even preaching the gospel, it’s not just about getting someone to say the sinner’s prayer, but it is about allowing people experience God in every moment of their lives. That’s a change! That’s the difference I wanna make!

Pastor Shawn said in his blog, “Make a calling decision, not merely a career decision. Make a life, don't just make a living.” I second this statement. My life is definitely a calling decision given by God. What about yours? Is your life so small that it can only be all about you?

Pro18:21The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

The anointed one!

2008-01-13T14:43:00.000+08:00

Testimonies

2008-01-13T11:35:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, during SNL as usual, there was testimony session, where people come up and share what God has done in their lives. As they were sharing, 2 phrases strucked me!

"A lot of us ask God what is our calling. But I tell you, THE NEED IS THE CALL!!!"

"When you think you don't have enough time for God, that is when you need to GIVE time to God"

Power words from powerful people!

Trust Him or me?

2008-01-12T01:16:00.000+08:00

The Calling of the First Disciples

Luke5:1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Just wanna draw your attention to this part of Peter’s life. It happened when Peter was still a fisherman, and he was trying to catch some fishes with his mates during one fine day. It is that one day that a man named Jesus came and went on Peter’s boat, and start preaching. After He finished, He had a conversation with Peter that later transformed Peter’s life!

Peter has been a fisherman all his life, hence he is a “content expert”. He knows when is the appropriate time to catch the largest amount of fish, where is the best spot to grab hold of many fishes, and which proper technique that brings him the best profit. But here comes Jesus, a carpenter since young with no fishing background what-so-ever came and taught Peter how to fish. But check out how Peter responded to Jesus’ instruction “I tried all night long and still can’t find any fishes. But since You said so, I’ll just give it a go”

And BOOM!

Peter caught so much fishes that his net began to break. He has to call his buddies in the other boat to help him, and when both boats try to contain the “catch of the day” the amount of fish is so much that it filled both boats and the boats began to sink. What abundance once Peter obeyed Jesus.

Similarly, we sometimes try to “act smart”. We can say, “I need to study” or “I tried so hard to study and yet still didn’t do as well as I thought it would be” or “You won’t understand how I feel about my situation. It’s easy for you to say “trust God””… All these are excuses we constantly say in our daily life. We can say others don’t understand because they aren’t in our position, not facing the things we are facing, or have stronger will and ability to get through situations like ours compared to us…

But we should be like Peter. Acknowledging his current situation but not trusting in his own strength or ability, but trusting in God’s provision. As soon as he responded in faith, look at God’s blessing and provision! I know I might not understand how some people feel about their situation, but I know my God for sure! I know His character & nature. He is someone that provides our need, that blesses us abundantly, that wants good things happen in our lives, that gives us His very best each time we trust in Him… The question is, do we trust Him enough even when circumstances are beyond your control? Or do we act smart and think we are Mr/Miss know-my-situation-best and deal with the circumstances with our own limited strength?

His promises endure forever! But do we trust Him enough to feed on His promises?

Vision!

2008-01-03T23:49:00.000+08:00

Vision best defined by Bill Hybels is “a picture of a future that produces passion.”

Something that energises you, something that makes your pulse rate raising, something that compels you to do something to make it to reality!

As for my vision:-

1. A medical centre established by a group of like-minded doctors who share the desire to see the community impacted as they come to the centre. It will definitely be more than just physical healing but more of soul healing – people finding hope, passion, purpose that change their lives. It can be a platform for students to come and learn and at the same time, find there are more to life than just studies.

2. It is to see people around me found out more reasons to life than just their usual, mundane life. To see people started believing God for more; start stepping out of their comfort zone; trusting Him that whatever happens, He is always in total control; to see God come through in their life struggles and to believe that they can do far greater as they have God as their ultimate partner!

Just pray that my 2008 will be a journey of vision-realisation with great like-minded friends I have and to have in future. I can’t stop believing that we can do far above our expectation and abilities with God with us. Pray that His spirit will be with me throughout my journey. It’s gonna be an exciting 2008!!!

I’M PROCLAIMING HIS FAVOUR OVER MY 2008!!!

Thank You!

2007-12-30T17:25:00.000+08:00

As 2007 is coming to an end, Ps Tim always helps the church to reflect how our year has been, and how God has graciously brought us through our year despite the valleys and mountains we each faced uniquely as our year went by. As pastor was talking about giving thanks to God, I was reminded that how much blessings and provision God has poured unto my life this year.

I really thank God for being God! Without having Him as someone I can totally rely and count on at every corner of my life, I can’t imagine how my 2007 will turn out to be, especially being in Melbourne.

My top 5 thanksgiving to God in 2007:-

1. Thank God for always there to comfort me, to provide peace, especially when I first landed in Melbourne, when everything seemed so foreign, everyone seemed so distance, where I have to make every effort to try to get used to without having my family & close friends with me, without having a car to move about, having to start finding a suitable church and praying for like-minded friends. I praise Him for the doors He opened and the grounds He leveled for me so that my path is straight and smooth! I found a group of great friends and spiritual family, a church that continuously stirring me and I kinda got used to the lifestyle there although I very much prefer the life in KL.

2. I thank God for the growth He had planned for me. The way I read the Word, on how I interact with people, how much I’ve been challenged by Him to step out of my comfort zone to interact with people, to speak boldly on what I believe in, and to never compromise my faith & stand. I thank Him for the doors He opened to allow me to be a part of others’ spiritual growth and spiritual journey. It’s such an honour to be a part of His work! And I’m excited for more in 2008.

3. I thank God for His favours and blessings. I was sick when I first arrived Melbourne and it led me to undergo few months of medication. The peace, assurance, and hope that He has promised sustained me and keep me going all the way! Even looking for houses, air tickets, settling some issues with my landlord were doors of favours by God. I don’t know how it works, but I know it is His works.

4. I thank God for the financial blessings that You’ve sustained my family, and constantly holding us together as one. I thank Him for the doors the He has opened and the strongholds that He has torn down. I pray that more and more of His ways will be working through my family as 2008 begins. Even these holidays, I thank God that You provided many days where we as family are able to spend time together. I thank You for the healing power that You’ve poured unto my mum and I thank You that she is recovering well!!!

5. I thank God for blessing me with my results, the reassurance that He restored in me, and I thank God for the rest that He provided even with the busy schedule I have throughout my clinical semester. I thank Him for His love and with His love, comes every other thing in my life!

Psa105:

1 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.
5 Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
6 O descendants of Abraham his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.

THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU!

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

2007-12-25T21:30:00.000+08:00

Blessed Christmas!

Been a busy weekend... Just had our Christmas production over the weekend. This time around, it is a talk show where PC was the host and 3 different people were invited to share their lives and how the found God’s providence & His gift in the midst of life struggle!

First is about a mother and her child.

“One moment she was expecting to hold her newborn adopted baby in her arms. The next moment, her baby’s life hangs in the balance.”

Second story is about “A young man suffered years of shattered relationship with his father. He never thought he would ever speak to him again.”

Thirdly is about “One man faced depression that threatened to destroy his life…”

They shared how God’s gift turned their lives around! I watched the production twice, and it still melts my heart to see how great our God is. How much is His love for us; not collectively but He loves each of us individually. We are each special in His eyes. He desires to know us personally, and more and more, and want to have a relationship with us.

That is what today is all about. It is God’s expression of love towards us. He so love us that He gave His son, Jesus Christ as a ransom for many, so that through His son, we can come to Him. It takes a personal encounter to know Him, I can’t explain much about it, but once you know Him, and experience His encounter, you will not leave Him!

He is the GREATEST gift of all!!!

2007-12-09T14:25:00.000+08:00

Since I’m back from Melbourne, people kept asking me whether I’ve eaten everything that I’ve been craving for when I was in Melbourne. Some asked me if I’ve devised my must-eat-list and others have asked if I’ve been to this, or that place for meals.

So I thought I should come out with my 2nd must-eat-list again in no particular order:-

1. bak kut teh – in puchong and in pandan indah one. Trust me, the reason why I didn’t add klang in my list because the place is so far away, and the bak kut teh over there is over-rated.
2. nasi lemak in ampang
3. my Mongolian steam boat which my friends love it a lot when I brought them there.
4. beef noodles at jln silang & pandan indah – I had it the other day but I want more!!!
5. yong tau foo which I just had it for lunch but won’t mind another round.
6. mee rebus & rojak stall in ampang
7. my fish ball noodles near jln alor
8. how can I forget chilli’s!!!
9. my penang seafood & asam laksa in tanjung tokong which I’ve yet to fulfill since my first list
10. er, I think I’ll cancel buffet cause my capacity for a meal seem to have shrunk
11. tandoori and naan opposite ampang point and at jln masjid India
12. the funky fruit juice in murni’s
13. beef rendang and more beef rendang that my friend’s mum make, but since my friend ain’t around, I guess, I gotta continue this craving.
14. saisaki buffet (this is an exception) for sashimi & sushi
15. seafood noodle soup at jln alor.
16. hokkien mee at jln imbi
17. had my yee mee soup in ampang but I want more.
18. my grandma’s bake cauliflower with cheese is awesome.
19. mum’s homemade soup
20. steak and more steak! oh yah, since I said I’ll stop at #20, thought I wanna add my Dutch restaurant @ Changkat Bkt Bintang. The pork knuckle is awesome!!!

Ok, I think I better stop at #20 coz if not, I think I’ll take up the entire blog. Nevertheless, just hope that these holidays will be meaningful as I spend my time with my family, church, & friends. Am excited about the Christmas production that church is coming up with and looking forward to trips. Really need a break after 19 weeks of torture in clinical years. Those who have read the list above can start \ inviting me for meals. I won’t mind company and treats.

Unexpected welcome!

2007-12-03T23:45:00.000+08:00

Everything seems so different. I never thought I had to rekindle my blog with such a post. But I believe there is a reason for this season.

Everything seems to ebb away when I found out my mum is in the hospital as soon as I landed in KL last Saturday. The joy of being back home from a terrible 19 weeks of clinical school vanished instantly. I was filled with sorrow; sadness overwhelmed me. I found out that mum had an 11cm mass in her ovary, and she is currently in the hospital, waiting for operation. Even as I was having my brekkie with my dad & sis, I was eating one of my fav hawker food, but somehow, that morning, my taste buds seemed to lost their function. The desire for all my fav food had fade away, and I was consumed my mum’s condition. In my heart, I can only cry out to Jesus. I don’t know who to cry out to. I don’t know who to perfect this condition besides Him. The world is spinning around with wars, riots, demonstrations, protests… the heart of mankind is always troubled by the things of the world – career, love, money, security, loneliness, depression, the list goes on. I myself am guilty of it sometimes. But at this very moment, I need God to be more evident in my family’s lives.

As I met with mum at the bed of hospital, my heart shrank in side. Seeing her in bed, holding on to her pain made me feel that someone is tearing my heart bit by bit. The slow agony of pain she is enduring yet having to need to put on a smile just to not to keep us worry made me want Jesus to come touch her instantly. In my heart, “Jesus, Jesus you are the only One who can set her free. You are the only One who can comfort her. You are the only One who brings the entire peace & keep us strong in one spirit. Lord the battle is Yours not hers.” I sat there at the corner helplessly, trying to answer every questions she asked about my happenings in Melbourne. I tried to contain my emotions as much as possible.

I came back, shut myself in the room, and try to do my morning devotion. But I can’t bring myself to read the Word. Tears just start flowing down as I play, asking God for another miracle in my life, and over my mum’s life. “She deserves better” is what was going through my mind. “Lord I just long for You to bring upon the impossible in her life right now”. As I went back to church for SNL, it was great to see everyone. It was good to be back in somewhere familiar after weeks of being away from it; but my heart was troubled by the mum’s condition. But as soon as Ps Tim mentioned this:

“Stop wondering, start worshipping”

There’s this shift in my heart. Stop worrying what’s next & start honouring God, start worshipping Him. He will make the path straight. Afterall, He is the mastermind of everything. Everything in life – whether good or bad are intended to be good in His eyes. There is a purpose for this situation to happen at this time. The story Peter walking on water began to come into my mind. A story I am familiar with, that I constantly tell others about. God is reminding me not to let the waves pull me down. He is telling me not to let the waves water down my faith. Mum is in His hands. I believe He will change the circumstances. He will change the bad to good. I was remembered by the verse in Malachi2:15… So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. The verse reminds me to continue to stir myself in spirit, to believe Him even more. He did the impossibles in the past, my life has been filled by His miracles. This time is no different. It is gonna come, and come at the perfect time. God works in miraculous ways. All I need to do is stay in faith & believe in Him for everything. Words can’t seem to describe how much I want my mum to be fine. How much longing I need God to come & extend His lovingkindness heart & gracious hand over her.

Thank you to the leaders and friends who are standing with me in prayer. But above all, thank You Jesus for being in control.

But today…

Today is a PERFECT DAY!

PRAISE HIM FOR EVERYTHING!

Mum is scheduled for surgery today. Walked her til the theatre and the doctor said the surgery is expected to complete about 1 1/2hrs. So, we went out to grab some lunch. As we were waiting, dad received an urgent phone call from the hospital at about 45 minutes after we seen her. Our hearts pumped faster; anxious and nervous about the call and as to what sorta news the doctor wanna convey to us. We rushed into the theatre and the explanation began:

“We finished the operation. It was an unusual finding. The 11cm lesion we saw in the scan that we thought is a mass turned out to be an old blood clot the size of a coconut. Nothing cancerous found. The clot was due to a ruptured vessel nearby and this may be due to trauma. We cleared off the clot and send some for analysis. Her ovaries & uterus are retained and she is fine now.”

My heart was jumping with joy. Tears of joy started to flow. All praises to Him. All glory to Him. Thank God for such an amazing miracle. The unexpected happens, the impossible became possible, bad turned out good. God is gracious & merciful. His love surpasses all understanding & endures forever!

I was reminded of this scripture:-

Luke8: 48Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."

Luke8:50Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed."

This part of the scripture talks about Jesus healing a dead girl & a sick woman. In order for healing to take place, we gotta have faith & start believing. Fear has to leave for His miracle to come place. This weekend really taught me a lot about believing, about trusting God, about having greater faith in Him knowing that He will turn things around.
Believe that God is gonna oversee her recovery til she is as good as before! Thank You so much for taking care of us all.

With love,
Jonathan

The God who provides!!!

2007-11-08T14:26:00.000+08:00

Awesome!!! That’s all I can say.

Many things have been happening lately… & God made it a perfect day today!!!

Situation #1
Jia Ren (JR), Andrew (AW), James (JC), & I intended to move out of IH next year. House hunting hasn’t been easy for us; especially 4 bedroom houses are so limited at Carlton Gardens or Parkville. So, since the search began, we haven’t had many choices, and after the first visit to a Victorian design house (which means it’s a super old house), we decided to pray that God will provide a place and we will be able to settle this by 24th Oct (which was a fortnight from then).

During that period, JC & JR were thinking of staying back in IH, and the thought of not being able to stay together, or finding a suitable house for 4 of us, just made things a lil’ difficult. Cut the long story short, in the end they decided to move out together, but we still haven’t located any suitable units. A consideration of getting a two 2 bedroom apartments came into our mind, but we continue to press on for a place that fits all of us, and praise God, on Oct 24th, we found a place & applied & got it!!!

Situation #2
Recently, been so consumed by the amount of work I have. So many studies need to be done. So tired every time after hospital, and with lil’ time left, it just doesn’t help me. Began to feel medicine is like a chore, and the passion slowly fading.

Over the weekend during DNA encounter (a course in church I’ve been attending), as I was worshipping God, I just felt a rising sensation from my body, slowly up my head, and accumulated inside my head for a while before it lifted out of my body. Just felt so light & elevated since this semester started. Tears started to pour as I felt God’s joy & peace filled me. Jesus said in Mat11: 28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Situation #3
Staying in IH means I gotta move out of this place by Nov 24th, the date where Melb Uni students finished their exams & summer term starts. Unfortunately, being in clinical years, I have fewer holidays, and my rotation only ends on the Nov 23rd, followed by 2 days exams that end on Nov 30th.

For days I’ve been looking for places to stay, as to which friend’s place is available to host me, or should I pay IH (AUD450) to stay on further until my exam date. But today, when I went to the office to discuss with the accountant regarding the rents, by God’s grace, the charges that I’ve to pay was only AUD127 after additional days that the college compensated for me. Yes! So now, I’m staying in til Nov 30th!!!

Situation#4
Being the homesick me (esp since it’s exam season now), I decided to make a phone call to MAS to change my flight from Dec 4th to 2nd. But to my surprise, my ticket was accidentally booked on a different class without me realizing it. If I go to the airport on the 4th, I would not be able to fly and I can’t imagine how crazy I will be if that happens at the ticket counter in Melbourne airport. So, because if this issue, I am forced to leave on Dec 6th due to the overbooked flight seats for my ticket class.

But when I was in hospital today, my friend came over & told me that he changed his ticket to Dec 1st and paid only AUD100++. With great anticipation, and a sense of hope I immediately rush home and get my air ticket & head straight to MAS office in the city and see if there’s any seats available for me. Thank God, there’s still one left & I have to pay AUD106 to change my flight (If I were to stay in Melbourne for another 5 days, I would spend more than AUD106). Without much hesitation, I paid & left the office with a ticket home on the 1st. YEAH!!!

Psa94: 18 When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me. 19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. (NIV)

Psa94:18-19The minute I said, "I'm slipping, I'm falling," your love, God, took hold and held me fast. When I was upset and beside myself, you calmed me down and cheered me up. (MSG)

Psa94: 18 I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. 19 When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. (NLT)

Really wanna honour God for what He has done in my life lately. In less than 3 weeks, so many things have been happening. Everything seems to fall into the right place, and God’s favour is constantly magnified in every area of my life. Just affirmed me that God is so real in my life, and always interested to bless us. His hands are never too short to bless us, His ears never too dull to listen to our prayers. Just made me wanna trust Him more and more, and want Him to be included in every aspect of my life! Indeed, what He said is true. Psa84:12Blessed is the man who trust in You.

I just wanna say...

2007-10-30T20:05:00.000+08:00

Just let me say how much I love
YouLet me speak of Your mercy and grace
Just let me live in a shadow of Your beauty
Let me see You face to face

And the earth will shake as Your Word goes forth
And the heavens will tremble and fall
But let me say how much I love You
Oh my Savior, my Lord and Friend

Just let me hear Your finest whispers
As You gently call my name
And let me see Your power and Your glory
Let me feel Your spirit's flame

Let me find You in the desert
Till this sand is holy ground
And I am found completely surrendered
To You my Lord and Friend

So let me say how much I love You
With all my heart I long for You
For I am caught in this passion of knowing
This endless love I've found in You

And the depth of grace, the forgiveness found
To be called a child of God
Just makes me say how much I love You
Oh my Savior, my Lord and Friend (x2)

Just makes me say how much I love You
Oh my Savior, my Lord and Friend

Adelaiders in Melbourne

2007-10-15T21:18:00.001+08:00

---Austin's Code Black---

2007-10-02T19:46:00.000+08:00

Time:- Lunch hours (noon-2pm)
Place:- Austin Hospital mainly the student common room
Person:- N, M & myself (names are abbreviated to protect privacy)

*As usual, I was playing ping pong with my friends as we were eating lunch in the common room. As I returned the ball skillfully to the opponent…

- Ding Ding Ding Ding (Doesn’t sound quite like that, but almost the same)

Voice talking thru the speaker *Attention, there’s a code black going on in this and that area & the warn us to be careful & not to go to that area

(Btw, code black means there’s an armed threat or hostage going on in the hospital, so STAY AWAY!!!)

I was telling my friend, “Hey there’s a code black going on. Sounds cool. This is the first time hearing this kind of announcement. Wish I am there to witness the situation. It’ll be so cool!”

Thoughts about the drama in the TV series Grey’s Anatomy was running through my mind as I continue playing ping pong. It’ll be such a fun thing to be in the situation, trying to do something (although I don’t know what I can do besides er standing there), like what the interns in Grey’s did when things happen.

After a long hour of ping pong rallies, I decided to go to the ward with M to do a long case for my presentation tomorrow. N decided to come along since N wanted to go to the ward too. As three of us were heading towards the lift, we overheard the residents talking about the threat and started walking towards the old building of Austin.

Then,

N: Let’s just follow them. They might be heading towards the “crime” scene.

3 of us were following the residents closely… They were heading towards the old Austin building. Then,

Me: I don’t think it’s in the old building. It’s a researched area; no patients will come to this part of the world! Let’s just go to the Outpatients (Level 3)

Once we got to the Level 3, everyone was sitting calmly. Nurses & doctors were busy running the afternoon outpatient clinics.

Me: Why is it so peaceful? Hrm, maybe it’s at the lobby, where everyone is.

So, we walked towards the lobby, not wanting to give up easily, hoping to get a sense of Grey’s anatomy feel! We walked around the lobby, disappointed as soon as we found the area was free from threats, so N has this brilliant idea.

N: Let’s just go security department. I need to get my pass card fixed. Maybe they’ll tell you what happen. (True enough, the guard told us there’s something going on at the age care outpatient)

With that blur faces,

M: WH, why don’t you go and ask the reception counter where is this age care place is?

Me: *walking towards the counter. Excuse me, we are medical students & we heard that there’s a code black going on. Do you know where it is? Just wanna make sure we don’t go near that area.

We were told it’s at level 4, in the Austin old building. Argh!!! Right where we were heading towards initially. N & M gave me this look & we hurried to the “crime” scene. As we were on our way,

Ding Ding Ding Ding “Code black has been cleared!”

The look of disappointment and sadness on our faces. When we reached there, we saw a couple of police cars, and funny thing is, our neurology consultant & fellow were there, checking out the “scene”.

N: I think the detective part of tracking down the “crime” scene was much more fun & exciting & hilarious compared to actually reaching the actual scene.

Laughing at each other, and feeling somehow satisfied at the “drama” we had running around the hospital, we went to the ward & start our work. THE END!

Voice of truth!!!

2007-09-28T21:46:00.000+08:00

Casting crown – Voice of truth

Oh,what I would do

To have the kind of faith it takes

To climb out of this boat I'm in

Onto the crashing waves

To step out of my comfort zone

Into the realm of the unknown

Where Jesus is,

And he's holding out his hand

But the waves are calling out my name

and they laugh at me

Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed

The waves they keep on telling me time and time again

"Boy, you'll never win, you'll never win."

But the voice of truth tells me a different story

the voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"

and the voice of truth says "this is for my glory"

Out of all the voices calling out to me

I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

Oh, what I would do

to have the kind of strength it takes

To stand before a giant

with just a sling and a stone

Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors

shaking in their armor

Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand

But the giant's calling out my name and he laughs at me

Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed

The giant keeps on telling me time and time again

"Boy you'll never win, you'll never win."

But the voice of truth tells me a different story

the voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"

and the voice of truth says "this is for my glory"

Out of all the voices calling out to me

I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

but the stone was just the right size

to put the giant on the ground

and the waves they don't seem so high

from on top of them looking down
I will soar with the wings of eagles

when I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus

singing over me

But the voice of truth tells me a different story

The voice of truth says “do not be afraid”A

nd the voice of truth says “this is for my glory”

Out of all the voices calling out to me (calling out to me)

I will choose to listen and believe (I will choose to listen and believe)

I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

I will listen and believe

I will listen and believe the voice of truth

I will listen and believe

'Causes Jesus You are the voice of truth

And I will listen to You.. oh You........

What an amazing song! Was really blessed by the lyrics of the song. In the midst of going through my Neurology block in Austin hospital, I felt overwhelming at times, especially when I am not familiar with this complex part of our body system & having all the consultants constantly bombarding me with thousands upon thousands of information and people around you answering the questions confidently & as for me; remaining at my spot, quiet, confused most of the times, trying my very best to understand their explanations, & crying out to God most of the time for His grace!

It’s not like I have a breakdown or something, or overly stressed or immensely pressurized, but it’s just tough walking through clinical years alone without experiencing His presence uplifting me every moment. But I remembered God assured me one day, telling me that I’ll be alright! That He is always in control of my situation, that I could trust in Him & His plans for me in future is to prosper me!

Exo1:12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. During the times when the Israelites were oppressed by the Egyptian king, it grew even more. God is telling me to apply this to my condition. The more I feel oppressed, burdened by my studies, the more I will grow, learn more & get better! Was reminded of these verses,

psa4:8 I will lie down & sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Phil4:6-7Do not be anxious in anything, but in everything by prayer & petition present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your heart & your mind in Christ Jesus.

Psa55:16But I call to God, & the Lord saves me. Evening, morning & noon I cry out in distress, & He hears my voice.

Psa55:22Cast your cares on the Lord & He will sustain you, He will never let the righteous fall.

Psa56:3-4 3 Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?

I really thank Him for the love & the promises He made with me. This week, although workload continues to increase, His peace remains in me. His confidence assures me that “It’ll be alright”. I should not listen to the voice of my flesh, but focus & substitute it with the voice of truth! The voice that constantly says “Don’t worry”. The words of “Yes” & “Amen”. Like Peter, I should keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. Then my life will be like a journey of “walking above the water”. Filled with miracles & the impossibles! Filled with perfect love!!!

Bendigo moments

2007-09-02T17:26:00.001+08:00

It's over!

2007-08-31T18:22:00.000+08:00

It’s finally over. The end of my surgical rotation has marked its date. I left Bendigo, with mixed feelings. A part of me rejoice and celebrate because I no longer need to travel back & forth during the weekends, no longer need to be away from my friends here in Melbourne. The other part of me feels bad because I really really really enjoy this rotation in Bendigo. I love the hospital there, and being under Surgical Team 1 is the best thing to learn and experience my surgical rotations. I have wonderful registrars and surgeons teaching me and guiding me along my rotations. My top 10 moments in no order is:-

1. Being able to scrub in 5 laparotomy & open bowel surgeries; thyroidectomy; appendicectomy; lung resection; witnessing a femoral-popliteal artery bypass, lower knee amputation, skin cancer resection, & some others that I can’t remember their names.

2. Waking up at 6a.m. to walk in the icy cold weather of Bendigo for ward rounds.

3. Enjoying the historical & unique Bendigo architectures across the city.

4. Listening & laughing together with my registrar at how some funny & weird patients complaining about their surgical conditions to us.
5. Being able to cannulate & take blood from real patients.
6. Singing “Irreplacable” & “Do-Re-Mi” with my group members.
7. Cooking & Barbeque dinners with my group members.
8. Obsess with a British registrar who has absolutely pure & typical British accent.
9. Still love surgical team 1 a lot a lot a lot.
10. Build relationship & encourage certain patients that I’ve seen. Really taught me a lot of things on people’s reactions and emotions in response to their medical conditions.

Just hope someday, I’ll be able to work under my registrars during my intern year. It is a pleasure to work with them & hope I’ll be as capable as them in future. Hopefully neuroscience in Austin will be as exciting as surgery in Bendigo. Being in surgical rotation really affirms my desire to specialize as a general surgeon in future. This is truly a memorable 6 weeks experience. Will post photos soon. Cheers!

He made a way!

2007-08-29T21:33:00.000+08:00

One day, as I was having meals with my friends, one of them said, “Hey, don’t think you can eat food prayed over by the Muslims. It’s blasphemy if you do.”

In my mind I was thinking, hrmm… if that’s the case, I’ve sin so many times. I’ve disobeyed God abundantly since I’ve gone to food stalls in KL eating nasi lemak, roti canai, etc cooked by Muslims. That’s no good. Some even say the food offered by Chinese to their gods is not “clean” to be eaten. Some Christians even say there is certain food which we can eat, and some which we can’t. I asked God; if that’s the case, if You are limiting the types of food which we can eat, then why create every other varieties. Why placed skills and talents into different people from different background to come with different varieties of food!!! Just stay on with bread, or rice, chicken & green vege. Not only you will stay within rules, you won’t get fat by consuming food like nasi lemak, rendang, barbeque pork, etc.

As I was doing my devotion today, this verse was so real to me!

1tim4: 1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

His word says He made everything good!!! Everything that God created was good (Gen1:31) So if God says everything He made was good, who are we to say there’s restriction to food. This verse reaffirms me that, God is not a God of rules, but a God of relationship. He said that everything should be received with thanksgiving, & by His word & prayer, it shall be cleaned. In the name of Jesus, all that we eat shall be sanctified. If we still live a life following a bunch of rules, then our salvation, our relationship with God is no longer by grace, but by our deeds.

This verse also speaks about faith, about our believing life. It talks about whom we believe & the power of who we believe. I believe, Jesus who made His way to the cross & paid the price of our sin & rose from the death on the 3rd day is able to make a way for me in all the food that I eat. There is freedom in the name of Jesus. Free from all sin and shame! We no longer need to live by the dos & don’ts put forth by men. All we need is Jesus in our lives! In Jesus’ most powerful name I pray!!!

Level up!

2007-08-12T10:00:00.000+08:00

What another week. A tiring and energy consuming one… Being back in Melbourne for the weekend somehow took my mind off study and medicine, but I certainly didn’t get the rest I needed. Time seems so short (1/2 of the time I’m not sure what I’ve spent it on). Anyhow I had a good time with my friend, Wern & her family. She graduated yesterday a degree holder of Bachelor of Arts. Had a wonderful meal together with them and it did somehow remind me of the times our families used to hang out together & go for meals. It’s just fantabulous!

I haven’t been doing much devotion due to my dense schedule. It’s not an excuse and I know I must get my time sorted out for God, not out of obligation, but out of hunger for His daily bread. Last week, as I was going through my church’s beginner course, these verses captured my attention.

romans4: 18Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be."[d] 19Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

What a high level of faith Abraham has. Despite the reality of “hopelessness” knowing that in the natural world, rationally speaking, he and his wife were too old to have a kid, but Abraham did not waver, his belief was not shaken. Rather, he strengthened his faith even more and continues to praise God for it, trusting and knowing that God will do whatever He has promised.

Sometimes, we are persuaded and convinced by the situation around us, when things go out of our hand, when we lost controls of situations of our lives… we began to lose hope, we tend to believe that we gotta end up with the consequences of the situations we are in. We forgot that God is the ultimate control of our lives. Situations are never in our hands, within our control; they are always in His control. He has ordained our days before they come to be. Let’s believe for a greater breakthrough in whatever things we are facing, let’s believe that God’s promises and favor prevail. His hands rest on us. We are always in His heart. He always thinks about us. He will never let anything bad happen to His creations because He so love us.

Yesterday, as I was talking to Shawn, he told us that ECF sealed the deal for the new lot for our extension service in Damansara. It doesn’t end there; he said that church has bought a new land for our new building. It’s gonna be bigger & can accommodate the expansion that God has entrusted us. Felt that God’s favor and provision are resting upon us now. It is THE SEASON for ECF!!! Really praise God and thank Him for such a tremendous blessing. If it’s God’s will, it’s His deal. Now, praying for His bill too. ;-) Am excited to go back end of this year to see and hear the plans that God has for our new place. It’s gonna be a WHOLE NEW LEVEL!!!!

Prophetic dream?

2007-08-06T22:37:00.000+08:00

Recently had a dream. I dreamt that I was in the church, a church I felt was ECF, and there I was standing on stage – either sharing a testimony or preaching a message. I don’t have a calling to be a pastor, for I believe God is gonna use my career as a doctor to touch lives that I come into contact with. But as I finished what I meant to share, I walked down the stage, heading towards the back seats, smiling at the people around me who were clapping their hands vigorously for such a wonderful word. (I don’t mean to be boastful or what-so-ever) As I reached the back of the sanctuary, there I saw the familiar face of a middle-aged man, clapping together with the congregation but with a joyful tears running down his cheek. He was my dad!!! There he was standing in the church… I quickly walked towards him and embraced him…

I remembered this much about my dream. I woke up, thinking about this dream. Is this a prophetic dream??? Is God gonna open great doors to this household?

Acts16:31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."

Recently this verse really spoke to me, Rom15:13May the God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace, so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!

Green means fresh! It means growing! It means full of life! It resembles God’s given hope into those who believe in Him… His hope that lives forever, that never will fail or fade, that is gonna be new and fresh every day. It’s a life-giving hope! This verse says this type of hope will fill us with joy & peace so that our BELIEVING LIVES will BRIM over with hope. Our believing lives will be filled with His hope in full capacity. Not just that, our believing lives is filled with life-giving energy from the Holy Spirit. God’s presence and energy brings life to the people around us. It changes lives!

I am praying that God will increase my believing life! Pray that more and more people will see the Christ in me. Pray that His glory will be reflected in me, through me, my household will know Him and His presence reign mightily in my household! He made everything beautiful in His own time.

2nd week in Bendigo

2007-08-03T18:34:00.000+08:00

Another week has passed by. Finally, back in my room in International House. Never felt so at home since I got to Melbourne until now. It’s good to be back here with all my friends around.

Never had anything exciting this week. Been very lazy and hardly gone for any morning ward rounds. I attempted IV cannulation (which means you stick a needle in a tube into the vein so that you can infuse any fluid into the vein) on a patient in the presence of an intern, but failed to get it into the vein totally. Patient lost confidence, so I had no second attempt. I tried it on my friend, first on her left hand, and failed. I made my final attempt on the right side, but failed again. I think I’ve bruised her veins in both of her hand badly.

My friend attempted a try on me too and got it through. However, the process was painful and now, my forearm had a blue-black mark… I never thought cannulation was so bad, because when I had it during my admission for dengue fever, it didn’t felt as painful as now. Well, maybe I was too sick to feel the pain. This time, it’s no joke.

Hoping to get to get my cannula in someday next week. Need more patients to try on. Sounds evil, but well, I need to learn. I gotta learn how to take some blood too. Sigh. I missed out on a hemicolectomy(removal of 1/2 of the large intestine) this Wednesday... Hopefully there will be more exciting surgeries next week... :-(

View of Sacred Heart Cathedral outside my room in Bendigo

Stretching week!!!

2007-07-27T22:54:00.000+08:00

What an amazing week. Tiring and filled with eventful moments. I truly enjoy my time in Bendigo, although I doubt I’ll stay there for the rest of my life. Nevertheless, it’s not as doggy as I thought it would be, it’s not as ulufied as other rural areas like Kuala Kubu Bahru. The town is quite big, and it was filled with skillfully built historical buildings. It sort of took off the whole “country” mentality in me. The place I stayed, Lister House is near to this magnificent and huge cathedral. Its beauty is magnified at night when the building glow with glory as the yellow light falls on its walls.

As for my rotation, it is awesome. My first block is Gastroenterology and General Surgery. Bendigo Hospital is great. The doctors and nurses are very nice, and helpful. The real action kicks in on Tuesday when Mohana & I tried to go to the theatre to check out an inguinal hernia surgery, which turned out to be cancelled. So we ended up seeing a vascular bypass surgery, which truly amazed me when the surgeon showed me the venous & arterial thrombus. Well, I learnt a lot about it in IMU but I never actually seen nor felt one. That experience was amazing. Had my outpatient in the afternoon under this surgeon. Met the registrar under him and he has been very helpful. Taught us a couple of stuff about abdominal exams. I saw a patient with gallstones and she was scheduled for an operation the next day. He asked us to come for morning rounds the next day before scrubbing in for her surgery. I was totally like “YES” and thanking God for meeting such a nice registrar. So, I went back and study a bit on cholecystectomy.

On Wednesday morning, Mohana & I woke up at 6 a.m. and head straight to the surgical unit & found out that the team has already started the morning rounds. I met this 5th year Monash student, Hang is her name. Noticed that she’s very good and knows her stuff and her whereabouts in the ward and writing reports for investigations & stuff… hope that by the end of my 5th year, I’ll be as equip as her if not better! After the rounds, I scrubbed in for a abdominal cancer surgery. It was pretty cool though as I felt the tumour mass which was almost the size of a knuckle.

Thursday started off with morning rounds, followed by appendicectomy. The surgeon asked me a couple of basic questions regarding appendicitis, but I found myself out of words. Realized that I’ve forgotten so much of my pre-clinical stuff. As for Friday, I saw how to perform an IV cannula on a patient’s vein. I’ll try it next week.

Nevertheless, it’s good to be back in Melbourne for the weekend and have proper food. Haven’t been eating healthily the entire week. Lunches are always sandwiches packed from home, and dinners are all microwavable food such as pasta or lasagna. Too tired to run out to buy food or cook anything. Been waking up at 6a.m. and finishes about 6.30p.m. Slept around 2a.m. almost every night.

Anyway, looking forward to next week. Hopefully there’s interesting cases to see or nice surgeries to scrub into. Gotta make a lot of effort to learn.

First week

2007-07-20T14:37:00.000+08:00

Thank God it’s Friday!!!!! Had a long and tiring week. I had my first week of introduction to clinical school in Austin. Every morning, I woke up at 6.30am, before the sun rises, get ready as fast as I possibly could, catch the tram down to the city, then a train to Heidelberg, where my beautiful Austin Hospital is. It took me about 45 minutes to an hour to get there. All these happened in the cold freezing morning weather! My day starts at 8.30am all the way til about 4.30pm. When I reached IH at the end of the day, the sky turned dark… but as for today, it is my first day since I got back to Melbourne where I can sit in my room, facing the cloudy sky and typing this blog.

Clinical was pretty fun though, despite the fact I am going to Bendigo (which happens to be a pekan). Did some cool stuff this week:-

1. I learnt some basic physiology stuff like helping the patient to sit up from lying on his bed, helping patient to stand from sitting position and using different walking aids and their functions in assisting patient walking.

2. During my respiratory tutorial, the registrar thought us a couple of new stuff during physical exam. The patient which has a hyperinflated chest presented with shortness of breath. In addition to that, he has rheumatoid arthritis on his right hand and osteoarthritis on his left. Pretty interesting eh? Plus, the reg taught us how to check if the diaphragm is working through physical exam. Thought the session was awesome!

3. Yesterday I was tagging a nurse in a stroke ward. I assisted a doctor in a male catheterization on a patient with urinary retention because of his lower spinal problem and prostate enlargement. I think we were in the room for about 40 minutes but the catheter can’t seem to go into the bladder because of the obstruction by the prostate and the much clot in the urethra due to the trauma by the previous catheter. I think the doctor informs the urologist and I think the patient might undergo suprapubic catheterization.

Overall, it was a tiring but exciting weekend. Can’t wait til next week. Starting my gastroenterology (gut system) and general surgery block next week in Bendigo. I think I gotta take a lot of own initiative in order to learn. Just have to be more “semangat” in learning and interact with patients.

A blessed holidays!

2007-07-18T18:37:00.000+08:00

I think it’s about time I drop a post before the blog master starts emailing me and ask if I wanna continue on with my blog. 5 weeks seemed like a dream. It ended so fast and felt like it had never happened. I’m back in Melbourne and started my clinical school in Austin Hospital this week. The taste and joy of holiday has faded away, consumed by the tiredness of my daily schedule in Austin Hospital.

Nevertheless, I really praise God for such a blessed 5 weeks. I remember the 3 weeks back in KL was totally amazing. Praise Him for an opportunity of time and blessing me with cheap tickets back home. The joy of seeing my family and spending time with them like usual, hanging out in the living room and having meals together like good old times. Seeing friends that soon going to UK, my high school buddies, and spending time with the leaders in church just made my holidays back in KL more fulfilling. Driving in KL, hanging out in KLCC, eating my favourite food and spending ringgit completed everything!

I remembered the time in KLIA when I was leaving for Sydney, Jessica asked me “Are you the only child in your family?” & of course I answered “No. & why do you say so?” She said, “Coz you look like one.” I began to realize why she had that impression. I’m so loved and blessed by my family & I know they were sad to see me leave so early. Some of my friends might think I’m a “brat”, well in a way, I’m glad I was treated as one. This magnifies my parents’ love for me, and I truly thank God for blessing me with such an awesome family.

I flew to Sydney & spent 2 days touring the city with my church members. It was great fun. I enjoyed Fish Market the most since the food is so cheap, and it was top-class fresh seafood! But the highlight was Hillsong Conference! About 30, 000 people from different nations gathered under one roof, united as His body, worshiped Him and encountered Him for a week! Was so blessed to be part of it! I remember a statement was made which really ministered to me:

“The church is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church!”

Amazing eh? Will blog more about the things God spoke to me in Hillsong.

After that week, I spent another week in Adelaide with my friends. I must somehow say that Adelaide looks better than Sydney, I sorta like the place more than Sydney. Anyhow, Melbourne is still better. But the best part is not about the city, but it’s about spending time with my friends. Se Yin, Lay In & Chun Peng were there too. Sneaking into Village, visiting Handoff together, feed kangaroos, preparing steamboat and cooking together, play boggle & boggal (Malay version of boggle), catching up with each others’ lives... it’s such a good time spent together. Was really sad on my last night in Chris’ place. The thought of having to return to Melbourne didn’t excite me. Chris & Chuen kept saying, “You’ll enjoy clinical much more. It’s so relevant and makes so much more sense” but in me, I longed to remain in holidays. I know that once I get back here, I’ll miss home & friends & church more and more, I’ll be so exhausted by the clinical school schedule & rotation, I’ll be loaded by the amount of studies I needed to do & I’ve to go for my country rotation for 6 weeks.

In 5 weeks, I mourned 3 times for 3 departures. But during my stay in Adelaide, Wai Meng’s brother had an accident. What amazed me was, when we heard how serious his brother’s condition was, we sat down and prayed for his brother… and after we prayed for him, the very next day when CP contacted Wai Meng, he told CP that the brother responded and was conscious!!! Really praise God for His healing power. Really awesome to see the power of prayer as we come together as one accord!

This week is ending soon. PC, Kelvin & Sharon just left few days ago. Good to have them here in Melbourne. Gonna miss my IH Shakers & my UL members! Will miss the time we go to the park at midnight and hang out there. Well, just pray that God will prepare me greatly for clinical, not just in studies, but in influence, in being the salt & the light!

Adelaide sweet moments

2007-07-14T15:43:00.001+08:00

Hillsong Conference 2007

2007-07-13T23:02:00.001+08:00

Sydney 2007

2007-07-13T22:51:00.001+08:00

Down Memory Lane

2007-06-29T15:57:00.000+08:00

The front view of my school

It was a good Wednesday night outing with my high school friends. I’ve been spending lots of time with them these holidays. We decided to meet at our high school (St. John’s Institution) and start off our night from there.
We had dinner at Pizza Hut, went to Luna Bar for a drink, then mamak and finally went back to our school to collect my friend’s car. It was that moment Ken suggested “Let’s go in for a walk!” As we were walking towards the entrance, Ken was like saying, “Everywhere you go, there’s a Johannian. In my office there’s one.” Sern Liang added, “Yah, my first interviewer, he is a Johannian.” In my mind, I was thinking, that’s kinda true. I was checking out who’re the notable people these days that were brought up from the same background as I am.

-Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Al- Haj, Sultan of Selangor
-Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, Raja Muda (Crown Prince) of Perak
-Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
-Datuk Hishammuddin Tun Hussein Onn, Education Minister of Malaysia
-Harith Iskandar, Actor, Comedian
-Hans Isaac, Actor

A year ago, the local newspaper has the habit of publishing successful Malaysians throughout the world, and when I was reading their education background, significant amount came from St. John. I feel proud to be brought up by a school so rich in its heritage. Most Johannians are all rounder. We are not known for our academic excellence, not these days at least, but one thing for sure, we are equipped in all areas, from studies to leadership, sports to societies; we are all rounder students!

As we were walking through the famous portico, I saw this sign:

We come with hope, we return with glory!

This statement is so true. Whenever someone asked me which school I am from, I’ll say it with pride “St. John’s Institution” I had such an amazing experience during my high school days, with a bunch of friends that still in touch, who I know still stand with me if I ever need help, and joyfully enjoy and love our school, I guess mainly for its heritage!

Menara KL from my school

Being back in KL this time made me appreciate my school days even more, especially my friends. I must admit that sometimes, I am too caught up with my schedule that I hardly keep in touch with them, or keep canceling appointments. But this time, God really reminded me of my friends, and how much I have to be there for them, and how much they need me. I’ll try my best to stay in touch with them, and to meet them whenever possible. Really thank them for their unfailing friendship all these years.

4 of us left-From R-L:-Ken, Iqram, SL & I

The end of the field where i used to play "Kejar-kejar"

Like old days!

2007-06-23T23:53:00.000+08:00

6 hours seemed forever! It all started when I fetched Chris from LCCT (Air Asia Terminal Airport) and head straight to KLIA main terminal. It was great seeing him since January this year. We talked about life, church, spiritual growth, friends, practically anything and everything that came through our mind.

Told him about what Carolyn said to me, “You and Chris always argue about stuff. Last time was KL (which I so think it rocks like nobody’s business) & KK, now when you guys are in Australia it’s between Melbourne & Adelaide. It hasn’t stop!” As I continued by saying, “Maybe I future, we’re gonna compare between which hospital that we work in is the best, or what sorta specialization is better, or maybe who knows, who’s son is much more brilliant & handsome”

It’s never easy to find a like-minded friend, what more a like-minded friend who you can put down all your guards and share everything with him. It’s just amazing how God cross our paths. From acquaintance to close friends to spiritual brothers & now, best buddies!! Now that we are in different places in Australia, I really thank God that the distance didn’t nullify our friendship. We still keep in touch, we are as close as ever, we talk crap like before, we share faith & edify one another more, & of course never cease teasing one another! Can’t wait for the week that I’m gonna spend in Adelaide. Finally, we sorta can hang out together like old days.

Prov17: 17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity

YOU'RE DEFINITELY ONE!

BAD EXPERIENCE

2007-06-23T23:30:00.000+08:00

MARK THIS MOMENT! IT’S TODAY!!!! Never again will I put on contact lenses. Today is my FIRST & LAST!!! I have no idea how so many people including my sister and my mum can survive with such a pain of putting on those 2 small little lenses and at the end of the day, casually take it without any struggle…

Took my sister ½ hr this afternoon to help me put on those lenses. After meeting my best friend, who thought I’ve use lenses for ages, I came home; wanting to take them out cause they are hurting my eyes. My eyes felt itchy and uneasy when the lenses were on, every now and then I sorta rub my eyes (I know I shouldn’t do that but it’s irritating) to relieve the discomfort that my eyes were experiencing.

I asked my mum & sister to help me remove those 2 lenses since they are the expert of contact lenses. Instructions kept firing out of their mouth “Look straight!!” “Look down!!” “Don’t blink!!” “Don’t move your eye ball!!” I was like, these are reflexes. Whenever you touch the eye ball, or my eye lid, your body will send a reflex to cause your eyes to shut as a protective mechanism! I tried every way, putting more solution into my eye, try to blink like gila babi, non stop trying to push my eye lid as far apart as possible… Finally after much struggle, and minutes of torture moments, they came off…

My eyes are now red and swollen… Slightly painful for the consistent trauma in such a short period of time. I told myself, as long as I’m still breathing, I’ll NEVER attempt a second time of using contact lenses. MARK MY WORDS!

Such a torture....

Fixing our eyes!

2007-06-20T16:22:00.000+08:00

As I was praying and asking God what I should share with my initial LG core members, I was reminded by this part of gospel talking about Jesus walking over the water:-

Mat14:22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. 27But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29"Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" 31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.

Even before Peter began walking towards Jesus, notice in the passage that the waves and wind were there. The scripture never says that the wind only happen after Peter began walking towards Jesus. It shows that, even before accepting Christ, we are surrounded by challenges of life, “waves & wind” of life. More than just surrounded, we are buffeted by the wind and waves of life!!! A constant struggle that we face. But if we keep our eyes on God, like Peter, we will walk in a miraculous life (like Peter walking on the water), a journey of impossible cause God is with us. We will able to stand above all troubles and challenges, in fact we wouldn’t even notice the struggle we are going through.

But once we shift our gaze to the situation, to look at the wind of life, that’s when we began to “sink”. That’s when we feel stress, when life seems so out of control, where things are so overwhelming that sometimes it makes you feel breathless. And even when we stray away, remember to turn back. When Peter began to sink, he called out to Jesus, and IMMEDIATELY, Jesus reached out and caught him. Likewise, when we are choked by situation of life, we can always call out to our Father, and He will respond, and take you out of our situation. God is like a father who always looks after His child, always wanting the best for the child, and never wants to see the child getting hurt. Jesus is always looking after us, and we are always in His heart.

Let’s live a life focusing on God, fixing our eyes and aligning our thoughts to God! Why turn to the left or right and look at the situation that so choke us when we know that once we put our trust in Him, all troubles and problems will be gone. His yoke is light. Let’s trade ours for His!

A fulfilling week

2007-06-17T16:56:00.000+08:00

It has been a week since I got back from Melbourne. I have to say that I didn’t roll around KLIA or kiss the ground of KL, but I’m really blessed to be back with my family, church, friends, car, ringgit, food, etc

What I’ve accomplished so far?
- Dim sum, beef noodles, mee rebus & cendol, baked cauliflower, KFC, McD, cheese naan, Milo kosong ais, wantan mee, nasi lemak, roti canai

My must-eat-list that yet to come…
- Yee mee soup, naan in ampang, ampang yong tau foo, fish ball noodles, American chilli, seafood noodles, Mongolian steamboat, bak kut teh, my tg tokong asam laksa & seafood (guess gotta postpone it again to end of this year)… definitely the list is longer but I just can’t think of any at the moment
- Since I’m going to Bangkok next week, looking forward to green curry, mango sticky rice, beef noodles, tom yam, more seafood, pat thai

Besides food, church is awesome. Remember when I first arrived church on Sunday, Ps Tim was at the door greeting people it was just good to see him again, and after coming into the sanctuary, PC was there! Church felt that same even after 4 months of not being in ECF. It felt as though I never left home.

I went for the Campus Champ meeting, and seeing Edwina grown so much despite the things that she’s going through made me felt assured, or like what Shawn said “big heart” to see the growth in her. Remember the time when we saw the desire in her to win the generation over for God, and the urgency we saw in equipping her as much as we could; and now, the fruitfulness in her, fruit that will last! Really reminded me of 1cor15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. This shows that we just have to be faithful in whatever we’re doing, and God will make things beautiful in His time. I’m excited to meet up with them next week, to share with them the journey in Melbourne, what God taught me along the way.

Besides seeing Edwina, really impacted by what PC shared about being a leader. If we as light is as dim as darkness, how can be bring light into darkness… That really struck me. How can we shine and stand firm in God’s truth if we ourselves have things that hinder or stopping us from being what God wants us to be? How can we lead others to the light if we ourselves are not the living example of the gospel that we proclaim? This made me really look into my life, to see if there’s anything that I need to crucify it on the cross, to come to God to repent, and let the word of God be heavy in my heart.

My cell group leader in Melbourne shared with me once, that in Ephesians6, it talks about the armor of God, and the only thing that God gave us as weapon is the “Sword of Spirit” and as I was doing my devotion, I came about gal5: 16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. This verse speaks for itself.

Besides that, really appreciate the time spent with Shawn and Steven, and looking forward to have more time with the leaders next week. It is always an honour to spend moments with them, as what I gain is more than what I give. Hearing their visions, their passions that God has dropped into their heart, and how God has used them mightily in ministry really encourage and stir me.

Nevertheless, the lunch time with my high school friends; meeting up with Kenn; spending time mamaking with Jenny, Jay & Chu; movie outing with my Makan Club members; all of that are awesome time spent! Went to KLCC 3 times last week, to shop and to look for more clothes, but sadly speaking, I can’t find anything desirable. Don’t know if Melbourne has bleach my passion for clothing, but I’m not gonna give up. 2 weeks more to fulfill my shopping so that I can bring more clothes back.

These are all my thoughts and what I did for my first week back in KL… 2 weeks to go, hope it’ll be more exciting! Looking forward to Bangkok where I can spend great quality time with my family...

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom!

2007-06-09T09:38:00.000+08:00

Liberty… that’s what I’m experiencing now. It’s amazing how 4 months have zoom passed and now I’m heading back to KL again! As I was writing robotically for my last paper yesterday, deep in my heart I was rejoicing. I was cheering that I’m actually returning to KL, the land filled with milk and honey. There isn’t much feeling of sorrows leaving Melbourne, maybe because I know I will return in a month’s time, but yah!

But I really wanna honour God for everything; for all that He has done, pulling me through the moments in Melbourne, giving me love and covering by sending friends crossing my path, providing me with strength and peace as I struggle with my exams, giving me an opportunity to go home to my family this holidays. This is totally unexpected because I remember vividly what I said beginning this year, “I’ll go Hillsong, travel and will only go home end of this year since air tickets are expensive” but well, God opens doorS! He allows everything to happen, and a reasonable price ticket to fly home. AUD875 Melb-KL-Syd… Praise Him for that man!

Today, as usual I’ll do my devotion after breakfast, but I ask God what word He will give me, because I want to read on something about praising Him, about He’s deliverance and power… So as I was flipping through the bible, Psalms105 came into the picture and as I began to read the first verse, it captured me entirely!

Psalm 105
1 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.
3 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4 Look to the LORD and his strength;seek his face always.

My feelings are all summed in these verses. All I want to do is to give thanks to Him, to shout His praises and rejoice in His deliverance. His strength sustains me, His love endures forever, He will be with me, He will watch over me, He will not leave me until He is done with what He has promised me! (Gen28:15) It’s just amazing to know that I’m always in His heart, and He cares so much for me! I just finished up my devotion by listening to Chris Tomlin-Forever… His love endures forever!

Press On!!!!

2007-06-03T10:57:00.000+08:00

You guys must be wondering what’s wrong with me… I just should sitting down, trying my very best to study for my exams on Tuesday. It’s finally here. The exams. EOS 5 again! Stress level should be there, but I never seem to feel it. Maybe it is peace. Maybe I just wanna get it over and done with. Or it might be due to distraction. Whatever it is, I certainly don’t know what my exams emotion is now. Was talking to my friend yesterday, and we both came to conclusion that I am stress somehow because I am not stress for exams. This is bad.

But today, I woke up and the first time (10 am) that came into my mind was “This time next Sunday, I’ll be on the grounds of KUALA LUMPUR, my inheritance that was given to me.” In my mind I was going “YES YES YES YES!!!” The very thing that kept me persevering through my exams despite how dreadful it is is God’s grace & strength, and the picture of my home set as my desktop background. Everyday I go around telling people “I’m going back next week! I’ll be in KL on Sunday the 10th!!” I reckon my friends must be so irritated listening to me chanting these sentences restlessly… I can’t explain how much longing I have for home, for my family, for church & friends… It is just my territory, my inheritance God given unto me; it is the place where I grew up, where I was changed and had my first encounter with God. I was shaped to be what I am today.

I can imagine myself jumping with joy once I step down KLIA, if the authority permits; I’ll just roll all over the ground of KLIA all the way to the entrance… (Just kidding, just wanna emphasize the joy I’m experiencing) I’ll be running towards the entrance embracing my family. I can imagine my dad driving us to one of the usual breakfast stall that I love. In my mind, the picture of a warm bowl of whatever noodles is sitting right in front of me, waiting for me to eat it fully! I then can imagine myself stepping in front of my driveway, walking towards the door while brushing my hand through cars. I’ll be in a tachycardic mood as I step through my living room, trying to capture if there’s any changes or new stuff that my parents bought. I can imagine myself fixing my eyes on the Astro remote control, which I know I miss clicking it everyday. I believe I will joyfully run to my bedroom, throwing my entire haversack on the floor & jump straight to my bed, trying to find the comfort that my bed has always provide me. If my sister is in her room sleeping, I know I will go to her room, trying to disturb her by waking her up like I always do. I can picture her irritated face, trying to push me off and yell at me to get out of her room!!! And after all the moments, I can see myself preparing to go to the 11am service in church in my black Jazz, and as I drive, I’ll be capturing every moment of not needing to walk for at least 20days. As I step through my church entrance I know I’ll be embraced by all the familiar faces that I miss so much. J

All these thoughts are running wild in my mind now… I can’t stop thinking, all I need now is to stay focus, & persevere for another week. Days go by really quickly, but I hope that the 20days in KL will be enough to build another greater level of relationships with people around me.

Til then, I just need to press on!

Consider it pure joy!!

2007-05-26T01:14:00.000+08:00

Semester 5 exam is coming soon. I can’t believe it but this is my second time taking a EOS5 paper, in a different country & setting, but nevertheless, it’s the last pre-clinical exam before entering clinical years. I can still remember the traumatic experience that I had 5 months ago. It was so vivid that I can’t possibly forget about it. I can still remember clearly my conversation with Chuen(which now known as Chu) about how unbearable it is to remember the entire 2 years of knowledge in IMU, and only God can pull as through EOS 5.

But EOS 5 in Melbourne University is totally a different thing. It is just about semester 5 knowledge. Sounds easy eh? Considering the fact it’s about Immunology, Microbiology & Oncology… Stuff that I’ve gone through in IMU in Semester 2. After 14 weeks of lectures on these areas, I began to realize how unfamiliar I am with Viruses, Genetics, Chemotherapy, and Radiology… stuff that is research based. In addition to this “wonderful” branch of medicine that I hope I won’t specialize in, I am drown with issues on Health Practice. Stuff that I somehow can’t find a reason to have interest in. After all, I only wanna be a clinician, surgeon if possible.

Having gone through 3 class tests & receiving marks that are marginal to the class mean, things began to start building up. Having to cope with the lack of interest in these areas of medicine, I gotta force myself to memorise the huge amount of genes, viruses’ replication methods, the principles of chemotherapies & molecular basis of cancer. As exam period drawing closer, things began to pile up. I started to feel the tension. My panic button beeps urgently. I ran out of options. In the midst of all these, God reminded me pro4:20 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body.

His love endures forever. His word stay strong; it is sharper than a double-edged sword-it doesn’t return void. He made the impossible possible. He is the author & perfector of my faith. He has plans to proper me. He is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides. He said “It is finished”. He is my refuge & strength. I can do all things thru Him who strengthens me. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty & freedom. He is the Prince of Peace.

Psa23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Isa40: 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

I can approach His throne of grace with confidence that I will receive mercy & find grace to help me in time of needs (Heb4:16). I should live in victory, I shouldn’t let the thoughts that is not of God disturbs me. I should align my thoughts to His thoughts, knowing that He who promises is faithful (Heb10:23). Rom8:31If God is for me, who shall be against me.

Gonna live through my revision week in victory. I’m playing my role as a student, doing my best to revise & trusting God for the rest. I’m not gonna view God in my own limited mind, but pressing onto Him to see breakthrough in my exams. I thank Him abundantly for blessing me with such an amazing friends. Although they are far apart, but somehow someway, when I need encouragement, they call at the right time. He never left me alone, but continuously to provide His source of strength. It’s very comforting all the time to know that I am always in His heart. He is thinking of me all the time. Not gonna live a moment without His presence in me!

Hide me now

Under your wings

Cover me

within your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar

I will soar with you above the storm

Father you are king over the flood

I will be still and know you are God

Find rest my soul

In Christ alone

Know his power
In quietness and trust

Memoirs!

2007-05-14T23:19:00.001+08:00

Emotion!

2007-05-09T20:28:00.000+08:00

Recently I’ve been posted to West Heidelberg to do my general practitioner visits in a community clinic. But let me tell you a lil about the socio-economic status of the community there. After 3 visits, I noticed that most of the people living at the area are older age groups, not working or retiree, staying in their houses alone. Some are abandoned by their own children, while others are just plain lonely. As for youngsters aged 20-40 years, they usually present with depression and/or on drugs. The doctors here dispense diazepam (sedatives-thanks to ian for reminding me ;-) ) & methadone (a program for drug addicts) more than they dispense anti-hypertensive or oral hypoglycemic drugs. But what grips me today was a consult made by a 21 years old man.

A man of my age generally is on his way of achieving his goals of life. Running towards the dream he dreamt since young. Or some are beginning to step into the market world, working for their living. But when I saw this case, diazepam and methadone caught my attention again. In my mind I was thinking, “Oh no! A man of my age that is living his life like that!” I was crushed. I felt so bad seeing a life of a champion going into waste.

When he came into the consultation room, I see this tall, mighty man looking tough externally but his gait and emotion written on his face betray his exterior look. Every step he made was a step of uncertainty, and his eyes were looking down, afraid…

The reason for this visit is was to get a mental health assessment so that he can be referred to a specialist.

My doctor began by asking, “Tell me more about your family”

He hesitated for a while and then said, “Must I talk about this? I don’t really wanna talk about it.”

Then my doctor asked about his education and when he started taking drugs and so on. He said he stopped schooling at year 9 when he started taking drugs. As the conversation went by, he was looking down; feeling a lil uneasy and anxious; kept playing with his phone and avoiding any eye contact with us. He told us that he is currently on a disability pension and it helps to pay his flat. He is unemployed at the moment and trying his best to stop drugs and smoking. We did a mental assessment and he falls into the severe category.

Throughout the conversation we had with him, I sense despair in his voice, I sense lack of hopelessness and worthlessness. I sense a need and hunger that he has for something, but that something cannot be found. He is striving to change, and struggling with the past at the same time.

My doctor asked us, “Describe his affect (appearance and look)” & “Do you think he is depress?”

I can’t bring myself to answer those questions. I felt that it’s inappropriate to say it in front of him, especially when he is in a fragile state. The bible says in prov18:21the tongue has the power of life & death. Whatever that we say has an effect on the recipient. With his current state, I don’t think it’s the right time to magnify his condition. Say I'm in that situation, the last thing i wanna hear is to echo my current position. I would wanna ear people edifying me, comforting & strengthening me. We should speak the language of hope, language of love, language of faith… Whatever that is good, speak it! He needs to hear these languages, not about depress, not about anxious, but about LOVE!!!

I excused myself and leave early to see if I could bum into him somehow. In my heart, I was asking God to bring peace into his life, was praying that His love and comfort cover him. Hope that he will fall into God’s arms and not others. This guy needs hope, and all I can think of at this moment was God. Only His love can bring deliverance. His love can bring victory in all adversities. 1Jon4:18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear…

Only His love can conquer everything!!!!! Lord, give him a tangible heart! & let Your presence be so vivid to him. Let him not escape from Your love! Surely Your hand is not too short to save, nor Your ears too dull to hear.

You said You come for those who need You…

PlanetUni Camp 2007

2007-04-30T21:01:00.001+08:00

IH ball 2007

2007-04-25T18:00:00.001+08:00

Celebrate Him!

2007-04-07T19:58:00.000+08:00

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name

Would care to feel my hurt

Who am I, that the bright an morning star

Would choose to light the way

For my ever wandering heart

Not because of who I am

But because of what you've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who you are

I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

A vapor in the wind

Still you hear me when I'm calling

Lord, you catch me when I'm falling

And you've told me who I am

I am yours, I am yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin

Would look on me with love and watch me rise again

Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea

Would call out through the rain

And calm the storm in me

I am yours

Whom shall I fear Whom shall I fear

'Cause I am yours

I am yours

A victorious moment; the moment where all walls were torn apart, all gaps bridged, freedom and liberation can be experienced. The power of resurrection of Christ that brings us back to God!

It is a fact that Jesus Christ existed! Historians, scriptures, religions claimed that. Even our calendar revolves what the Bible said. The 7th day is a Sabbath day, and our world today, Sunday is when everyone takes a break, rest, recuperate, most don’t work, spend time with love ones. Whether they go to church or not, it is a “Sabbath day” for them. Nevertheless, B.C. & A.D. that we read in books, it stands for “Before Christ” & “After Death”. Jesus is center point of everything. He is living and active today! We live in Him today. But, do we? Or we just take Him for granted? Or even deny or doubt His existence?

Ever wonder why He took so much trouble 2000 years ago; going around telling people about the coming of salvation for men. People at that time were not all that believing, some embrace Him, but others mock Him and trying to plot a way to eliminate Him. Who in the world will endure so much pains and stripes for a punishment that he did not commit? Who will go through so much trouble, pain & torture for a purpose? Jesus did. He went through everything not for Himself, but for US! Yes, this 2 alphabet, U S =US! He endured the cross so that by His resurrection, we can be united with God! We can go back to Him! We would no longer have eternal separation which leads to death, but we have eternal life, where we are with God in His Kingdom!

Titus3:3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

He did it for us. By His stripes we are healed! Being Almighty God, He can just speak and all men will turn to Him, everyone will follow Him & no one can cause a wound on Him. But Jesus didn’t do that, rather He became one of us, and walks through human life and end up on the cross! All for us!

Think again, who would do that? And if you are God, seeing your Son enduring so much pain and suffering, how would you feel? It is normal for parents to take upon their child’s suffering; they wanna protect their child from injuries and harm. But God didn’t. God endures a greater pain to see His Son on the cross. If you are a parent, or wanna parent a child in future, imagine this situation. Which is of greater pain? To see your love ones suffer or you take upon the suffering on behalf of your love ones?

This is Easter. A celebration not of Easter eggs, not a moment where we all spend time eating yummy cute little chocolates made into a bunny, but it is a celebration and thanksgiving and honor and praise to resurrection of Christ. It is a time where we reflect God’s grace & mercy for us. The world has dilute the true meaning of Easter, but let us step back from the heights and fun of the worldly pleasure and quiet our hearts to reflect and rekindle our joy of salvation!

Faith Prayer!

2007-04-04T19:37:00.000+08:00

James5: 13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Shared this during prayer meeting that day. I intended to share something about our “spiritual well” or “Jesus pruning our branches” but as I was flipping through the Bible, I was attracted to these verses. In the first part of the verse,

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.

We should not only pray during our times of need, but we should pray & sing songs of praise when we are joyful. Often, we tend to only seek God when we are in trouble, when things go out of hand, but we never honor God or give thanks to Him during our happy moments, when we are blessed, when we are in our comfort zone. We somehow forget that the joys and laughter and blessings came from God, and not ourselves. This verse says we should make prayer our lifestyle. Not at a certain situation, but at all times. God communicates with us via the Bible, but we communicate with God via our prayer. Often, when we spend time talking to friends, we are building a stronger relationship with them. Same thing with God. If we can devote so much time to our spouses, studies, leisure, sports, food… more time should be devoted to our Father in heaven, who created us and gave up everything to have us united with Him! In the Bible, the book psalms is filled with songs of praise, worship and confession for God! Let every word that come out of our heart be seasoned with words that exalt and honor God for every situations and moments that He has put in our lives.

15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.

Sometimes, when we pray, we don’t see immediate healing. But that doesn’t mean we should stop praying. See that, we have to pray first, and then God will act accordingly. God can just make an action without us needing to ask, but God wants us to pray first. Not just merely praying, but a prayer offer in faith. Although we don’t see immediate healing, but our prayer in faith somehow stirs our spirit, gives us assurance, makes us feel better, gives us support or edifies our faith. Our prayer is actually part of God’s healing process!

16… The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

What a strong verse. A prayer of a righteous man is powerful & effective. We don’t just pray in faith, but we pray strong! It doesn’t mean we are shouting out our prayers, but every word that comes out from our mouth must be spoken in faith & with strong beliefs that God is hearing and answering our prayer. It avails much!!!!! We are righteous by the blood our Christ, our prayer is gonna make an impact!

17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

When we say Elijah, what comes into our mind? Many will remember that he’s the prophet who calls for the rain and God sent rain right. This verse says, he is a man with a nature like ours, he is just like us, but the verse continues to say “he prayed earnestly”!!! We should look at Elijah’s relationship with God. God didn’t reveal Himself to Elijah in a powerful and miraculous way, like a burning bush but God reveals Himself to him in a gentle whisper (1king19:11-13) Many times, we are so caught up with our daily routine and busy schedule that we missed what God wanna speak to us, God also speak in the quietness of our hearts. We should step back from heightened situations in our busy lives and listen humbly with a quiet heart to God’s guidance.

It has been a while since we started this prayer meeting. Initially with 5, now the numbers doubled. We meet every sun night and pray corporately as prayer in agreement brings power! Looking for more times where we can edify each other and intercede for people in IH. Gonna set a different culture here in IH, a culture not built by the world, but built by God!

Epidemic!!!

2007-03-27T18:23:00.000+08:00

It has been a crazy change. The day light saving is over. All of us switched our clock back to an hour earlier. The climate is slowly changing towards the winter form. Sun no longer stay up til 9pm. By 6.30pm, the sky starts to darken. As for the temperature, it is Melbourne. As erratic as usual; with weird warm day and cold nights.

In the midst of slight climatic shift, the viral epidemic occurs among Year 3 medical students in Melbourne uni. I was sitting in lecture as usual, trying my best to pay my best attention to what virology is all about, and the sniffing caught my attention. Turns out, I was not the only one trying to wipe off my running nose…(I am a victim of rhinovirus-a virus I suspect that cause my flu & cough) Here and there, I heard people blowing the nose, coughing, sniffing; all these are signs & symptoms of common cold that is rapidly infecting everyone now.

This epidemic is not limited to the compound of Melbourne uni. One by one, students and tutors in IH start to fall sick. Start off with one fellow staying at the end of corridor, and slowly the opposite end student start to have common symptoms. Such epidemic is not limited to one floor, but it infects students from different floors and different building.

I guess nobody is gonna recover til we are all vaccinated by flu vaccine. I think, if chuen’s here, she will definitely freak out and run around wearing a face mask. Hehehe. Or worse excuse, she will go for a shoppo-therapeutic agent in MNG or MYER. Just hope she won’t kill me when she sees this blog. Then again, she won’t because she needs me to hang out with her when she gets to Melbourne. Further more, if she terminates me, who else in this world is able to tolerate “SU CHUEN”... Chuen, you know what I mean. Just miss those days where we talk and tease each other. Here’s a tribute to you k.

Moomba Festival 2007

2007-03-16T23:06:00.000+08:00

Flinder St
Federation Sq
The building that look like Eifel Tower is the Art Centre in Melb
While queuing for the ride
This spinning flowery ride was awesome!
Fantastic & breath-taking fireworks display at Yarra River

Eaglepoint Covenant Fellowship!

2007-03-15T13:14:00.001+08:00

Exodus19: 3 Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.”

I came across this verse as I was searching the word “eagles” and after reading it, I was thinking to myself, maybe this is how the name EAGLEPOINT was birthed. God carried us out of our “Egypt” on eagle wings & brought us to a place (a point) where we can come together to be with Him, worship Him, spend time with His people & hear Him! What a meaningful word.

Eagle’s point!!!!!

SOLD OUT!!!!!

2007-03-10T09:14:00.000+08:00

1 A.M. 2nd album is coming your way this April! Own one!

The tagline- HIS call, your ALL!!!!

What a powerful & strong line! Let this album bring change as we worship Him; bring strong conviction & challenge us to be sold out for Jesus! Lets not just merely sing the songs, but let us sing it with a convicted heart, a promise made & actions done!

Let this album glorify Your Name!

The great "Course"

2007-03-07T18:28:00.000+08:00

Here I stand within your presence longing for your touch
A thousand days cannot compare to one day in your course
Hold me now and never ever let me go
My Jesus, my precious Saviour, I’m forever Yours!

This song has been reverberating in my heart so vividly recently! Specifically, the word “course” caught my attention. With great curiosity, I began to look up the meaning of that word & found 32 ways we can use the word “course”. I felt the following 7 ministered to me:-

-a direction or route taken or to be taken.
-the path, route, or channel along which anything moves
-advance or progression in a particular direction; forward or onward movement.
-the continuous passage or progress through time or a succession of stages
-a particular manner of proceeding
-a mode of conduct; behavior
-to chase; pursue.

The song goes “a thousand days cannot compare to one day in your course”. Wow, what a strong statement we say as we worship Him. The path that we chose is continuous, progressive and advances towards His direction. It is a mode of conduct or behavior and it comes with a pursued heart for Him!!!! When we decided to take on His course, it is a permanent progression towards Him. Day by day, we grow closer to Him. We are DRAWN towards Him. It is a manner of proceeding in our lives now.

The fun that we frequently have, those nice places we usually go with our friends for a great chill out after a long week, movies and games we played to rest our mind, all these thousands of happenings going through in my life… As I quiet down, and reflect on this part of the song, it made me realize that my satisfaction is complete only when I am with Him always, when I began singing songs of worship & praise, or when I listen to some of the sermon CDs that pastor has preached. Every events going on bring about gratification in my emotions, but it is only temporal. Only His presence & doing His work bring permanent joy in my heart.

Jason picked up a “managing homesickness” leaflet at the foyer for me, and asks me to read. As I was reading, I came to realize that what had shaped my life these 2 years. It is my passion of serving Him. It brings joy! It brings satisfaction! It brings excitement as I anticipate seeing His works come into place. It changed my life totally, and my relationship with my parents & sister, praise Him we grew even closer… & how I relate to people around me.

As I am settling down in Planet Shakers city church, really excites me to see the dynamics of the church. The church beats as one body; with passionate hearts of serving Jesus and seeing greatness come through as they serve God. People are praying for each other, edifying one another with verses they read in devotions, prophesying and imparting lives around them. I am excited to see how I can be a part of this family, and what God wants me to learn in this church. Can’t wait to be discipled, and start making disciples too. This course is progressing to a next level, a level totally foreign to me, yet I am eager to learn.

I remembered what Ps Matt Fielder said, “Jesus said “GO & make disciples” & He continue saying “& I will BE WITH YOU ALWAYS”” We need to GO out to people around us. Let it not just be “My Jesus”, let it be everyone around me’s Jesus!

Commencement dinner in IH

2007-03-01T20:59:00.000+08:00

Monica, Myself, Ganesh, Lilly, Chung Yew

Grace & I
Out at KokoBlack
Non-med plus me
Henry(the one with red academic gown) our tutor in IH
5 IMUers + 1???

Faith response! Practice & stretch it!

2007-02-25T22:22:00.000+08:00

Miracles! This word is what I am seeking now. So you might ask, “What is miracle?” and I could only think of an answer given by Jesus.

Luke18:27Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Yup, it is the impossible that God brings forth that I count it as miracle, cause like I’ve once said, if things get harder, or more difficult, we can still worker harder & put more effort & we can still make it. But it is when we face “the impossible” in our lives that we realize things are out of our control and we need God’s miracle to come true.

I am in a season of impossible now. Everything seems to be out of control ever since I got to Melbourne. I can’t say what is it but I am 100% out of my comfort zone. It is as though I am walking alone in the wild, hoping to find a right path, a path that I could cross the thick forest comfortably, with the least bushes that I need to path my way through; where the path is dry and free from leaches; where the path is a flat ground without any obvious inclination. A path that can lead me out of the forest back to where I belong, back to a place where I can call home and feel at ease.

My only source of direction is light from the sun during the day & moon at night. & that is what I am looking up at heaven & asking God for. A miracle as I journey through the thick forest. A direction. A way out to home.

Before leaving, I remember Ps Tim prayed & prophesy over me, saying that I will encounter another side of our “Mighty God” so to speak… That I will taste another side of God & see that it is good (Ps34:8) All I can do now is just pray, & hold on firm to Him.

Heb4:16 Let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy & find grace to help us in our time of need.

I am in need. In desperate times to see God’s provision & favour, His deliverance & MIRACLES! With my limited mind, I can’t fathom why I am in my current situation but He knows what is His plans for me; that is to prosper me & give me hope for the future (Jer29:11)

Psalms77: 14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.

Praying for this verse:-

Ps81:6 God says, "I removed the burden from your shoulders; your hands were set free from the basket. 7 In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud;

Told the leaders about my condition & Ps Tim replied and quoted:-

Gal 3:12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM."

“I know it refers to if you practice law, you will then live by it .But on the other hand, if we practice Faith, we will live by Faith as well!!”

What a powerful mail… I am edified! Thank God for sending me Ps mail. Not gonna let circumstances defeat me, but let God overcome my circumstances! Not gonna let anything hinders me for living loud & strong for Him!!!

Werribee mansion & safari!

2007-02-25T19:01:00.000+08:00

Entrance to Werribee park & mansion
Some weird human-look-alike at the park
Jumping excitedly in front of the massion lawn
Upper floor of the mansion
Corset that the olden girls have to wear to keep a "nice" body curvature. Note the pic next to the corset. Her waist is almost insignificant. Wonder where her gut goes?
Group pic at the safari
Standing on an ant's nest
Close encounter with the kangaroos
Horn Horn!

Crazy day!

2007-02-22T20:21:00.000+08:00

To those who know Melbourne well enough, they will get a clearer picture who I am about to describe in this post.

Today, I decided to be “friendly” and took part in one of the pre-organised orientation event, which is called Magical Mystery Tour. It was nothing magical, because all we did was just run from International House (that’s where I stay) to Melbourne central business district. And as we run, we holler our cheer at the other residential colleges, in our university, and in the tram all the way to city and from fast food chains to HMV (video centre similar to EzyVideo). We did our orientation dance in front of the public and screaming our lungs out confessing we are a “true IHers”.

After a tiring walk/run/skip/jump/cheering, a small portion of us decided to head home while the rest of the group continues the next activity. Being the “anti-tram $$$” guy, I came up with a suggestion that we jog all the way back to IH from Federation Sq. Normally walking takes about 45 mins to an hour. My idea was supported by Jason (aka Cp) psycho-ing the rest about “All men are brothers! Let’s do it together!)

So we began our madness idea of exercising, jogging all the way back home. Considering the fact that I haven’t been on training since IMU exams preparation, I was worried at first about not being able to complete the jog. But hahaha, I found out that I am still fit. I reached at the same time as the girls who took the tram. Recovery was blissful and after a short rest, all of us head off for a game of pool.

So proud of myself. To those who are checking on me, wondering if I am exercising, I did it all today. & it does feel good. Don’t mind another round of it. My muscles are still fine, without any signs and symptoms of aching.

Chinese New Year's Eve

2007-02-18T19:07:00.000+08:00

Dinner at Kimchi Grandma (Korean's restaurant)
Fire crackers at ChinaTown
Chinese New Year's stalls at Crown's Boulevard
Choc Strawberry Cake at Grecco
Won 4 bucks each from casino from e-roulette
Light show at Crown's hotel
Year of the pig!!! Cutie

Wish all of my love ones Happy Chinese New Year!!! To those who wish to give me ang pow money, pls feel free to do so in AUD either thru Telegraphic Transfer or Cheque or Cash!

Weird stuffs that I consider normal!

2007-02-16T16:56:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Ch who tagged me for no reasons, now I have to go through my life to dig out 6 weird stuffs about me that I consider normal but for the sake of completing the list, here are the 6 areas:-

1. I am a person who loves the most fattening food in the whole wide world. I love bacon and ham a lot. I eat it like almost everyday back in KL for breakfast, or supper. Whenever there are supplies in the fridge, I’ll start feeding on them. I love cheese a lot. If you noticed, I put a few slices of cheese in my sandwich & I’ll prey on the cheese section a few times whenever I go for buffet. I am a chocolate fanatic. If it is not for pimples, I’ll eat it every day & night. A chocolate or cheese fondue will just melt my heart totally.

2. Astro & American series are essential in my life. I can go on and on about it without stopping. Even at home, when I am not watching TV, it has to be on. When I am studying, it is in silence but on. The noise projecting from the TV somehow sustains my day. Being in Melbourne now without TV by my side somehow makes me few uncomfortable.

3. I love highways (when they aren’t any jam). They are my best friends when I travel around KL in my car. It is fast, convenient & less cars. Feel that the entire road belongs to me. I don’t mind the toll price as long as there isn’t any traffic.

4. I hate coffee. I sometimes get headache when I smell the aroma. I remember the times when I took coffee in A Levels just to stay up for Physics tuition & revision. It has no effect on me. I still got caught in my dreams.

5. I collect shopping bags, especially bags from designers. I don’t use them but I just like keeping it in my cupboard.

6. I don’t read fantasy or sci-fi books besides Harry Potter. Many people told me it is interesting but I don’t have a vast imagination & patience to bring myself to read a fantasy novel. It’s just so unreal!!!! Know Harry Potter is fantasy too, but somehow I just like it because it brings out the childhood in me whenever I read the book.

p/s:- Chuen, to have a best friend like me is not weird but a blessing from God k. Appreciate it :)