The reflecting theologian

On a lighter note about the trip, in the first house that I worked on, there was a snow shovel stuck under the house. Turns out that the tsunami wave lifted the house, and the snow shovel floated in under the space. No prize for guessing what happened after the wave subsided....

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. - Matthew 7:24-25 (NIV 2011) I thought I wanted to pen this thought down before I forgot again. During my time in Japan, we were tearing down houses, so that they could be rebuilt again. These houses were soaked by the tsunami water and due to the way the houses were built, we had to put in a lot of effort in cleaning and clearing up the mess. I was then just thinking, how are we building our own house? What are we building our houses on? Build it wrongly for the wrong purpose on the wrong foundation, and it will take a lot of destruction and tearing down to rebuild a new one. Such is the work of the God's pruning.

He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field" - Luke 10:2 (NIV 2011) As those who are following my Facebook would know, I was away for a relief mission trip to Japan over the past one week. To be honest, I never thought that I will one day end up in Japan doing mission, but God's sovereign plan works differently from what we have in mind. I wonder how am I going to start this post updating all of you what happened in Japan over the past one week and some of my thoughts. It really all began when I received the brochure from Hope Centre calling for volunteers for the disaster relief mission to Japan. At that time, I just felt that I would like to join in the trip but I wasn't quite sure if I want to commit given the cost and time. It wasn't until I received an email asking if anyone is interested that I decided that I wanted to go for it, just to experience wh...

I am a part of the fellowship of the Unashamed. I have the Holy Spirit Power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power. My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, ...

https://www.give.sg/TeamGIVE/huanyan/running-for-a-cause I have been running marathons since God knows when. I saw this give.sg thingy on one of the SCSM newsletter and decided that I have nothing to lose if I participate in one of the charities to help raise fund for the cause. I chose Make a Wish Singapore as the charity I'm raising fund for. For no particular reason but I just felt that making wishes come true and giving these children a fantastic experience and granting their wish is quite something. Make-a-Wish basically makes the impossible a reality for the children with life threatening diseases, so as to bring more relief to them in the midst of their struggle and to bring them hope. As a believer, I think we are the salt and light of the world and if there's anything we should bring to the world, it's love, hope and faith. Freely we receive, freely we should give. So do support me. Since I am going to run, I might as well do it for a good cause.

Today is the wedding of Robert and Melissa. As most would know, Robert is the goofy guy who brought me to know Christ some years back (he has since complained that his current weight is a result of the frequent late night suppers with me back then). Nevertheless, being happy for them, looking at them, I would never have imagined that I would witness the day he gets married. Maybe there are some people in my life whom I would not imagine the day of their marriage. Perhaps it's the surrealism that we were still so young and single in the good old days and then we realise that families are being started and formed as a result of matrimonial union. Of course, in the midst of helping out with the wedding, there have been conversations about our own matrimonial futures. After all, every wedding we attend is an opportunity for the singles and unmarried to start fantasizing on their big day. It also becomes an opportunity for people to tease one another - today I was the victim.......

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds - John 12:24 (NIV) Sometime back I had a revelation. After thinking through and reflecting it, from the different verses within the bible, I concluded that dying is part of the job description as a disciple of Christ. Sounds taunting, but think about it. Jesus came to earth as the God incarnate to do what? Die! What did he really say throughout the gospels? In John 12:24, I felt that this is where he has put it so explicitly, that unless we die, we remain only a single seed. Of course, it doesn't really mean physically dying but that's part of the picture. Let's break the JD down further. The first death we have to go through is perhaps dying to our selfish and sinful self. This is what John 12:24 would have meant, similar to Luke 9:23 where we are exhorted to deny ourselves and take up our cross. In the MSG translation of...

In today's Straits Times, an article on an ultra-Jewish community has this statement: And anyone who attempts to drive through the neighbourhood on the Sabbath - when driving is banned under Jewish law - risks a rock thrown through their windscreen I find it amusing. If how is throwing a rock not considered work as driving?

For those who are not aware, I recently broke the guitar that Shuyi lent me sometime back. I had been using the guitar for some time and upon breaking the guitar, I realised how much I like that model. It's an Epiphone EJ160E, supposedly Epiphone's remodeling of Gibson's J160E, which was the first electric acoustic guitar supposedly in the market and the one which John Lennon used when he first started performing.  The guitar is bigger than most acoustic guitar that I know and at retail price, is more expensive than the Timothy that was used for the Uni-YA service. In my opinion, it sounds better than Timothy too. It has a natural amplification and the sound produced is generally sharp and crisp, much to my liking.  So I bought over the broken guitar from Shuyi, and decided to get the replacement EJ160E over eBay. I managed to find a supplier who was able to ship the good to Singapore. This one shown in this post is the replacement. It costs me around SGD 750...

This post can be seen as a continuation of my previous post on my thoughts on restructuring, but it primarily sprouted from my reflections on my previous and current experience leading a lifegroup in church. Often (or not so seldom), I have heard of people in church comparing a large or megachurch to that of a small church. One of the main argument for a small church is that the small size of the church allows the people in the church to know one another and to do life together whilst for a large church, people tend to be more distant from one another and the chance to know everyone in the church decreases with the the increasing number of people. Let's just concede a point. It is almost impossible for people in a large church to know one another. I bet today, our pastors in Hope Singapore won't know every single person in the church. And it would almost be a drudgery if you belong to a small church and you don't really know the people in the church. The problem with ...

First post thru blogger app. I am just thinking about it, do we sometime ask God 'why'? Why do we ask God why? Do we know why we are asking Him why? Just some random thoughts after a drink. I should quit drinking altogether...