Dying to Live... What Next?

This year's youth camp marked a new season of discovery, growth, and exploits for Grace Assembly.

We have just begun to contemplate the possibility and potential of integration. We have tasted but have not yet feasted.

As we stand on the threshold of the next frontier, we must cry unto the Lord of the harvest to infuse within us a sense of desperation and endow us with power to break free of every shackle that holds us back from taking dominion over all of God’s given resource.

Many are called, but few are chosen. Those chosen are those who chose right.

Like Gideon’s mighty 300, who were the best of Israel’s force then, we too will be sifted.

God demands the best. But our best is never enough. That is the paradox of our faith.

Who will be like the 22,000 who chose to return to the safety and security of their comfort zones? God seeks those who are strong and courageous – willing to die.

And when the 10,000 strong and courageous warriors went down to the water’s edge to drink, all but 300 went on all fours like dogs and plunged their heads into the cool to lap their fill. Only the 300 dropped to their knees and scooped water with one cupped hand to drink as they held their spear with the other, all the while watching the terrain and ready for battle. God seeks the watchful and prepared – those ready to live.

Gideon sent the rest back, and only kept the 300 who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.

Are you among the 300 strong and courageous warriors who are watchful and prepared to fight? For God has chosen you and will hand over to you the resources and victories others have yielded.

Blog of Faith

Watch this space!

Before the year ends, I'll be posting my thoughts all the warriors whose path i have crossed in my past two years and nine months in Grace Assembly.

The Day After

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

The day after GY Camp 2008.

All campers snoozing to catch up on lost sleep.

Today's the Day

Today's the day everyone didn't sleep a wink all night until the alarm buzzed at 6am and they jumped out of bed heart pounding and mouth dry.

Today's when seven bus loads of cranky young people smiling through their adrenaline-pumped sleepy heads (what an oxymoron) nagged their parents to "faster la" take them to church moments earlier, chowing their breakfast down in seconds.

Today's when parents shake their heads wondering what's the big deal with their children telling them to get lost and not loaf around as they disappear into their crowd of friends and strangers.

Not enough sleep. Cranky. Indigestion. Stress level up. All a mix of elements sure to fire up any recipe for disaster.

But this is no normal disaster. This is the D.ay I.n S.ome A.ll S.o T.hrilling E.xclusive R.endezvous that these young people will experience that will change their lives forever.

As Pastor Henry muttered from the pulpil a couple of weeks back, "Either they will come back changed, or I will come back changed!"

YES. GY Camp 2007. Change is not an option.

In a short while the seven buses will reached the Flat Lands in Cameron Highlands and these young people will spill out onto the cool soil.

Today is December 8.

Dr Steve Ogan did say something about 2008, didn't he?

This is it!

Three Days more to D.I.E

Whoooooooaaaaaaaaaapeeeeeee!

The camp is just three days away.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm looking forward to seeing the 20 odd youth groups swing into action and enjoy months of hard work falling into place... or out of place.

Hwai Tah and his team of generals have manoevred up till the last moment for this blast of a camp. And they have not worked alone, but with the many able and dedicated leaders who have toiled behind the scenes and up front. Who are they all? You'll get to know this fabulous people on day one of the camp and throughout the camp, you'll get to watch them in action.

Real life people full of promises, warts, and farts.

You'll gonna like them, hate them, feel for them, emo with them. And you'll notice that, like them, you're also real people in real time.


Whichever, we're going to see a lot of struggling not to die taking place. And this is all happening in real time! That's right... real time!

Eleven months of the year have come and gone. We're left with one final month. And this month, you can expect to see the storm that we've been all waiting for. At least, I have been been told would come.

Keep your eyes peeled, your ears unplugged, and your mouth open. But in silent mode ok.

This camp, you guys will get to see Pastor Henry in action. He'll preach his young heart out to all you guys and gals. And you all listen up. This is one shot you have with him that will set the pace for the future.

And this camp, we're seeing many youths and leaders from all the divisions of Grace Assembly coming together - many for the first time - to HAVE FUN, to DISCOVER AND REDISCOVER OUR FAITH IN CHRIST, and to LEARN HOW WE CAN BE FRUITFUL CHRISTIANS.

yES. fUN, FAith and FruiTFULNESS!

iT'S all beginning with your encounter with God, living the NEW LIFE IN CHRIST, and dying to the OLD!

2 Cor 5:17 If any man is in Christ, the old has passed away, the new has come!

LOOK OUT FOR THE NEW ONES AND THOSE WHO HAVEN'T DISCOVERED THEIR FAITY IN CHRIST. YOU ARE going to help them find Christ.

And for those of you who have lost your vision, this camp is when you better rediscover your faith.

And those of us who think we're ok but have been barren, this camp is when you decide how you're going to grow and bear fruit.

The pastors and leaders are going to talk about areas in our lives that are hindering us from growing in Christ.

You're going to walk away from this blast of a camp with a decision. ONly one decision. To D.I.E in Christ so that you may live forevermore!

See ya all

By the way, I'm expecting things some of you don't expect. When they and it all shows up, you'll go figure. But if I'm kind enough, I'll let you know.

:)

Speaking in riddles am I? Let him who has an ear listen.

Coming Home

HI ya beautiful guys and gals. Diving is like a walk in the bottom of the pool!



Before we fly home on Friday, we're going to make three fabulous dives today in the Andaman Sea. First to a sunken wreck called KingCruiser at 100 feet below. Second to Koh Doc Mai, a huge coral outcrop vertical to about 80 feet. And third, to Sharks Point.

See ya all soon!



Some practice demonstrations controlling movement in shallow waters.





Here are my dive buddies doing the Instructor Training workshop briefings with me.


Chilling out at the graduation dinner.

The Day After Tomorrow

Did you ever wonder when a lousy day ended like rotten weeklong garbage that tomorrow may bring worse news, and you're seriously hoping the bad news will somehow miraculously disappear into thin air, as the dark clouds mushroom away and shafts of blinding sunlight flood everything in shimmering white?

The day after tomorrow.

Whatever shrulmps you are in or think you are wallowing in, give yourself a hard quick whack. Have you forgotten that God is still God and you're but a pain the neck? Stop your whimpering and whining. Move off your behind and onto your knees. This is the time to give thanks on your knees. Start counting your blessings one by one.

The Bible says in Phil 4:8 Do not be anxious for anything, but in everything with prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Look up! For your redemption draweth nigh.

The day after tomorrow.

Finally Finally Finally

Finally. After two weeks of intensive training and assessment. I and my five dive buddies pulled through with flying colours and got certified as OWS Instructors!

Tonight is graduation night party at Soi Bangla.

Finally, I should be able to log in and post pictures and give updates.

But thank God for his grace and providence thus far - that I could do well indeed.

Scoring 100 percent in three sections, and 92 Percent in two sections for the theory examinations. And Scoring an average of 4.5 out of a top score of 5 for all the skills section.

I was actually aiming at 100 percent and scoring 5's all the way. But then again, God saw me through! Hallelujay!

Big hugs all to my lovely wife, Jessica, and my adorable three princesses, Janielle, Janna, and Jirene, for all their heartfelt prayers for me.

And all rounds of hugs for all of you who remembered me in prayer!!!

Remember guys,

Good better best
Never let it rest
Until your good becomes better
and your better becomes best

All glory to God!

And now, for the GY Camp!!!

Hwai Tah and his team of five generals have been planning, strategising, and mobiising the troops for Dec 8-11, 2007, to put in another record breaking youth camp in Grace Assembly.

And this year, we're moving on to Just Doing IT Everyday this year from last year's Following Christ to be Fishers of Men by the resurrection power that comes from new LIFE in Christ Jesus!

And of course, nothing like that until you tasted the encounter with the King of kings and the Lord of lords first!

Finally

Finally, after nine days of intensive training, we're set to go through the final assessment. This afternoon, we begin the exams on dive theory and regulations. Tomorrow, the teaching assessments, skills demonstration. And Sunday, open water dive training demonstrations and rescue simulation.

So far, by God's grace, I'm doing pretty well.

Praying I'll pull through this weekend with flying colours.

Jessica joined me yesterday and has been enjoyed lazing around the pool already.

I'm arranging for a day trip to one of the islands for her tomorrow so she can enjoy her dives while I sit for my tests.

Janielle, Janna, and Jirene are happily enjoying their days at their aunt's place until we're back.

Time flies. And before we know it, it's pre-rally!

See ya all!

Phuket Day 5

TSk TSK. Time just whizzed by since I landed in Phuket Sunday late evening.

Busy since with readings and assessments and exams and practicals on dive physics, physiology, equipment, calculations, skills and stuff.

Couple of the my dive kakis failed parts of some of the review exams. Thankfully, only me and a young British passed. Scored 80% to 100%. But more review tests to go.
But interestingly, all way more advanced in diving experience than me.

Praying to do very well. Must be top score mah. And polish up my skills.

Will post some pics when I can. Especially when Jessica joins me for fun dives next week.

Phuket is wonderful to dive. The Andaman sea is fabulous. Must make this annual dive spot la.

Hope to go there again early next year before dive season ends. So can certify Janielle as PADI Open Water. She dived there in April when we were there for couple of weeks.

And let the two other girls do Discover Scuba Diving.

Daulat Tuanku

The FRU getting all heated up during the crowd control. It's takes a lot to stay level headed. Not an easy job. Easy to freak out.



The one that didn't get away. Poor bugger.



Now this one was part of the demonstration. Nice choc sundae to cool off the heat after a long teary wet day.



All in a day's ruckus!



Big bird watching from the sky.



This is a good way to disperse the crowd. Don't know whether the water was laced with chemical or not. By the time I elbowed my way towards this water truck as the crowd rushed away, it stopped spraying.



Hah. That was when the warning bells clanged and the FRU assembled ready to fire. I thought what better place to be nearer to them and they'll shoot over me if they need to. But no. I was hit as I moved closer.



This was a zoomed shot. I was probably about 50 meters away when they fired.




This is the day everyone has been waiting for. Not everyone. But I was one of them. Well, some blogs say 100,000 people. Others tally it at 65,000. Foreign news agencies counted about 40,000. But let's just say tens of thousands thronged the streets of central Kuala Lumpur today to show support for a march to the King's palace to hand him a memorandum calling for his intervention to ensure a bersih election coming up before the year ends.

I'm posting some pictures I took from the beginning at Masjid Jamek, where news reports say the action was hottest, and ending at the King's palace when the crowd dispersed at 4.30pm.

(The system is really slow tonight. I'll post what I can today and continue tomorrow from Phuket where the line is faster)

Diving is All Fun

Do you know diving is soooooooo fun.

You get to learn that everything underwater is 25 percent magnified. Even if you're shortsighted, still can see one.

Did you know that underwater, you can hear something 1475 meters away in a second!

Yes! Your hearing powers increase 4 times underwater but maybe not so powerful like Superman. Your friend can do Morse Code hitting the tank to communicate even if he's far away. But you gotta learn Morse Code first.

I'll be off to the Andaman Sea Sunday evening and back end of the month. Will keep you all posted on the latest sights and sounds yeah.

Next year, who wants to go diving with me?

What's next?

Tonight, Hwai Tah and his fabulous team will meet over pizza to think-tank through the final matters of GY Camp 2007 and decide the winning entries of the T-Shirt competition.

All you brave hearts who have sent in your best materpieces keep your fingers crossed but don't hope to die yeah, and see who emerges as the Chaaaaampionnnnn!

And those of you who don't know nothing about the Leaders Training on Saturday, click into janielle7unique.blogspot.com to check the latest pics.

Tomorrow is the Worship and Musicians Workshop in PJ Grace starting at 10am with the group of artistes from Life Melbourne!

Find your way there and don't miss the fun and learning. Me? I'll be there but may need to dash off to visit some Deepavali non Christian friend(s) and YES! tHE Young Adults PJ are going with Klang folks for Sea Food and to watch kelip kelip lampu fly in Kuala Selangor or somewhere in Klang where also go light fly or fly light?

This Saturday, Uncle Kevin J will be preaching his heart out to Klang youths yeah! So be there! He'll be bringing his team along and if you know his team, they can be real whackoes full of zest!

Pinko Thinks Why Dice?

Just in case some of you are wondering why the dices, I'll best let Zlwin explain because he's the brains behind the new header in my blog. And, yes. I liked it. So it stays.

Why Dice?

The gambler places his bet. He gathers what is important to him and places it like an egg on the bull’s horn. He then takes the dice, shakes it in his hand and hoping for the best. He prays (to whom God knows) and he hopes. Holding the dice tightly in his palm he then throws it on the gambling table. The faces of the dice then decide his destiny.

What does it matter?

To a gambler who has almost nothing to call his own, nothing matters. No responsibilities, nothing matters. No aim in life, nothing matters. No reason for living another day, nothing matters. It does not matter to him anymore whether he lose or wins. If he loses, it is just another lost out of his hundreds. If he wins, he gives thanks to luck and then rolls the dice again and hope luck is still with him.

The problem now is that we fail to see beyond the question, “What does it matter?” Before we do something, we don’t even give a thought of how will it affect us or others in the days to come.

I have money, I have fame, and I have the position of utmost importance, what does having Jesus matter to me? Does it matter if I don’t share the Gospel? After all, there are a lot of enthusiastic Christians out there to do it. What does it matter if I am not one of them?

If I do this, what does it matter? If I don’t do this, what does it matter?

We lead comfortable lives and have everything we want for our pleasure and comfort. Life couldn’t be better than this. Read the Bible? Haha. What does it matter? Pray? Yea I do pray, I pray that God will bless my family and me. I thank God each day for the blessings He has poured on me. I am so blessed. Press in and seek the things of God and everything will be given to me as well? But I have everything. What does it matter?

We just go on with life each day chasing after our own dreams and desires oblivious of what is going on around us. Many of us do know the seriousness of the situation in the world we live in today... but... what does it matter?

Each day is lived based on the end results of yesterday’s living. Must we then take good care of how we live today? What does it matter?

We just throw the dice and que sara sara, whatever will be will be.

What does it matter anyway?

Flashback

I unintentionnaly caught a movie a day or two back titled Flashback. Basically a comedy about a young FBI agent escorting to court an ageing 70's hippie rebel who had lost most of his youthful idealism but still had enough magic to rub off people who spent time with him.

Those of you who happen to know what a hippie is and the culture then understand it's all about living your dreams and fighting the conservative but corrupt capitalistic establishment.

That old fella, Huey Walker, had charisma and a dream. But no idea how to make the two work. Although he had a huge following, most of the crowd frazzled out over time, with nothing but a tattered dream.

What was wrong was the methodology.

Today, we are faced with similar dilemmas.

We know we need to fix the system. But how?

Mother earth is slowly hacked, poisoned, choked, stripped, and hanged out to dry a miserable death. Greenpeace and other environmental groups like Friends of the Earth, United Nations Environmental Program, Wildlife Trust, Earth Charter Initiative, Biofuelwatch, Global Witness, Nature Serve and many others are battling on fronts that most Christians know nothing about.

Corrupt capitalist governments, dictatorships, and imbecilic rulers of developing nations continue their merry making while more than two thirds of the world wallow in poverty.

What does it matter? To Christians and the church? Should we be concerned since the earth is slated for destruction anyhow? What is our role here?

Just preaching the Gospel? Or excuse me you say, preaching the Gospel includes the above. Yes?

It's never too late to rethink our life purpose and priorities. And methodology.

George Clooney said:

Don't wait till you're 65 before asking what should I have done with my life differently if I knew better.

Cut the Crap, Not the Tree

This morning I awoke to a burning desire to cut some crap that I saw in my life around me.

You know. It's that growing feeling of seething discontent and... must have something to do with a dream I had.

But anyways, I blended myself three glasses of tomatoes, a carrot, two bananas, and a green apple. Then with gusto, I set about pruning, sawing, hacking, until the bourgainvillae in my house was a stump standing 10 feet tall.

My sweet wifey shrieked when she saw how I mutilated the unfruitful tree.

I just smiled away that Anthony Hopkins' Red Dragon smirk, still smarting from countless scratches and stabs from the thorns of that wretched tree-plant.

Here's what a fruitful tree look like:


Now my house looks out to open skies.

That was just a symbolic act.

The year is going to end soon. And by the time it is through, I hope to have started cutting not just fruitless trees in my life, not just the crap in and around me, ... but prepare for the next phase in my life.

Oh, by the way, I also laid three mouse traps to snare the monkeys that have been marauding my castle. To no avail. The smart buggers, again, took the food, and left a trail of crumbs and skin all over.

Did I say anything about killing monkeys in my life? You bet.

Questions Questions Questions

Shall I post questions and answers on this blog itself?

NOthing like making life easier for everyone. As it is, the tyranny of the urgent has lured us into busyland once too long. Yeah, yeah. I know my last blog was like a week or more back.

And it's not just mind over matter.

The past two weeks, Hwai Tah, Jeff, Benny, Hosanna, Bernice, and me have met over the GY camp leaders training preparation on Nov 3. And boy, have we been having fun working!

It's interesting how more work can be done when you simply enjoy what you do. And those who are into running leadership and teambuilding workshops, it's simply fun.

Someone once said: If your play is also your work, then you don't have to work a single day in your life. Because you're playing all the way.

Opps. Enough digression...

One question on a Sunday morning.

You know ah, Pastor Henry preached about obeying our parents saying if they say don't go to church, don't this, don't that... then we better obey. I've been thinking about going into full time ministry and taking up studies in Bible College. What if my parents object and scold me?

Hmm. Do you see Pastor Henry standing there chatting with somebody? Yeah, right, that's him. Why don't you go right up to him and ask him that? Then come back and tell me what he said.

Moments later. This person bounces back and smiles sheepishly. He said depends laa.

That's all? And you didn't ask some more?

Kek ekek kek kek. OK are you happy with that answer?

What do you think?

Mind Over Matter

The other day I was browsing in MPH and flipped through The Secret by Rhonda Byrne - the much touted miracle book that has taken the world by storm, apparently, spawning countless other books, websites, DVDs and articles in support of or against the principle of successful living - think right.

Interestingly, this idea is as old as the first thought itself. When God thought and spoke into being the world in Genesis.

Of course thinking works! The world is where it is because of thinking. More messed up than otherwise because of wrong thinking. But thankfully it has advanced in positive ways through right thinking.

What about you and me? What does it matter if you think right or wrong? It matters!

But is it as simple as mind over matter? Is it simply a matter of the mind?

For those who haven't read the book, basically it is a compilation of quotes from the author's favourite experts in the subject of thinking right. Her basic premise: Think positive thoughts and you get what you want in life. It's simply the Law of Attraction.

I'd say that is one powerful principle. Even without God, it works.

But with God, it more than works.

Just how far we want to apply this principle to milk it for all its worth. Phil 4:4-8 has lots to say on this matter.

One of the better books that put Rhonda's The Secret in perspective is Dr Henry Cloud's Secret Things of God.

Dr Henry Cloud has been one of my all time best writer. I was glad to note his prompt response to set the record straight. Because otherwise, most people would easily drift into humanism.

What's that? New age stuff but actually as old as Hinduism, and possibly older. Elevating man to the status of God.

Quote of the Day:

We're the sum total of our memories.

And memories are a product of our thoughts.

What we think becomes memories. Since we process our experiences, what people say, what we see, what we feel, what we smell... those also become memories through the filter of thought.

So be watchful how you think.