Cameron Highlands

2 days 1 night is kinda short for a trip like this, but I'll take what I can get. And we were so fortunate that Lemuel, Melanie & Mikayla took us along for this (Osbourne caught up with us late at night). Everywhere we went & everything we did were so much more enjoyable with good company.

If it were up to me, I wouldn't have gone to places like strawberry farm or the butterfly park, but Mikayla made every moment precious & necessary. There are so many things I love there - the cool weather, the beautiful scenery, the fresh vegetables, the night market, strawberry ice creams... and did I mention the cool weather? Perfect for BBQ (which we did do on our first night).

Seriously, I wish I had more reason to stay in Cameron Highlands, or at least go there more often. Last year, Pastor Leong of Taman Lakeview was saying that he was going to retire, & I asked if I could take his place as caretaker of the campsite - and I wasn't joking. Perhaps if they could cut short the journey to an hour, or if I had a driver & a nice car, or a helicopter... Or if I had a job that requires me to be in Cameron Highlands half the time... It feels strange needing to be in KL.. Is this my comfort zone, or is this where I'm suppose to be?

Anyways, I do hope to be going up there again in June. Maybe stay up there for like 10 days or something. Nonetheless, I'm really grateful for this trip. It felt like a fulfillment of Psalm 37:4 - 'Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.' These few years, there's really nothing I could depend on except God. Circumstances came our way & forced it upon us, really. But we've experience the grace & the beauty of depending on God for everything. He has come through for us every time. And little by little, step by step, He is drawing us unto complete dependence upon Him.

Show Off =)

This year's Chinese New Year is our first as a married couple. Never mind having to give angpao (red packets with money inside), someone somewhere somehow started this thing where all first timers like May and myself will have to give double - 2 angpaos to every person. I suspect that it all happened when a crazed old uncle drank too much beer... The easy way out was of course divide the originally set amount by 2. May hasn't had a full time job since November, & my freelance jobs give no fixed salaries. So it would only be fair to expect us to give a minimum amount.

But our God isn't a minimum God. He's a HOW MUCH MORE God. He's the ever-giving, ever-blessing master, & in Him we do not worry. Consider the fact that I've been without a stable, fixed salary for almost 20 months & have no lack; how about the fact that my family doesn't have much financially, yet we are paying a morgage & God still uses us to bless others; take into account how we did not have any money to get married & yet managed to receive a great surplus from our wedding dinner... That's the awesomeness of our God. How can we, then, give others based on how much we gain from our earthly paymasters?

And so we gave more than what people say we should. It was never about hoping that God will reward us as we obey His voice - we know that God loves us no matter our obedience & our performance, as His faithfulness and loving-kindness endures forever. We just know that He will take care of us, & so there's no need to give in weariness.

Giving certainly feels better than receiving - & that was a reward in itself. But God displayed His awesomeness again (in youth ministry, we accept the term SHOW OFF. We believe God wouldn't mind it too) by providing May with a kindergarten job - it's 10-minutes' drive away, pays decent, & owned by a lovely, generous couple. With that, I have green light to continue in my freelance work. An added bonus is that our beloved friend, Rabeeka Raj, is working alongside May & is actually loving it over there.

I praise Him & will continue to live my life trusting Him. God, You're such a show-off. I like it. Do continue to show off Your awesomeness through our lives. Amen.