Hey Revs! Should catch these 2 videos! Absolutely entertaining! :)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
DevotionTWENTY-THREE: 2-Way Traffic
Ever had a 1-way friendship? You know the drill - people who always need a favour but never give anything in return? Everytime they come close, you know they've brought a new set of demands and needs. Clearly there is something missing if you're looking for the joy of friendship.
Have you wondered if God feels that way about us? With all our constant barrage of questions, problems and prayer requests. Surely, He wants us to cast all our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7), and thankfully He stand ready and willing to help (Hebrews 4:16). But if we aspire to be God's friend, we need to recognize that true friendship with God is a reciprocal deal!
When Jesus talked about friendship He told His disciples, "You are my friends if you do what I command" (John 15:14). Jesus made it clear that His true friends would be those who would show allegiance to Him by doing what He told them to do: "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12)
Jesus proved His friendship when He laid down His life for us. Now the question is, what will we do for Him? Although we can never out-give Him or come close to repaying Him, we can display our friendship with Him even in our everyday lives too! How? Its when we extend kindness to someone in need, forgive an offender, show compassion to the poor and oppressed... ...
Remember, friendship with God has to be 2-way traffic :)
Ever had a 1-way friendship? You know the drill - people who always need a favour but never give anything in return? Everytime they come close, you know they've brought a new set of demands and needs. Clearly there is something missing if you're looking for the joy of friendship.
Have you wondered if God feels that way about us? With all our constant barrage of questions, problems and prayer requests. Surely, He wants us to cast all our cares on Him (1 Peter 5:7), and thankfully He stand ready and willing to help (Hebrews 4:16). But if we aspire to be God's friend, we need to recognize that true friendship with God is a reciprocal deal!
When Jesus talked about friendship He told His disciples, "You are my friends if you do what I command" (John 15:14). Jesus made it clear that His true friends would be those who would show allegiance to Him by doing what He told them to do: "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 15:12)
Jesus proved His friendship when He laid down His life for us. Now the question is, what will we do for Him? Although we can never out-give Him or come close to repaying Him, we can display our friendship with Him even in our everyday lives too! How? Its when we extend kindness to someone in need, forgive an offender, show compassion to the poor and oppressed... ...
Remember, friendship with God has to be 2-way traffic :)
FAVOURITE!: Wang Lee Hom
HAHA! (: Hope you enjoyed listening to my FAVOURITE singer.(not idol, no worries! i don't idolise him) But he's a man with truckloads of talent, amazing and beautiful man. This is just a random post,HAHA! Just want to share my treasures with you guys.Touched?HAHA! Ah well, do continue to walk close with God and I'm sure you'll be a happy boy/girl! HAHA. Pse do come for this coming Wednesday's EXCO handover. Come and render your support to the incoming EXCO and to appreciate the outing EXCO shall we? See you there!
With love, kev (:
Monday, March 17, 2008
devotion22 - What Are You Afraid Of?
When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son (Genesis 22:9-10)
Late last year, my father and I sat in a hotel room following a men's conference in Toronto. Though he had given his life to Christ months earlier, he was still struggling with what it means to put Jesus first in his life and to surrender himself completely to Christ. "Let me ask you this," I said. "Would you trust Jesus enough to let him take Mom from you, if that was required of you in order to follow him?" He pondered their thirty-eight years of marriage and all that she means to him, then finally replied, "I don't know."
I empathize with my father as surely as I empathize with Abraham, whose test of faith has become the example for us all. The question for most of us, including my father, is academic since few people ever have to make such a dramatic choice. However, it's a useful test of the depth of our trust in Christ to ask, "What would I give up to follow Him?"
If we will be honest, there is something which each of us fears losing so much that it strains the limits of our faith to contemplate trusting it to God. Our life is perhaps the least of these, for surely there are worse fates than dying. Perhaps it is losing our wife, husband or child. Perhaps it is losing our freedom, our health or our mind.
As I began to take this inventory for myself in my twenties, I came across one thing which I could never permit God to take from me and which I could not offer in sacrifice. It was my mind. I justified this by saying that if I lost my sanity or my ability to perceive the world around me, how could I serve Christ? How would I even know who He was? If that were the case, would I be lost forever? Does my salvation rest upon my ability to understand it? I concluded that I could stand any manner of pain and torture so long as I had clarity of mind, but I told God in no uncertain terms that my conscious mind was off limits.
Years later, I came to the conclusion which must have preceded Abraham's reluctant decision to sacrifice His son, and which every Christian must reach before they can sacrifice the last remaining sacred treasure they have been withholding. I thought, "God, if you take this from me, it's part of your amazing plan and I can trust you." It was part of the realization that if God is going to take something from me, He will remain faithful to me and see me through it. He will give me whatever strength, faith and endurance I require to make it through the loss. This is the promise Jesus gives to all who place their faith in Him.
I don't know how God would sustain me if I had brain injury and lost my ability to reason. I don't know how my father would make it through the pain if he lost his wife. The point is that we don't have to worry about any of that once we surrender to God. We simply trust in the Lord with everything we have and He will see us through. God never said it would be easy, but He did say He would sustain us through the hard times and welcome us with open arms into His kingdom when our time comes.
Search deep within yourself now and contemplate the one thing that you have not been able to surrender to God. Find that one thing about which you have silently, subconsciously said, "God, take anything you require but please don't take this." I know that it feels like you would be destroyed if God took that from you, but you have to trust him. If God takes this from you, He will sustain you. Whatever He takes from you will be given back to you tenfold in Heaven. Most importantly, if God takes it from you, it is part of His amazing plan. Trust God with it now and let your surrender to Jesus Christ be complete.
The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." (Genesis 22:15-18)
Late last year, my father and I sat in a hotel room following a men's conference in Toronto. Though he had given his life to Christ months earlier, he was still struggling with what it means to put Jesus first in his life and to surrender himself completely to Christ. "Let me ask you this," I said. "Would you trust Jesus enough to let him take Mom from you, if that was required of you in order to follow him?" He pondered their thirty-eight years of marriage and all that she means to him, then finally replied, "I don't know."
I empathize with my father as surely as I empathize with Abraham, whose test of faith has become the example for us all. The question for most of us, including my father, is academic since few people ever have to make such a dramatic choice. However, it's a useful test of the depth of our trust in Christ to ask, "What would I give up to follow Him?"
If we will be honest, there is something which each of us fears losing so much that it strains the limits of our faith to contemplate trusting it to God. Our life is perhaps the least of these, for surely there are worse fates than dying. Perhaps it is losing our wife, husband or child. Perhaps it is losing our freedom, our health or our mind.
As I began to take this inventory for myself in my twenties, I came across one thing which I could never permit God to take from me and which I could not offer in sacrifice. It was my mind. I justified this by saying that if I lost my sanity or my ability to perceive the world around me, how could I serve Christ? How would I even know who He was? If that were the case, would I be lost forever? Does my salvation rest upon my ability to understand it? I concluded that I could stand any manner of pain and torture so long as I had clarity of mind, but I told God in no uncertain terms that my conscious mind was off limits.
Years later, I came to the conclusion which must have preceded Abraham's reluctant decision to sacrifice His son, and which every Christian must reach before they can sacrifice the last remaining sacred treasure they have been withholding. I thought, "God, if you take this from me, it's part of your amazing plan and I can trust you." It was part of the realization that if God is going to take something from me, He will remain faithful to me and see me through it. He will give me whatever strength, faith and endurance I require to make it through the loss. This is the promise Jesus gives to all who place their faith in Him.
I don't know how God would sustain me if I had brain injury and lost my ability to reason. I don't know how my father would make it through the pain if he lost his wife. The point is that we don't have to worry about any of that once we surrender to God. We simply trust in the Lord with everything we have and He will see us through. God never said it would be easy, but He did say He would sustain us through the hard times and welcome us with open arms into His kingdom when our time comes.
Search deep within yourself now and contemplate the one thing that you have not been able to surrender to God. Find that one thing about which you have silently, subconsciously said, "God, take anything you require but please don't take this." I know that it feels like you would be destroyed if God took that from you, but you have to trust him. If God takes this from you, He will sustain you. Whatever He takes from you will be given back to you tenfold in Heaven. Most importantly, if God takes it from you, it is part of His amazing plan. Trust God with it now and let your surrender to Jesus Christ be complete.
The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." (Genesis 22:15-18)
Friday, March 14, 2008
devotion21 - Listening To Each Other
For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another." Gal 5:13-14
I overheard a conversation yesterday at lunch which began when a young woman noticed one of her co-workers looking downcast. She sat beside him at the lunch table and asked him if he wanted to discuss what was bothering him. He began to talk about the recent trouble he was having relating to his daughter, and it was obvious from his tone and his expression that this was a serious matter which was weighing heavily on him. He had barely begun to explain the essence of the problem when the young woman interrupted, exclaiming, "I know exactly what you mean! My daughter..." And just like that, the conversation shifted as she went on for several minutes describing her own situation. When she finally paused to take a bite of her meal, the man got up and walked away dejectedly. Without missing a beat, she turned to the next person at the table and continued talking about her daughter. I had a pretty strong reaction at the time. I remember thinking, "you don't care about his situation! You just wanted an excuse to start talking!"
It's easy to be critical of this young woman, but realistically, this kind of thing goes on all the time. I have done it to my wife and she has done it to me. I have seen pastors do it on many occasions. Few of us are immune. We are rarely listening; usually, we are just waiting impatiently for our turn to talk. We nod and agree in all the right places, but really we are pondering the next thing we are about to say.
It's a shame that so many of us are guilty of this offense, and it speaks volumes about how most people really feel about themselves and those around them. If you struggle with this as much as I do, then it ought to be very humbling when you realize just how difficult and rare it is to have a conversation with someone during which you are far more interested in what they are saying than what you are about to say. It's hard to clear our mind, offer our undivided attention and just listen.
If we dig deeper, we will discover that our egocentric conversations are just a symptom of a deeper problem, the most obvious and common of a whole litany of ways in which we fail to really love our neighbor. I could just as easily point to any of a long list of ways we fail to keep this commandment. I chose this one because it is so subtle and pervasive that for the most part, we've simply stopped noticing that we've stopped listening. I'm sure if you were to ask the young woman at the lunch table, she wouldn't have any idea that she had done anything wrong.
The next time you're speaking to someone, especially if they are hurting, make an effort to erase any thoughts of yourself. Instead, give them one hundred percent of your attention. Make a commitment to ensuring that they are able to get their point across, and don't worry about yours. It seems like such a small thing, but it will make a huge difference in not only how people perceive you, but how you perceive them.
You see, loving your neighbor is not like loving your spouse. It's not something you feel; it's something you do. It's the act of sacrificing your own needs and desires for the sake of someone else.
You can demonstrate that love in such a meaningful way by just listening.
I overheard a conversation yesterday at lunch which began when a young woman noticed one of her co-workers looking downcast. She sat beside him at the lunch table and asked him if he wanted to discuss what was bothering him. He began to talk about the recent trouble he was having relating to his daughter, and it was obvious from his tone and his expression that this was a serious matter which was weighing heavily on him. He had barely begun to explain the essence of the problem when the young woman interrupted, exclaiming, "I know exactly what you mean! My daughter..." And just like that, the conversation shifted as she went on for several minutes describing her own situation. When she finally paused to take a bite of her meal, the man got up and walked away dejectedly. Without missing a beat, she turned to the next person at the table and continued talking about her daughter. I had a pretty strong reaction at the time. I remember thinking, "you don't care about his situation! You just wanted an excuse to start talking!"
It's easy to be critical of this young woman, but realistically, this kind of thing goes on all the time. I have done it to my wife and she has done it to me. I have seen pastors do it on many occasions. Few of us are immune. We are rarely listening; usually, we are just waiting impatiently for our turn to talk. We nod and agree in all the right places, but really we are pondering the next thing we are about to say.
It's a shame that so many of us are guilty of this offense, and it speaks volumes about how most people really feel about themselves and those around them. If you struggle with this as much as I do, then it ought to be very humbling when you realize just how difficult and rare it is to have a conversation with someone during which you are far more interested in what they are saying than what you are about to say. It's hard to clear our mind, offer our undivided attention and just listen.
If we dig deeper, we will discover that our egocentric conversations are just a symptom of a deeper problem, the most obvious and common of a whole litany of ways in which we fail to really love our neighbor. I could just as easily point to any of a long list of ways we fail to keep this commandment. I chose this one because it is so subtle and pervasive that for the most part, we've simply stopped noticing that we've stopped listening. I'm sure if you were to ask the young woman at the lunch table, she wouldn't have any idea that she had done anything wrong.
The next time you're speaking to someone, especially if they are hurting, make an effort to erase any thoughts of yourself. Instead, give them one hundred percent of your attention. Make a commitment to ensuring that they are able to get their point across, and don't worry about yours. It seems like such a small thing, but it will make a huge difference in not only how people perceive you, but how you perceive them.
You see, loving your neighbor is not like loving your spouse. It's not something you feel; it's something you do. It's the act of sacrificing your own needs and desires for the sake of someone else.
You can demonstrate that love in such a meaningful way by just listening.
Glory's Belated-birthday Celebration
Happy Birthday Glory v1.0
Happy Birthday Glory v1.1
Babes posing after the "craft" work.
Happy people waiting v1.0 (5:30pm)
Happy people waiting v1.1 (5:45pm)
Finally, STAR of the day arrives... (6:45pm)
Touched to tears.
Here comes the "hero" with the 3 stalks of flowers.
Girls say "Hi".
Boys say "Bye" (:
Food time!
Royal feast v1.0
Royal feast v1.1
It's suppose to be candid, why are you looking Rich?
Surprise 2, Cake/Sing song ceremony.
Huuuu...Blow off the fire of 23!
Feels loved.
Beautiful isn't it?
Queen with the hunks!
Queen with the royal maids,Ha!
Sister love (:
Ka-wa-yi-neh (:
70% of Revelation gang.
ACS vs Fairfield.
Hmm...are you thinking what i'm thinking B1? Yes,B2 i am.
Roses for the Queen.
Creations by her majesty.
Just in case you're wondering, it's Cream Puffs!
Act-seh gang. We are cool.
Sisters.
Brothers.
Lovely girls.
Don't you think Maylan looks Korean in this pic? (:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GLORY
Thursday, March 13, 2008
DevotionTWENTY: Psalm 121
Good morning Revelations :)
Hope you all had a good nite rest and are looking forward to the makan gathering later! haha
Do take time to listen to this song by Paul Wilbur, an Isreali-American singer, while reading up today's devotion. Enjoy and while doing so, listen out for the words of the song too! :)
Psalm 121
1 I lift my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you - the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
How comforting it is to know that the Lord, despite having so many prayer requests, prayer for Him to watch over someone somewhere everyday, yet He cares for each one of us as if there were only one. :)
We may encounter problems or setbacks, and wonder God "Why me?!" or "Why do I have to undergo all these problems!?". I like how this author puts it 'Often we stand at life's crossroads and view what we think is the end. But God has a much bigger vision and tells us its only a bend.'
With our own eyes, we sometimes magnify these problems and forget who is the One who is in control of all these.
As the song goes...In Your presence, thats where I am strong. In Your presence, O Lord my God. In Your presence, thats where I belong. Seeking Your face, touching Your grace...
Do not lose heart amidst all these, and know that God loves you more than what we can imagine and there are people around who are more than willing to walk alongside with you.
No day is too dark
And no burden too great
That God in His love
cannot penetrate. - Helen Steiner Rice
:)
Good morning Revelations :)
Hope you all had a good nite rest and are looking forward to the makan gathering later! haha
Do take time to listen to this song by Paul Wilbur, an Isreali-American singer, while reading up today's devotion. Enjoy and while doing so, listen out for the words of the song too! :)
Psalm 121
1 I lift my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you - the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
How comforting it is to know that the Lord, despite having so many prayer requests, prayer for Him to watch over someone somewhere everyday, yet He cares for each one of us as if there were only one. :)
We may encounter problems or setbacks, and wonder God "Why me?!" or "Why do I have to undergo all these problems!?". I like how this author puts it 'Often we stand at life's crossroads and view what we think is the end. But God has a much bigger vision and tells us its only a bend.'
With our own eyes, we sometimes magnify these problems and forget who is the One who is in control of all these.
As the song goes...In Your presence, thats where I am strong. In Your presence, O Lord my God. In Your presence, thats where I belong. Seeking Your face, touching Your grace...
Do not lose heart amidst all these, and know that God loves you more than what we can imagine and there are people around who are more than willing to walk alongside with you.
No day is too dark
And no burden too great
That God in His love
cannot penetrate. - Helen Steiner Rice
:)
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