the window seat

A new season!

2008-04-22T15:57:00.003+08:00

Tuesday, 22 April 2008 - 3:12pm.

Today is significant, because it's not only my senior pastor's birthday, but it's also the day JobStreet called and emailed me to confirm their offer for me.

I am totally ecstatic, overjoyed, and so happy over the great news. I've been praying for it over a long time and God (as always), He is a God who answers prayer! It's been such a long journey and there has been prayers gone out, tears flowed down and cries of desperation to Him. But the thing that really consoles my heart is that He hears all of them. Nothing is wasted.

As I was praying under my breath this afternoon, I was sitting at my seat and was praying that God is move their hearts so that they will call me to confirm today. I was reading this verse online:

"For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!"

- Psalms 84:10-12 (NKJV)

Truly God doesn't withhold any good thing to those who walks in His ways. There is nothing that we will lack if we choose and will ourselves to live in the house of the Lord. I wanna thank You Lord, because I do not deserve any of these, but yet You have chosen to bless and provide for me, time and again. Your faithfulness and love never fails! I love You, Saviour.

There is just so much that I have in my heart right now. I feel like praising Him and just thanking Him for all that He has done! He is so good! Bless Your name Lord! And this Friday, as I go to the combined uni night at Sunway Uni College, I'll definitely praise Him and glorify His name through this story that He has given me. You are so so good Lord!

Therefore, I will begin a new season in my career in JobStreet.com on 5 May 2008, which is after the church camp! There really isn't any better way to start a new beginning. Thank You again Lord! You are my Lord and I am Your child.

2008-01-16T09:36:00.000+08:00

I'm proud to bring you The 2008 Season 1, Episode 1 of "What Ray wants, what he really really wants..."

The ultra-thin, ultra beautiful, MacBook Air

2008-01-09T14:32:00.000+08:00

How did you think Adam and Eve pass time before they got evicted by Big Brother. On a sidenote, this video confirms my long-time suspicion that God Himself made the best musical instruments.

2008-01-07T17:24:00.000+08:00

What an awesome testimony! This is what Christianity is (and should be) all about. I'm so proud of this ex-Yakuza church minister now. Nothing's better than knowing and living as the child of the Most High.

2007-11-09T14:18:00.000+08:00

Of Transitions. Seasons Filled with Hope and Future.

"To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven....
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end....
I know that whatever God does, it endures forever; nothing can be added to it nor anything taken from it. And God does it so that men will [reverently] fear Him [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is]."

- excerpts from Ecclesiastes 3 (Amplified Bible).

31st October 2007. It was a date to remember, a significant date we will remember for a long, long time. For the rest of our lives even. There are seasons in life where we will never fathom, seasons which will scare us or make us long in anticipation of what He can do. The Hope of His Divine Purpose coming to past here on earth, something so beautifully profound where I can only imagine and feel it surround my being. Without Hope, what is there to this life we're living?

We travelled into Singapore on the 31st October 2007 being a dating couple, but we left on 3rd November 2007 being an engaged couple on the path of marriage (Wow, even typing that word "marriage" seems so surreal after all that He had done). There is nothing in this world that would separate us from the wonderful love of knowing the precious Father in heaven and there is nothing in world that would make me wanna love Skye less for all that we have been through, for the moments we have endured, for the pain we have felt in the past and for all the hope and destiny He has prepared for us, there is nothing that will make me wanna love her one bit less. It's just not possible.

Many people have asked me questions of how I propose, so instead of answering each one and at the cost of making myself feel like a broken record, this post is dedicated for the one moment in life which is forever be etched in our hearts and mind. Thanks to everyone of you who shared in this wonderful journey of our love and relationship. We treasure each of you very much, you know who you are.

It was on the afternoon of 31st October 2007 when Skye and I travelled to Singapore on the all familiar First Coach bus. The bus left Bandar Utama, PJ at 11am hence scheduled to arrive in Singapore at 4pm. Bearing in mind our pre-planned boat cruise was supposed to leave Marina South Pier at 6pm. While on the bus, I prayed that we would reach Singapore before 4pm, then we will be able to hop on a cab back to Woodlands (where Skye stays) get prepared and the cab to the pier for our boat cruise.

Surprisingly, we did reach Singapore before 4pm. 3.50pm to be exact. We walked out of the customs building and guess what, we didn't even had to wait for a cab as we saw one once we were out! We zoomed straight to Woodlands, and we got prepared for the dinner cruise. At 4.45pm we left the house and cabbed to Marina South Pier, the journey was smooth and in my heart I was thanking God and I was feeling the nerves settling in bit by bit. I clutched on to my bag, which contained the ring. The moment we reached the pier, we walked to the boat cruise office to get my tickets. I told her I made a booking for 2 for the boat cruise at 6pm. She looked at me with this sad face and said "Ohhh, you must be Raymond... I've been trying to contact you on your phone but I couldn't get you. But our boat could not leave today because it was involved in an accident..." Right. at. that. moment, my heart dropped, I took a gulp and in my disbelief I asked one or two more times to confirm the fact that the boat couldn't leave today! I quickly asked her if there were any other cruises leaving today and they suggested a few which we had no interest in and just before we left she commented "I'm so sorry for you guys.... it was supposed to be her birthday right?... " I said " Huh? Nononooo.... " She said "Oh... you mean.... it was her pr..." I interrupted quickly and said "Nononoo... it's ok, no worries... see you soon!" So both Skye and I hurried out of the office and was left wondering what to do and where we should go. While my heart was beating so fast I thought it was gonna leap out of my body after that experience!

We kinda hung around for awhile thinking of what to do, while I was starting to feel the stress. I asked if we could maybe go to the Esplanade or maybe Vivo City at Harbourfront for a casual and relaxing dinner instead. I mean, if you can't go on a boat cruise with dinner then I suppose the next best thing is to go somewhere near the water with nice food. After a few moments of indecisiveness, we decided to go to Esplanade for Jap. A bus ride, an MRT and a bit of walk later, we were at the Esplanade, we went straight to Ichiban Boshi for dinner and like usual, we stuffed ourselves silly with lots of good japanese food, we ordered sushis, large bento sets with soup, and after that we tried a small bottle of hot sake, just to see how it tastes like. I didn't like it too much as I felt the alky whiff went up my nose a lil too often, while Skye, she enjoyed it, said it was like tea or something. Okie. So, now that dinner is over I have to officially come up with a Plan B. Fast!

We went down to the Esplanade for a leisurely walk beside the waters and we just had some casual chat. The time was slightly past 8pm so I thought, ok we have some time before I ask her the question. We walked and we walked... and we walked... We walked up to One Fullerton, down to the Merlion, hung around for a bit, walked down further to the old Clifford Pier where I thought it was the perfect spot to do it, but there were 2 guys fishing and 2 ah mas drinking mineral water and eating some random kuih. So I thought "Darn! No go then...". So, we were already at the other end of the Esplanade already when it was around 9 something pm.

Skye being the savvy Singaporean she is, she suggested that we walk down to the MRT station which is just down the road. Every single alarm bell in my head went off and it echoed "NOOOO.....". I calmly suggested that we walk the other way, which was the way we came from. She looked at me strangely and said "But we walked there already..." I said "Well... (erm)... it's nice to be able to walk by the waters... it's relaxing ain't it?". So, there we were, walking down to the same way we came from, past the Merlion, past One Fullerton, past the Esplanade bridge and back to where we were! Later on, we were both kinda tired from the walking (duh!) so we rested for a while at Se Toh Glutton's Bay. hahaha. We ordered a drink and I thought to myself "God! Help meeeee!" After the drink, we walked back out and this time I thought Skye was walking like she was more determined to walk to the MRT station this time!

As we were on the way, I looked up and said "Hey, didn't you told me there was a roof deck upstairs during the New Year last time?" She agreed and we decided to check it out! Lo and behold! Praise the good Lord! There is this nice, quiet, romantic garden roof deck on top of Esplanade all this while! I said "This is it! This is the spot." We found a nice and quiet spot overlooking the Singapore cityscape and we sat down and chatted about various sorts of things, about us and about where we're going and all. Finally, at about 10.30pm I gathered all my guts, and I slipped my hand into my bag to retrieve the ring box, held the box in my hand went down on one knee and asked her "Will you marry me?".

She looked at me sweetly and said "Yes, I will". Trust me, I felt so happy and relieved! I took the ring and gently slipped it into her finger. Wow. I thought she looked like a million bucks! We were really just so happy! In fact, we were just so happy we took photos, we started to text people. Ram and Hannah were the first to call, we chatted, they were really excited, which was just so awesome! We took more photos, chatted and laughed about the whole incident even more and then on the way back, we were both looking at the diamond ring so intently, we didn't know we were walking the wrong way straight into the bathroom! We were really relishing the experience of being well... engaged!

It was just so, so awesome! We wanna thank everyone who messaged, called, left facebook messages and comments over the past week. We would love to share this awesome journey with each and everyone of you. Right now, we're in the midst of preparing our wedding next year. We will keep you updated on the exact date. But for now, we just wanna say thank you to all of you wonderful people! Life is not the same without you guys and definitely we wanna thank God. He has made everything beautiful in His time. We absolutely love Him and I love Skye very much as well!

Now that we are engaged, I feel like we've transitioned into another phase of our lives and I love her even more than yesterday. I thank God because in our journey He has always been there, never once did He abandon us but His hands were there since the first day and I know He will continue to guide and lead us into our future. I wait in eager anticipation of everything that He has prepared for us in store. The past 2 years and 4 months of our relationship together has been nothing less than awesome and I personally believe with conviction that better days are ahead. We totally enjoy this awesome feeling of being engaged and I can't wait when I return to this blog again next year, and say that I'm finally married to this woman of God that I absolutely love and treasure. Thanks Skye for all your love and thanks because I can take this life that God has given me to love you and care for you and be committed to you. Thanks to You God for making all this happen and for Your smile.

2007-10-24T10:46:00.000+08:00

In 7 days, I'll be on the coach to Singapore with Skye. It's been a long while since I've been there since the company trip in June. Lots have changed, lives got busier but I thank God because I can take some time off to relax and just being with the people and place that I really enjoy.

Lots of things will change. Time changes everything, for the better or for worse. However, I believe that God has bigger and better plans in the future. As we step into His will and purpose for our lives, we cannot help but discover the many awesome favour and grace from God. I can't help but to look forward into the new things that God wanna do in our lives. I believe strongly in His words that says "I come to give you life and life more abundantly." God is one that will never short change you in life, when you choose to walk in His ways.

Thank You God for bringing us thus far. I believe the journey has just started. There is just too much to discover and experience to stop here. I want to walk on and see You in greater light and to know You as how You desire Your children to know their father. Thank You for holding us in the palm of Your hands God, because it is where we feel most safe. Hold on and never let us go.

2007-10-16T13:59:00.000+08:00

2007-09-20T12:53:00.000+08:00

Wow! Once again, I'm amazed at how Facebook can totally pull me away from Blogger. Okok, it's not totally Facebook's fault. It's my colleagues, friends and lifegroup people who are always throwing sheep, poking, asking me to be a vampire, a werewolf or asking me to receive a hatching egg. Ok well, probably not those either. Yes, I confess: I am (unashamedly) a Facebook addict :) Unless you're not in Facebook, just ignore - everything I've said will be just gibberish to you.

On a separate note: I've just started the Sunway Lifegroup last week with some really awesome guys! We had Silas, Brown, Edwin, Erwin and Justin last week where we met at the visitor's room of the Sunway Monash Condo randomly. I thought it was awesome meeting and connecting with all these great guys. I'm still reeling from the fact that I, a local am outnumbered by the people from out of town or basically out of country! We've got guys from Ipoh, Melaka, JB, Penang, Brunei and a few from Nigeria and a few other African nations.

Can I just say this: I totally love my LG!

I really do! All the guys are totally awesome and I'm so excited and passionate about the potential of this LG! What I saw and witnessed last week was really just a 0.1% of what God totally wanna do with this LG. I've got so many things in my heart that I can see us doing to cause a wave in the uni and the tonnes of students in this place! I can see events, outreaches, adopt-a-block kinda projects, guys built up to be student leaders in the campuses and in church and guys taking a part of this culture to wherever God wants them to be. But for now, the ripple's starting....

All the guys have a heart and something in common that totally roots us deep in the church and that sense of belonging in church. This is really a place where people from all background can find a family away from a family and a home away from their home. A place where they can feel safe, covered under the church and at the same time challenged to grow and serve in a way they have never seen or experienced before. One day, we will be occupying halls we will be having LGs in every other street in the campuses. One day, we will be causing such an impact in the unis that people are drawn to it and a passion that draws crowd.

It all starts with a few....

Sunway Lifegroup Facebook Group

2007-08-24T11:32:00.001+08:00

2007-08-16T11:08:00.000+08:00

Lately, some colleagues in the office has been circulating very random emails, most of them contain jokes... Actually, 2 cent jokes to be precise. Like this one:

Sid and Al are Jews and were sitting in a Chinese restaurant. "Sid," asked Al, "Are there any Jews in

China

?" "I don't know," Sid replied. "Why don't we ask the waiter?"

When the waiter came by, Al asked him, "Are there any Chinese Jews?" "I don't know sir, let me ask," the waiter replied, and he went into the kitchen. He returned in a few minutes and said, "No, sir. No Chinese Jews."

"Are you sure?" Al asked. "I will check again, sir." the waiter replied and went back to the kitchen. While he was still gone, Sid said, "I cannot believe there are no Jews in China, our people are scattered everywhere."

When the waiter returned he said, "Sir, no Chinese Jews."

Are you really sure?" Al asked again. "I cannot believe there are no Chinese Jews." "Sir, I asked everyone," the waiter replied exasperated. "We have orange Jews, prune Jews, tomato Jews and grape Jews, but no one ever heard of Chinese Jews! ! If you want, we have Chinese Tea.

O_o

-_-

.... *crows flies past screen* ....

So, yeah.... 2 cent jokes. I've heard a couple of them lately, like this one, from Hannah, one of my church friends, who actually heard it from her fiancee:

Which part of your body is the most truthful place?

...

Hips.

Why?

'Cause Hips Don't Lie.

-_-

Aahhhhhh!!!

So, yeah.... thought I'll blog about it... for posterity. hahaha... so that the next generation can laugh at the lameless their forefathers went through. Hahah!

Thus, endeth this random post-eth...

2007-07-25T10:57:00.000+08:00

Hey, you know I have to say it feels so different being "back" in Blogger again after using sites like MySpace and Facbook, which I am currently being "busy" with. It's feel fun and all... but yeah, my blog will still be kept alive from time to time for sure...

So for those who wanna drop me a note, just hit this link:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=678757717

2007-07-10T10:50:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday, love. Did you see the Orion's Belt in there? haha... See ya tonight!

2007-07-05T13:39:00.000+08:00

A few things I miss - Dangerfield (and their choice of indie music everytime you walk into their stores), Trampoline gelati (especially lychee and lime sorbet!), St Kilda pastries, JB Hifi (love heaps!), and just random cafes and coffee spots around the city, which serves awesome all-day aussie breakfast.

Come semester break, plans will be abound with eating trips, late night suppers, random coffee moments and road trips! They're heaps fun, I can't deny that one single bit. The food, the company, the views, the nice break from the city, the beach, the air.... everything! They're just so awesome. I mean, I remember hitting Port Campbell with Skye, and as soon as we checked in into our little hotel, I took a glance out of the window, and I remember how fresh and crisp the air felt as well as the view of the sunset glow softly falling on the huge rocky cliffs. The warmth of the red, yellow, light purple glow just easily takes away the breath of anyone who looks at it. And with so minimal people in that small town, everything felt like as if God made every single view just for you to enjoy. Just you and Him.

You see, I miss these things. As soon as I came back here to Malaysia, I would never even hesitate to call it home. Yes, there were moments when I wished I was in Melbourne enjoying certain things and how church is so awesome back then. But the fact is this - I am here. So what am I gonna do about it? I never regreted coming back here. Time and again, God absolutely blew my mind when He showed me what He can do when one steps out in obedience. And mind you, obedience includes submitting to authority when you're supposed to do so. Did I feel like I can achieve more and maybe grow even more should I have stayed on longer in Melbourne? ... Well, looks like we'll never know that.

Suffice to say, I am totally glad to have found CCKL and my fellow friends there who beats with the same passion and heart for God. Yet, when I stop for a moment and consider whether I've lost the desire and even time to make time for myself and my loved ones, I wonder. There were thoughts were I wish I can take time off to go somewhere, Perhentian, Pangkor, Phuket, Bali, Vietnam, or just really wherever. Stop, take time to breathe and know that there is always something more out there to be experienced to be taken in and learn.

You see, friends, life is not all about work and slogging for that one thing we have in mind. In my case, iPhone amongst many other things. haha! Life is meant to be enjoyed, to be lived, to be savoured. Just like how when you're enjoying a awesome dish in front of you, you won't gobble it all down, instead, take time to savour, you may just enjoy more taste which you never thought you would before. Take time to let people into your lives, take time to connect. Nobody ever lives alone, same as nobody ever can call him/herself a self-made man. No such thing. God created company for man. He came so that you could enjoy life and life to the full.

2007-07-03T17:33:00.000+08:00

(: ɐɥɐɥ .ǝɹǝɥ ʇɥbıɹ doʇs puɐ poob ǝq 11ɐɥs ı 'uʍop ǝpısdn sıɥʇ buıpɐǝɹ ɯoɹɟ ǝɥɔɐpɐǝɥ ɐ ʇǝb 11ɐ noʎ ǝɹoɟǝq 'ʞo .op oʇ buıʇsǝɹǝʇuı buıɥʇou puɐ ʞɹoʍ buıqɯnu-puıɯ ɥʇıʍ ǝɔıɟɟo ǝɥʇ uı ʞɔnʇs ǝɹ,noʎ uǝɥʍ ʎ11ɐıɔǝdsǝ 'unɟ ʎʇʇǝɹd s,ʇı .sǝǝɹbǝp 081 ʇxǝʇ ɹnoʎ dı1ɟ uɐɔ ɥɔıɥʍ 1ɯʇɥ.dı1ɟ/ɯoɔ.pɐɟʌǝɹ.ʍʍʍ//:dʇʇɥ :ǝʇıs ɐ punoɟ ¡sıɥʇ pɐǝɹ uɐɔ noʎ ǝdoɥ ı 'ǝ1doǝd ʎǝɥ

2007-07-02T17:25:00.000+08:00

Ahhhh! The beauty of the glossy, metallic shiny Apple iPhone!!!

These people got their hands on the much-desired iPhone on June 29, and hence quickly unboxed it and showed the whole world what's in the black Apple treasure chest in their YouTube. Even the Apple iPhone box is so nice! I'll get my hands on the iPhone first thing it comes to our shores here in Malaysia in 2008, people. Mark me words! :)

Oh, and if you're interested to contribute to the "Help Ray get his first iPhone" charity. Please email, call or drop me a note here! No, seriously. Let's see, among other things would be a Panasonic Lumix FX-30, Nikon D40X (for Skye), an F1 ticket to Singapore GP 2008, a wide screen MacBook Pro and ... those robot T-shirts from Brunswick Street! Feel free to bank in into my account anytime too.

Let's see, while I'm at it (i.e. blogging) what else can I ramble on. OK, Transformers was sooo veryyy gooood! So, guys... please watch it! And thanks Michael Bay for reliving my much-deprived childhood memories. Optimus Prime, you so freakin' rock! Like when you threw your metallic punch into the face of Megatron, that was like POW! A King-sized mechanical Muhammed Ali planting the fatal upper cut on Lennox Lewis!

And yeah... it's July! Woohoo, birthday month! :) *hint hint* Ha ha ha...

2007-06-12T13:09:00.000+08:00

This has gotta be the funniest video I've seen for a long time!

It's an interview with Johnny Depp on a Japanese TV to promote Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Halfway through the interview, a group of cute Japanese kids appeared and gave him a talent show. Poor Johnny appeared amused, while feeling a little bit bizzare (based on his facial expression). Have a look! Wait for the video to load first, don't worry, it's worth the wait :)

Via JapanProbe.

Speaking of which, I met my own version of Captain Jack Sparrow when we went for the premier of Pirates 3 in Cathay Cineleisure Damansara on the 22 May 2007, 9pm. Here are some pictures:

2007-06-04T17:38:00.000+08:00

It's official! The Apple iPhone is going to be released in the U.S. on 29th June 2007. Check out their TV ads here:

2007-05-30T16:08:00.000+08:00

From tomorrow till Sunday morning, I'll be in Singapore. Am really looking forward to it, since it's been 6 months since I was there. And besides, I think I can really use a nice long weekend to chill 'cause work has been real hectic - it's time for a proper breather. Anyways, have a nice weekend folks! I know I'll have one. Meanwhile, if you really need to meet me, just "Play My Game" below this post. Catch you later!

:) :P =D >.< =)

2007-05-29T13:19:00.000+08:00

Link: PlayMyGame

Yeah, I know it kinda messes up the layout a bit, but it's just to funny I had to post it! So, yeah... c'mon bring your best moves on. Tip: the only way you can beat me is by using the uppercut, 'cause I'm just too fast for you yo! hahaha...

Nah.. it's really not that hard to master the moves. Try it and see! If you're interested in creating yours. Just click the link above.

2007-05-28T14:35:00.000+08:00

Random event:

I was nicely enjoying my sleep in time on a Saturday morning, when this Indian/American telemarketer called me at about 10am. He told me in this half-excited tone that I've won a free stay at the Sunway Resort Hotel. When I told him, sorry I'm not interested, he proceeded with saying that I've also won free passes to Sunway Lagoon as well! When I said no the second time around, he replied in this bewildered tone saying "why are you not interested?" After about 10 seconds of telling him I have no intentions of taking up the "free" offer. I put down the phone. Turns out that there has been a phone scam going on.

I had no idea how he got my number, and why he thought I would be interested in going to Sunway Hotel, but anyways, here's a reminder to you guys to always be on your toes at all times. These scam guys will stop at nothing to cheat you of a couple of hundred ringgit, or more. So, there you go. Random.

2007-05-23T17:13:00.000+08:00

Hillsong's How Great Is Our God.

2007-05-22T14:26:00.000+08:00

OK, at this point I'll gladly consider myself a Threadless fan. Sometime ago, I ordered 3 shirts from them, which I gladly wear them around now. Today I read a post via BoingBoing that they released this "Spoilt" teeshirt, which absolutely tickled my fancy (graphics above).

Without too much of a delay, I ordered the tee! Oops! haha, it costs me USD $15 excluding shipping, but I thought hey, it's a pretty cool and witty shirt. Doesn't hurt adding it to my teeshirt collection. Whee! It'll be here in about 1-3 weeks.

Another joy of being a working adult - impulsive buying.

2007-05-21T11:30:00.000+08:00

It's Monday! It's a new week, and somehow it feels like it's gonna be a good week already!

Last weekend was just maddd, first we had this Nando's dinner with some guys from my old lifegroup. So there we were, eating half a chicken each, except for Allison and for me and Weng Wai, we downed a lot of iced lemon tea, 'cause they were bottomless! haha! We wanted to go to the arcade but it was closed :( so, instead we played 2 games of foosball. It was fun. After that, we picked Skye up from work and we headed to William's at Taman Mayang! woohoo... it was fun 'cause we had more drinks and were pretty amused with Weng Wai's antics (i.e. praying for the cockroach and it kinda "ressurected" again...) you gotta be there to see it! anyways, it was fun!

On Saturday, we went to Red Box for karaoke. I'm not a big fan of karaoke at all, but I heard that they had buffet dinner! We spent the whole evening there, ate lotsa food as usual and sang for a bit. It was pretty fun, when we just sang some song everyone knows and everyone's shouting into the mic. Funny experience.

On Sunday, we had a good church service! After that, we decided to have an official farewell dinner for Allison, so we went to Restaurant OK at TTDI for some makan. Let's see, there were Ben and Jo, Alex, Mellisa, Jennifer, Rudy and Angie, Allison, Weng Wai, Skye and Ray! Food was nice. So was the company!

This week, I'm gonna watch SHREK THE THIRD with Skye at GSC 1 Utama! Wooohoooo.... It's a special preview screening way ahead of the crowd who's gonna watch it on 1 June. I'm looking forward to the movie, I mean, besides the fact that it's gonna be free! :D On Wednesday night, we're gonna have dinner with Rudy and Angie in Klang! Yayy! He said he's gonna bring us to a place which has marmite crabs! I say, bring it on! God is gooood... On Friday, the guy's group LG is gonna meet up in Sunway for a buffet steamboat dinner. More pig out session!

it's all good... it's all good... At the moment, it's only me in the office. I'm enjoying the peace while I can :) Have a good week, folks!

2007-05-21T10:17:00.000+08:00

The Transformers trailer rocks big time! It's a different version than the one released earlier, more of robots transforming, machines clanking, blasting, killing, and Optimus Prime's heroic stance on saving the world from the destruction of the Megatron and his horde of baddies.

2007-05-14T16:29:00.000+08:00

Let me tell you way beforehand that 2008 will be a good year. There are 2 personal reasons for it. I'm pretty sure they will be a lot more than 2, but at this point let me tell you why.

Number one: Apple announced that they will be releasing the Holy Grail of all phones, called the iPhone to Asia-Pac in early 2008. So, that effectively leaves me with 7.5 months to save up for the very pricey phone.

Number two: Now that Singapore has join the Extraordinary League of F1 Hosts all round the world, I will be very much interested to watch a street race which will probably be held at night! (Can I hear 3 cheers for that?) From the map of the proposed street circuit, it's looks every single bit a winner already. Now, of course I know there's also the Sepang F1 race tracks, but you know... I'm not particularly keen on getting barbequed while watching the F1 cars zip by on the large projected screen with most probably the sun glaring into the screen. While, a night race on the street circuit? Woohoo! Bring it on!

2007-05-11T14:17:00.000+08:00

It's been a loooong time since I last blogged. Work is to be blamed for that.

Let's see, what happened in between all this time. First, there was this lawsuit that we had to solve and avoid. Then of course, that's only half of the story, the other is actually solving the problem itself. Don't have time to explain in detail here. If you're that inclined to know, ask me when I meet you someday. Then, there's more work to be done, people to meet, venture capitalists to present, bosses to discuss and heaps of emails flying around. There's of course church too, but church has always been great, the people are awesome too. Never a complain, only praises!

Yesterday, I was back in Friday's, Subang Parade with Ken and Gajaen. We were having lots of food (probably overate again) but food was great and company were awesome too! I had this Grilled Garlic Marinated Lamb Chops, another Chocolate Molted Turtle (thanks Ken for correcting that) and lots of glasses of Iced Lemon Tea. Oh, we started by having this appetizer where its this fried chicken which sesame and a kinda sweet sauce, very nice!

Of course, apart from that we talked about storming the unis! It's Revolution time! It's time to take the unis/colleges by storm. We contacted some of our guys and we calculated there would be about 24 people confirmed in coming to our first Life Group this May 18. We would be doing a buffet steamboat somewhere in Sunway and we're all gonna pig out (again) and have a great time! Not to mention it'll be a great start. Yet, we're not satisfied with 24, we want to see 2,400 in our youth ministry one day.

It's all happening now and they're all in the works. Meanwhile, work is also busy. We're actually partnering with a few indie/underground local bands to produce an album where we're gonna promote through Tumpang.com (if you haven't heard about it, check it out!). We will be issuing press releases and also opening up for promotions very soon. Every CD sold, the buyer will get 2 free movie passes to watch Pirates 3 in any cinema in Malaysia! Sounds good? Then watch out for the promotion.

Stay tuned, guys. Will blog more when I find time. Now, I'm off to a meeting. Tonight will be my last Life Group in Ben & Jo's. So, yeah... I'll miss the Life Group for sure, no doubt about that. They're awesome people and I've made good friends with the people there. We'll meet at Centrepoint's McD, so.. should be fun! :)

Laters, legends!

2007-04-25T09:09:00.000+08:00

I'm so fullll.....

Why? 'cause yesterday Ken and Pris had dinner with Skye and I at Lala Cheong's (next to the old subang airport). Ken generously ordered tonnes of food which included butter prawns, kai lan in oyster sauce, stir fried black pepper venison, assam steamed fish, stir fried chicken in onion and dried chilli, kam heong crabs and fried mantis prawns.

We were so bloated by the end of it all and because there were 2 girls who wouldn't eat too much so the guys had to wallop it all, which I guess we don't mind after all. By the end of dinner, Ken suggested that we should go for some dessert, so we drove to Subang Parade's TGIF for some chocolate molten turtle (which is not in the menu). It's a combo of superbly soft vanilla ice cream, lots of caramel, chocolate syrup and reall soft, rich and moist chocolate brownie at the bottom, served in a large glass.

A funny thing happened as we were at Friday's. I went to the washroom before Ken and Pris came, so as I was washing my hands on the way out, I left my car keys on the soap dispenser. Little did I know that I forgot to take it with me when I was walking out. So the whole time I was having dessert with them I didn't know until we were about to go back. I thought to myself, panicked for a split second and just told the guys calmly that "Oh, I need to go back to the toilet to get my car keys." The guys looked at me like "are you serious?" haha... So ladies and gentlemen, the morale of the story is, when you eat too full, all the blood will rush to your tummy instead of your brain, symptoms of which include forgetfulness amongst other things.

On a more serious note though, some of the things that Ken shared while we were at dinner hit right in the spot where I wanted to serve in and it was just absolutely amazing being able to be a part of this impacting the generations of students in Malaysia's colleges and universities. Just got one thing to say: Bring it on!

Of course, again we know that we know that God has something awesome up His sleeve for Malaysia and CCKL. And being a part of this vision and thing that God is doing right here in KL is just awesome beyond words. The sight of students giving their lives to God, being passionate and on fire for all the right reason, and having a desire to see Christ playing such an important role in the lives of their mates and in the uni they're in - nothing could beat that.

It's time on invade and take ground (another way of saying "devil, your ass is gonna get whooped big time!")

2007-04-23T15:39:00.000+08:00

Who wants a 24-carat gold (plated) iPod?

Not me. But if you fancy it, a 30G will set you back RM 2,400 and a fat 80G will set you back at the tune of RM 3,200. Only for the bling-bling community. Or unless you fancy, listening to your fav tunes while looking at your reflection in the chrome gold iPod.

2007-04-11T10:24:00.000+08:00

It's good to be back at work again. Yes, I was so sick had to take MC, stay home and get well. It was a good break from work. It started on Monday when I felt a bit giddy and my throat felt scratchy too. Went to see the doctor at night and he said that my tonsil was inflamed and that was what's causing the fever. I requested for an MC and that was my first MC since I started work last March too.

Anyways, I do have better things to talk about here. Last Sunday was an amazing day. We celebrated City Church KL's 1st anniversary. Ps Paul Geerling spoke on faith and even prophesied over Ps Mark and the church. He read from the passage where Ps Mark preached to the leaders on Saturday. The one about "you are the salt of the earth... you are the light of the world, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden."

It was just overwhelming to see the auditorium packed to its brim. The hall was built to sit 270 people max, but on that day we had 330 including guests. I absolutely love church, but there's only one thing I love more, and that is where God is leading this church to. In the words of Ps Paul, the acceleration of this church will be exponential and its growth will be fast. I believe it with all my heart. When there are 200+ people who are so deeply committed and devoted to one cause, there's nothing that cannot be achieved.

2007-04-05T10:30:00.000+08:00

For the record, I want the brand new, just released most powerful Mac Pro desktop. Just check out the specs, it's an 8-core Intel processor, which boosts the power up to 3.0Ghz, 16G of RAM, 3TB of storage, not one but two Super Drives and up to 3 graphic card options, which can power two 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays!

Of course, it's released in the US at the moment and for that configuration above it will set you back at a cool USD$16,025, Oh, the pleasure in the pain. haha.

And of course, once I've the brand new Mac Pro sitting pretty in my house. I'll whack in a whole Adobe Design Creative Suite 3. It's a beauty I tell ya.

2007-04-02T14:59:00.000+08:00

It's another new month again! Except for this month, things are getting exciting. We'll be celebrating City Church KL's 1st year anniversary celebration this Sunday. Ps Paul Geerling will be speaking, which will be cool.

Yesterday evening, we had Ps John Herbert speaking. It was an awesome message and it felt like God is setting us up for an awesome year ahead. The way He's laying the foundations for further growth in this church has been nothing less than mind-blowing. Even though I haven't been in church for a year (4 months actually), it's amazing how God made us fit in and made church felt so much like home. I remember telling Ps Mark the very first time I met him, being in City Church made me feel like I came home.

And as a son of the house, I feel proud of what God is doing in and through this church. It's only been 3 months into 2007, but I can't wait to see ALL that He has for church this year. It's amazing and it can only get better. Like what Ps Russell always say, it's the happy scared feeling.

God, it's only been a year since You've given us City Church KL. And it's been awesome. Yet we know and we want to believe for more of you in this church and for us.

2007-03-22T10:20:00.000+08:00

Setting The Stage

As I was doing my quiet time one night, I felt God speaking to me about something that has been always close to my heart. You see, as the years pass by, I realise more and more that my passion has been in the media and design side of things, and to see it all happen in its best at church. No longer should we accept church brochures and flyers as it is. This is no longer the "As Is" section of Ikea, church design should be right in the most expensive showroom in the house.

So, as I was just reading the Word, I felt God speaking to me about "Setting The Stage". What exactly are you talking about? Well, this is the thing: There are so many times when we're asked to worship lead in life group, when we're scheduled to serve visitors a drink, when we're arranging the chairs or when we're physically setting the stage where the worship band plays. Yet, there are countless times when we would feel negatively over these tasks or wished someone else are doing it instead. C'mon, let's be real right.

Yet, when we read in the Bible, we see who was the greatest stage setter of all times. Countless times, we see the heroes of faith setting the stage and creating the atmosphere to move. We read in the Gospels that when Jesus was travelling back to His hometown one day, He was amazed at their lack of faith. And consequently, Jesus (the Master and Creator of the universe) could not move! Why is this? Simply because, the people's disbelief hindered Him from doing so. In other words, the people did not manage to set the stage and create the atmosphere for Jesus to move. How crazy is that...

Now, back to this main question of setting the stage. And this is what I felt God spoke to me about in the early hours of the morning. He said there were many times, when we are asked to set up the stage, so usher, to clean the floor, to serve the drinks and we complain whether verbally or not. Yet when we look at the Bible, we see God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords setting the stage. Probably the most important stage of all times right from the beginning.

Look at Genesis 1. God specifically listed down all the thing He has done in the first chapter of the Book. He created the waters, the land, the mountains and rivers and even each of the animals, no matter how diverse and different they all are. God Himself took 6 full days carefully planning and then setting up the stage, called Earth before He even put us on it. Think about that, guys. There were so many time when we complain about the 6 or 7 hours we give in setting up once in a while, but yet God took time to make sure everything was beautiful and perfect before He created us.

We see in Genesis 1, everytime after He created something, he would say "It was good". How many time do we set up the stage for Him to move and say it was good. Or do we just brush it off and say "well, as long as it looks ok, it's ok". God Himself had the spirit of first class. He would not even create His people, us, if everything He saw was good enough. Now this is a new thought: God probably felt, if it was good enough for Him, it will be good enough for us. Wow... Think about that.

I wanna challenge myself and I want to challenge you. Whoever you are, to lift the standard on setting the stage on God to move. Whether you're a musician, an usher, a hospitality person, a set up or pack down team member, do your best! For the simple but yet most powerful reason because we're doing this as a stage for God to move. When a person walks into the church hall, do they go wow or do they snicker at the lack of standard in the House of God. Ask yourself this question.

When I think of setting the stage for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to move and change lives forever. Everything I do is worth it.

2007-03-21T13:49:00.000+08:00

It has been 2 weeks since there was any activity in this space.

It has been 2 very busy weeks for me. Work has been on-going with projects, proposals and presentations. Meanwhile, I was also doing some designs for church, which is awesome. It's nice seeing your designs go on print, framed and the process of conceptual art to actual printed material. At the moment, we're done with the design for the 1st anniversary invitation card and am working on finalising the design for the New People's Pack, which will also be printed and distributed on the church's 1st anniversary as well. At the same time, the editing for the church birthday video is being done, by Jeremy, which will be awesome.

After factoring all these things, it leaves me with very minimal time for social life. But thank God, our company had a bowling and dinner outing yesterday, which helped. And this Thursday, I'll be playing table tennis with them too. Keeps me sane.

It's all gonna be good!

2007-03-07T10:08:00.000+08:00

Nice graphics on nice tees. This morning I ordered 3 tees from Threadless. Skye (who ordered another 2) told me about this website and since then, I've been pleasantly surprised by their design. Before this, there was another site that I like, Busted Tees.

Anyway, Threadless is currently having a sale and most tees are going for USD $10 each! That's a good bargain. Hopefully, I'll be able to do less physical shopping and more online shopping through this.

2007-03-05T14:41:00.000+08:00

Last weekend was pretty busy. It started with a visit to my colleague's house at Kepong for breakfast and yee sang (mann, first time having yee sang in the morning, it was an... interesting experience), followed by Discipleship at Ps Mark's house. There were about 10 people there and Ps Mark was asking us to share with the rest our journey to City Church and the whole experience. At the end of the session, Ps Mark shared about how he want to take the next 6-8 weeks sharing about leadership as well as conduct a discipleship with us. It was very good actually. The passion and the sheer enthusiasm in the room was infectious and everyone had the spirit of "c'mon we can do this together" kinda thing! It was awesome.

At night, we were supposed to catch a movie at Cineleisure, but instead we stayed on for dinner and fellowship with about 50 new people. Ps Mark organised a dinner where everyone came together for a get-to-know-you. I've met so many new people yesterday it was quite a challenge remembering all their names. I've met an American couple, a Kenyan guy some folks from other states of Malaysia and just getting to know everyone better. Food was awesome but fellowship was better!

The next day, we decided to catch Music and Lyrics at Cineleisure. It was generally a good movie with very very funny mtv of some 80's music. After that, we went to Itallianies for lunch and we only had time to run some errands and go to church. As usual church was awesome. We had Ps Chris Long speaking on creating an atmosphere for God to move. Worship was so anointed, the word was powerful, the people were all great. Church rocks! It was also the first weekend our life group decided to sit together in church to get the vibe going. I thought it worked great and we should keep it up.

It's Monday, and although I have a bit of sniffles going on, it's a nice day 'cause it's been a very quiet day in the office. Thanks God.

2007-02-28T11:03:00.000+08:00

Mid-week.

Everything has been well and good with my soul. It's been a good week so far. The fact that I can sit here and blog means it's been ok. Thank God for that. Am looking forward to the end of this week very much. First things first, on Friday Skye will be back here in PJ because she'll be starting her new job on Monday (Praise God!). There will be LG at night, then on Saturday a few of us from work will be visiting one of our colleagues house for lunch. Then Skye and I will be off to Ps Mark's house for a leadership session. At night, we're planning to catch the movie Music and Lyrics. And Sunday will be awesome because of sleep in and church of course!

Meanawhile, there will be heaps of good movies coming our way. Before that, I really wanna watch Babel and Last King of Scotland. Then, there will be Spiderman 3, the 3rd installment of Pirates, and 300 (the awesome movie inspired by Frank Miller's graphic novel).

2007-02-26T10:30:00.000+08:00

I'm back! After 9 days of CNY hols and very minimal internet connection at home.

2007-02-16T13:53:00.001+08:00

It's the last day of work today before the CNY hols! And it's b-b-burning h-h-hot out there...

Glad to be where I am right now and thank God for everything He's done this year. I'm looking forward to the coming hols very much. I think I need a much needed time off from the work schedule. Am kinda looking forward to having casual drinks with 2 church friends tonight. All they always say, all's good.

2007-02-15T10:02:00.003+08:00

Sitting here at my working desk at the corner (literally), I thank God. Never in the entire duration of my work here, I've been so busy with meetings and datelines almost everyday. But thank God He kept me intact.

Just today, I was supposed to meet a client at 11am. And the person called to reschedule AGAIN! After rescheduling for about 8 to 10 times, one gets a bit tired. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to meeting this client, but it had to be done simply out of necessity. Whoever said necessity is the mother of invention, I would like to see him now. 'Cause right now, it feels more like necessity is the mother of my annoyance. But let's not talk philo, it's all a bit too early for this.

Yesterday on the other hand, was nice. After work, I drove almost one and a half hours to USJ 16, where church office is located. One and a half! That's sick! Blame it on the lovebirds flooding the roads and subscribing to the valentine hype. Now, you may go "wait a minute, ain't you attached?" Well, yes I am, but if one only cares to pamper your loved one and spend a lil more on nice romantic dinners ONCE a year, hmm.. ain't it a lil bit sad? For Skye and my valentine day, we'll celebrate it in March when she comes back. Me thinks, there are all pros and no cons really of celebrating it a lil earlier of a lil later. Having said that, of course there isn't anything wrong with celebrating it on feb 14. It's just a matter of personal opinion.

When I went back from the church 1st anniversary planning meeting and dinner yesterday, it was already about 12.30am and right then, I saw a lovely lovely gift placed on my desk. I opened it up, and it was a bottle of Ralph Lauren cologne. Oh joy! I've been wanting to get a bottle since mine finished late last year, but I thought I'll be good and only buy it much later. And in the box where the cologne was placed, there was a letter from Skye. That's sweet. Thanks honey. For my valentine's present to Skye, I'll only give her when she's back from Singapore the next time :) Can't wait.

2007-02-12T10:54:00.000+08:00

Phewww...

It's been a while since I've wrote anything here. Last week was my busiest ever week since I started work! In fact, this year has been quite hectic, since the first day of work started, it's been pretty busy. Even right now, I've 3 projects in my hands, and counting. Last week was a week of many meetings. I wouldn't say I'm a person who doesn't like meetings, but it was just a bit too many of them! Not all were productive as you can probably imagine.

Sunday was nice enough though. Although we had to set up and pack down the church equipments, it was all fun and nice to be able to be around friends and church mates. As I was walking to the office from the car park this morning, I was thanking God that I managed to survive the many meetings last week and keeping me sane. And I was praying that this week will be more manageable. Thank You, God.

2007-01-29T10:29:00.001+08:00

As Martin Smith (of Delirious) led the song "Now Is The Time" he read a passage from the Bible which went like this:

"Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him."
- 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

In the verses 7 to 15, the passage, which is taken from The Message goes on to describe it like this. I love how descriptive and authoritative the passage is!

"The Government of Death, its constitution chiseled on stone tablets, had a dazzling inaugural. Moses' face as he delivered the tablets was so bright that day (even though it would fade soon enough) that the people of Israel could no more look right at him than stare into the sun. How much more dazzling, then, the Government of Living Spirit?

If the Government of Condemnation was impressive, how about this Government of Affirmation? Bright as that old government was, it would look downright dull alongside this new one. If that makeshift arrangement impressed us, how much more this brightly shining government installed for eternity?

With that kind of hope to excite us, nothing holds us back. Unlike Moses, we have nothing to hide. Everything is out in the open with us. He wore a veil so the children of Israel wouldn't notice that the glory was fading away—and they didn't notice. They didn't notice it then and they don't notice it now, don't notice that there's nothing left behind that veil. Even today when the proclamations of that old, bankrupt government are read out, they can't see through it. Only Christ can get rid of the veil so they can see for themselves that there's nothing there."

How awesome is the Word of God!

2007-01-26T16:26:00.000+08:00

Quote of the day, I say. Courtesy of core77.com.

2007-01-25T15:46:00.000+08:00

As I was helping my folks with the computer yesterday, I realised one of my aunts emailed my parents this photo. I personally really like this photo! It's the whole Chooi family, which is my mom's extended family. Seated in front are my grandparents with 13 of their sons and daughters. My mom wasn't sure when this photo was taken, but from a rough calculation I guess it was somewhere in the mid 1970's.

Ain't it awesome to find priceless photos like this? Now, my grand father has passed away, and most of my uncles and aunts are married with lots of kids and I have the privilege of being the eldest with a total of 17 cousins and counting. I thank God for families.

2007-01-24T16:45:00.001+08:00

This morning, I went for a presentation in Jaring with my fellow colleague and boss. A year and a half ago, our company secured our client, TM Net, which is the nation's largest internet service provider. We sold them our VoIP product, which is now marketed as TM Net's BB Phone service. Just 2 days ago, we received news from TM saying they have a total of 50,000 registered users. Now, that's great news, 'cause it shows that they have renewed confidence in us and our product.

So, as Jaring contacted us, we presented to them our products, and so far it's been good. Jaring is the country's first internet service provider and it is not picking up pace to challenge the other big boys in the internet provider business.

2007-01-19T10:07:00.000+08:00

I had a great and awesome time at dinner yesterday with some friends and our pastor.

Of course, when I mean our pastor I'm referring to Ps. Mark, City Church KL. There were 6 of us at the table last night at this nice Italian restaurant, PizzaUno at Centrepoint. There were Ps. Mark, Aaron Paul (the worship leader), Ben & Jo's (our future life group leaders) and Skye and I. We had an awesome time talking about church, about its really early days, about some of the future plans and events this year. And just about any random topic that you can think about. I enjoyed the company heaps and I really marvel at the way God puts people together and make their paths cross and just see how sometimes there is so much of a connection happening, not just on a surface level (because you can get those friends most of the time), but more on a spiritual level. The moment of magic that happens when one shares a dream or a vision about church or God and the rest reacting like its the best thing that's gonna happen in our lives and in church.

We talked about a range of topics, even things like church anniversary, church camp, new visitors and new Christians material, and just about anything. Food was great too, with Ps. Mark insisting on ordering dessert, which turned out like sin (in his words), meaning nice to see and tempting, but once you eat it you feel guilty, because of all the calories and the extra work out you need to do to burn them off.

I really thank God for putting awesome people in my life and people of the same vision, same heart, same dream and of the same spirit. I know that I know that I know this year will be AWESOME! I can't help but think that God will just multiply and display His awesomeness and glory through City Church KL this year, in 2007! There is no feeling like the feeling of having God right in the centre of your life and plans.

"Why is the church so weak at communicating (or relating) to the world, even though we know about the greatest story the world has ever known?"

- quote from a church marketing/communications blog.

2007-01-16T16:52:00.001+08:00

The guy in the picture is Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, Apple Inc. He is the man responsible for the design of the iPod. Ive have also designed the iBook, MacBook, Powerbook G4, MacBook Pro, eMac, Mac mini, Xserve, Xserve RAID, Mac Pro, Power Mac G3, G4 and G5, Apple's entire collection of iPods, AirPort base stations and Cinema Displays. He is also the principle designer of the recently launched Apple iPhone. Even U2's Bono has hailed him as a genius, declaring, "If he had a fan club, I'd be in it." In 2005, he even won the coveted President's Award at the prestigious annual D&AD award - the design world's equivalent to the lifetime achievement award in the Oscars. And when asked about the pure design genius of the revolutionary iPod, he answered "At the end of the day, it's all about the music."

And this is the interview with him and the British Design Museum when he won Designer of the Year in 2003. Click here to read.

Now, the question is: How did one man's design affect a whole world's culture and its impact on the generations?

2007-01-15T10:29:00.001+08:00

God started all over again.

But that wasn't the last time He started again. He started again, again.

The first time was when He wiped out the whole earth sans a family, the family of Noah. He saw the evil deeds of men and the wickedness of their hearts and God decided to start all over again. Imagine, the pain of seeing hundreds upon thousands of His creation swept away in the Flood. He decided to wipe away all the bad, but He preserved the good. He loved His creation and still commanded Noah to bring 2 of every kind into the ark. Even as Ps Mark was preaching last week, he was saying that as 2007 starts again, we need to see the areas in our lives that are bad and wash them away, but we need to preserve the good. We need to build an ark for our lives and our ministry.

And yesterday, as Ps Mark continued on part 2, he showed us how God decided to start again. Why? Based on the mentality and the mindset of the Israelites, who could not get out of the slavery mindset and the thinking of the wilderness. God wanted them to possess the land of Canaan, but were they ready? They needed to think of themselves as sons and daughters of the land, but instead they looked, spied, peered through the corner of their eyes and they shuddered at the thought, they cried (even before they saw the enemy!), and they decided to go back into their past. When they were standing at the fringe of their Promise and Destiny, they shrank back and wanted to even elect a leader to go back to Egypt. In other words, they rather be a slave than a son of the Promise.

When you can't see God in your future, you tend to go back to your past.

Based on their unbelief and disobedience, God decided to start again, again. He wiped out all the Israelites age 20 and above. One would think that after seeing the Red Sea part in front of your eyes, you would at least believe that God does have a plan for bringing you out of Egypt into your Promised land. But they decided to go back, go back into the past where its familiar, the whips, the taunts, and the familiarity of being a slave. Even God had to start again. He knew that in order for these people to possess the land, they had to have a renewed mindset. They had to possess first the Promise in their eyes, and hearts and minds.

What are some of the things you need to start again this year? What are the things that you have to preserve? Don't be afriad of starting again. God did. Until the fulfillment of His Promise.

2007-01-11T09:31:00.000+08:00

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc began his keynote address in the Macworld Expo 2007 with "Today, we will make history together." During the 45 minute presentation, he gave the world 2 very beautiful genius inventions - Apple TV and the iPhone.

Let this go down the record: iWant the Apple iPhone so so soooo muchhh! Retailing at USD$499 for the 4G version, and USD $599 for the 8G version, it will only be released in Asia in 2008. Enough time for me to store up the moolah and get one when it's here! Feel the wrath of the Apple, you boring, tech-nerdy Blackberrys, Treos, Palm what-nots and big-ol' caveman Nokia N-series! muahahaha...

Meanwhile, if you have an Apple fetish too click here to read New York Times coverage on the iPhone, and here to read Gizmodo's review. And of course, click to the Apple website for their iPhone feature here.

2007-01-03T10:06:00.000+08:00

Third of January two thousand and seven.

I love the smell of fresh air. I love how the sun shone brightly this morning. I love how beautiful the Singapore skyline can be. I love how cool the air can be in the early mornings of the day. I love the smell of freshly brewed coffee and how little pleasures like half boiled egg and toast can be so satisfying. I love how God laid the foundations in 2006 for 2007. I love because He is a God that orchestrates Hope, Destiny and a Future.

I thank God for how He made 2006 lovely. Yes, there were times when it was difficult and rough. But God was there, and He is still here. I love how He kept everything going and together. It wasn't always easy, but there were times when God had to do a deep work in order to get the foundations right. And like Ps Ben Fewster once said, the work of the foundation isn't always the prettiest sight, yet vital, 'cause God will be using that very same foundation to build upwards.

I believe how 2007 will be a year where God will show me His glory in so many ways. I believe He will show me how awesome He is and what He can do through the hearts of one who believes and obeys. For obedience is better than sacrifice. To obey is to move when God calls you to move. 2007 is also a year where Malaysia will celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence. And it will be a year where God will proclaim a year of jubilee on this nation. He will pour out His blessings straight from the gates of heaven, He will build His church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

It's the third day of the year. And I can't help but thank God that this will be an awesome year. We are but limited only by our imagination. It's time the church arise and shine, to be that city on a hill that cannot he hidden. To be a church of first class. To be a church that speaks to every generation of people in this nation. To be relevant. To be the out-of-the-box Christians that the world have never seen before.

2006-12-31T15:31:00.000+08:00

It's exactly 3.31pm now in Singapore and I'm blogging from Skye's house. It's been a good trip overall and I really enjoyed the food, the weather, the people, the sights and the company of course.

It's the end of the year litrally today and I thought it'll be good to put some thoughts down before the year 2007 comes by. Yesterday, I went to City Harvest with Skye. Ps Kong Hee was preaching from Mark 4, which talks about Jesus asking his disciples to cross over. I couldn't have agreed more to the fact that 2007 will be a year of crossing over, of getting up and move to a newer level in my life and my walk with Him. As Ps Kong was talking about the numbers of people in church and in the affiliate churches around the region, I was once again encouraged by the bigness of vision and dreams that can exist in real life. Ps Kong announced that a total of around 45,000 people were in church last week in a single weekend like that. That's not even in a crusade, or conference or anything like that, it was a church weekend.

So, here we are: 31 December 2006. I couldn't wait to see what's in store in 2007. I know that I want to know Him more, to love Him more to walk with Him even more closely. I want to see me stepping closer to the Destiny that He has for me. I want to see the bigness of visions coming to life. I want to be a part of that vision. God help me learn the things You want me to learn fast that I may step into Your perfect plan, Your will for my life.

In awhile, I'll be having dinner with Skye's folks at a Thai/Chinese restaurant in Sembawang, then Skye and I, we'll be heading to Marina Square to celebrate the new year. Usually I would have preferred watching it on tele or something quiet, but this year I decided to celebrate the new year in a festive mood, with the fireworks and stuff, 'cause I know that I know 2007 will not be just another year, it'll be awesome, it'll be a year of stepping up, of crossing over of soaring to greater heights than I've never done before. Thank You, Lord.

I can't wait.

2006-12-22T11:36:00.001+08:00

It's amazing how God works in the lives of people, how He wonderfully orchestrates every moment and everything took place exactly according to His wonderful timing. God is never too early or too late, He is always on time. But yet, according to our the limited finite human mind, we call Him late. But God knows best doesn't He? How can we even cast a fraction of our human doubt on the Creator of our souls and the One who holds our future.

Yesterday evening was an awesome evening. Skye and I had a casual meeting with an awesome man of God at Starbucks, Sunway Pyramid. We chatted for almost 3 hours, but it didn't even seem like that! Oh, as a sidenote we bumped into Boywin too, who is now working with Starbucks there. Have you ever had the feeling when you know that you know you're talking to a long lost brother, someone who seem to understand and relate to your passion, dreams and vision. Someone who owns the same DNA as you are and the moment you talk, you can feel a click happening in your spirit. I had. And yesterday night was a time when I felt like I took in a not a slight breeze but a major gust of fresh air. It almost seemed like the spirit man in me, noticed that fresh air coming in and he woke up suddenly saying "hey! this is what i've been waiting for! This is the destiny the dreams and visions that i've been wanting to tell you about, this is a man of God whom i can work with and whom we can witness the plans of God come alive right now!"

Yesterday night, we had coffee with Ps Mark of City Church KL. The stories, the tetimonies of God's faithfulness and love. The passion and dreams of thing man of God. I stand amazed. It was the moment when you sit there, but your spirit leaps and I stand in awe. Awe of God and what He can do wonderfully through a man of obedience. Such a strong testimony!

As he shared about how He heard from God can how he took the major step of faith by selling his properties and leaving his comfortable position as the pastor of Lakes Christian Centre to come here. To Malaysia, not for 3 months or 3 years but for as long as God wants Him here. He even confessed that he wants to be buried here. I mean not to be morbid or what, but you wanna talk about commitment? Here's commitment for you. As we talk about what are some of the dreams and visions that God has placed in our hearts, we leaped and jumped in excitement of what can happen in the next 3 months, 6 months and 1 year. We talked and talked and we became more excited of what God can do in this nation and in the region of Asia. As iron sharpens iron, I began to lift my eyes and my spirit to the call that God has on my life, the call has never changed, God's faithfulness has always been there. Now, it's time when we responded to that. There was a song that always move me to tears when I was back in City Church Melbourne then, it went like this:

I'm hungry for your fire
I'm thirsty You're my one desire
Jesus, please don't pass me by

Yes, Jesus please don't pass me by. I went home that night, had a smile on my face and I said to myself quietly "I've found home."

2006-12-06T10:16:00.001+08:00

Last Sunday was a good day. Why? Because I bought myself an iPod Video 30GB! Woohoo! And thanks to PC Fair, it came bundled with a leather case, iPod speakers, and RM100 worth of merchandise! I'm a happy owner of an iPod now. Ahhh... and it feels good. I'll post up pictures of my little babies soon enough.

2006-12-01T11:13:00.000+08:00

2006-11-27T11:33:00.000+08:00

OK, this is a totally self-indulgent post about flying first class. According to the new survey by Forbes.com, Malaysia Airlines is voted 8th in the world's best first class.

"In the U.K. and France, the Malaysia Airlines first class experience begins with a helicopter pickup. The 12-seat cabin features sleeper seats with dining tables that accommodate two. Food is served with silver forks and knives, Italian glassware and china. Champagne, liquor and vintage wine accompany each meal. Satay--chicken, beef or lamb skewers--is the airline's most famous dish, and onboard faxing is available for business people."

Is that unreal or what? God, I pray in faith that I'll travel in first class one day! Amen! Our neighbouring countries like Singapore and Thailand got voted 3rd and 6th respectively. As for the the world's best first class, the honour went to Cathay Pacific. I think Asian countries are doing exceedingly well! :)

Read the whole story here, should you be so inclined to know too.

2006-11-22T17:26:00.001+08:00

Healer
Mike Guglielmucci

"You hold my every moment
You calm my raging seas
You walk with me through fire
And heal all my disease

I trust in You
I trust in You

I believe You're my Healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You're my Portion
I believe You're more than enough for me
Jesus You're all I need

My Healer, You're my Healer

Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
Nothing is impossible for You
You hold my world in Your hands"

I saw this lyrics posted up by someone from PS I believe, don't know who you are, but thanks. The wonders of the online age eh. And there's a link to the song itself! Click to Kris Guglielmucci's MySpace website, wait for it to load and listen to the song. Amazing song. There is gonna be MORE from this amazing man of God. This is not the end, this is just the start.

2006-11-20T11:37:00.000+08:00

What a weekend it had been. Sometimes, weekends feel long, sometimes they don't. Sometimes it feels like a holiday, sometimes you feel like others are having that holiday.

For some reason, I was down with the most bizzare fever on Saturday. It started in the morning when I woke up and I felt a lil dizzy. From that point on, the fever became progressively worse. Despite the fever, I tried very hard to ignore it and went to meet Skye for lunch at 1 Utama. We went there pre-decided that we will be hitting Chili's. Still feeling sick, and cold all over with occasional goosebumps, we went for lunch. I had the most amazing Beef and Bacon burger, while Skye has Grilled Chicken Fajitas, and we both ordered guava juice and southend sling smoothie (a blend of vanilla ice cream, pineapple juice, orange and strawberry) each. Food was no doubt the bomb. I mean, mine was this super generous piece of bacon, topped with cheese and a 200g piece of beef. It was just yummy!

ok, guess what? Still feeling sick as ever, if not worse actually. We proceeded to go back to my house, so that I could get some rest on the bed, which eventually did me good. Woke up at about 5pm so that I could fetch Skye to the bus station. Fever was ever so present there. My body was feeling cold, I has goosebumps, and for some reason the car has a tinge of smell that made me feel sick. On the way to the bus station, it poured like there was no tomorrow. Reached there at a good time, and then Skye boarded the bus all nice n safe. I drove home, rain still pouring and the fever might have "fried" the brain a lil, into making me think that there isn't going to be a jam at the toll-less way. So I took it. In the end, I got stuck for at least 30min there, for what should have only taken less than a minute, if I had taken the toll. Anyway, got back, went straight to bed, ate nothing, felt nauseous, feeling terribly cold, yet when I pulled the blankie over, I was perspiring too. Mann..

The evening to night was all drama and I was plain sick! I couldn't move from the bed, I felt like my body was burning, I felt my mind took a trip out of the body and nothing was feeling right. Towards the end, I threw up. I was left feeling empty in the tummy, but I didn't wanna eat anything. Surprisingly I felt much better after throwing up. Like the fever was gone, only had a mild headache. I talked to Skye a bit at about midnight. Thanked God for feeling better and went to sleep again.

Woke up on a Sunday feeling all good again! What a weekend it had been indeed.

2006-11-10T10:14:00.000+08:00

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
- 1 John 1:1

2006-11-09T14:30:00.000+08:00

It's been a hectic 3 weeks for me. Partly, we were developing a new project that we've been doing this year. It's all good, and it went live 1 week ago. Feedback has been mostly good. And we did meet up with a company over lunch just now talking about how we could work together. They are representatives for Yahoo! and MSN South East Asia, and Microsoft as well. If that's not amazing enough, they control 80% of the online advertising in Malaysia. They have some big plans for Yahoo Malaysia next year, and we're working together to see if there is an oppotunity of working together. Everything is preliminary, but sounds good. Thank God for that. On a separate note, if everything is going as planned, I'll be drumming for our sub-zone gathering this month! Whee.. nicee. God's good eh. And on the last separate note of this post, I'm glad that I'll be having new tshirts by the end of this month by U2! WOOHOOO! My lucky bro is going to U2's Vertigo Concert (sigh) but I'm glad he's enjoying himself there, and by the time he comes back, I'll be holding a box of Krispy Kremes too! :D Donutttttssss :P Good donutttsss...

* for those who don't have time to read the whole blog, read the large text.

2006-11-03T12:03:00.000+08:00

This is probably the funniest pie chart I've ever come across. And of course, after long sweating hours of data collection experts have discovered this insightful finding:

2006-11-01T09:57:00.000+08:00

Hey, my name is E. coli.
I'm a Gram negative bacteria and I'm part of the enterbacteriaceae family.
In my family I am part of tribe I, Escherichieae.
My whole family is oxidase negative.
I live in the bowels.

My uropathic strains are the most common cause of urinary tract infection. For teh win!
Some of my strains have virulence factors, so I can cause diarrhoea.
The diarrhoea can watery or bloody, depending on which strain you have.

How funny, I found a website that lets you adopt a microbe. In each post is a picture of a funny lil dude that tell you what it is, and what it does to your body and how it affects you.

I've adopted this one called E.Coli.

Click here to Adopt A Microbe.

2006-10-31T16:39:00.000+08:00

2006-10-31T12:02:00.000+08:00

Smooth seas don't make a skillful sailor.

How true, we need to sometimes go through storms in life, and train ourselves up to be tough sailors who can brave through stormy seas without having to sink 'cause the One who owns the seas is in the boat.

Help me navigate through life and all of its stormy seas. Be my Navigator, Lord.

2006-10-27T15:53:00.000+08:00

How fast a week just breezed by eh? It's another Friday. Good to know. Got the pay cheque today and I'm a happy man. Tonight, it'll be a tag team at cg. haha. S k y e's sharing the Word while I'm doing the worship. It's all good. All's good I tell ya.

Meanwhile, food in Singapore has blastorama-ed me to the seven seas. Man, the chilli crab, drunken prawns, scallops, yu tiao stuffed with cuttlefish meat! Mann.. East Coast rocks my socks all the way to the weat coast I tell ya (cornball, I know). And the spicy wonton noodles was as lovely as ever. The Kuishin-Bo served the best salmon and tuna sashimi as well as the butter dory teppanyaki. Oooh. Kuishin Bo is 'jin jia Ho' lahh (hokkien for very good) haha. And the lunch meeting at Bugis Junction, we had the pasta from Sketches (recommended by Skye). I had the Feeling Prawny pasta, which had these tiger prawns sauteed in the most amazing combination of fresh herbs, garlic and olive oil sauce. It made the tummy feel very happy indeed. A late night supper at Project Shop Cafe in a renovated old bungalow was a very good experience, the decor, the ambience, the music was great! And for the first time, I had the best pecan pie in the world. For those who don't know what is it, please do yourself a favour and try one, one day. The mix of fresh roasted pecans with the soft, chocolatey brownie-llike pie, with the tastiest crust made it a good experience.

Oh man...

Just imagine...

I feel blissful. And utterly satisfied. Thanks S k y e dear for an awesome trip, and her friend Joyce for cruising us around in her zippity car. It was all in all a good experience. It was nice of Skye's folks to house me for 2.5 days too. Terima kasih banyak-banyak.

2006-10-20T14:27:00.000+08:00

It's Friday, and you know it's funny, but you feel all these people's sign-in names on YM or MSN Messenger or what-not, nicks like "Fridayyyyy! :)", "It's Friday again!" or "Don't you love Fridays?" or "Yayy! Fridayyy!". You know, one look and you know Fridays got lotsa love. You gotta spread the luv to the other days you know what I mean? You gotta feel for Monday. Sometimes you see people's nicks mocking poor ol Monday. Maybe, just maybe, Friday is a lil more insecure and you know, needs a lil more assuring, more luv from the peoples.

Let's see. Thinking aloud here. Speaking of which, I read a sign that once said "Think aloud, Thinking allowed." Clever? Hmm.. ok lah.. It's been used and used over and over again. Quite tired of these wordjigglyfiddlymumbojumbo. But then again, there are some people who think it's cool. Well, more power to you.

I read the news somewhere, someone bought the number plate TAN for RM 200,000. Believe it! It was on the news, somewhere. The story is that Terrenganu was rolling out their TAN series. So, someone thought "Hey wouldn't it be great if I bought the number plate and 1. everyone will think i'm some big shot 2. everyone will know I have loads of cash (that translates to "come, please rob me.") and 3. everyone will know I'm a Tan or my wife is a Tan. I was thinking aloud here ('cause thinking's allowed here... LOL!) that if I want people to know I'm a Tan, I would drive my Kancil, Proton, Merc or whatever you're driving, buy an A1 mounting board from the nearest art shop, get some huge fat marker and write "TAN". Once you're done, stick that monster on your car. Everyone will know you're a Tan. Problem solved. You save yourself RM 199,995.50. What you do with the rest of the moolah, go buy something for yourself, like a house maybe?

OK, you see how easy it is when you have your own blog and you just drift away from the topic. My purpose of writing is to put plans for the next 5 days onto the blog while thinking aloud *stifled laughter* So, here goes:

Saturday - Sleeeeep in, thank you, 'cause its been a long, hectic, 2 meetings a day week. Rest, relax and take the big green bus down to Singapura. Makan stop #1: Some true blue spicy singaporean wanton noodles.

Sunday - City Harvest!!! Listen to da bomb of a Ps Kong Hee speak. Lunch at some swanky western place that looks like it serves good pasta. mmm.. bring it on please! Evening shall be makan stop #2: seafood dinner at some swanky place @ east coast.

Monday - Stuff our mouths with more food day! On to makan stop #3: Kushin Bo Japanese Buffet. Bring on the sushis, sashimis, teppanyakis, tempuras, eels, prawns, fish, paper steamboat, fresh cut salmon on! Thank you. And dinner with Skye's folks. Niceee.. .

Tuesday - Have makan stop #4 and then on to the train back to Malaysia, truly Asia. Niceee..

So, that's about it folks. It's on to the 5 day holiday in about 3.5 hours time. So, tick, tock goes the clock. Thank you very much God. You're the best and You know it! :D

Cheers, folks!

2006-10-18T13:46:00.000+08:00

Looking at my Microsoft Outlook, this week is packed like no other, as I'm writing this, I'm waiting to be on my way to another meeting at 2.30pm. Thanks to Douglas Copeland, now I shall describe my week like this. Meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting.

2006-10-09T10:34:00.000+08:00

It's hazy hazy days here in Malaysia. As one radio DJ puts it, haze is actually very romantic, 'cause it doesn't show you everything, it's hazyyy. Another random blogger puts it haze is good, 'cause you can tell your boss you came late for work 'cause you woke up and you thought it was still 7am. And another said London's got their fog, Kuala Lumpur's got our haze. For some weird reason, I can imagine Michael Buble writing "A Hazy Day in KL Town". Here it goes:

"A hazy day in KL Town
Had me low and had me down
I (barely) viewed the morning with alarm
The Muzium Negara had lost its charm
How long, I wondered, could this haze last?
But the age of miracles hadn't passed,
For, suddenly, I (barely) saw you there
And through hazy KL Town
The sun couldn't shine anywhere."
- inspired from Michael Buble.

2006-10-06T11:42:00.000+08:00

It's a long Friday. The day started with a weekly meeting at 7.30am. Now I'm at work. And it will end with a Cyberjaya meeting at about 8pm tonight. Thank God for weekends. I'm looking forward to the public holiday on the 10th and from the 21st till 25th this month (where I will be in Singapore). Let's see, can't wait to go Kushin Bo, have some spicy wanton noodles and bak chor mee, and also soak in some City Harvest action. It's all good, folks.

2006-10-02T10:20:00.000+08:00

Psalm 23:1-3 'The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.'(NIV)

Compare the words of the Bible's Psalm 23, with those of Psalm 23 Revised Yuppie Version. It goes like this: 'I am my own shepherd, I shall not want / I lead myself down the road to personal success / I restore my soul through positive thinking / I guide myself in the paths of materialism for my own name's sake / Even tho' I walk through the valley of the shadow of duty / I will fear no evil / My Visa and American Express they comfort me / I prepare a table of leisure before me in the presence of my responsibilities / I anoint my head with gel / My cup of Chateau Yaldara 1967 overflows / Surely "I Did It My Way" shall haunt me all the days of my life / And I shall dwell in the house of loneliness cut off from God forever.' That kind of sums up the way many people live in our post-modern age...

From the Daily Recharge today.

2006-09-29T12:00:00.000+08:00

CG dinner is back! This time, about 17 of us will hit one of the popular seafood spots in PJ -King Crab. I shall post pictures of some of their delish crabs (black pepper crab, thai grilled bbq crab, sweet and sour crab, butter milk crab, crab fried and coated with salted egg, crab fried with onions, garlic and curry leaves). But till then, Thank God it's Friday eh! :D Praise Him, c'mon and praise Him!

2006-09-26T15:01:00.000+08:00

Yesterday as I tuned in to the national evening news on TV3, they showed Lebanese dates sellers during the Ramadhan. According to the news, the cheapest Lebanese dates were named "George Bush", "Ehud Olmert" and "Condoleezza Rice". Their motto? - Stick and stones may break my bone, but not my sense of sarcastic humour.

2006-09-25T15:42:00.000+08:00

You gotta like the guys at Adobe for their sense of humour.

2006-09-20T16:55:00.000+08:00

For the first time in history, a large movie studio that has a division totally devoted to making and producing Christian content movies and DVDs. World, please welcome FoxFaith. Read about the great news here and here.

You can view FoxFaith's website here.

I'm glad in this way, Christianity is leading the way in coming up with new concepts in movie production. Thanks to one man who dared to stand up and made "The Passion of the Christ". Mel Gibson in fact paved the way in the forming of FoxFaith today. It all began with the vision of one man (backed by millions of dollars), we can now enjoy countless movies that have good Christian content and values built into it.

Good on ya, Fox! :)

2006-09-13T14:39:00.000+08:00

"Max Brenner is a cruel, cruel man. We're sitting on the mezzanine floor of his restaurant, Chocolate by the Bald Man. Located in Manhattan, it’s the first American branch of his international chain of chocolate shops and restaurants."
- excerpt from Forbes.

Forbes has an interview with the founder of Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man. Click here to read the full Forbes interview with Mr. Brenner.

And that is a tribute to 2 of my favourite chocolatiers ever (although I'm definately more partial to Koko Black). Totally awesome stuff to make your tastebuds happy.

2006-09-13T09:43:00.000+08:00

The book on the left is called "Der Giftpilz", German for "The Toadstool." It was published in 1938, as part of the German propoganda machine. It was aimed at kids, and was sometimes even used in schools.

The aim was to brainwash young German children to be pro Nazi and anti-Semitic, as well as teaching the younger generation about the "evils" of a Jew. The book was only one of the many used during the Hitler years.

Now, is it any suprise why there are people like Hitler and his minions in our generation? Is it any surprise why millions upon millions of Jews are murdered without question in the gory Holocaust?

Children have been the future and they will always be. No wonder Jesus said "Let the children come to Me." There's only one book our children need - The Bible.

2006-09-12T15:07:00.000+08:00

Tomorrow will mark my 6^th month in this company. It has been nothing less than awesome. Thinking back on how God orchestrated everything, it still doesn’t fail to blow my mind. As I was driving to work one day, I thanked God for the beautiful morning and how He has led me to this job as well as making me integrated with my work responsibilities and colleagues.

Just yesterday, Mr. David Ong, my director of this company, who is also a member of DUMC decided to start a prayer meeting every Monday at 8.30am. It was awesome to be able to gather together every week and to pray for our unsaved colleagues and other things that God has put in our hearts.

We’re nearing the end of 2006 soon. Yet I believe God has something bigger and better up His sleeve. And I’m not content till I see His glory manifested in my life and the life of His church. Having said that, I’m not ungrateful for all that He has done in this year. You showed me that it could be better than what I thought it would be. There is nothing that cannot be overcome when God is on your side. And for that, I thank You.

2006-09-01T11:22:00.000+08:00

It was Malaysia’s Merdeka Day yesterday!

Apart from the nice public holiday which was a long time coming, our church had a Merdeka prayer walk. We gathered at church at close to 2pm. We had worship and a short word from our senior pastor, Ps Daniel Ho. After that, we set off to the location of our future Dream Centre! Located at a huge piece of land in Section 13, a part of me got really excited inside as I was very conscious that it was our Dream Centre in the future. Scheduled to be completed in March 2007, the main sanctuary is built to fit 2,700 people comfortably inside with heaps of other buildings on it. I wished I took some pictures as it was such an awesome place. Apart from the main building, the place had 5 or 6 other buildings of quite large size.

After the prayer walk around the future Dream Centre area, we headed to various part of PJ and KL to pray. Our cg was allocated to the Putra LRT line from Kelana Jaya to KL Sentral. Malaysians being Malaysians, we had an ice cream stop at the McDonald’s. We headed back to church and ended at about 6pm. It had been an awesome day where S k y e and myself went to a Thai/Malay restaurant at Uptown and we ended the day with watching Antwone Fisher.

Nice. Now, for the weekend. Smile, people, smile.

2006-08-25T18:09:00.000+08:00

New Delirious? Live Album out in the US, October 17th! Awesome!

Click here for the Official Delirious? MySpace

2006-08-23T17:13:00.000+08:00

I suppose it's a lesson that lasts a lifetime.

2006-08-23T10:10:00.000+08:00

It's been a hectic start of the week due to urgent presentation preparations for our MSC-APICTA award. We were shortlisted for the Best of Start-Up category. We were among the 9 companies selected among the initial 60 in this category alone. So, now that the presentation is behind us and all we could do is to wait for the results on the 18 September, I thought let's take a breather and I'll blog some pictures of the street ministry our cg took part in about 2 weeks ago.

Street ministry was awesome, fun and just bringing you back in touch with what is our purpose here on earth truly is. Seeing the 50 to 60 people there, mostly men, homeless, some were in the police's wanted list, some on drugs and other forms of substance abuse. They were very hungry, and the moment we served the food, they were all extending their hands out, with eyes longing that you'll catch their face so you'll give them the food on your hands. It was an awesome experience. I too, had the opportunity to do some translating work from Cantonese to Malay. See, my Malaysian friends, there IS a reason why God has chosen for us to be born here and learn Malay. Don't despise the language, 'cause you never know when God can choose to use what you learnt in that second.

On a lighter note, a guy nudged me and asked if we (the cg) were from Explorace, the Malaysian version of Amazing Race. I said no, we're from DUMC. He looked a litlte surprised, 'cause he was too. But I figured, that was how out of place we looked. We gotta open our eyes and see there's a world out there. Jesus said in His words "He had compassion when He saw the crowd." So, here are the pictures as promised:

2006-08-17T10:17:00.000+08:00

This is for You, my King and my God.

2006-08-16T14:03:00.000+08:00

http://www.elsewares.com/commerce/NOOKA_MCA2_140.html

Talk about revolutionary design! These watches from Elsewares are just awesome, and they certainly have the price tag to match too - USD$250 a piece. Nooka watches are the brainchild of Matthew Waldman, a multidisciplinary artist and designer in New York City.

And I certainly won't mind to have some of these T-shirt designs. They cost USD$17.99 a pop :)

2006-08-15T11:17:00.000+08:00

His name is Agung Supriadi. He is 8 years old and he lives in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

He is the child that S k y e and I are sponsoring through World Vision Malaysia. I remember opening up the envelope that World Vision mailed me 2 weeks ago, and I was going through the many newsletters and brochures that were enclosed. I couldn’t wait to see the face of the child I’m sponsoring. When I finally opened a thin folder containing the details of this boy, I was touched. I felt the real joy of being able to give in such a deep and meaningful way.

Child sponsorship reminds me of this story of the boy and the starfish. One day, a boy was walking along the beach, when he saw thousands upon thousands of starfish washed up on the shore, most likely because of the tide. As the sun is rising in the horizon, the boy began to pick up the starfish one by one up and threw it back to the sea. As soon as the father realized what his son was doing, he told him “It’s ok, son... There’s just too many starfish and you won’t be able to save all of them. What difference does it make?” The son picked up another starfish, looked at it and said “Well, at least it made a difference to this one” And he threw it back into the sea.

For us, we know we made an eternal difference for a boy called Agung Supriadi. He shall grow up to be a strong man of God. He shall be the light in the land of Indonesia. He shall reveal God’s glory. He shall prosper in the land that God has given him. He’ll know God and do mighty exploits. The day will come when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.

2006-08-14T11:49:00.000+08:00

It’s summer time in the state of New York and young people and missionaries are rallying up their army to evangelise and reach out. There are no walls, there is no denomination, there is only hearts of willingness of reach out and touch the community in the name of Jesus.

This article published in the New York Times feature the many lives of young people from different churches and backgrounds reaching out to the community of New York. Youths from the New York School of Urban Ministry, Guts Church, New York Urban Impact and from other states in the U.S have gathered to be sent as missionaries in their own land.

Urban Impact, a Christian ministry run by the Rev. Larry Holcomb, which has its headquarters on West 44th Street focuses on working with Muslim immigrants. “My personal mission on this trip is basically to bring back credibility to Christianity,” Mr. Beggs, a volunteer from Urban Impact said, “so that we’re not so much seen as, you know, goofy churchgoers from the South that can’t relate to the city, because how I read Jesus in the Bible is someone who is very much involved with the working class and the city and who is all about justice.”

And that’s exactly what all of these churches are doing. And doing it well. Urban Impact conducting English classes for West African immigrants in Bedford-Stuyvesant, some have chosen to serve the homeless by giving them a clean place to stay and food to eat, while some held excursions which are a powerful part of the draw of missionary work in the city. One team from Kalamazoo, Mich., planned to take in a Yankees game and the “Graffiti” exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. Some have also focused on a certain spot where homeless people are more likely to gather and do something about it. There was team from Kalamazoo distributing steaming bowls of stew and clothing from the side of a van from the Queens-based Street Life Ministries, while another, from a tiny town in Pennsylvania, passed out cards bearing directions to CityLight Church, on East Seventh Street.

Christians from all over the States is seeing a need in the heart of New York and various cities in their nation and doing something about it. The hungry is fed, the homeless is given a place they can sleep and the widows and orphans are starting to believe that someone loves them.

Click here to read the whole article and I pray that by doing so, God can put a burden or a word of what you can do for this nation of Malaysia. Jesus came, and He had compassion for the people. Also do visit some of these sites and see what some of these churches and ministries are organizing and planning to do in their city.

New York School of Urban Ministry
Guts Church
Urban Impact New York

2006-08-11T15:50:00.000+08:00

I had the opportunity to pop by Canaanland bookstore in The Place during lunch with S k y e. Coupled with a 15% discount (due to special rates for full-time workers), these were 2 very good buys (after discount):

Hillsong, Mighty to Save - RM30.52

John C.Maxwell, Real Leadership - RM42.40

2006-08-10T09:58:00.000+08:00

This is a video of Matt, a 29-year-old from Connecticut. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he’d saved to wander around the planet until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.

A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt the idea of dancing everywhere he went and recording it on his camera. This turned out to be a very good idea. Now Matt is quasi-famous as “That guy who dances on the internet. At the start of 2006, Matt left on a 6 month trip through 39 countries on all 7 continents. In that time, he danced a great deal.

Watching the video makes my morning feel happy :)

2006-08-09T16:25:00.000+08:00

How do you know when the preacher is Argentinean?

When he speaks, he will say something along these lines, “And God tells him to take the land!” An Argentinean preacher would say “But he said, God! That is a huge chunk of beef! Where do I start biting?!”

And he would also say things like “And when he entered the enemies land, he did so with courage, because he knows his enemies are waiting to slice him up like pepperoni salami…”

That is a double confirmation that he is a true blue pure beef-loving Argentinean preacher.

2006-08-09T10:36:00.000+08:00

Lessons from Gideon, by Ps Ed Silvoso:

One: God has a different opinion of you than the one you have of yourself.

This is important as we see in the life of Gideon; he was in the midst of running away from the disaster, as he franticly put wheat into the jar to flee! As Ps Ed said, he wasn’t preparing to fight, but he was preparing his flight. The first thing that came to his mind was “I need to flee!” However, it was at that God-appointed moment, when he appeared to Gideon and said “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior” In modern context, this is exactly the stuff of sarcasm and utter humour! But yet, God does not see you as the person that’s in the enclosed by the past nor the present, He sees the person that He has destined you to be in the future!

Two: When you live in that revelation, your family and friends will have a higher opinion of you.

As God develops the person in you, he will bring about a change in you and around you. In the later verses of Judges 6, God instructs Gideon to kill the bulls that belong to the father as a burnt offering and to destroy the alter of Baal and Asherah. We are talking about the same Gideon that tried to run away when faced with a terrible opposition a few verses earlier, however, as Ps Ed said, at this point, he was a big mouse, but a mouse nonetheless. Hence he brought 10 other servants to do the job, in the night. When the people woke up the next morning, they confronted the Gideon’s father, which was Gideon’s largest fear. Instead of invoking the rage of his dad, Gideon’s dad defended him and said “If Baal has a problem with my son, let him deal with him!” Now, that is having God’s favour and the favour of your family turned towards you.

Another point that is worth noting, is God’s instruction in destroying the alters. He said “When you’re done destroying the Baal and Asherah alters, I want you to build a proper alter to the true Lord God”. I find this very interesting and this step is as important as the previous step. This reminds me of the story of David and Goliath. When David killed Goliath with his slingshot, he did not just leave the scene and proclaim victory. What he did was to use the sword of Goliath to behead Goliath himself! In the case of Gideon, the used the destroyed alter wood, to burn the bulls as a sacrifice.

Now, I’m thinking this is probably why most social problems never really get solved in our nation. We are very very focused in destroying the drug-taking habits, executing rapists, punishing abusive husbands and fathers and deploying hundreds of security measures everywhere. But once these are carried out, there isn’t any steps taken in putting in place a proper alter of the true God. We let the cut up pieces of the Baal’s alter scattered around and we leave Goliath intact. Now, we can argue that we live in a Muslim nation, but there is no reason why the Church doesn’t rise up and present the nation with a cure perhaps.

Three: Ultimately, God will change the mindsets of your enemies so that they will have a different and higher opinion of you than what you think you were.

Finally, in the realization of Gideon as the mighty warrior of God, God instructs him to go to the enemy’s camp. And only in there, He will give Gideon a revelation and speak to him. This is mighty crazy. But the fact is this, often times the battle is won in the enemy’s ground, rather than in your own turf. This is what God means by claiming enemy territory.

God managed to change the life of Gideon from a coward to a true mighty warrior. What has God called you? He doesn’t see who you are and how you’re feeling. He will only say “Be strong and courageous, rise up mighty man and woman of God. This is your time, this is your moment. March into the enemy’s camp and set the captives free!”

I’ll share more on some true stories of what’s happening in South America and how God is entering the government and the parliament of the nation. There are heaps of stories that really stir up your spirit. Click to the links below to read about them:

Transformation Hawaii

God transforming Argentina and high government officials

2006-08-08T09:39:00.000+08:00

First, he directed "Titanic", now he's making predictions on how Moses parted the Red Sea scientifically. Could it get any worse (or hilarous) for Mr. J a m e s "I jump, you jump" Cameron? Read his absurd explanation here.

What are they gonna predict and "uncover" next? Get ready for this (haha). Apparently, a few scientists in Florida State University researched and found that Jesus actually walked on ice (insert lots of... ) Read the other absurd "findings" here.

So true isn't it? The wisdom of man, is as folly to God. Anyhow, I would like to thank these people for telling me these 2 good jokes in the morning. If there's any consolaton, I know God still loves these people. Although in my humble opinion, anyone who direct a movie like "Titanic" is seriously committing sin. I don't know what they're gonna predict and reveal next, but whatever it is, it's seriously funny. But remember, the Word says in the last days people will sway you with their so called knowledge and wisdom and philosophies, but those whose roots are in the Lord, will not be shaken.

2006-08-07T11:25:00.000+08:00

This will be a long post, but I wish and I pray one thing; That the article below will inspire you not only to dream but to dream bigger.

Last Friday I read an article in the New York Times, titled "New Wealth, and Worries, for the Salvation Army." It featured the new home of a USD$2.5 million Henry Moore sculpture - the San Diego Salvation Army Community Centre. But more importantly was this, “The sculpture and the center, an $87 million complex featuring three swimming pools, indoor ice skating and skateboarding, playing fields and a 600-seat theater, were gifts from Joan Kroc, wife of the McDonald’s Corporation founder, Ray Kroc.

Mrs. Kroc, who died in 2003, also left the Salvation Army $1.5 billion to build 30 to 40 more Kroc centers now planned around the country, providing low-income neighborhoods the kind of facilities that even well-to-do communities can rarely afford” as reported by the article.

However, as much as this is cause for celebration and a breath of fresh air pumped into the age old charitable organisation of William Booth, there were a horde of questions and doubts beginning to rise in the organisation. Among the reactions within was this:

“We are at a crossroads, and the challenge for us is to remain true to our mission,” Commander Gaither said. “The whole idea is to build on what has been accomplished, not to build something completely different.”

I don’t know if there are any thoughts running through your head when you read this statement, but I understand if organisations have a strong stand in being committed to their vision and their mission. However, having said that, while the purpose remains the same, the method of doing it may change. Mal Fletcher once said in this sermon that the challenge of the Church is not to remain relevant, because the Church IS supposed to be relevant in the first place. But the challenge is to be at the forefront of the society, politics, education and the economics of the nation. We are meant to be the head and not the tail. I long for the day to come when the government body or the parliament approach Church leaders to ask where the nation should head. That is what vision should do – influence.

With the enormous resource that the San Diego Salvation Army possess in their hands, they are now planning to build new community centers in Atlanta, Phoenix, Honolulu and San Francisco, among other places. However, it is these plans that are drawing the most notice. This is what happens when the Church becomes relevant to their society. People take notice. If the Church is happy being the people that sings a few songs, clap their hands and go back to their own lives, the devil will be pretty happy about it and just leave them alone. Why? Simply because they’re too preoccupied with their belly-button gazing and too ignorant about being relevant and making an impact in their world.

The Salvation Army’s San Diego Community Centre was the pilot project that took off with a huge success. People from all walks of life came to the centre, because it offered a range of classes and services. Water aerobics classes, ice skating lessons, hockey, swimming lessons conducted in the Olympic-sized pool, pot-luck lunches and dinners, fund-raising activities were just some of the activities that are available in the community centre. Stories are told where once teenagers had nothing to do, but to roam the streets, now the come to the centre to socialize; they come for basketball sessions, swim, join figure-skating programs and skate in the in-house skate park the centre provides. The center also offers the Salvation Army’s traditional services like parenting classes, collecting and distributing food to the needy, and making referrals to social service programs.

That. Is Influence.

The article ended with this comment from a member of the community centre saying “I don’t know anything about the Salvation Army,” said Candy Henson, a water aerobics classmate of Ms. Hunsaker. “I just know what they’re doing for this community, and it’s good.”

That is my dream of the DreamCentre that DUMC is currently building. That people from the society will come and they will know of a place they can call home. They will know of a God that cares for them and love them. The outcasts, the dirty, the homeless, the prostitutes, the abused children, the widow, the hungry and the needy. Just when you think that going to church is about you and you having a good time. Think again. It’s for the people out there. Like what Mark Penny once said “It’s about the people, everything we do, it's for the people.”

Let us live the dream.

2006-08-04T17:37:00.000+08:00

OK, I admit I like reading Dilbert comics for a myriad of reasons. I mean, I like Garfield, Hagar the Horrible, B.C, lately Zits and probably a few clever one-frame comics like Insanity Streak. But Dilbert has something a little bit more to it I reckon. It could be the clever sarcasm plus workplace humour plus randomness plus plain dumb character and remarks.

One of my favourite was this one:

A few reasons why I think this particular comic strip is just plain gold:

1. It highlights my 2 favourite character (after Dilbert of course) - the pointy-haired boss and Alice. To be honest, I do like Wally too. He quite a lovable character. But this is how Alice is described on the Dilbert website:

" Alice is the only female engineer in Dilbert's department. She's habitually overworked. Her cardiovascular system is basically coffee. She has a quick temper when confronted with the idiocy of her co-workers. She does not handle criticism well."

2. It highlights the stupidity of The Boss and his ignorance.
3. It shows the deep concentration of the employees while talking about things that make no sense and of zero importance.
4. It highlights the "wisdom" of Alice, which is quite looked up upon by gullibly by all the other characters.
5. It ends in utter randomness, in this case, referring to the planet Uranus (one of those "bone-density" moments - insider joke).

Anyway, it's kinda nice to end the work week with some humour. I'll be leading Welcome tonight! Very cool and looking forward to it. Have a good weekend folks!

2006-08-03T17:50:00.000+08:00

Source: The Star

My good brother, Mr. Lim Ming Joe appeared in The Star today! It was featuring his awesome romantic proposal on a skating rink in Sunway Pyramid Ice on Monday midnight. It was just awesome and sweet to see him proposing to Cheryl, not just because he has been with her for more than 7 years, but it just seemed like I know him for a long time. The Ming Joe or ITM in OCF, the Ming Joe that I used to jam Planetshakers songs with, the same guy that lent his car when I picked my girlfriend from the airport on a cold and wintry day in the June of 2005, the same guy who stood next to me in the moshpit of City Church and the same guy that was proposing to his love on that fateful night. It was simply beautiful, and I'm majorly proud of you, bro!

"Dr Lim Ming Joe, 27, from Southern Park, Klang, popped the question to his girlfriend, Cheryl Tan, also 27, in a scene that looked like it came straight out of a movie."
- The Star

Click here to read the full story.

=)

2006-08-01T16:42:00.000+08:00

Hello.

Children of the Lamb (derived from “long de chuan ren”) But you know, we’re not children of the dragon, hence the lamb. Speaking of lamb, do you know what the pork-eating Muslims in China call pigs? – “fei yang”, translated as fat sheep.

Can you imagine two good mountain trekking Chinese Muslim brothers saying (in Mandarin) “Hey Brother Lee, why don’t you go hunt a sheep for dinner tonight?” And the other guy shouts back “Which sheep? The fat or thin kind?” Man, I feel for the sheep you know what I’m saying? I mean, they’re feeling stressed. As for the pig, they’re just confused because of this mind-boggling name-calling from men.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to blog today was because I wanted to talk about cake.

haha, that’s a picture of me in cg last Friday. The good people in the cg decided to co-celebrate my birthday, hence you know the cake. I reckon, if your birthday is co-celebrated, you only get 50% of the attention, which can be a good or bad thing. Depending. As I was saying, the cake. It’s a Cream Cheese and Walnut Banana Cake.

And since we started joining this cg, we have tried a few cakes *bliss* they are as follows in chronological order:

1. Orange Poppy Seed Cake (topped with peeled Mandarin oranges)
2. Marshmallow Chocolate Cake.
3. Irish Cream Baileys and Cherry Cake (my favourite so far!)
4. Cream Cheese and Walnut Banana Cake

And now, about the after-effects of the cake i.e. the weight issue. Hmm.. never mind. Back to thinking about the wonderful goodness of cake.

*smile*

2006-07-24T14:25:00.000+08:00

I feel contented.

Not in an I’m-so-satisfied-I-don’t-wanna-move on-in-life, that sort of contented. We have been doing the study in the book of Philippians in church as well as a more in-depth Bible study in cell group. As we discussed from the previous cell group about the life of Paul as well as his affection and gratitude for the Philippians, he told them one of the secrets in life; and that is to be contented in whatever situations. This of course is derived from a sense of completeness that comes from God. I do love the Word of God for all that’s in it.

Our Zone Leader, Choon Ean was leading cell, as Shelley was away in Penang. I thought she led the cell group well and during the end of cell, S k y e and I were chatting with her and the conversation got really interesting as we were talking about how she started an independent media ministry called LiveWire. She was telling me about her experiences shooting in Indonesia when the tsunami happened as well as her experiences in East Timor. The purpose of the shoot was to raise awareness of the real need in Indonesia as disasters hit and people’s lives were severely affected. The video was then edited and distributed to churches and organisations here in Malaysia.

Through the conversation, something was ignited in my spirit. It was the familiar flicker of a dream and a vision that was kept in my heart for a long, long time. It wasn’t a coincidence (I believe) that I bought “The Principles and Power of Vision” by Dr. Myles Munroe from Canaanland that weekend too. I began to share quite openly although very briefly that it was something that God has put something like that in my heart for a long time, right from the time when I was still in Melbourne. The stories of Ps Neil Smith’s church in Perth having a media/graphic design wing that is wholly owned by the church further flamed the dream inside of me. Yet when I came back here, I wouldn’t dare say the dream died down, no… it was the otherwise. Because of the realness of the dream, I began to think with even more intensity these days, how should I position myself so that I can see the outworking of the dream in my life.

It was no mistake that God has put me in advertising and prior to that, production. It is also no mistake now that He has strategically positioned me in marketing. All these are building up to something. Brick by brick, building a structure that thrust its structure in the centre of the Rock. What is this something? It’s a dream, a vision, a not-too-distant reality. Dr. Myles Munroe quoted in the book “sight is the function of the eye, but the vision is the function of the heart.”

S k y e and I, we recently bought a few sermon mp3s from Hillsong. One of which we listened with intent on a rainy Saturday afternoon. It was a sermon called “Ishmael” by Ps. Charlotte Scanlon-Gambill. In the sermon, she told a story of a boy whom nobody cared. An outcast by the standards of the society. A hopeless wreck if you were to measure by the rule of the superior education system. Yet, Charlotte loved him. She cared for him. Told him he had a hope and a future. She put up a Christmas gift-giving celebration in her church one day. And this boy, James was invited. He came, he got touched. He wrote a letter to Charlotte telling her that usually, she wouldn’t come to church. Why? Because the world saw him as an Ishmael. But Charlotte saw him as a boy God loved. No lesser than how God would have loved Isaac. So, he wrote a letter, he thanked her for her love. He said, somebody in church once asked him, what is his dream? For James, he never knew the word. But ever since, he said, he in fact had a dream. His dream was to love other people that have been through the same thing as he did. He wanted to help them. He wanted to show that God loved them and He still do. He was not given a gift of sight; he was given the gift of vision.

I want to encourage you. And I want to encourage myself.

That God believes in you. That the dream is not dead. That if God can use Abraham, Moses, Samson, Esther, Matthew, Paul, Timothy, Bill Graham, Myles Munroe, Ps Russell and Sam, and even James; He can use YOU. I’m just gonna finish off with this; Over the weekend, S k y e and I took the step to sponsor 2 children. One from Cambodia and one from Indonesia. How much did it cost us? RM60 and about 5 minutes filling up the form. How much did it made a difference for them? Their whole life. I know a few things now. I know that tonight they will have a bed to sleep on. I know when they wake up tomorrow, they will have food to eat. I know that they will have a book in their hands and they will read. I know they will know God and know of their huge plan and purpose that God has destined for them. And I know I can love them with God’s love.

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”

- James 2:14- 18

2006-07-21T10:10:00.000+08:00

Energy Friend has a Calculator that apparently let you calculate how many cups of coffee (and other caffeine-related drinks) you need to drink before you kill yourself. According to it, I need to drink 120.37 cups of espresso in a single seating before I croak. Man, thankfully I stopped at 119 cups!

2006-07-20T16:33:00.000+08:00

I just came back from the patent agent in Plaza Sentral.

It’s been my second time there, and this time we went there with the purpose of moving ahead with the patent application for one of our current projects. Sure enough a familiar sign greeted me as I entered their large boardroom with views of the KL cityscape, except today it made me feel like I was in Genting, ‘cause the haze was kinda bad, so it made it look like there’s fog in the city.

So, yeah back to the sign. You see, this patent agency has a very interesting sign that stood on a low cabinet together with a few of the awards they won in the previous years. I would have surely taken a picture of it if it had been convenient. But this is what is said:

“Beware of the lawyer (don’t worry the dog’s safe)”

Now, one should feel more careful if a lawyer’s agency had that in the boardroom, displayed to the world. But somehow, I felt pretty amused and just brushed the anxiety off by saying “It’s ok, the people here have a good sense of humour”. I do like it when people can take the mickey out of themselves and their job.

So, remember folks: Beware of the lawyer, me thinks even the dog’s not safe… Poor doggies, who knows if the lawyers would wanna sue them one day for Disruption of the Public Space causing physical and emotional Damages based on the licentious dissipation of its feces. Poor doggies, I say.

2006-07-10T09:39:00.000+08:00

*tries to tune guitar then strums a G* :P

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to S k y e dear :)
Happy birthday to you!

2006-07-07T10:21:00.000+08:00

Friendships are a whole dimension which was once started of a beauty and it still is, but sometimes unknowingly and quietly it gets thwarted, polluted and twisted through a series to events, which may seem harmless slash fun-loving or even under the guise of spirituality. There’s a term called Christian witchcraft. It is a term used when a person mostly a Christian manipulates the gospel for his or her own benefit thus feeding the flesh self in him.

There is certain sin in this world where even the world hates. Such are the sin of murder, abortion, rape, homosexuality, incest, and the like. Yet there are certain grey-area sins that the world takes no stand, but worse still if Christians have no stand and no say about it. Yes, not without a coincidence I know of people who like that. The drug-takers, the lust-slaves, the murderers of the spirit. Watch out it says. Watch out for the dogs! The mutilators of the body, soul and spirit. They coming! Open your deaf ears and listen… Yes, they coming!

Kill
The
Dogs!

You hear the dogs? You hear them? ‘Cause if you don’t you dead! Hear me? You dead. Don’t tell me your living and breathing stories, ‘cause if you don’t watch out, you dead. They gonna sink their teeth on you when you’re asleep. When you’re walking, talking, laughing, shopping, eating, drinking. When you asleep, when you awake. When you don’t watch out for the stinking, flesh-mutilating, blood lusting dogs, you dead! That’s all it is. No, grey area nonsense. No, pink Barbie excuses – “oh-I’m-trying-to-share-the-gospel-with-them”. There’s the world (that the One and Only Son so loved and died for) and there’s the dog!

The world’s filled with dogs sent from the devil to eat you up if you don’t watch out! You deaf? Spend more time with the dog-killer than the dogs. They don’t do any good. They gonna kill, steal, eat you up alive. Before you know it, you’re seeing the road sign that’s says “Next Stop – Hell” yeah, that’s right, you gotta watch out for the dogs! What sin are the dogs perpetrating? You gotta keep your head. You listen closely, they’re coming after you! Watch out, I’m telling you, watch out!

KILL
THE
DOGS!

2006-07-06T17:44:00.000+08:00

Malaysia is a beautiful country.

Yet just like anywhere in the world you have the good news and the bad news. So, this is just a lil something from the news to end my working (Thurs)day.

Good news: YTL in talks to build rail link to Singapore.
Bad news: Once-powerful Malaysian grumbles to press he controlled.

Just a snippet of news about Mr. Francis Yeoh, the chairman and founder of YTL Corporation Berhad. His corporation is a RM 19 billion market capitalisation with subsidiaries all over the world. The corporation serves more than 10 million customers worldwide. So, here we have a man who is at the helm of this large corporation. At the same time, he is a Christian as well. In the past years, the government of Malaysia offered him a free permit to build a casino. Completely free! Yet, Mr. Francis Yeoh turned the offer down, showing his tough stand againts gambling. He in fact, made some strong statements againts millionaires that have invested in the gambling industry in Malaysia, namely people like Lim Goh Tong.

In my opinion, this is a man who dares to lives out what he believes. He doesn't need to talk about the gospel, because from his life he is already shouting it out aloud. Well done, Mr. Francis Yeoh! Now, imagine what 10 or 100 of Mr. Francis Yeohs can do. More than all the wealth and power in this world, he is a man who is rich in his integrity and a favour that comes from God.

2006-07-05T10:20:00.000+08:00

The man who knows his direction without knowing his destination arrives no where. But the man who knows his destination looks forward at the journey ahead with anticipation. Although they may be dark alleys and road blocks, he would stir up a drive in himself. And if it means digging through the roof to get to his destination, he will do it. Because he knows as long as he stays focused on the destination, he will never lose his direction.

He is a man with a Destiny and a Hope.

2006-07-04T13:31:00.000+08:00

A silhouette of kites flying high up in the sunset sky. It was a beautiful sight as I traveled back from work yesterday. It reminded me of how many times we’re like those kites. Trying to reach higher and higher. Yet the one who holds the ball of strings know what is best for us, doesn’t he? I remember when you fly a kite, you can’t release the strings to fast, ‘cause sometimes it would break if there is a strong wind. Other times, the kite just won’t fly if you release it too fast. As I looked at the kites, I began to understand in a deeper understanding why God says “Abide in me and apart from Me, you can do nothing.” How true ain’t it? If we are the kite and the One who holds us is God Himself. There is nothing we can do, if we choose to go our own way, we will just fall to the earth miserably. Yet a lot of times, we wrestle with God over control of our lives. How shallow, immature and naïve could we be if we keep thinking that? On the flip side, if you and I let God take control in our lives, we would fly higher and higher into the sky. He promises that He’ll take us from glory to glory, strength to strength. But sometimes, it takes a bit more time. He will release the string more and more as we put our trust in Him and let Him have full control. God know how high we can achieve if only we let God take control.

I'm a man
I'm not a child
A man who sees
The shadow behind your eyes

Did I waste it
Not so much I couldn't taste it
Life should be fragrant
Rooftop to the basement

Who's to say where the wind will take you
Who's to say what it is will break you
I don't know
Which way the wind will blow

- Kite, U2

True, we don’t know where the winds of life will take us to. Blue skies one day, stormy clouds another. Yet our Lord is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Wait upon the Lord, and you will soar like an eagle. Whichever way the wind blows, God, You be my Navigator.