Photo hunt

Today (9 Dec 06) I went for my first outing with friends after sick for 2 weeks.
We had a great time in the photo hunt. The walk is real exercise.
We had a small photo competition. God and others are gracious. There are many great photos taken by my group and 4 other groups. But my photo is chosen to win the personal catagory.

Princess Pris is one of those who took creative and skillful photos. I like her perspective about Merlion. It will be great if she post her photos in her blog.

Comments by more skilled photographers on ways to improve the photo. It will be better to take it in a lower angle. So as to see more reflection of the bigger Merlion. Remove the trees. Focus on the small Merlion and a more blurred image of the bigger Merlion.
Thanks for all the comments on teaching us in improving our photos taking.

Song: Be Thou my vision

Be Thou my vision, oh Lord of my heart
Nought be all else to me, save that Thy art
Thou my best thought in the day and the night
Waking or sleeping, Thou presence my light

Be Thou my wisdom, be Thou my true word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord
Thou my great father and I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one

Be Thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight
Be Thou my armour and be Thou my might
Thou my soul shelter, and Thy my high tower
Raise Thou me heavenwards, oh power of my power

Riches I need not, nor man’s empty praise
Thou mine inheritance through all of my days
Thou and Thou only though first in my heart
High king of heaven my treasure Thou art

Oh high king of heaven, when battle is done
Grant heaven’s joy to me, bright heaven sun
Christ of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, Though ruler of all

Word and music by Eleanor Hull & Mary E. Bryne
Public Domain

Quite a number of singers sang this song “Be Thou my vision”.
But hearing a blind singer sing this song, bring new dimension to me.
Ginny Owens received good review about her voice.

Abstract from a reviewer, S. Peek (Montana, USA):
“I hadn't known that she is blind and has been since a very young age. Hearing her sing 'Be Thou My Vision' live while seeing that she is blind really impressed me with the way she deals with and views her disability. She certainly has the big picture in mind. Also, her fantastic song 'If you Want Me To' took on a whole new meaning.

Some of the lyrics from that song are: 'I don't know the reason why you brought me here, but just because you love me the way that you do, I'm gonna walk through the valley if you want me to.'

She goes on to sing: 'It may not be the way I would have chosen when you lead me through a world that's not my home, but you never said it would be easy, you only said I'll never go alone.'

After hearing her in concert, I picked up this CD and was hooked. Her other songs have equally touching and relevant lyrics. Her sound is incredible.”

I will certainly look out for her CDs.

“Be Thou my vision” means a lot to me.

Maybe I am facing mid-life crisis.
I am aware that I am going to be 40 soon.
My life is more than half gone.
I want to offer my life to Jesus to do what is meaningful to Him.

I do not want to live just for myself.
It is in His great mercy that I live.
My colleague died at the age of 27 due to heart failure.
He overworked and neglected his health.
My secondary schoolmate died before the age of 30 due to lung cancer.
Even though he does not smoke.
I belief Jesus does not let me live to take up space on earth.

I am still searching of what I should do that will count.

But each day, when I can be a blessing to others, I am happy.
My friends, I am most happy when you know Jesus.
The One that gives us life that is truly life.

Song: Amazing grace

Amazing grace-how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
was blind but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
bright shining as the sun,
we've no less days to sing God's praise
than when we'd first begun.

“Amazing grace” is a very common song.
Grace has special meaning to me because God called me “Grace”.

Recently, learnt that “Amazing grace” is not a song to sing with gusto.
We should sing with the feeling that the author intents to convey.
One way is to check out the life of the author, John Newton.

With Google search, there is tons of information of John Newton.
I am very encouraged by his life.
Truly a wretch saved by grace.
His transformation is not immediate.
But his life tells of God immeasurable grace.

I am also a wretch save by God.
Thankful to Jesus for coming to save the sick, tired and weary.
He wants to give us a new life.

The more I know God, the more I find good deeds and religion is impossible to reach God.
We simply cannot reach God by our own way.
Only by the grace of God that we can come to Him.

Recently, I was being condemned for nothing.
Trust betrayed. I was very hurt.
I am thankful that in my human RAM, I remember what God said in
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.

I did nothing wrong to be condemned. By His word, I stand.
I am also thankful to Jesus for my understanding friends.
True friends make a world of different to me.

The grace of God has come to a soul that needed Him most.

Watching fireworks with friends

The moment is beautiful when watching fireworks with friends :)
To see photos, watch videos and read about our national day celebration, go to Dee and Anne's blog. :)
More photos in Albert's blog. ;)

Fireworks taken at my flat on National Day. ;)















Fireworks taken at 11 Aug 06

Thanksgiving for church camp

Just came back from 4 days church camp in Malacca on late night, 11 June, Sunday.
Really thank God for His loving kindness.

Firstly, I am so happy that I can make it for this year church camp. I am a bit sad when could not make it last year due to oversea work assignment. I had always attended church camp as it always spiritually refreshed me.

This year camp has improved tremendously. We are busy adults, the camp committees put in the conscious effort to make the camp a relax, fun and yet meaningful one.

I was physically tired as I am still recovering from my illness. During the Unit Chill Out, which is a time for the 4 care groups to come together to have fun, I went for my power nap. Thanks to brother INK who took photos like slide show, I had a great time watching the Unit Chill Out. So I had not miss a bit of the fun. J

It is really a great and fun camp. While waiting to throw a surprise birthday party to brother Meng Chong, we had a great time going through the photos that brother INK had taken. He has a talent in seeing things in different perspective. He took great pictures.

We had a great time watching the Kawan Showcase. Our Unit joined with another Unit to produce a drama on “The 3 little pigs”. It is about a vegetarian wolf seeking the friendship of the 3 little pigs. It is so funny. There is great teamwork. We got second for the great work done. I am so proud of them.

The workshop “A Joy Filled Life” is fun and creative. We learn about joy by playing games.

The workshop “The Life You’ve always wanted” is about planning and involve God in your planning. So that we will not try so hard by our own strength to climb the success ladder and at the end, realize that we are leaning on the wrong wall.

I enjoy the “play angel” game. Each of us is allocated a new friend. We are to find our new friend, get a gift and pass to him/her. I finally met my new friend at the 3rd night. She is like me, a “down to earth” person.

My “angel” is so sweet. He is a big, tall guy. He gave me a Christian book that has beautiful pink cover design and it is nicely wrapped in pink wrapping paper. The title of the book is “Prayers & promises for Women”. I believe in prayers and the promises of God. And one of my favorite colors is pink. Hmmm…. I wonder did he pray to God on what to give me. The present is so sweet. It is like God telling me He knows what suit me.

Surprising, I had an extra “angel”. He is a young, foreign student studying in our University. He is a one-month old young Christian that made a point to come to church camp. He is the fruit of labor of love of my many church friends who have compassion for this particular people group. I am glad to know him more over a meal with his Unit friends. He mistaken me as his new friend as I have the same surname as another gal in our Unit. When he realized his mistake, he prepared two presents. One for the other gal, and another one for me. He is so generous, gracious and sweet spirit. In him, I see the hope for his nation. Seeing him smiling broadly, I can see that he truly enjoy the camp very much. I am blessed to know him, as I truly like new believers. They are like new heavenly babies. So adorable. This double presents is like God telling me, when He bless, he can double the blessing too. God is a good Giver.

This camp is great. Inline with the camp theme Kawan Go Melaka; Kawan is the Malay word for “friend”. Indeed I had a great time making new friends and deepen friendship with some existing friends.

A big clap to all the people that make this camp a successful and memorable one.

A mother’s love - an evidence of God

My friend’s mum died of lung cancer on 27 May, Saturday.
On Sunday night, I attended the wake and saw her cried till her eyes and nose were red. I know she had done her best to love and care for her mum. So I comforted her that her mum is bless to have a daughter like her. She replied that she is blessed to have her mum. And told me to cherish my mum.

My mind had a flash back of many illustrations of mother’s love. The basic instinct of a mother is to love her child unconditionally.

If you asked a mother, “Why do you love you child?”
The answer is “Because I give birth to him/her.”
It is like saying, “I created my child. So I naturally love my child.”

My mum once told me that a mother’s love enables her to die for the sake of her child.
There is real life story of how a mother will run into a house that is on fire just to save her child.
There is also real life story of no matter how wayward a child is, the mother’s love always forgive and wanting the child return to the right path of life.

My friends that are mothers often shared with me the many things that they are doing for their children. Always wanting to give them the very best.

All of a sudden, there is a connection in my mind between a mother’s love and God’s love.
God is love (1 John 4:8b) and He created us (Genesis 1:27).
Because He created us, He loves us naturally.
And He puts love into mothers’ heart to love their children naturally. It is an evidence that show the world the existence of God (Romans 1:20).
And because of His love, despite the fact that we are like wayward child that refuse to recognize Him, He still die for us (Romans 5:8). And because He loves us, He want to give us the very best; that is the wonderful new life in Christ Jesus.

I am very blessed to have a mother that loves me sacrificially and unconditionally. It is her unconditional love that enables me to believe that there is a God that loves me unconditionally.

If you ever doubt the existence of God, or the love of God; why not observe how a mother loves her baby? ;)

Below are the Bible verses for easy reference. It is from the New International Version (NIV).

1 John 4:8b God is love.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Chronic Disease Self-Management Programme

Chronic disease is different from acute disease.
The patient needs to partner with the health professionals and responsible for daily management of their conditions.

Chronic disease includes diabetes, asthma, heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Just to name some.

Recently, my mum Diabetes condition is deteriorating and she is unable to manage her health condition. To learn to better taking care of her health, I attended above course.

It is a course that I enrolled her on mid last year and her health condition did improve when she applied what she learnt.

I learn many useful lessons in this course.

For example, we did a simple exercise to test our health condition. After the exercise, if the person is breathless, he has overdone the exercise. Overdo/wrong exercise will cause harm instead of improve health.

People that suffer from fatigue can do suitable exercises and take practical steps to improve their health.

I also learn to better communicate mum’s condition to the health professionals.

The course is very useful for people with chronic conditions and also for their caregivers.

Conducted by National Healthcare Group.
1 session per week for 6 weeks.
Each time 2 - 2.5 hours.
Current course fee is $40. Just to cover the expenses.
Email to cdsmp@nhg.com.sg

A recommended book, titled “Living a healthy life with chronic conditions”.
Have 6 authors. Published by Bull Publishing Company.
It is used as a textbook for the course.

The recommended health websites given are:
www.moh.gov.sg
www.jhc.com.sg
www.hpb.gov.sg

Hope the information will be helpful for people who suffer from chronic disease.
Take charge of your health, rather than suffer unnecessary.

Nice Christian e-cards

Got an Easter e-card from a friend from http://www.dayspring.com/ecards/
The e-cards are quite nice. Take a look. :)

My best friend

Happiness is a state of mind.

This morning, my stomach was very painful. This condition had lasted for 5 weeks. Saw clinic doctor for few weeks and finally referred to specialist on last Thursday, 6 April. Maybe the medication has not take effect. I felt so painful and weak till I cannot stand up.

I cried out to Jesus to heal me. The image of Jesus dying on the cross came to my mind. Jesus who bore the painful death by being nailing on the cross for our sake knows my pain. Despite my pain, my heart is thankful because His understanding comforts me.

In early afternoon, received a pleasantly surprise sms from D. We hardly sms each other. She showed her concern for me. She is someone who understands pain and also going though physical illness currently. I am greatly comforted by her concern.

After knowing Jesus for so many years, I know it is His divine arrangement. He always brings the right people to me in time of needs. Sometimes, the help comes from the least expected people.

I wish more people would come to know Jesus. Especially those that are suffering.
Suffering is an opportunity to experience God.
Saw and heard this every Saturday night in Lighthouse.

Easter is coming. For those who do not know Jesus, I hope you can know Him on this Easter.

At this time that I am writing this, my stomach is ok. Happy. :D

Ever-ready comfort

Early morning, I was physically weak due to my stomach problem. Whatever I ate get flush out painfully. Yet I believe Jesus will heal me as I was healed of the same condition twice in the past.

While waiting for the doctor, I went to supermarket to buy soy drink. The song broadcast in the supermarket is something along the line about the cross of Jesus, about striving toward the eternality and remember the love.

I did not get the lyric clearly, but it is a timely reminder that my present suffering is temporary. But the joy of being a child of God is eternal.

I am thankful to Jesus for His ever-ready comfort.

祝你新年快乐

愿你过一个幸福年。
Wishing you a happy and blessed Chinese New Year












摄于中国九寨沟, 十一月
Photo taken in China, Jiuzhaigou, Nov 05

最近有一个朋友在MSN的Display Name写“什么是幸福的味道？
想是可能在走蜜运，但是没有多问。;)

你知道什么是幸福的味道吗？:)
你知道福的意义吗？
福字的分解是“神”( 左手边) + “一” + “口” (同样代表“人”) + “田”(田园)
意义是“神与人在田园里就是福。”

这个人是指第一个人，名 叫 亚 当。
创 世 記 2:7-8 (Chinese Union Version (Simplified))
7 耶 和 华神 用 地 上 的 尘 土 造 人 ， 将 生 气 吹 在 他 鼻 孔 里 ， 他 就 成 了 有 灵 的 活 人 ， 名 叫 亚 当 。8 耶 和 华神 在 东 方 的 伊 甸 立 了 一 个 园 子 ， 把 所 造 的 人 安 置 在 那 里 。

这个田园是指伊 甸园。
创 世 記 2:10 (Chinese Union Version (Simplified))
10 有 河 从 伊 甸 流 出 来 ， 滋 润 那 园 子 ， 从 那 里 分 为 四 道 ：

所以一个人有神与他同在就是福气了。
在这新的一年里，愿福临你家。


以上资料来自一本书名为The Discovery of Genesis: How the Truths of Genesis Were Found Hidden in the Chinese Language
Author: Kang, C. H. , Author: Nelson, Ethel

http://www.wbschool.org/chinesecharacters.htm 也有说明一些中文字的由来。

English Translation:
In short, the Chinese character 福 means blessing.
It gets the meaning from the story in the first book of the Bible, Genesis.
The break down of the character 福 is one man with God in the garden (of Eden).
So a blessed man is a man walking with God.