A brand new start

Finished one exam on saturday. It was a difficult subject for me , firstly it was about cell development therefore it covers a whole lot of things , secondly i didn't do too well for my term test , thirdly i had an exam two days before that final. The day before final i studied like i've never studied before burnt my midnight oil till 4am. Prayed a lot as well .. n i've been asking God to be with me as i'm studying ... give me wisdom to know what to study . n lots of frens supported me in prayers as well .. some even flick me a text before my exam. I felt so so touched when i saw my questions during exam. God , You r GREAT!!! All the questions that came out were the things i've studied!!!! Praise the Lord!!! At that very moment, i know God is telling me " i've always been here. I know u've spent a lot of time doing something for me other than studying. Don't worry. I'm here. I'll never leave u nor forsake u. I love u!" WOW ... He is amazing ... i felt His care , love n kindness that day :>
There r many things in life that i took for granted. As simple as the grass n flowers , or even the blue sky with fluffy white clouds n the wide calm sea when the weather is good ,i've never tell God how beautiful they are. I've been reading a book - captivating lately. I've changed by that book. I'm looking at the things i don't usually pay attention too - even if it's just some dry branches or yellow dry leaves on the road after the rain from the night before, i began to adore all these things. Began to ask God everyday - How r u going to romance me today??He is showing His love by the sunshine, by the breeze, by the little yellow flowers beside the road. How can i not notice all these before? Thank God for all these lovely things He has given me in my daily life :> God u r awesome!!!
Today, something else in my heart changed. I've come to realize that a portion of my heart doesn't belong to God. He hit me on my head n finally i got to look into my heart n found that a portion of it was not written- belong's to God. Thank God for the reminder. For years i've never notice how i've been kept bondaged. Thank God that now i can untie this n work freely for God. Finally , after years of struggling , i've come to this point that i can totally make all my decisions freely according to God. Thank you God for His patience for waiting for so many years. Thank you Lord that i've realized this n finally i'm home!!! Like the prodigal son , Lord, i'm back in ur arms :> N i know He was telling me" welcome home, my precious child. " Yes Lord, here is my heart , take it , mould it n break it , refine me so that i can fully reflect ur likeness :> I am complete when i have God :> Love u , my father!!

beginning

Mr Tricky Ricky bombarded my hp with this poem :> Awesome .. u should keep ur great work up :> fully recommend him to get a blog n post all his poems .Mr poet!!

Beginnings
by Rick Grantham
June 2006

God created the earth by his word
And then the fish, the beast and the bird
Then he formed a man from the dust
And thought he had the whole lot sussed
However the man was all alone
But God decided not to clone
Instead he put the man to sleep
A new creation wouldn’t be cheap
He took a bone from near man’s heart
And made some one so cute and smart
When man awoke to see this girl
His once sound vision began to swirl

Of course the man understood
When God said, “It’s very good.”
Man was thankful for a friend
However, that is not the end.
That is how the world began
Everything was done to plan
Then God put these two folks in Eden
A garden that was good for feedin’
God then said, “Go work and play
But this one thing you must obey
You must be faithful unto me
Eat nothing from that knowledge tree.
Do not even dare to try
The day you eat you’ll surely die.”

Then came pride – with it deceit
One day they both began to eat
And when they ate, they both saw
Things that one cannot ignore
But God knew and would confront
He found them after quite a hunt
They both sought to hide their shame
Then they tried to shift the blame
Because their act was really bad
God now was really mad
This couple then, in sheer disgrace
Were quickly banished from that place
A consequence of their sin
They would not be allowed back in

Outside Eden, each day was worse
The effects of living under a curse
This curse caused a lot of pain
But then came their first son Cain
Followed by another boy
And this again brought more joy
The boys began to live and grow
But then came an awful blow
Hate within him did enable
Cain to kill his brother Abel
God asked Cain, “Where’s your bro?”
Cain said, “God, I don’t know.”
And then Cain, one tone deeper
Said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

His answer really was a dud
For on his hands was the blood
So there and then he was undone
And this put him on the run
But though Cain had killed his brother
His folks did produce another
The name Seth, they did employ
To depict this brand new boy
The children though were not just sons
They also had the female ones
The human race did increase
Uncle, aunty, nephew, niece
And as the population grew
Wickedness increased too

And as the people turned from Him
God said, “Let’s see them swim.
I will now destroy mankind
Because of their depraved mind
I will cause a great big flood
And turn all the earth to mud
But I’ve found a righteous guy
I will not let him die
Noah and his family
Have remained true to me
So I’m going to spare this lot
Through this flood not matter what.”
So God said to build a boat
Something that would surely float

This boat will save many lives
Noah, three sons and their wives
The animals will come in pairs
When the flood commencement nears
The boat or ark was huge inside
So high, so long and so wide
Many things would live in there
For about one whole year
And then, when the boat was made
The sunlight, it began to fade
So animals and all his kin
Did then follow Noah in
And in the ark they filled the floor
Then God almighty shut the door.

The rain it then began to drop
For forty days it did not stop
And as the water thundered down
Everything began to drown
The water level rose so high
Until it reached the very sky
But the ark was still afloat
‘Cos God had designed this boat
And in the ark life carried on
Until the water all had gone
Then Noah and his kin stepped out
To stretch and squint and look about
The animals, they came out too
Fresh to start their life anew

Grateful Noah thanked his saviour
For his God had shown him favour
So he humbly built an altar
To his God who did not falter
In response God made a vow
To the end of time from now
This is what He gladly swore
To never flood the earth once more
He put a rainbow in the sky
Of this vow to testify.
Then God in Heaven gave an order
For his view was hugely broader
He said to Noah and his sons,
“Remember than your wives aren’t nuns.

Multiply and fill the earth
You are creatures of much worth
But as the generations passed
So this order did not last
The people pushed their God aside
As they became so full of pride
Let’s build a city they agreed
One dwelling place is all we need
For ourselves we’ll made a name
Our big tow’r will bring us fame
But God himself was no impressed
This sinful pride would be addressed
God came down to see this show
And confuse their one lingo

And so from there the people went
Throughout the earth like they were meant
And that’s the tale of the beginning
From then till now we’ve kept on sinning
But God above retains his smile
He wants to save and reconcile
He sent his only Son to die
To seek, to save and justify
The punishment for sin is death
Literally to lose your breathe
On the cross, Christ paid the price
He was the perfect sacrifice
If, in this son you do believe
A great salvation you’ll receive.

Another great poem

Just got back from discipleship meeting from mandy's. Had a great time there :> Dinner was awesome . Mandy , Becks n Jono r turning into " eggs" if u know what i mean :> Mandy is really a great leader .. really encouraging :> We wrote down what we want to achieve in lifegroup individually n shared. I've realized that i can't just stop there after writing , i have to live up what i've written :> Have to take good care of my sheep :> Studied for a few hours for my finals tomorrow n came thru ricky's poem to Step. It is really encouraging.

The Lord has given you such a sharp mind, and your heart He has refined.
He sent his only Son for you, to solve a life that is brand new.
A life of love and hope and peace , a glorious life that will not cease.
God always has a listening ear, when you have a humble prayer.
So when you feel you can't go on, stand firm in God, He has not gone.
He will lead you everyday, just surrender, kneel and pray.

Queen's bday

WOW!! had Ricky n justin staying over at our flat!!! After sunday evening service , we had a great night playing scum( well i don't really enjoy it coz i was the scum!!) . We then woke up at 445am to send step off to m'sia. It's a freezing night!!about 3 degree i guess... Got home n the four of us ( Esther yap , Ricky,Justin n me) had a long chat till 7am. Actually Esther yap did most of the talking . The more she talked the more excited she went. Our initial plan was to let her talk n eventually she'll get tired but we were wrong!!!! We had to cut her off at the end n go to bed.
We woke up at 1230pm. Spending one day with Kiwis .. i found out heaps of differences between culture . They wanted to have meat pie for lunch. Hahaha.... n we(esther yap n me) ??? The story ---- justin:"what do u guys wanna have for lunch? " us:"anything..", ricky:"fish n chips?(he knows i hate it therefore he said it =p)" We went to the tip top. GOSH!!! they r really planning to buy meat pie !! esther yap :" hmmm... y don't u guys get the meat pies n i can have instant noodle for lunch.." me:"yaya... me too(wow... she safed me!!) ... i 'll have instant noodle." Ricky n justin:" r u sure??? u happy to have instant noodles ? " me:" ya ya .. more than happy!!" ... therefore ended up - the asians had instant noodles n kiwis had meat pie ... yucky meat pie ..=p

What happened next??? We had a great time together!! ricky drove us to almost all the bays in welly .... from owhiro bay - island bay -...- oriental bay ( about nine bays ) ... took a lot of pics!!!(sorry i didn't get to attach them here coz ricky had all of them) ... then along the way justin taught us how to surf(verbally la) ... it was freezing cold coz of the wind but i have to say that it was sunny..

Had lasagna for dinner. I have to say - our stomach are so different!! They can't eat much rice n we can't eat much cheese ... haha.... what's the highlight of the day? singing praise songs along the way in the car, watching the waves as they came closer n great time fellowship !!Thank God for these two BB(big bro)



Did u see the mountains tremble?
Did u hear the oceans roar?












three in a line (esther yap , justine n me)... see who's the chicken - afraid of the up coming waves ? ...













jingwen, hwee na(Esther yap), Justin n Ricky ... felt sorry for the two guys ... but it's funny :>














New Zealand - Aotearoa - Land of the long white clouds














great day for surfing , great waves for surfing .. but bad bad freezing temperature :<













awesome snapshot from ricky ... justin.. can we go surfing one day?? i really wanna go... pls.... pls ... pppplllllsss.... =p












lasagna ---- cheese ---- very cheesy =p















Dinner is served... Be our guest! Be our guest! Put our service to the test. Tie your napkin 'round your neck, cherie. And we provide the rest

Reflection

Had a great weekend. I've received my chromosomes photo from my lecture . Ya man.. aren't they beautiful ?? It makes me think of how precise God is . Imagine if one of the nucleotides on my chromosomes goes wrong? what will happen?? Mutation-cancer-death... No wonder Pastor always emphasize- You r fearfully n wonderfully made. If one day i ever doubt God, i'll look at this pic n it'll remind me that He loves me so so much n He is in control.

The sermon on Sunday hit me. It's about the power of language. Gen 11 is about the ppl trying to build a tower that reaches to the heavens. Then God confused their language n scattered them to stop them from building the tower. God gives us authority right in the beginning of Genesis to name the animals on the earth. This power of language is then misused by human with an impure heart. One verse in Genesis 11 amazed me - verse6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. WOW!!!! i reflect it to my own life . I ask myself- what kind of tower am i building ? am i building it for God or for myself? If my motive to build this tower is to make a great name for God then nothing is impossible!! I begged God to change me n to remind me that i'm doing all this for Him alone but not for myself . This life that i have is for HIM alone but not for myself. I also asked myself- what kind of language am i speaking in my daily life? is it language of forgiveness, love, thanksgiving? or language of discontentment, conplaint, discouragement ? If i've to reflect Christ likeness in my life i have to speak a language of God - forgiveness, love ....... no more complaint but full of thanksgiving!!! Thank you Lord for this conviction!!