The reflecting theologian

It is hard to imagine that one year has already passed by since I have entered NUS, and it's going to my one year anniversary as a Christian soon, in a month or two. Looking back, as I have said in some of my previous posts, life as a Christian has really changed quite dramatically for the past months or so. Just recently, I have received notice that I am now a HOPE church member officially. Quite a pleasant surprise, though I have already know that my membership application is going to be approved soon, but I didn't expect it to be this fast, at this time. Also, I received a msg from Ed yesterday, regarding a change in my role in the cg. Certainly now more responsibility, but something I know must come sooner or later, or else my growth will be limited to say the least. There was also the sms from QP asking me to play guitar for praise on Thursday. Though it's only for praise, but that's a start. A lot of changes, a lot of alterations, still the same old brand new me. ...

Today I witnessed the water baptism of Yuan Tao, aka Mr. John now. It was a powerful sight for me. The mere confirmation of joy on a young believer merely reinforces my will to bring more people to come to know Christ, though I know the priority now is to help in growing John (Yuan Tao) and Ceyang. Seeing Yuan Tao going into the water simply tells me that he is willing to commit his life now for God. It was a joy, and an excitement, though a lot of people were unable to be there to witness it. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins - 1 Peter 4:8 When I reached home at around 7.50pm, I saw an unusual booklet on the glass table in the living room. It's a booklet entitled 'This was your life'. I felt strange and I picked it up to take a look at it. I got a pleasant surprise to see bible verses all over that booklet, telling the reader about salvation in Jesus. It started with the story of a decadent man who lived without God and showed ...

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted an old friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE." When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing. Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out "Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star." At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Then, leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in...

So sourced out all the relevant posts: Derek Wee's original entry: Still up at http://derekwee.blogspot.com/ Monday, October 02, 2006 When I read the Straits Times article (dated 24 Sep) on PM Lee calling the young to be committed and make a difference to Singapore, I have so much thought about the issue. I am 35 years old, graduated from University and gainfully employed in a multinational company. But I cannot help but feel insecure over the future of Singapore. Lets face it, it’s not uncommon to hear, “when you are above 40, you are over the hill”. The government has been stressing on re-training, skills upgrading and re-adapt. The fact is, no matter how well qualified or adaptable one is, once you hit the magical 40, employers will say, “you are simply too old”. We have been focusing our resources and problem solving on low unskilled labour. But in reality, our managerial positions and skilled labour force are actually fast losing its competitiveness. I travel a...

I never read the ridge - a publication from NUSSU, but then I was referred to this article in the lifestyle section of the magazine, entitled 'Into the mind of our NUS Bachelor' where this girl called Xiuzhen delves into the multi-personality of Jared Kok, actor, model, NUM student ambassador, Cleo and possibly lawyer-to-be to find out what really this eligible bachelor is about. The segment which I want to comment about refers to the last question she asked him: Q: Since you mentioned that you are single, tell our readers what kind of girls are you looking for? A: I've gone through this period of my life where I dated a lot of fairly good-looking, and quite party-animal type of girls. Now I'm not actually looking for anybody, just want to take a break, get my life together, especially since school is starting. But if I were to choose someone, I would like to go after a good girl for a change, a nice, good Christian girl who has her world together, and has her life toge...

Life now as a Christian is certainly way different from what it used to be when I was a new believer. Things have changed and responsibilities have changed. It all started when Ceyang received Christ last Saturday, then it so happened that I am now follow upping on two young believers, together with other brothers and sisters. I was thinking, how can I as an older believer can help them in their growth, and how am I going to relate with them in terms of their concerns. To say the least, my experience was far more different in a more generic sense than Ceyang and Yuan Tao. For one, I know what I was up for when I received Christ. I began to share enthusiastically to some friends after my conversion and I was eager to attend service and caregroup. There was little responsibility though I wanted to serve more within the church and cg setting. In short, I was quite surprised when I received Christ, but I know a fair bit of Christian life to get myself going in this exciting walk. Maybe it ...

Do you know that the bible says that there will be a time when women will not be around in heaven? Do you know that? Do you know where is it written? When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. - Revelation 8:1

Can We Really Know God's Will? Greg Laurie Does God still speak to people today? Does He actually have a master plan for your life and mine? If so, how do we discover it? How can we know the will of God? The answer to first question is yes. God still speaks to people today. But let me also say that after years of walking with the Lord, I have not discovered a foolproof method for knowing the will of God under all circumstances. However, I have discovered certain principles from the Scripture that, if applied, will better enable you to hear and respond to the voice of God. The good news is that God does not play hide-and-seek. He wants you to hear His voice even more than you want to hear it. But far too often, we may not like what God is saying and, thus, we will be resistant to it. So the goal is to discover the will of God for our lives and then to walk in it. And here is something to consider: God's will is always better in the long run than ours. I use the term ?long run? f...

Psalms 107:23-24 Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord.... When you were a child, perhaps you may have gone to the ocean for a vacation. I recall wading out until the waves began crashing on my knees. As long as I could stand firm, the waves were of no concern to me. However, as I moved farther and farther into the ocean, I had less control over my ability to stand. Sometimes the current was so strong it moved me down the beach, and I even lost my bearings at times. But I have never gone so far into the ocean that I was not able to control the situation. Sometimes God takes us into such deep waters that we lose control of the situation, and we have no choice but to fully trust in His care for us. This is doing business in great waters. It is in these great waters that we see the works of God. The Scriptures tell us that the disciples testified of what they saw and heard. It was the power behind the gospel,...

21/10/2006, Saturday I was flabbergasted by God. God did a lot of great works and I was simply dumbfounded. Firstly, let me show you all this pic (by courtesy of Shuyi): 22/10/2006, Sunday It was project meeting in the morning and the first time I ever drove for a long time. It was a scary experience in the beginning but eventually, it became quite fun for me to drive. Parking was quite smooth for me this time round and it will improve a lot. Still have a lot to do for my MNO video and a TR transcript to upload. It was going to be a tiring day and I knew it. There was MACHO picnic at Botanical Garden in the afternoon. For a moment I was lost by the twists and turns of the garden routes. Then we had a great time of brothers fellowshipping together with an odd guest. Do we see a lady? Or is that a brother in long hair on the left? She's Jasmine Poon, our tertiary pastor and the newly appointed Uni District leader. Basically it was a good time of MACHO, with great games and great shar...

I saw just now the lively debate and discussion that has been going in the NUS Hope community forum in the IVLE. Just thought that while I post my response up in the IVLE, I might also as well post it up here. Here goes: I really feel sad when I see people 'suffering' or so-called 'not enjoying' their studies. I personally dun have anything against these group of people, but I just feel sad. I was always thinking, how am I going to distinguish myself, my identity as a NUS Hope Christian from the other people, non-believer especially. I have been called 'nuts' multiple times by people in and around the church and outside of the church (they dun literally mean nuts of course but you can see their disbelief) when I commented that the IVLE forums and the classrooms have became my playground and by that, I hope you all realise that I actually mean that I enjoy my modules a lot and I have a hell lota fun out of the discussions. For me, my task is clear, I am enjoying ...

These are some of the photos that we took when we went to Indochine the other day: The one that you see above is a picture of (starting from the left) Yi Shyan, Yuan Tao , me and Ziwei. Here above we see, starting from the left, Edwin, Jessie and Qiaoping. Here's some of the pictures we took with the fake nose from Nestle which we found on the floor while we were walking out of Nexus on Sat: Now here's a group photo... or rather two.

I was thinking about existential issues the other day, and then I began to think about people who were motivated by a lot of things other than God. Then I began to think about the meaning of life. How can we bring across the meaning of life to people that there must be something more than just living and dying? Then I thought of the traffic light. The Traffic light analogy Note that this analogy can be applied to basically anything that man has created. Basically, there is the traffic light at the junction. Think about it, what is the traffic light there for? It's for controlling the traffic, right? How did it come about? Someone must have assembled all the parts and put it there, right? To put it simply, if I tell you, it's there because of some random chance, and possibly with some luck, the pieces were able to come together by itself, with no external assistance, you would have thought that I'm nuts! So the first premise we have established is that the traffic light must...

I have been using both firefox and internet explorer since I have heard of mozilla in my army days. I experimented with firefox for a while, but due to my reluctance to venture out to explore more about the browser, I soon switched back to IE and have been using it since. One major factor lies in the fact that some webpages look outrageous in Firefox, including my previous blog design. That was so... until IE 7.0 Beta appeared. I was using IE7 for quite a few months, then I realised that IE7 was extremely not user-friendly, takes up way more resources in my laptop, and it takes forever to load. Then I had a lecture on IP and my lecturer talked about open source software and that led me back to Firefox. Then... I discovered a whole new dimension to Firefox. Firstly, Firefox now has an IE tab, which allows users to view a webpage in IE form without exiting from the Firefox interface. Then, I realise that Firefox also has this Foxytune that allows me to listen to music from my WM player 1...

I decided that it wouldn't be fair for my viewers if I just post the article from Crosswalk and just leave it at that. It wouldn't be fair to me, wouldn't be fair to you and wouldn't be fair to You too. To a certain extent, the story of Hans is pretty touching, and pretty sad. Upon reflection, I think the lesson behind the story dun necessarily apply to non-believers alone, but it instead applies most to believers like me and you. That's how we normally start. When we first started the relationship with God, we were willing to believe, and we were willing to further the relationship. We want to hold on to that hope. We were excited over God, we were excited over His blessings. This is the initial stage. But as life moves on, we realise that it isn't that straightforward. We realise that life isn't a bed of roses. And we began to cast God aside and as He began to be pushed to the peripheral by us, our heart became hardened by the reality of life around us, as...

Hans was a quiet boy — not by nature, but by circumstance. It wasn’t easy being a five-year-old when there was a war going on. His father was away in the Kaiser’s army, his brother had succumbed to malnutrition, and now it was just he and his mother, Jenny. Two hungry souls in a sea of suffering humanity, waiting in line after endless line for their daily ration of rutabaga soup and dry bread. If all went well, there would be enough soup for their evening meal. If not, they would go to bed hungry… again. And yet, even if Hans had to lie in bed tonight and listen to his stomach growl as he tried to fall asleep, he knew there would be another sound — a welcome, comforting sound — to drown out his complaining stomach. His mother’s singing; he never tired of it. Shuffling forward a couple of steps as he gripped his empty soup bowl in his hands, he looked up at her. She smiled at him, warming his heart as she laid her thin hand on his shoulder. Hans was old enough to realize his mother was...

As you all might see, I have just revamped my blog to a more simpler looking one, at a time when I was supposed to be studying and rushing my video project. But then, just wanna take a break and do something I ought to have done long ago. This new skin of my blog is now simpler, nicer, and conveys my current identity better. It takes less time to load and well, easier to read also. I might put back in my daily bread section, if I have the time to alter the previous code. But then, I can say that this current design is up for your viewership and is now about 90% done. Firefox and IE users will also enjoy seeing the same interface, and I basically removed any codes which make the Firefox version look different from the IE version. I'm switching to open source software now, and I will make sure that whatever I do, it will not only look alright in Firefox, but also IE. Anyway, do comment on this new skin.

The title doesn't mean anything, it's just a gag to get you carry on reading. So carry on reading. Today. Finally able to see Yuan Tao crossing the next step of breakthrough in his walk with God, being baptized by the Holy Spirit. Me and QP thought that there wasn't any sign when we finished praying, but then, after that, when we were talking about it, then we realised that we both had heard some sound from Yuan Tao's side, and he confirmed with us that he did have something he wanted to blurt out when we were praying but he was afraid. The sound lasted for a moment, then it was gone. But confirmed it's the sign from God. Praise be to the Lord. Yesterday Finally see another new sister joining the family after a long time seeing her hanging out with us. This new sister, her name is Zichun, came to know Christ when my CG were having our chill-out time at Indochine. Think the entire NUS group was praying for her during the service. And God answers our prayers and incre...

I was reading the book of Job just now, and read some very heart touching verses which spoke to me quite a lot: "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD - Job 1:9-12 "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face." The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life." - Job 2:4-6 God allows Satan to co...

As I post the photos from last week's lantern festival outing, let me show you all my dearest CG. Behind from left are Edwin, Ziwei, Yuan Tao, my shepherd Benaiah, and ME!!!!! In front, we have Shuyi, QP, Lishan (who has moved on to the Biz Net group) and Christine. Not in the picture are Jessie and Yi Shyan. Yes, so this is my beloved CG. How about it? And next up, (I dun want to position the pictures in a standard way. Anyway, here's NUSA1. Look at them, as quacky as they can be. Starting from the left, we see Guannie, beside her is Jiadai, followed by Ruisi and Venetia. The three MACHO guys behind them are Ellson, Guoxiong, and Eric. And we have Wenjuan lying in front of all of them!!!! (clap clap clap) And here we have NUSA2, and I dun know why Ellson is in the picture. Wearing green is Zhengzhong xiaodi, beside him is Zichun (I dun know whether I have spelt the name right or not) and behind them, starting from the left are ........ Weiling, Jan (covered up), Xinying, and ...

Some questions this Robert is asking. Then again, let's try to answer it A NUS HOPE Christian Number 1, identity wise, as NUS Hope Christians, we are Christians who just happened to be studying in NUS. Number 2, mission wise, as a result of number 1, we have a mission by God - to fulfill the Great Commission in NUS, to try to spread the gospel to as much people as we can reach out to. Number 3, what we sought to achieve, as a result of number 1 and 2, we strive to not only expand God's Kingdom by fulfilling the Great Commission, but also committed to being salt and light within our NUS social circle, being able to impact whoever we meet in NUS. Number 4, as a result of number 1 also, studying in NUS means that we are also Christians getting prepared to face the working world thru studying some forms of specialised knowledge, and also in the same time, get connected with the global world and always getting ready to face the next stage in life. Yeah yeah yeah. Sounds like it come...

(Can ) Father-son bond of Dick and Rick Hoyt > > > A passionate human being is unstoppable. Read on, and make sure to > > view > > > the video at the top. > > > > > > Strongest Dad in the World > > > > > > [From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly] > > > > > > I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to > > pay > > > for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. > > > > > > But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck. > > > > > > Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in > > > marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a > > > wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming > > and > > > pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same > > day. > > > > ...

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand o...

Note: This is an article I found in www.crosswalk.com. Comments about it will come by in the next post. In 1937 the American Tract Society sponsored a contest in which they offered a prize of $1,000 for the best new book written on one of the “essential evangelical doctrines of the Christian faith.” Sixty-one years ago, $1,000 was a lot of money and a great many well-known Christian authors entered the contest hoping to win the prize. A committee representing six denominations judged the entries. The judges unanimously chose a book written by a man whose name I have mentioned before — Dr. Harry Ironside, who for many years served as pastor of the famous Moody Memorial Church in downtown Chicago. The book he wrote is entitled Except Ye Repent. The title is taken from the King James Version of Luke 13:3 where Jesus said to the men of his day, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish”. Let me quote the first sentence from Dr. Ironside’s introduction: “Fully convinced in my own min...