Justice, Compassion, Love

Micah 6:6 - 8 raises a very important question - one we should ask often - What is pleasing & good in the sight of our God? Is it our giving, our sacrifices, songs, & various acts of service unto him? The answer - act justly, love mercy, walk humbly.

Jesus also spoke on this in Matthew 23:23 - citing justice, faith, & mercy as weightier matters of the law. Yes He did!! According to Jesus, these are more important things that we must not neglect. Paul resounded the importance of the matter in 1 Cor 13:1-3. And it is simply summed like this - without love, nothing we do - be it of good intentions or with great excellence - would matter.


I believe a shift in focus is necessary. The church, collectively, needs that. After all, the church is the body of Christ, purposed & empowered to do good & spread love on this earth. For too long we have been focusing on excelling in the duties we perform within the 4 walls of our building. Even our best 'reaching out' efforts are mostly aimed at bringing people into the church first.

I look at myself, & things I'm supposedly good at - song leading, script writing, teaching... All these are good gifts from God, but so far I've been using them effectively only within a church setting. I can think of so many good things we do within the church, but my brain gets stuck when it comes to schools, neighbourhoods, cafes, community halls, etc. It's not that we don't care - it's that we don't care enough to think more about it.

I'm not saying that excelling in church duties & in-house evangelistic programmes are wrong; I'm asking if those are the only things we know how to do.I'm talking about a shift in focus, a change of paradigm.

John 13:35 - By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. 

Rooftop BBQ: YATTA!!

Thank you everyone for coming to our first ever ROOFTOP BBQ!! Your presence has enliven the atmosphere & I'm looking forward to more good times with all 53 of you!! And in case you're wondering - YES, the fireworks was most certainly part of our plan (not)!!

Now imagine all 54 of us coming together every week...

Bring It To Them

In the past years, God has allowed me to cross paths with a group of people whom I have developed a burden for. I've got to know each one individually, at different times, and somehow their hearts were open to me. I've been fortunate enough to hear their story & at least attempt to speak life into their circumstances. These people know Jesus & have once upon a time been a part of a local church, but not anymore - a loved one's disapproval, a change of address, a broken heart, misunderstanding towards God & the church... You might have heard of one of those stories before.

I've shared this burden with my lovely cell group time & time again. I told them that if God wills it, I want to start a cell group with this group of people. But I'm constantly reminding myself that the main motivation must not be that they return to the church, but that I, a living stone of the local church, represent God & His body to reach out to them - to love them, to invest into their lives, to restore their relationship with God, to bring them the hope of the knowledge of an ever-loving, ever-forgiving Father.

Truthfully, I have no clue how to do this. It feels as if I'm starting a NEW CHURCH. I don't know if I have the courage of the earlier generation (in Malaysia) - they put everything on the line, & started with a weekly attendance of 1, 2, 3, under a mango tree.

Pray for me. Pray also for the people God has placed in my heart. Thank you.

ExG 4

There wasn't as many contributions as we first began this movement of gathering like-minded youths explore their gifts & talents, but it was a great night. The only thing unfortunate about the entire event was that there weren't any still-picture cameraman present that night.

Groundbreaking is how I'll describe the night. We first saw Rabeekah coming out of her shell to be co-MC with Daniel; Deanna & Benjamin, working together for the first time, showcased their violins; the girls (teenagers & 20-somethings) did a hip-hop dance, which was interesting; Joseph & Esther co-wrote & sang a duet, which was totally awesome; Justin & Daniel read their cool poems; and Ken Chung surprised us all with an art piece.

Then there were those of us who decided to stick to what we know - Jean used cartoon characters to present a message; Su Mei, although not present on the night, gave a touching poem as encouragement to all; Rachael helped out with the food (burgers were great!!); and I stuck to do yet another video.

I remember the time when I did the whole spinning thing in church (you'll have to have seen the video to know what I'm talking about), people were looking at me weird & someone even said it was lame. But it turned out pretty nice in the video & people acknowledged that. Goes to show that when you're working based on your vision of a full picture, there's bound to be criticism by those those who have not seen... Press on, persevere, do it - in His time, everything turns out beautiful.

I'm sorry if I've not mentioned your ExG 4 in this post - I only wrote down whatever I can recall from my memory. I'm sure the ExG 4 video I'll come up with will justify all your contributions. I'm so proud of everyone involved. & I'm sure the next one will be even more amazing.

A big shout out must be given to Joseph Teng, the owner of ExG, who absolutely took ownership of the event & led extremely well.

Decisions, Decisions...

This week is quite crucial for me. My manager has placed pressure on me, & I have to decide on whether I'll be staying with the company beyond February or not. And oddly enough, my entire family is not with me right now. Brother is in Australia still, dad went to Phillipines & mom has gone to Kuching. I wish I can talk to them face-to-face. I've heard their opinions, but never really have I shared my dilemma with them.

It used to be easier. Day by day I would face more and more situations that were hard to bear. Work wasn't fun. But I've come to realise that no matter who I work with, there's certainly be conflict & contrasting opinions, so it's not about that anymore. It's not about hardship I've faced anymore, because I know following my dreams will be equally challenging. And it's definitely not about money, because I know that my Dream-Giver has my back.

It's about where He wants me to be, who He wants me to touch, and what He wants me to learn.

And so I've asked God to help me imagine my near future. I need to see myself - what I'll be doing & how I'll be using my time... If I can see it, then I can do it. I don't know if it's just me, but I see a lot of myself being without a full time job & doing free lance stuff... Movie making is one thing. Maybe more stuff on videos... There's plenty to explore in that area, and it's one of my strongest gifts. Another thing I love about not having a 9-5 job is the amount of time I can have to invest in people's lives.

Of course, keeping this job will assure income - Stability. But as innocent as it sounds, I believe that if God wants me to quit this job & go free lance, he'll meet my every need. Plus, I can get any job I want (i think), though I doubt I can find a job that pays as much as what I receive now. I have actually thought about it, and the worst job I can get is kindergarten teacher. God knows how bad I am with children.

People say that those who follow their dreams are brave people. Well I'm scared as a hungry mouse that has just been injected by some Australian lab student with some chemicals that cause its skin to illuminate - scared to stay hungry, scared to be eaten by the cat if I do venture out. I want it to be God's timing. I want to be doing what God wants me to do lah, simple as that. Could you pray with me please? Maybe we'll get an answer...