The Youth Leaders we met at the Trip

The youth leaders that we met at the first camp and those that went to the two youth camps with us inspired us through their faith and passion. They wake up early and spend at least 2 hours doing their morning devotions. Their prayers were sincere and powerful and they knowledge of the Word of God is strong. They lived a simple peasant life. They sacrificed their education and youth for the sake of the gospel. They get ridiculed for what they believed in, but they all said that its worth is for the gospel’s sake. They sang their songs to God which seems to have deeper meaning for them than for us. Despite their personal problems they are thriving. I pray that they will succeed in bring the gospel to the whole of their great land.

When I returned to Singapore, I thought about my own life. I realized that the pursuit of the excesses in life is insignificant if God isn’t the foremost person we pursue. I have enjoyed much in life, they didn’t, but yet they are contented. I returned with a heart hungry to learn and eager to serve with all my heart like they did. Having lived, ate and walked with them for only 10 days, if I do not resolve to change my lifestyle and make the sacrifice to live a more holy life unto God, the trip would have been a wasted one.

In retrospect

Lest I forget the people I have met there
Lest I forget the lessons that I learned from them
Lest I forget to remember
Please do not ever forget...

13 Jul 2005, on the bus to our first camping location



Give me a confidence I need to face eacg passing day
A chance to see Your pow'r at work in me in everyway
Do not be far from me in times my witness fails
But keep me clinging to the cross and guide me while I'm here



23 Jul 2005, on the bus back to the city after doing three camps in 11 days

The proding in my heart reveals a hunger in my soul
The life You gave I dare not waste because it's not my own
Grant me the strength to trust in You in everything I do
Let every action, every thought and word bring glory to You

25 Jul 2005, at home reflecting about the trip


In retrospect I thought about the saints I met back there
I saw their faith that brightly blazed now cries out for a change:

I resolve to spend my non-working day in reading and in prayer To be prepared for what I feel what God wants me to do

I resolve to spend more time in reading and in prayer
This are for days I have to work that sometimes cause despair

Crawl to China

Is God asking you to crawl to China - or just to cross the street?
To trudge through the desert through Arabian heat
Or to accomplish the impossible - an Herculean feat
Or maybe just trade in bad thoughts obsolete

Is it the concentration camps at Dackow?
Is it Joan of Arc revisited?
Niagara Falls in a barrel?
Or to mend a broken relationship instead?

Crawl to China

He is faithful - it remains in His hands
From the cold barren Arctic to the war stricken lands
From the place in your heart where despair takes its hold
To the lairs of the demons where deceptions are told
Is God asking you to crawl to China or just to cross the street?

Crawl to China

With emotional rigormortis freezing your step
You won’t be going far at all
It feels pretty safe but the danger is real
You won’t grow until you face the fear that you feel

Crawl to China

By TOURNIQUET

This is an incredible song by one of favourite bands all time Tourniquet. I was taking a showing before I start my final day of preparation and this song just came to my mind.

Firstly I want to thank God for all the endless encouragement and prayers from my friends. Now the journey is not a crawl but a flight. It's the same feeling to what Isaiah said about mounting with wings like an eagle; oh to feel the breeze of the Lord lift me up over my troubles!! What a great God we serve! With this great confidence that has been bestowed upon me, I'll serve with with power from on high so that I shall boast of nothing about myself, but in everything "Halellu Jah, the LORD reigns!"

But Oh Lord, give me the attitude of Christ. Give me the attitude of a servant like what u did on earth so that when I boast, I boast of my master and not myself. All that I have and all that I am is because of who you are to me. Praise Ur everlasting Name!

Second, the thought of the day I want to leave you guys is this:

"You won’t grow until you face the fear that you feel"

We have a great God that the bible has testified about. If God can do all those things for people in the bible, surely He can do it for us if we ernestly ask Him too. I do not believe that God is silent like those so-called "400 lost years". I believed that He just waited but still work thru people of great faith, but not on a large national level that were recorded in scripture. I believe that it's the same today. God is "silent" but his words are coming to past through events in history. We are living in exciting times! It's so super-duper awesome when u understand that the hand of God is still very much active just as He was in the days of old. Back then God spoke thru his servants (real authentic ones). Today, we don't hear about those servants (but there are great preachers who affirm the already spoken word of God), but God is moving and He is moving even more than before!

I don't care if the people are not moving, they are gonna just missed out on the Lord. And when He said he is able and mighty to save. He will do it indeed for His people who bear His name. The fear that I feel is nothing when the power of the Holy Spirit empowers the heart. Now I can grow because of the Lord's work within.

"I am growing because I faced the fear that I felt"

Crawl to china!!
Crawl to China!!
Crawl to China!!

*If you really want to hear this song, let me know, I'll be glad to share this song with you after I return. Meanwhile keep us in prayer!!

Confidence

I am not totally able to master Chinese, but I am so ready to do the Lord's work there. Thank God for the prayers and the encouragement of the Saints! Thank God for the example of the Apostle in Acts. I am ready, Lord! I want to be used by You! I want to start a fire; a passion for Your glory. Let it be shown in our work there!

Pray for us!!!

Tomorrow is TOSOG's first official jam session. It's going to be a short one, but I am really excited about it! Praise God!

What are friends for!

Although SW is my wife, she is always my best friend. Last night I had an idea for a script just by listening to her talk about her students in school. I had a good laugh. I made it a point to not go online last night, but here I am at 5.45am updating this! U rock, BABY!

Here we go now, the EA trip is about 4 days away. I am more prepared to go than before and I wondered how in the world I was paralysed by fear. The word of the Lord to me (thru others) was constant.

"Everything by prayer and supplication..."

"He will put the words into your mouth..."

"Trust God..."

"God will use u..."

It's so awesome! Although I am not 100% prepared, I have confidence in Christ already. As I said before, I must do my part and just let the Lord help me with the rest. It's going to be a trip where I'll finally see a miracle, because I really need one. So I'll simply have faith and believe.

Sorry Lord that I allow fear to affect me
Now I'll let the world know who rulz and how you "infect" me
Inspire me me
Conspire with me
We're going places

I must add this, a dear sec friend has accepted Christ, he is Guohua. He called me two days ago and I am so happy for him! I somehow saw it coming from the conversation we had. What a guy! what a timing! What a SALVATION! YAHOO!!!

Silence...

I won't blog much in the run up to the trip, there are too many things in my head and I just want to remain focus on the task ahead at EA.

Pray for us.

My new toy

Say "hello" to my new snare drum! I've been waiting impatiently since Feb! At last it's here. I've yet to give it a real test, I think I'll do it when Gloria jams on Thurs. I can't wait!! It really looks more beautiful than this photo. U'll hear and see it at Sonic Fest.

Satisfied

Coz Liang returned me all the cds that he borrowed - 17 in all!! Wah Piang! But my Petra"Never Say Die" is not with him!! Hahaha...

I dunno how come I receive 3 smses encouraging me about the EA thing. May be it's my blog, but hey, that's what we all should do - share one another's burden! So I am confident that the trip will not be wasted coz it's been prayed for and I will do my part in obeying the Lord and continue to strive to make a difference to my team, the people we will bless and myself.

Snare Drum and last week

Yes, my long awaited snare drum has arrived. I wish I could show u the pict I took with it. But I am at Jurong this week, so u might not have a chance to see it until after the EA trip. It's such a beauty!! I'll post pict of it soon!

Last week was a tormenting week for me. I was faced with two of my greatest enemies. Let me tell u about one of them. Considered the other one solved (with help from my lovely one-and-only-hottest-chick in the east!) As some of you know that I'll be away on the EA trip. Tell u the truth, my preparation is so bad that I freaked out! Now since the trip is less than a week away, I did begin to speak more mandarin and at least read through the Youth Camp File through. It's so difficult and there are other lose ends to tie up. I am so lazy, I am suppose to call some people, but I am procastinating. How naughty!!!

Must make much of what I have been given! No time is too little to redeem that which is lost.

Blessed

Or should I say impressed. Joseph has been asking me about 2 timothy 2: 2 and I am glad that Esther and him have decided to go for it on Wed near Chinatown. Today I went to church just to sit in his cell and I thought he thought the word pretty well. I could see the passion he has for the truth. Oh, how could I help him when I am also a student, Lord. But help me first before I could help him further.

One of the reasons why I have been quiet lately is due to the EA trip. I am really paralysed by feat of speaking mandarin. Yet, I shall not back out and will commit it to the Lord. I have to admit that my laziness has taken it's toll. Now that the trip is just 9 days away, I feel that I am in deep trouble for being ill-prepared. If we read through the prep that we need to prepare, they should have dropped me from the team, but the other trippers have been such a darling bunch. They kept urging and encouraging me. I am in a lost for words for the love that they have showed. That is why I am not backing out although I really want to. Why feel so miserable if I could just back out, right? It's a real challenge and I know it'll be a great learning experience for me. If u are a tripper and u are reading this, Thanks! I feel blessed!

Pls pray for me...

True Religion

Jonathan Edwards is such an inspirational person. I was so inspired from reading John Piper's own influences by this great man of God. I was reading this book called "The World's Greatest Preachers" and read a comment that Edwards made. Edwards desired to "set forth to transform his congregation, as well as congregations throughout New England (The state where he was from), from mere believers who understood the logic of Christian doctrine to converted Christians who were genuinely moved by the principles of their belief."

My question for you then is this, are you a

1) Mere believer who understood the logic of Christian doctrine or

2) Converted Christian who were genuinely moved by the principles of you belief?

All the way home

Let this good life be the life we lead
Let our faith grow like a mustard seed
Let his love be all the love we need
To carry us all the way home.

Let the rain fall on me

This world is crumbling, your kingdom is at hand
Give me the strength to live and help me to stand.
There's gonna be a collision, the world is going fast
A mortgaged future meets a bankrupt past.
A change is coming and people slumber in their bed
Storm clouds are bringing rain and the moon is turning red.

We might be in this world but not of it. Rather than complaining about everything I am learning to have compassion for them instead. It makes me a more collected person. Being angry all the time only withers me. What purpose do I accomplish in getting mad, why not make a difference by living out our calling in life. Does that mean I will be silent if I see things that I do not agree, I won't, but I'll cry to the Lord in prayer and let the Holy Spirit be my motivator to speak or to be silent. After all that's been said, I only want to please God, not my way, but His.

Heavenly Father, thou who all doth see
You let the rain fall down on the quick and the dead
So let the rain fall down on me.

Let the rain fall

As through this life you rambled
And through this world you roam
You might live in a lot of houses and never find a home
As down the road you wander or through open field you cross
You must never stop believing for all is not lost
ANd don't you worry about unfaithful lovers of false friends
For the love that you have tried to give is all matters in the end

We're living in times that are really troubling. I think about my life and the life of my friends and I wonder how difficult it is to sometimes holdfast to the standard that the Lord has set for us. But I don't want to live life in any other way other than the way of the Lord as the Holy Spirit taught us. The way for us to travel is tough, but it's not impossible to travel. I know we are all in this together. Let's spur and encourage each other on. Dun tear others down, build them up. Lead them by example, correct them in gentleness and recieve them with open arms.

Let's be there for those who are weary. Let's be one with them. Let's rejoice in their triumph and grief with them in their lost. Let's be all that we can be as Christ's ambassadors. Let's reflect God in our lives.

Dearest Father, help me Thine to be
You let the rain fall on the good and the bad
So let the rain fall down on me

Some good, really good old music!

Check out this group that I am sure u have never heard in your life. They are made up of 2 sisters and one brother and they called themselves "The Second Chapter of Acts". This clip features them singing "Easter Song" which Keith Green did a cover (They were friends and Keith was good friends with one of the sisters). Check it out, man! No wonder Keith said they sounded like angels! This is my first 2nd Chap listening experience. I hope u'll like it too.

And how can I not include my biggest music influence Keith Green. Listen to this and u'll know what real fire and passion is about. It's Keith performing "My Eyes are Dry".

Lastly, Larry Norman. He is a great great songwriter. He recorded so many CDs, I got so fed up when I realised he have so many recordings that I decided to buy only his "live" CDs. Those have really inspired and blessed me and I've been spreading his music among my friends. They all agree that he is really good. The issues he deals with are so real and he could write them in a way that is so poetic and yet real. Here's a sample of the song "I am a servant"

I got all these from this website that feature music from what I believe is the "golden age" of Christian music in the 70s called "The Jesus Movement". That was one revival that sprang out in the midst of the Hippie Movement of the late 60s.