Been reading the news these days, and it's very negative. The earthquake at China killed many, Cyclone Nargis killed many, both left many homeless. Natural disasters are on the rise these days, so many so that you never know when a disaster might hit us. So far, Singapore has been a reputable safe spot from many disasters, since it's nowhere near the Ring of Fire, safely at one tetonic plate to be free of earthquakes(tremors maybe, but never earthquakes, yet), nor cyclones at sea yet.
It's morbid, the news. I mean, there's people dying, both young and old. Pictures and videos of the victims and survivors were disheartening. With China's one-child policy, it is indeed a devastating blow to many families whose only sons and daughters get devoured mercilessly by a ugly force of nature.
China's in the news, big time. Look at the Tibetan protests, the Dalai Lama hoohah, Beijing Olympics 2008, and carcinogenic(cancer-causing) Ma-Ling brand canned luncheon meat. Earthquake just had to make things so much worse in China, I can already see myself shedding a tear right in front of the computer screen, producing this blog entry.
And it's not just the Chinese calamity - look at Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis disaster, over a hundred thousand people(estimated) fell victim to it: people losing their homes and family members. Wrath of nature - that's what we get whenever we answer nature's call faithfully every morning?
It didn't just hit them Burmese and Chinese alone - just look at the soaring rice prices, and the possibility of eating bread or potatoes as staple foodstuffs just might be very possible. Singapore suffered severe food shortage during the Japanese Occupation... maybe it's time to go back to eating lalang grass, rumoured to have high vitamin content?
It's a good thing that in Singapore there's still plenty of food around, but then, it's really high time to learn how not to waste a single morsel of food, given the disasters going around and the soaring rice prices. Looking at the food shortages in pockets of Asia, food seems much more valuable than ever...
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Combined Family Service-cum-Picnic Day on 18th May
The outing at Pasir Ris Park for a whole of 12 hours, from 9am to 9pm, was significant. It was my first trip with the rest of the church as a family of God. Here, we witnessed many baptisms, which was heartwarming for me, seeing people going back to Jesus Christ.
In the morning, I woke up without the alarm. Packed the stuff the night before, so by morning the things were already done, and we set off to the beach at 8am. Reserved some seats for Uncle Daniel and his family, but they came late, at around 10am, an hour after the service started. It turned out that he had made several trips to bring Auntie Noreen's sisters here as well, resulting in them coming late together as one family.
Morning sermon, about the family as designed by God Himself. After the sermon everyone was stuffed, due to the hot weather, and the limited ventilation underneath the tentage. The weather wasn't the problem actually - the grass was, respiring and giving out carbon dioxide as well. As carbon dioxide is a heat-trapping gas, it was no wonder the tentage was an inbuilt furnace, given the numbers of people that were there.
It was hot, it was boring, it was stuffy. No sports, no swimming, no football. Now I saw the purpose of bringing the guitar, again, as Uncle Daniel, Uncle Kelvin and I sat under the nearest tree singing Chinese worship songs, hoping to spread His love through the songs to the passers-by. It was then that Uncle Yiye and his family came along, being told of our performance to be held later at night, but ended up coming too early.
In any case, the games started, and we were appointed to Orange Team, which ended up the last team. However, we didn't play for nothing - they gave us a tidbit prize which consisted of a bag of Mamee noodle snack, cookies and a sweet. How nice, even losers get some kind of consolation prizes.
The rest of the day after the team games was virtually boring, as there was practically nothing to play or interact with, other than talking to people, playing kapadi(a traditional Indian game that resembles sumo-wrestling) in the mud, or playing soccer with a small football. I thought, no kick, playing with such a small ball! I went later to talk to the fellow brethren watching the soccer game, and then took a shower.
The door was unlocked as the bolt got knocked off, and the floor was barely clean, with mud and sand at all the four corners of the cubicle, but thank God I managed to shower successfully with the help of Uncle Kelvin holding the door from outside, maintaining bathroom privacy in such a public place. After getting out of the showers, the sight of the Married vs Singles football match was already starting, and the first thing I thought to myself was "Why on earth did I hit the showers in the first place? What a waste!"
Eventually I gave in to the urge to play in the fresh new clothing, fully expecting myself to go dirty and sweating in blue jeans. Pastor Bennett was there, and it was enjoyable. Though I was merely playing as a goalkeeper, the tension was there whenever the ball came close, which was often. Caught 2 balls, let in one. Married Team won over us, the Singles Team.
Performance started after dinnertime, and it was then God's mercy and grace truly shone in my life at that moment when a blow of stomachache hit me when the land breeze blew against me near the tentage. The urge was there, nature was calling...
I can't answer now. I can't answer now. If I did, I'd be cocking-up the whole performance item and waste the effort that we've put in to prepare the programme as one whole cell group. "Lord, please protect my underpants, lest I shit myself during the performance," I prayed in desperation as the throbbing gut started to already slowly let out gas stealthily.
The medley went well. Made minor blunders with the change in key, and finished the playing perfectly. Guess what happened - I made a run for the toilet without any toilet paper, still thinking in my mind, Hallelujah Lord for answering my prayer.
"Oops," came the exclamation when I was already at the toilet bowl letting go of that atomic bomb to answer nature's call. "Alamak, what to do?" I groped around for my phone, my only hope of getting out of the toilet, yet remaining clean in the bottoms at the same time. If only I could shout "Hallelujah!" loud enough that the people in the tentage could hear from the toilet that I was in, more than 200 metres away from it.
Mishaps happen all the time, but that ultimately didn't spoil the fun the other programmes had in store for us, and of course there's the exhaustion. What mattered to me even more was that we, as a cell group, could serve God in a practical way by offering a performance programme, to which they were lacking in items for. Praise God for all that!
In the morning, I woke up without the alarm. Packed the stuff the night before, so by morning the things were already done, and we set off to the beach at 8am. Reserved some seats for Uncle Daniel and his family, but they came late, at around 10am, an hour after the service started. It turned out that he had made several trips to bring Auntie Noreen's sisters here as well, resulting in them coming late together as one family.
Morning sermon, about the family as designed by God Himself. After the sermon everyone was stuffed, due to the hot weather, and the limited ventilation underneath the tentage. The weather wasn't the problem actually - the grass was, respiring and giving out carbon dioxide as well. As carbon dioxide is a heat-trapping gas, it was no wonder the tentage was an inbuilt furnace, given the numbers of people that were there.
It was hot, it was boring, it was stuffy. No sports, no swimming, no football. Now I saw the purpose of bringing the guitar, again, as Uncle Daniel, Uncle Kelvin and I sat under the nearest tree singing Chinese worship songs, hoping to spread His love through the songs to the passers-by. It was then that Uncle Yiye and his family came along, being told of our performance to be held later at night, but ended up coming too early.
In any case, the games started, and we were appointed to Orange Team, which ended up the last team. However, we didn't play for nothing - they gave us a tidbit prize which consisted of a bag of Mamee noodle snack, cookies and a sweet. How nice, even losers get some kind of consolation prizes.
The rest of the day after the team games was virtually boring, as there was practically nothing to play or interact with, other than talking to people, playing kapadi(a traditional Indian game that resembles sumo-wrestling) in the mud, or playing soccer with a small football. I thought, no kick, playing with such a small ball! I went later to talk to the fellow brethren watching the soccer game, and then took a shower.
The door was unlocked as the bolt got knocked off, and the floor was barely clean, with mud and sand at all the four corners of the cubicle, but thank God I managed to shower successfully with the help of Uncle Kelvin holding the door from outside, maintaining bathroom privacy in such a public place. After getting out of the showers, the sight of the Married vs Singles football match was already starting, and the first thing I thought to myself was "Why on earth did I hit the showers in the first place? What a waste!"
Eventually I gave in to the urge to play in the fresh new clothing, fully expecting myself to go dirty and sweating in blue jeans. Pastor Bennett was there, and it was enjoyable. Though I was merely playing as a goalkeeper, the tension was there whenever the ball came close, which was often. Caught 2 balls, let in one. Married Team won over us, the Singles Team.
Performance started after dinnertime, and it was then God's mercy and grace truly shone in my life at that moment when a blow of stomachache hit me when the land breeze blew against me near the tentage. The urge was there, nature was calling...
I can't answer now. I can't answer now. If I did, I'd be cocking-up the whole performance item and waste the effort that we've put in to prepare the programme as one whole cell group. "Lord, please protect my underpants, lest I shit myself during the performance," I prayed in desperation as the throbbing gut started to already slowly let out gas stealthily.
The medley went well. Made minor blunders with the change in key, and finished the playing perfectly. Guess what happened - I made a run for the toilet without any toilet paper, still thinking in my mind, Hallelujah Lord for answering my prayer.
"Oops," came the exclamation when I was already at the toilet bowl letting go of that atomic bomb to answer nature's call. "Alamak, what to do?" I groped around for my phone, my only hope of getting out of the toilet, yet remaining clean in the bottoms at the same time. If only I could shout "Hallelujah!" loud enough that the people in the tentage could hear from the toilet that I was in, more than 200 metres away from it.
Mishaps happen all the time, but that ultimately didn't spoil the fun the other programmes had in store for us, and of course there's the exhaustion. What mattered to me even more was that we, as a cell group, could serve God in a practical way by offering a performance programme, to which they were lacking in items for. Praise God for all that!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Near-Brawl Experience: Some people go too far
It was late Thursday. No, it wasn't late Thursday - the announcement made a few days ago told us that we were supposed to report to school, as usual, at 7.25am instead of the much-favoured 8.25am reporting time during Late Thursdays, when we don't have common tests at that day.
Got the first nasty news of the day: Dr Boon, the school principal, issued a warning letter to the canteen auntie who sold drinks, telling her that she was violating the school protocol of selling healthy food, by selling ham and cheese sandwiches. By now, I had gotten used to the crispy toast with the melted cheese and succulent bites of freshly-toasted ham, and this letter sounded all the more ridiculous and illogical to me when the letter claimed ham to be "meat with preservatives high in sodium."
Hello, are you sure you're talking about breakfast ham, madam? You seem more like describing luncheon meat to me, which I'd have no qualms quarreling over.
Anyway, this disheartening news of yet another favourite breakfast item unavailable in the school canteen soured the enthusiastic mood I had towards playing frisbee, or whatever sport our current PE teacher, Mr Tong, allowed us to play during PE lesson.
We got called into the main school hall for assembly. Sat through the whole of the first hour listening to boring current affairs talk by the health-freak Dr Boon. It was worse than a full sermon - there wasn't anything relevant to us that we could relate to, and she was just there blabbering like some baboon(no pun intended), not to mention that at that point in time, I was still lamenting over the loss of my favourite breakfast item.
PE time. Played Captain's Ball. Dunno what's wrong with Wei Chiat today, after deflecting a ball, I got an angry shove from behind. The next thing I knew, he was already looking for a fight. Yes, you're right. Anyone'd be fired up when being shoved by a barbarian hand, but I resisted. "No hard feelings, classmates." I thought, when there came yet another shove.
"What the, just what the you want from me?" I returned that shove.
"You wanna play like some idiot right?" We almost fought. "You want to keep shoving people, I accompany you for the whole game." Hell, how was I to know he was coming from behind? Animal. Lucky for me, he didn't manage to spoil my mood for the rest of the day. A few minutes later, I finally was rid of him when the teams swopped, and I played with Roy's team.
If I didn't control myself back then I'd have made a scene. And verbal warfare was already going on since last year, which of course makes anyone pissed when prolonged and personal attacks keep coming to you. He tries that again, I'm gonna make sure it's gonna hurt real bad, both physically and mentally.
But then again, he's ain't worth that time.
Got the first nasty news of the day: Dr Boon, the school principal, issued a warning letter to the canteen auntie who sold drinks, telling her that she was violating the school protocol of selling healthy food, by selling ham and cheese sandwiches. By now, I had gotten used to the crispy toast with the melted cheese and succulent bites of freshly-toasted ham, and this letter sounded all the more ridiculous and illogical to me when the letter claimed ham to be "meat with preservatives high in sodium."
Hello, are you sure you're talking about breakfast ham, madam? You seem more like describing luncheon meat to me, which I'd have no qualms quarreling over.
Anyway, this disheartening news of yet another favourite breakfast item unavailable in the school canteen soured the enthusiastic mood I had towards playing frisbee, or whatever sport our current PE teacher, Mr Tong, allowed us to play during PE lesson.
We got called into the main school hall for assembly. Sat through the whole of the first hour listening to boring current affairs talk by the health-freak Dr Boon. It was worse than a full sermon - there wasn't anything relevant to us that we could relate to, and she was just there blabbering like some baboon(no pun intended), not to mention that at that point in time, I was still lamenting over the loss of my favourite breakfast item.
PE time. Played Captain's Ball. Dunno what's wrong with Wei Chiat today, after deflecting a ball, I got an angry shove from behind. The next thing I knew, he was already looking for a fight. Yes, you're right. Anyone'd be fired up when being shoved by a barbarian hand, but I resisted. "No hard feelings, classmates." I thought, when there came yet another shove.
"What the
"You wanna play like some idiot right?" We almost fought. "You want to keep shoving people, I accompany you for the whole game." Hell, how was I to know he was coming from behind? Animal. Lucky for me, he didn't manage to spoil my mood for the rest of the day. A few minutes later, I finally was rid of him when the teams swopped, and I played with Roy's team.
If I didn't control myself back then I'd have made a scene. And verbal warfare was already going on since last year, which of course makes anyone pissed when prolonged and personal attacks keep coming to you. He tries that again, I'm gonna make sure it's gonna hurt real bad, both physically and mentally.
But then again, he's ain't worth that time.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Reflection on the movie: Men of Honor
It was nice, it was good, it was everything you'd expect from a show - something bad happens, then gets resolved, then something worse, and makes a good ending when the protagonist finally overcomes the obstacle.
Watched the movie on DVD in school during SEL lessons, which basically is Social-Emotional Learning, that functions very much like Civics and Moral Education, except under a different name. This movie's about Carl Brashear, a young man strong and fit, wanting to be a diver, and goes through all the ups and downs in his diving career.
Later on, his left foot gets cut and mangled by an accident happening while retrieving a H-bomb from under the sea. He later then pleads and pesters the doctors to cut off that foot, seeing that it hindered his career and a prosthetic leg is much more feasible to him. Later on, he tries his best to train and prove himself ready for active duty again as an amputee diver, and succeeds.
Whoa, a feat. The part where the leg got cut off was gory - the scene showed the entire leg severed, and that made the whole class create a big hoo-hah out of it. However, this scene leaves a question in the plot: if the leg truly was cut off by the metal hook, how did they manage to reattach that leg back again in the later scenes? That aside, the movie was well-made. After all, what better way to produce a movie than base it on true stories?
While watching the movie, another question popped up in my mind - what would we have probably done ourselves if we lost our own left legs? Just sit there and whine? That's what many people I know, both in and outside school, are doing nowadays, when it comes to stumbling in schoolwork, office work and other obstacles. Just what's happened to the courageous people who once populated the Earth?
I'm not saying that the people I know are downright chicken-wussies; of course they may be courageous in their own right. It's just that there's lesser of these valuable assets to society. "No pain, no gain" applies to these people very well. I guess that's something worth pondering about, for the day.
Watched the movie on DVD in school during SEL lessons, which basically is Social-Emotional Learning, that functions very much like Civics and Moral Education, except under a different name. This movie's about Carl Brashear, a young man strong and fit, wanting to be a diver, and goes through all the ups and downs in his diving career.
Later on, his left foot gets cut and mangled by an accident happening while retrieving a H-bomb from under the sea. He later then pleads and pesters the doctors to cut off that foot, seeing that it hindered his career and a prosthetic leg is much more feasible to him. Later on, he tries his best to train and prove himself ready for active duty again as an amputee diver, and succeeds.
Whoa, a feat. The part where the leg got cut off was gory - the scene showed the entire leg severed, and that made the whole class create a big hoo-hah out of it. However, this scene leaves a question in the plot: if the leg truly was cut off by the metal hook, how did they manage to reattach that leg back again in the later scenes? That aside, the movie was well-made. After all, what better way to produce a movie than base it on true stories?
While watching the movie, another question popped up in my mind - what would we have probably done ourselves if we lost our own left legs? Just sit there and whine? That's what many people I know, both in and outside school, are doing nowadays, when it comes to stumbling in schoolwork, office work and other obstacles. Just what's happened to the courageous people who once populated the Earth?
I'm not saying that the people I know are downright chicken-wussies; of course they may be courageous in their own right. It's just that there's lesser of these valuable assets to society. "No pain, no gain" applies to these people very well. I guess that's something worth pondering about, for the day.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Terminal 3 - Terminal human memory work
Oookay. Been there, done that. Went to church and went back to have braised duck. Nice stuff, and of course, slept through the afternoon from 3pm to 6pm, so I'm having a bit of temporal insomnia right now. However it's a good thing, as it gives me some time to type out this entry. Hallelujah.
Went to Changi Airport: Terminal 3 later in the evening at around 7-plus. Explored that area, and believe me - it's majestic. It's so big that you could rollerskate from one end to the other and back, and you'd be exhausted from that distance, especially when there's the risk you might be arrested halfway for doing so for fooling around with the No Rollerskating rules in the airport terminal.
As for the food centres, they were big, but not necessarily many in terms of food varieties within themselves. Kopitiam outlets seem to be very widespread around Singapore, now that I think of it - there's even one outlet downstairs from my flat! Now THAT's food business for you; when you make it big, you get filthy rich quickly, just like Burger King, McDonalds' and other food chains!
Uncles Hin, Teck and my sister went together there, and proceeded to Terminal 2 to collect his complimentary air ticket to fly back to Uncle Hin's house in Sarawak. "Here cannot collect," Uncle Hin later translated the lady at the counter's words. "You gotta buy and collect the ticket at Singapore Shopping Centre(or whatever its name was) at Dhoby Ghaut." After asking around, calling up his company over the ticket, it soon dawned on him that he heard the wrong info - the ticket was supposed to be collected at April 18, but he heard it as May 18(taking into consideration that the month is named by numbers, eg 四月is April, 五月is May, etc).
So, how? Called up to book another 2 tickets while burning their own pockets just for a house visit to a close friend's home in Sarawak. Ate at Burger King later, and this time, probably they were trying to vent their anger on humongous Whoppers, a Single and another, a Double. It isn't surprising - both Uncles Hin and Teck weighed close to 90kg each when they stood on the luggage weighing scale.
Went to Changi Airport: Terminal 3 later in the evening at around 7-plus. Explored that area, and believe me - it's majestic. It's so big that you could rollerskate from one end to the other and back, and you'd be exhausted from that distance, especially when there's the risk you might be arrested halfway for doing so for fooling around with the No Rollerskating rules in the airport terminal.
As for the food centres, they were big, but not necessarily many in terms of food varieties within themselves. Kopitiam outlets seem to be very widespread around Singapore, now that I think of it - there's even one outlet downstairs from my flat! Now THAT's food business for you; when you make it big, you get filthy rich quickly, just like Burger King, McDonalds' and other food chains!
Uncles Hin, Teck and my sister went together there, and proceeded to Terminal 2 to collect his complimentary air ticket to fly back to Uncle Hin's house in Sarawak. "Here cannot collect," Uncle Hin later translated the lady at the counter's words. "You gotta buy and collect the ticket at Singapore Shopping Centre(or whatever its name was) at Dhoby Ghaut." After asking around, calling up his company over the ticket, it soon dawned on him that he heard the wrong info - the ticket was supposed to be collected at April 18, but he heard it as May 18(taking into consideration that the month is named by numbers, eg 四月is April, 五月is May, etc).
So, how? Called up to book another 2 tickets while burning their own pockets just for a house visit to a close friend's home in Sarawak. Ate at Burger King later, and this time, probably they were trying to vent their anger on humongous Whoppers, a Single and another, a Double. It isn't surprising - both Uncles Hin and Teck weighed close to 90kg each when they stood on the luggage weighing scale.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Haste Brings Waste
Last night, I was reflecting about the preaching given by Sister Shanthi, which was about the sermon given by Pastor Bennett to the Tamil Congregation. It was about how we should be tactful and patient to things or people around us before doing anything.
Being human beings, we definitely are imperfect creatures. We do things in a rush, especially in school work, preparing for major examinations like GCE 'N', 'O' and 'A' Level Examinations, and of course in everyday office work. We labour, looking for speed and accuracy. More often than not, we tend to go a bit to the extreme, going too fast and losing accuracy, and vice versa. In the end we don't get what we want.
In I Samuel 13:9-14, we see Saul going ahead with the sacrifice when Samuel the Prophet wasn't around, because of the enemies of Israel coming closer and closer to his army to do battle. In Old Testament times, the Israelites sacrificed burnt offerings before battle, and are to be offered to the Lord only by prophets, and since King Saul, the first king of Israel, proceeded without Samuel, and he wasn't a prophet, his position and power was stripped of him by God, and he ended up losing the battle.
This tells us something:
Saul did so in haste because he didn't have enough faith in the Lord to protect his army from the enemies until the sacrifice was offered. Trying to proceed ahead, get done with it quickly, he relied on his own human effort, which we know, always avails next to nothing, wastes time and effort, and ultimately leads to ruin. Even as a king, he is still not spared from human temptations to use our own effort and knowledge, which is of course, very limited when compared to His wisdom and knowledge.
Even prophets are not spared from acting in lack of knowledge and wisdom from God. In I Kings 13, there were two prophets, one younger than the other. God told the younger not to eat or drink, or even go back to where he came from, after prophesying against King Jeroboam because of his practice of idolatry in the previous chapter (I Kings 12). During his journey away from the king, the older prophet asked him to eat and drink in his house. After he refused, the old prophet lied to him that he saw an angel telling him to eat and drink in his house.
Being a prophet too, the younger should have asked the Lord if this were true, but he did not, and was deceived, and ate and drank at the old prophet's house. He ended up being killed and torn apart by a lion.
Even kings and prophets can be deceived or act in haste, what more us normal and common people of today's society? Therefore, the need of wisdom and knowledge to tackle problems is there, but human wisdom and knowledge is always limited. But thank God He's there for us whenever we need help with these! We of course are weak in these areas, more often than not, but Jesus is strong in our weaknesses, so let's ask for Him to grant us His wisdom and knowledge to solve our everyday problems.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
- I Corinthians 1:25
Beyond this line are contributions by Chee Yiliang, a bosom friend of mine, added with my permission on May 11, 10.24pm:
Cited here are two examples of how situations can be completely turned upside down when man gives in to the temptation of making haste. The severity of God is revealed against those who fail to trust Him and trust in their flesh instead.
However, we must note that these two examples are of men under law. Today in Christ Jesus, we are no longer under law, but under grace. Under law, the severity of God is revealed. We, under grace, will not be able to appreciate the grace of God without first knowing the severity of God. Now that we understand the severity of God under law as revealed by Aaron's post, let us no contrast this with the life we live under the grace of God.
Abraham was a man who lived before the law. Now, God had promised Abraham a son through Sarah. To Abraham, this was a total impossibility as Sarah was unable to bear any children. So Sarah decided that Abraham should have a son through Hagar, Sarah's maidservant. Abraham, in his haste to fulfil the promise of God, agreed to the proposal. Hence, Ishmael was born (after Abraham's self-effort). Now, here we can see that Abraham has both given in to temptation of haste and trusted in his own flesh; according to Aaron, he has utterly sinned against God! But you know what? Despite Abraham's sin, God still gave them the son He had promised them. Ishmael, although he was a mistake, God still blessed him and his children with the riches and fatness of the Earth. That is why the Middle-East is SOOO RICH with oil!
If Abraham, who wasn't even in Christ, could receive such benefits, so much more will we, who are in Christ Jesus receive them! For those of you who have fallen to the temptation, today God says to you: "You may have failed me, but I will not fail you!" You see, your unfaithfulness cannot cause God to become unfaithful to His covenant. Despite our unfaithfulness, He remains faithful. Even when you fail Him, there is a superabounding supply of favour (which you do not deserve, but He gives anyway) to prevent the severe consequences mentioned by Aaron from occuring, and even more favour to turn the situation around for your good!
Being human beings, we definitely are imperfect creatures. We do things in a rush, especially in school work, preparing for major examinations like GCE 'N', 'O' and 'A' Level Examinations, and of course in everyday office work. We labour, looking for speed and accuracy. More often than not, we tend to go a bit to the extreme, going too fast and losing accuracy, and vice versa. In the end we don't get what we want.
In I Samuel 13:9-14, we see Saul going ahead with the sacrifice when Samuel the Prophet wasn't around, because of the enemies of Israel coming closer and closer to his army to do battle. In Old Testament times, the Israelites sacrificed burnt offerings before battle, and are to be offered to the Lord only by prophets, and since King Saul, the first king of Israel, proceeded without Samuel, and he wasn't a prophet, his position and power was stripped of him by God, and he ended up losing the battle.
This tells us something:
Saul did so in haste because he didn't have enough faith in the Lord to protect his army from the enemies until the sacrifice was offered. Trying to proceed ahead, get done with it quickly, he relied on his own human effort, which we know, always avails next to nothing, wastes time and effort, and ultimately leads to ruin. Even as a king, he is still not spared from human temptations to use our own effort and knowledge, which is of course, very limited when compared to His wisdom and knowledge.
Even prophets are not spared from acting in lack of knowledge and wisdom from God. In I Kings 13, there were two prophets, one younger than the other. God told the younger not to eat or drink, or even go back to where he came from, after prophesying against King Jeroboam because of his practice of idolatry in the previous chapter (I Kings 12). During his journey away from the king, the older prophet asked him to eat and drink in his house. After he refused, the old prophet lied to him that he saw an angel telling him to eat and drink in his house.
Being a prophet too, the younger should have asked the Lord if this were true, but he did not, and was deceived, and ate and drank at the old prophet's house. He ended up being killed and torn apart by a lion.
Even kings and prophets can be deceived or act in haste, what more us normal and common people of today's society? Therefore, the need of wisdom and knowledge to tackle problems is there, but human wisdom and knowledge is always limited. But thank God He's there for us whenever we need help with these! We of course are weak in these areas, more often than not, but Jesus is strong in our weaknesses, so let's ask for Him to grant us His wisdom and knowledge to solve our everyday problems.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
- I Corinthians 1:25
Beyond this line are contributions by Chee Yiliang, a bosom friend of mine, added with my permission on May 11, 10.24pm:
Cited here are two examples of how situations can be completely turned upside down when man gives in to the temptation of making haste. The severity of God is revealed against those who fail to trust Him and trust in their flesh instead.
However, we must note that these two examples are of men under law. Today in Christ Jesus, we are no longer under law, but under grace. Under law, the severity of God is revealed. We, under grace, will not be able to appreciate the grace of God without first knowing the severity of God. Now that we understand the severity of God under law as revealed by Aaron's post, let us no contrast this with the life we live under the grace of God.
Abraham was a man who lived before the law. Now, God had promised Abraham a son through Sarah. To Abraham, this was a total impossibility as Sarah was unable to bear any children. So Sarah decided that Abraham should have a son through Hagar, Sarah's maidservant. Abraham, in his haste to fulfil the promise of God, agreed to the proposal. Hence, Ishmael was born (after Abraham's self-effort). Now, here we can see that Abraham has both given in to temptation of haste and trusted in his own flesh; according to Aaron, he has utterly sinned against God! But you know what? Despite Abraham's sin, God still gave them the son He had promised them. Ishmael, although he was a mistake, God still blessed him and his children with the riches and fatness of the Earth. That is why the Middle-East is SOOO RICH with oil!
If Abraham, who wasn't even in Christ, could receive such benefits, so much more will we, who are in Christ Jesus receive them! For those of you who have fallen to the temptation, today God says to you: "You may have failed me, but I will not fail you!" You see, your unfaithfulness cannot cause God to become unfaithful to His covenant. Despite our unfaithfulness, He remains faithful. Even when you fail Him, there is a superabounding supply of favour (which you do not deserve, but He gives anyway) to prevent the severe consequences mentioned by Aaron from occuring, and even more favour to turn the situation around for your good!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
My Saviour's Church Combined Family Service cum Picnic
Hey fellas, been busy for a while, due to language examinations, so here's an announcement. I'm trying my best not to sound evangelistic(some people don't like it when I invite them to church), so here goes -
The title says it all; There's gonna be a combined family service-cum-picnic on May 18th 2008, and all are welcome. Just show up with the following stuff:
Adults (from 8 years and above) : S$10(not US dollars, duh!)
Children (from 3-8 years old) : S$5
Babies (>3 years old): S$0.00(free!)
Lucky babies, you get a free trip to a picnic. But then again, you might not really be able to enjoy much food and games when you're still on milk bottles, I guess...(no offence to parents intended) But then again, who ever said that babies aren't allowed to be outdoors with their parents?
In case you're wondering, there's no need for NRIC certificates or any form of official identification needed to be brought, 'cos we're holding this picnic at Pasir Ris Park, at a lawn next to Car Park D. There's always people around to ask, public transport and the taxi, so don't come running after me when you lose your way going there... :P
Oh yeah, it's from 9am to 9pm, and early birds get free breakfast when they reach there before 9am.
Of course, other than the usual dull sermons(I write as though a unbeliever would) at the start of the morning, there's games like Treasure Hunt, Football, Captain's Ball, and many games able to keep youself occupied throughout the day. Exercise is good for the body, so why not? Just be sure to drink plenty of water after the games - the weather is very hot lately.
What's more, the next day's Vesak Day, so it's a public holiday, so why not go there and have fun. Good planning on our part, yea?
The title says it all; There's gonna be a combined family service-cum-picnic on May 18th 2008, and all are welcome. Just show up with the following stuff:
Adults (from 8 years and above) : S$10(not US dollars, duh!)
Children (from 3-8 years old) : S$5
Babies (>3 years old): S$0.00(free!)
Lucky babies, you get a free trip to a picnic. But then again, you might not really be able to enjoy much food and games when you're still on milk bottles, I guess...(no offence to parents intended) But then again, who ever said that babies aren't allowed to be outdoors with their parents?
In case you're wondering, there's no need for NRIC certificates or any form of official identification needed to be brought, 'cos we're holding this picnic at Pasir Ris Park, at a lawn next to Car Park D. There's always people around to ask, public transport and the taxi, so don't come running after me when you lose your way going there... :P
Oh yeah, it's from 9am to 9pm, and early birds get free breakfast when they reach there before 9am.
Of course, other than the usual dull sermons(I write as though a unbeliever would) at the start of the morning, there's games like Treasure Hunt, Football, Captain's Ball, and many games able to keep youself occupied throughout the day. Exercise is good for the body, so why not? Just be sure to drink plenty of water after the games - the weather is very hot lately.
What's more, the next day's Vesak Day, so it's a public holiday, so why not go there and have fun. Good planning on our part, yea?
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