"Realtionships 101"

5 Things That Men Should Do More/Less:

1. Spend more quality time (give undivided attention)

2. Share more of our feelings rather than just facts

3. Listen/understand rather than just give solutions

4. Give priority to each other; don't put things above people

5. Learn to be more gentlemanly and romantic; chivalry is not dead


5 Things That Women Should Do More/Less:

1. Nag less - do not try to dictate everything that guys should/should not do

2. Be more logical and less emotional; especially when problems arise

3. Be supportive; make each other look good in public

4. Be specific with what you want; guys suck at guessing

5. Learn to be more secure; confidence is attractive

Seeking God's kingdom

Just a sharing from Kara... since Can! shared a nice story...

Sun's message was a message in season for me... Pst Rick spoke abt how our past failure can cause us to stay in a certain place and be afraid to tread forward... and also how our previous victories can cause us to celebrate for too long that we don't move on to see future victories....

I started off full of energy and strength but as the battle continued, I find hope waivering. I shall learn to walk away from previous failures and take steps forward this week. I can, because God will move my mountains!

As I responded to the altar call, the minister gave this verse to me:

Matthew 6:33 (New International Version)
33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

How, Lord? How to seek... I can only do what I know how and wait upon Your response. Really need You to surprise me once again!!!!!

Coming onto my Big Day......

I remember a while ago, I thought to myself... In an average person's lifetime, he/she has only 2 open opportunities to share Christ with friends they care abt on a big scale.

The first would be at their Wedding where close friends would come, unguarded, with no tinted views that we're trying to preach something.

The next event would be at their Funeral, where pre-Christians friends get to hear the eulogy of how God has shaped the person's life and look back at the last words of the person...

I think my last words to all my friends would be:

"See & taste that the Lord is good..." you must get to know the Jesus that I know before you lie in the coffin like me now. HAH!

Seeing more and more of my friends RSVPing on Facebook that they're coming to my church wedding, I feel a sense of excitment! Not because I have beautiful photos or a lovely gown, but because I know it's an open opportunity for them to know Christ. I believe God will start sowing small seeds of love in their hearts as they join in the worship and witness in our matrimony.

I've been inspired to continually look at the wedding as an evangelistic event. It's not just a Randy+Kara-day but the Lord's day! Wanna dedicate that day to the Lord, and hope that people's perception abt Christians will change and they will be more open to Jesus through this event.

Pray along with me! That all my friends who step into the auditorium on 11th July will feel the love of God tugging at their hearts... :)

Looking forward to my Big Fat "Evengelistic" Event!

Thought I'd share this story

Amazing what a little soap will do

Herman and his wife Lucy never miss church... They're never late and they are always there every Sunday and the same goes for weekly Bible Study too. You probably have seen a couple like this in your church. You may even be like them!

Herman is the laid back type. A hard working man, close to retirement, and never one to complain. Lucy, on the other hand, is the gossiping busy body type. She doesn't have a paying job since Herman's income is pretty good, so she just makes it her business to keep up on everyone else's business.

A young couple moved into the neighborhood, and Lucy invited them to their church. They have been going there for a few weeks now and seem like a pretty nice couple as far as everyone can tell. Besides, if they weren't nice, Lucy would have already told the whole town. She keeps a close eye on them.

One morning while they are eating breakfast, Lucy happened to see the young woman outside hanging the wash out to dry. "Well! That laundry is not very clean", she exclaimed to Herman. "That silly girl doesn't even know how to wash correctly." she said as she was standing at her kitchen sink. "Perhaps she just needs better laundry soap." Said Herman.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lucy would make the same sort of degrading comments, and she even told a few of the other ladies in the women's Bible study group. Even though Lucy would have strong words of criticism most every day, she would never go over and offer her assistance. She would rather sit there in the comfort of her 'glass home' and throw stones at the neighbor. And every time it happened, ol' Herman would look on, but he would still remain silent.

About one month later, Lucy was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: "Well what do you know, she finally learned how to do the darn laundry correctly! I wonder who taught her this?"

Herman said, "I don't know dear, but I got up a little early this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.

The Bible tells us to remove the beam from our eye when we tell our brother to remove the speck from his eye. (Luke 6:39-42) This doesn't mean we should not judge. We should. Judge a man by his fruit. It is good to know what not to do. But be sure that as you do this, you will also be judged in the same way. Can you handle it? Either way, it is impossible for us to judge what is on the inside of any man. That is something only God can do.

No matter what, we must love. It is easy to judge someone else, because we never judge ourselves on the same standard. We also never love someone the way God does, and the way He wants us to.

Let us consider our ways.

Is Jesus Coming Back Soon?

Today at our office's weekly lunch time fellowship, an American couple who lives in Jersusalem came to share about their ministry in bringing reconciliation between the Jews and Christians. Much of the hatred that the Jews have against Christians stems from the fact that Hitler was a baptized and rather devout Roman Catholic since birth. As such, the association between the terrible massacre of the Jews, during the holocaust, and Christianity is still clear in the minds of the Jewish people.

During the sermon, the couple focused their sharing on "the signs of the times" (the indicators that signal the second coming of Christ); the developments in the middle east, the rebuilding of the temple etc. I was honestly quite cynical about the "signs" that they were enthusiastically sharing about as teachings about the Jesus' return has been preached throughout the decades. Will we really see Christ's return in our lifetime? Is it His second coming really that near?

As I was sat there with my pride & cynicism, I truly felt convicted/rebuked by the Holy Spirit. It was as if the Lord was saying to me...

"it doesn't matter whether you know the exact day and time of my return, what bothers me is the condition of your heart. Do you even look forward (with anticipation) towards my return (longing to see me face-to-face) or are you totally unconcerned and indifferent about meeting with me when I return?"

How would you feel if you went away and your spouse or loved ones never once bothered/cared about when you will be coming home? Painful isn't it. I believe that was how God feels when we are so caught up with our lives that we don't long for His return; in fact there are some Christians who even secretly wishes that He delays His return so that we can enjoy more of what this world has to offer. I am ashamed to say that at times, I am one of them.


So is Jesus coming back soon? Maybe a better question is "does it even mattter to you"?

Have fun in KL!

Our cell blog has been so quiet! My gosh, nobody even blogs here! Hence i shall contribute since I'm bed-ridden and glued to the computer for this week...

Seeing all your emails on your itinerary for the KL trip this weekend, i'm feeling so excited for all of u!! Waiting at Golden Mile for coach, grabbing some rest (if any) and thinking abt what to do when the bus uncle shouts "Berjaya times Square" and u open your eyes... U will definitely have alot of fun!!!!!! All the karaoke-ing, eating and shopping! Wish I could be there too man..

But well just for the record of why I'm not going:

1) I'm currently broke

2) saving 4 my photographic equipments

3) saving for honeymoon(s)

Anyways, here's some of my recommendations of the to-dos when u get there (I'm sure many of u are probably even more well-acquainted with KL):

Shopping:

"The Golden Triangle" - Bukit Bintang area: Sungei Wang plaza


KLCC - my malaysian friend once told me that there's a free tour that goes up to the bridge (connecting the 2 towers) at 10am.. worth a check...

Mid Valley Mega Mall (need to take a train, not within walking distance to your hotel)

Lot 10 - Shop at Isetan (with brands like Mango, SEED etc in there) especially if they're having sale

(Ladies - buy alot of shoes from local VNC... they're much cheaper in KL!)

(I say, don't bother with Chinatown. It's juz a mega pasar malam with fake replications)


My usual-eats:


- Madam Kuan - touted for their Nasi Padangs (abt S$10/serving) - available at KLCC


- KFC - But of coz our neighbour serves up better fried chicken than us


- Kim Gary HK cafe - Thick toasts, baked rice, yogurt drinks


- "CrystalJade" type eatery - at the basement of Plaza Low Yat (u'll pass it if u walk from hotel to Bukit Bintang area)

- HK cafe opp Capitol Hotel - serves nice + affordable noodles, has a chu(1) qian(2) yi(1) ding(1) cartoon mascott outside their cafe

Add to this list of recommendations when u guys come back k?! Have a good trip! ;)

Trust God, Not Circumstances

“On another Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.” Luke 6:6-13

Let’s look closely at the man with the shrivelled hand. This was a deformity, something to be ashamed about. Maybe he kept it hidden in his cloak. Maybe he kept his hand behind his back. But it would have been something he was ashamed of. How did he feel about his hand? Was he angry with God and ask, “Why me?” Was he bitter? We don’t know. But we can guess something about this man’s walk with God from the fact that he was in the temple on Sabbath Day. At the right place, doing the right thing to honour the God he believed. Then imagine this. Jesus stops teaching and looks around. He looks at this man with the shrivelled hand and says “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” Oh, the embarrassment of this! Imagine – it is Sabbath, the synagogue is full and the Teacher asks you to stand up in front of everyone. Every eye is on you. How vulnerable the man must have felt. Then, something ‘worse’ happens. Jesus says “Stretch out your hand.” In full view of the whole synagogue. For everyone to see! That hand that he had probably kept hidden, that hand that was his source of sadness and anger and shame. Yet he obeyed and stretched that withered hand out for everyone to look at. Then the miracle happens. His withered, shrivelled hand is restored! Made whole again! Healed! That which caused him shame now healed in front of everyone and God’s glory revealed! The joy of that moment for this man – can words describe it?

And what did it mean to me? It made me ask myself – what is my withered hand? What shame, guilt, sorrow, weakness am I keeping hidden? What am I being bitter, angry or sad about? And is my heart right with God despite it? God is asking me to trust Him. To stand up, ignore all other eyes, keep my eye only on Him and say “Here, Lord, this is my weakness. This is my shame. This is my worry, my burden.” God is asking me to trust Him with my vulnerability. To trust Him with my pain. To trust Him with my sadness and guilt. And He will heal gloriously. He will reveal His power in my weakness. Our God is awesome.

Father, Hold My Hand

A little girl and her father were crossing a narrow bridge. Afraid that the child might fall into the river, the father said, "Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river." The little girl said, "No, Dad. You hold my hand." "What's the difference?" asked the puzzled father. "There's a big difference," replied the little girl. "If I hold your hand and happen to stumble, chances are that I may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go.... "In any relationship, the essence of trust is not in its bind, but in its bond. Thank God that we have a Father who will never let us go. Even when we stumble and let go of His hand, His grip is sure and He never lets us go.

God's Yellow Pages

Let your fingers do the walking http://www.divinepeace.com/Yellow_Pages.html

Impossible Is Nothing

Haha no this is not an Adidas ad... but maybe I should sell this to Adidas... earn some money to sponsor my children from there.

Well guys, go for whatever you wanna do because

IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.

When someone tells you that you can't do something...

Look around....

Consider all options....

Then GO for it!

Use all the things God gave you and be creative!
In the end, you will succeed and prove them wrong!

So folks... remember... nothing is impossible if your heart is willing. For I can do all things through Christ who give me strength (Philippians 4:11)

Will You Eat This Brownie?

Hey peeps, just to share something that I happen to read...

Two teenagers asked their father if they could go the theatre to watch a movie that all their friends had seen. After reading some reviews about the movie on the Internet, he denied their request.

"Aw dad, why not?" they complained. It is rated PG-13, and we're both older than thirteen!" Dad replied: "Because that movie contains nudity and portrays immorality as being normal and acceptable behavior." "But dad, those are just very small parts of the movie! That's what our friends who've seen it have told us.. The movie is two hours long and those scenes are just a few minutes of the total film! It's based on a true story and good triumphs over evil, and there are other redeeming themes like courage and self-sacrifice. Even the movie review websites say that!" "My answer is no, and that is my final answer. You are welcome to stay home tonight, invite some of your friends over, and watch one of the good videos we have in our home collection. But you will not go and watch that film. End of discussion.

"The two teenagers walked dejectedly into the family room and slumped down on the couch. As they sulked, they were surprised to hear the sounds of their father preparing something in the kitchen. They soon recognized the wonderful aroma of brownies baking in the oven, and one of the teenagers said to the other, "Dad must be feeling guilty, and now he's going to try to make it up to us with some fresh brownies. Maybe we can soften him with lots of praise when he brings them out to us and persuade him to let us go to that movie after all." The teens were not disappointed. Soon their father appeared with a plate of warm brownies, which he offered to his kids.

They each took one. Then their father said, "Before you eat, I want to tell you something: I love you both so much." The teenagers smiled at each other with knowing glances. Dad was softening. "That is why I've made these brownies with the very best ingredients. I've made them from scratch. Most of the ingredients are even organic. The best organic flour. The best free-range eggs. The best organic sugar. Premium vanilla and chocolate."The brownies looked mouth-watering, and the teens began to become a little impatient with their dad's long speech. "But I want to be perfectly honest with you. There is one ingredient I added that is not usually found in brownies. I got that ingredient from our own back yard. But you needn't worry, because I only added the tiniest bit of that ingredient to your brownies. The amount of the portion is practically insignificant. So go ahead, take a bite and let me know what you think."

"Dad, would you mind telling us what that mystery ingredient is before we eat?" "Why? The portion I added was so small. Just a teaspoonful. You won't even taste it." "Come on, dad just tell us what that ingredient is." "Don't worry! It is organic, just like the other ingredients." "Dad!" "Well, OK, if you insist. That secret ingredient is fresh organic..dogpoop."Both teens instantly dropped their brownies back on the plate and began inspecting their fingers with horror. "DAD! Why did you do that? You've tortured us by making us smell those brownies cooking for the last half hour, and now you tell us that you added dog poop! We can't eat these brownies!" "Why not? The amount of dog poop is very small compared to the rest of the ingredients. It won't hurt you. It's been cooked right along with the other ingredients. You won't even taste it. It has the same consistency as the brownies. Go ahead and eat. "No, Dad...NEVER!"

"And that is the same reason I won't allow you to go watch that movie. You won't tolerate a little dog poop in your brownies, so why should you tolerate a little immorality in your movies? We pray that God will not lead us unto temptation, so how can we in good conscience entertain ourselves with something that will imprint a sinful image in our minds that will lead us into temptation long after we first see it?"

What a good lesson about purity! Why do we tolerate any sin? On the day of the Passover, the Israelites were commanded to remove every bit of leaven from their homes. Sin is like leaven - a little bit leavens the whole lump (1Corinthians 5:6,7), faith and sin, don't mix.

Daniel 12:3 says “ those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like stars forever."

Matthias

Since young, Matthias did not have any particular big dreams. Perhaps the biggest thing is to be an international speaker for God. He was inspired by a video tape titled 'The Art Of Preaching' by City Harvest Church.

Matthias shared how he used to record his own voice with some background worship music playing and pretended to invite alter calls.

In recent times, he has been thinking of life and death. He would like to widen his perspective and travel the world. Perhaps try more things as the world is so vast.

Randy

From a young age, Randy had an interest in building a successful pet business. At a young age, an idea from an Aunt to breed hamsters for sale turned the light bulb on. He started breeding hamsters and selling them to the neighbourhood pet shop for $1 each.

Randy hopes to setup a proper pet shop selling only hamsters and all kinds of accessories one day. It will include a hamster orphanage too. The name of the shop will be called 'Hamster In The House'.

A more distant dream is to invent a time machine.

Ezen

Ezen dreams of playing the drums one day although she feel's it will be quite an effort to coordinate her hands and feet. Matthias volunteered to enable her dreams this year. I guess we will be having a full band setup for cell worship soon.

On the topic of hands, Ezen shared that she is a very hands on person and not really good with words. Hence, her aspiration is to contribute financially to build a school in a third world country. She believes that donations of food and clothing are only helping and impact lives for a short moment. However, education impacts lives and enables people. She might adopt or sponser a few orphans too.

Her hobby is to make jewellery and hope to set up a business one day. Another area of interest is to become a freelance makeup artist. Ezen also recalled a dream when she was in Junior College to become a physio therapist.

The Barber & God

This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and suffering that I have seen...

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation.
They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said:
"I don't believe that God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist.
Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people?
Would there be abandoned children?
If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain.
I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things."
The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.
The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.
Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard.
He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber:
"You know what? Barbers do not exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber.
"I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"
"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because
if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."
"Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me."
"Exactly!" affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist!
That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help.
That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

Chinese New Year Steamboat Dinner 2009

Cost of Yu Sheng from Soup Restaurant = $18

Cost of Steamboat Ingredients = $10/person
Cost of broken Chopsticks = $2
Cost of a unforgettable Chinese New Year gathering = Priceless

Let's start the soup boiling and grill heating up!

Throw in the Ingredients!

Featuring.....
Jaime,
Our Beloved Professional Prawn Shell Peeler (volunteered)

and...
Our imported foreign talent, BBQist Gina!

Contented, tummy filled Molies