A Sweet Victory

Recently, I took part in a (parent-child lookalike) contest organised by my company .

this pic with dad in Genting was the one i chose

The final result will depend on how the rest of the office staff voted and also partly on how the panel of judges voted.

However, there was a loophole in the staff voting system in that it is not one vote per staff.

Hence, it is possible to have a person casting multiple votes for  themselves

Though I was a wee bit disappointed that it is not the fairest of system to decide the competition I just cast a vote for myself and left it as that without thinking too much into it. 

I want to believe that ultimately it is important to adhere to the spirit of fair competition even if others around me may not be doing that. And I hope deep within my heart that somehow, righteousness will prevail.

Today, I got a call from the organiser asking me to go to the meeting room and lo and behold I saw this…

That’s right, I have won the 2^nd prize and I was told I just missed out on the 1^st by the slimmest of margin about 1%..  I know I got a low public vote count but I believed the panel of judges gave me their endorsement ;o) hence I was able to get 2^nd position.

 At the end of the day, It was a sweet victory for me because I know I have won it fairly and that is the most important.

Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice. Proverbs 16:8

BUSTED!

This morning, I came across this article in the newspaper.


It was reported that a thief in London tried to steal a car which has been set up by the police with dye trap.

He was later on being arrested and although he tried denying his crime, the evidence was strongly against him because photos showed his face covered with green liquid which was visible only under ultraviolet light.

This incident made me think of our sins. Like the thief in this report, many times, we may have committed sins which are unseen to others around us and sins which we tried to deny.

However, God is like the ultraviolet light that is able to detect our hidden sins easily.

God knows that Adam ate the forbidden fruit and God see David’s covetousness for Bathsheba

There is no hiding, we can only repent.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

IOS 7

Recently, I did an exercise to upgrade my iphone platform to IOS 7.

Finally, I am no longer being shown the frustrating message “ this application need IOS 5 or higher ”

I am never someone who is very tech savvy or someone who is always on the lookout for newer and better versions of technology but I do acknowledge and accept that many a times, what happens outside forces us to at least keep up.

In this case, If I keep using the IOS 4 platform, my iphone is not working at its potential and is limited in many areas though no fault of the device or user.

It’s just the progress of technology that makes my device more and more obsolete.

Lesson Learnt

In our walk with God, there are some similarities too. Many of us are living and operating in IOS 4 platform faith when in fact we can be that much higher.

That is because the Holy Spirit is so powerful, if we were to allow it to work in our life, he can give us greater capacity to love, more wisdom, more power, more spiritual gifts, better leadership, greater understanding, more humilty etc...

But first, we must first allow for the “upgrade” to happen by having a holy discontentment of our current state and recognise that there must be more that God can do in our lives.

Then, we ask the Holy Spirit to work in the various areas in our lives that need a major transformation. By doing this, we are effective upgrading our platform to a much higher one.

However, many of us are contended to just live in our old platform because we are comfortable there, we are familiar there and we do not see the need to move out of that zone.

By doing that, we short-change our own potential and limit what God can work in and through us.

Sadly, many are keeping up so closely with technological advancement but are contended to allow their faith to stagnate at a much older platform.

Be the best platform that God can use, Give God our very best so that  God may give us HIS very Best.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"  Ephesians 3:20

What Makes Marriage Works

Yesterday, Pastor Benny Ho came over to preach, starting the first of the 4 part family life series.


I ( and I am sure many others ) was greatly blessed by his very interesting and useful sermon entitled What Makes Marriage Works.

I have to post the sermon points because I want to remember it clearly and do not want to be complacent in my marriage, which, according to pastor Benny is our 2nd most important decision after our faith. If we have a good marriage, we have a good life…

So here goes…

Preacher: Pastor Benny Ho

Date: 29 September 2013

Title: What Makes Marriage Works (Family Life Series 1/4)

Text: Ephesians 5:21-33

4 Observations

1) Marriage is built on the foundation of mutual submission (v21-22)

2) Submission is ultimately unto Christ NOT man (v22)

3) We are equal in standing, value, worth but not in function (Gal3:28) Man are wired to lead and woman are wired to follow

4) The bible focuses on responsibilities and not rights. Marriage is 100% each way and not 50% even if the other party is not doing their part. Because it is a covenant and not a contract. Ultimately it is unto the Lord. It is not just the coming of 2 worlds to become one. It is the forsaking of 2 worlds to form a new world.

Ephesians 5:31 Woman treat man as the head. Man treat woman as the body.

Man greatest need is to be honoured and respected. Woman greatest need is to be loved and feel secure. If we both do what the bible says our greatest needs are both being met.



Responsibilities of the wife (Ephesians 5:22-24)

Its counter cultural at that time of writing, so there is no cultural pressure/influence in the words being written

3 areas to watch

1) Attitude (1 Peter 3:1-6)

Continue to do what is right so that your partner can be won over. People respond to attitude. If your marriage is not in the ideal state, make sure our attitude is right with God (still)

2) Adaptability (Genesis 2:18)

3) Acceptance

Allow our pain to drive us to God but do not struggle in the place of desperation if life is in danger. Have acceptance first and work through problems.



Responsibilities of Husband (Ephesians 5:25-30)

1) Sacrificial love (V25)

Take dedicated time to romance our wife. Fill the tank. Guard our time with our time with our life

2) Sanctifying Love (v26)

We are responsible for our wives countenance (inner beauty/glow) when our wives are well inside spiritually, emotionally than it will reflect outwardly. Sanctify our wives with our prayers. Is our wives becoming more Christ like? Are our candles burning strongly for Christ after we come together?

3) Sustaining Love (v28)

Many marriages are not bad but they are no good also. God wants our marriage to have a sense of delight.

3 practical ways

1) Tell your wife “I love you” as often as we can. Wive can be forgetful so do remind them.

2) Do something nice for her regularly. Be as creative as you were while in courtship. You don’t do nice things because you feel romantic. You will feel romantic when you do nice things.

3) Choose to praise her continuously (proverbs 31:28-31) Affirmation is very important to our wife.



Conclusion: Meditate on the mystery of leaving of old world and cleaving with each other and fusing of a new world in the presence of God. In a wedding there are tears because of the leaving (children from parents) but there are also laughter because of the cleaving (husband and wife)

Spiritual parallel: Jesus leaving Heaven and cleave to us, His church and radiant bride.

12 magic words to keep our marriage going : I was wrong, I am sorry, Please forgive me, I love you.



After the sermon, I brought wifey down to respond to the alter call to recommit our marriage to Jesus once again. As we stood before His throne and prayed together, the tangible presence of the holy spirit envelops us and tears flowed freely.. bringing me back to the same place I stood 6 years ago where I held her hand and where our hearts were invisibly bounded by a vow that cannot be undone. Thank you Jesus for blessing me with Theresa, I will love her with all the love you have poured unto me so that her countenance will ever reflect your love, not mine.

Changing Our Tap

Last Saturday, I attempted to change my tap for the first time.


My tap has been leaking for quite awhile and the initial plan was to get someone in to change it for us but then I decided to give it a try to see if I can save a bit of cost.

So off I went to Alexandra to choose a tap which cost me $28 and on the advice of salesgirl also got a roll of white peat tape. (“You will need it, if not sure lou shui” she told me.. so I bought a roll)

When I reached home, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. First I removed my old tap and to my horror, water started gushing out of the pipe !!!! man, I was so helpless then and tried all means to cover the pipe to no avail. Even suffering a few cuts in the ensuing struggle. It created a wet messy ponding on my kitchen floor which I later have to mop it up… throughout the whole ordeal, I was praying God help me and after a couple of minutes of immense struggle, was able to somehow turn my old tap back it to stop the self created fountain… phew! Man , how much water I have wasted…

After recovering from my shock, I gathered that I have to first turn off the main water supply before attempting such stunts so I went out to locate my unit’s water tap and turn it off. I then went back in and removed the old tap gingerly and put in the new one.

Initially the new tap doesn’t fit in well, so this is the part where the white tape was put to use and I just apply it until my new tap fits snugly unto the pipe. Finally, it was mission accomplished. A sense of accomplishment and satisfaction began to envelope me.

I know that to many men, changing of tap and DIY household maintenance is child’s play and chicken feed to them but I have never been a good handyman so this is a small victory for me.

A few lessons learnt here

1. Being no good in something doesn’t mean that I should avoid it completely. ( something similar was shared during last Friday’s leaders’ meeting by pastor Jeff, our attitude in ministry must be “I am not strong in this but I want to believe that God can work through me/ Either I am gifted or not gifted, there are some things (like outreach) which are our role, so we still have to do it/ We may have inclinations towards certain things which we are strong/passionate about but there are also areas which are important for us to undertake even if we are not gifted.



2. Be willing to roll up my sleeve and get dirty/messy. Many times, I do not take actions because I may be afraid of the mess I will get myself into. But again, like what Pastor Jeff shared, in ministry things will get messy. Mess is a sign of life so if we want to do things for God, we must be unafraid of mess.





3. Be observant and remember how the “experts” do things. Over the years, I have seen Mr. Zeng perform many repair works at our house. If only I were to observe carefully how they do things and remember it well, I would have known better than to leave my main water supply on while removing my old tap.



4. Be humble to listen to advice. When the salesgirl ask me to get the white tape, I followed instruction. Even basic ones.



Moving forward , I do hope to be a better handyman for my home as much as for the Kingdom of God.

Blessed Birthday Glenda and Gianna

On Wednesday, we had a early birthday celebration for Glen and Gigi at MacDonalds at Ridout.


Once again, wishing the girls a Great birthday and many many more blessed years ahead.

May they grow up joyfully, healthily and into strong godly women whose hearts will be ever flowing with the love of Jesus.

Real Faith that Last

Yesterday, Pastor Jeff concluded the last part of the book of Daniel.


Titled real Faith that Last from Daniel 6:1-28 , he once again emphasised that as Christians, we not only want to begin well but more importantly our aim is to finish well.

We need to have real faith that can withstand challenges like how Daniel did throughout his life as he outlast kings and kingdoms while holding on to his faith strongly.

And as demonstrated in Daniel Chapter 6, lasting faith can only be built upon when we have integrity, and when we are strongly convicted and fully committed.

To build integrity, we need accountability (someone who can ask us though questions like “how are you doing, REALLY?” )

To build conviction, we need consistency (it’s in the making of seemingly everyday small decisions that will strengthen our conviction when the real test comes)

To build commitment, we need faith ( faith to believe that God is faithful )

It is all too easy to fall away from the path God’s wants us to take. The temptations of the world, the selfishness of our flesh and our sinful desires of our heart is always pulling us further away from God.

It is indeed very sad to see one who used to be walking close with God fall away due to the many challenges encountered. However, the book of Daniel is a book of hope and encouragement illustrating once again that it is possible to finish the race well and more importantly, the promise that if God is for us, it really doesn’t matter who is against us.

For He is the living God,

And steadfast forever;

His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed,

And His dominion shall endure to the end.

27 He delivers and rescues,

And He works signs and wonders

In heaven and on earth,

Who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. Daniel 6:26-27