Guo Da Li

Today is our Guo Da Li, a chinese pre- wedding customary thingy where the groom and his matchmaker will go the the bride's home with some gifts. 

charis says (11:28 PM):
God is with u every step of the way :D

nakama

jasminwangshuzhen says (11:07 AM):
i can literally feel the verse coming alive
jasminwangshuzhen says (11:07 AM):
iron sharpens iron
hunnybunny says (11:07 AM):
haha!

Thanks gal for sharpening me too. Praise God for being in the center and His Word to so readily cut us to the core of our hearts to love Him more.

Found #1

While packing my notes and books these days, i found these stuffs...the above brochure was our church concert that we had many years back called Bits & Pieces. If you belong to the first generation of the presently- known as yhope group, you would definitely remember this brochure - HOPPIES! i cant believe i still have a few copies of this somewhere deep in my pile of notes.
This is my first church wedding attended - Pastor Jeff and Claudia. its a very simple invitation card and its wedding bulletin titled "For His Glory". so many years have gone by and we're really excited to have Pastor Jeff to be our solemnizer! :)
This was one of our past ESS invitation brochures! it was a 3-part series in November 2003, with an exciting game challenge among the 4 districts - PolyDI, Northeast, Axis & Titans (hahahahah!). closing up, you can see Clarence & Lolita representing PolyDI, Jeremiah & Siew Luan for Northeast, Daryl & Cathy in Axis, and DENNIS & SHARLENE for Titans!!! I was ROTF when i saw 2 of my cg mates' pictures! posing like models! hoho~~

Warrior

i came across this article and it boasts my faith level :)

The War over Worry by Adrian Rogers

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? (Matt 6:25-26)

Somebody did a study about what the average person worries about. They found that forty percent of what people worry about never happens. And thirty percent of what people worry about have already happened and you can't do anything about it. Twelve percent of what the average person worries about is what others say about you, which most of the time is untrue. Finally, according to this survey, ten percent of worry deals with your health and worrying will only make that worse!

That leaves about eight percent of the things that are considered to be real problems… and worry will not do any good with these either! Why is it that we worry about a lot of things that are not going to happen or already have happened? It’s like the little lady said one time, “Don't tell me that worry doesn't do any good. Most of the things I worry about never happen.”

Let me share with you four ways you can win the war over worry:

Trust in the Lord

God wants to prove Himself to you. Let me ask you, “How do you know that the Lord is the joy of your life?” You don’t know, until He takes away your automobile or your health or your home or your family. When you say, “Jesus is all I need” make sure you can prove it. You’ll never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.

Do Good

One of the signs that you’re not trusting God is that you drop out of your usual activities. They get down. You say, “I lost my job!” Well, what are you doing about it? “Well, I’m just sitting around the house!” Well, quit it! Get out there and do something because you’re trusting God to provide!

Delight Yourself in the Lord

Do you want to have a life of joy? Then, put your faith in something, or should I say Someone, who cannot be touched – the Lord! God isn’t finished with you until you find your greatest joy in Him alone. Now take the sentence very slowly – God is going to keep giving you this test until you pass it. He doesn’t flunk anybody out. And so, if you don’t pass this time, He’ll just run you through again.

Commit Your Way to the Lord

“Commit” literally means “to roll.” It means to roll your burden on the Lord. Whatever that burden is, you are to give it to God. His shoulders are broad enough. Matthew 11:30 says, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Is someone critical of you today? Give it to Jesus. Has someone hurt you? Give it to Jesus. Are you unsure about your future? Give it to Jesus.

Rest In The Lord

This word “rest” means “to be silent.” We want our answers yesterday. And God is saying, “Hush! Rest in Me!” Friend, God isn’t interested in time. He’s interested in timing. He’s never in a hurry. And He’s never late. Waiting on the Lord is like waiting for the sun to rise. You can’t hurry it. And you can’t stop it.

Gaze

to put the sermon into application, I took a longer time and more efforts to gaze into the Word today. i was on Isaiah 52-53.
i biblegateway-ed it and read the message version as well.

One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him...
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost.
We've all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong,
on him, on him.

the magnitude of His love, we cant understand at all. God has done everything. so what else can i do, but to live my life in Him, to acknowledge his presence and power in me, to walk by faith, to live life on the edge.

i had alot of fun!

(last Thursday afternoon, 130pm, Cineleisure)
myself, Gwen, Yiyou, Jerel, Jiali and her korean neighbor went to watch Marley and me. Sniffs could be heard towards the end of the movie. Its quite the same feeling when i watched 10 promises to my dog. Dogs aside, it was pretty fun to know a new friend, to ask about her culture and stuffs. well, since i am going korea soon, it was exciting for me to learn some korean words too.

(Fast-forward to Sunday afternoon, 2pm, Meridien foodcourt)
i seriously think that my cg is crazy people. At our first agenda- Metamorphosis, we digressed 5 times in the first 10 mins while Dennis was talking.
About an hour into the meeting, Shirls, Shar & Raph went off to get desserts, the rest started to play "Dai Di" with cards and Gideon started to mimic the singing of Fantasia (american idol). i had goosebumps all over me and had to run off from the table to find the sane people at the desserts stall. towards the end of the meeting, we were practically chanting "left4dead left4dead"....
team A: dennis, gideon, dewen, daniel
team B: shirls, shar, shuz, raph
(we "o-ah-pei-ah-swom" for the groupings)
all i can say is, i wanna train more mans! *hmpf* :D

Thanks Roy for the surprise gift! :) i am watching it soon! right after i post this entry! :) *hugs*

arghh

why must it be on 22- 23may.... sobs....

Music | Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy

Arnie Roth with Singapore Festival Orchestra/ Victoria Chorale/ The Vocal Consort (USA/Singapore)

Keep Celebrating!

last sat we kicked start the first lesson on Spiritual Habits in service. i always know that God's timing is the super best timing in my life, for whatever things that happened in it. i know its God's Word speaking to me again about rejoicing in Him, in all circumstances. i am still currently on a lookout for my second job, everyday is a fresh day to pray and thank God about the situation i am in. something that struck me in the sermon was: If we don't rejoice today, we won't rejoice at all. i was very challenged to do that- rejoicing everyday, from now onwards! talking about this, Wyn and I made a pact to encourage and pray for each other in this, cause she is also on a job search. God is waiting for us- our grateful hearts, to thank Him in advance.

my thanks to God for...
many of our friends who asked me about our wedding preps and offered help. thanks thanks! so far, God's been really good. We are on track in the wedding planning, we just booked our honeymoon tour yesterday at the Natas fair. we are going to eat some kimchi soon.. :p Funnily, sometimes, I don't quite like the planner side of me. there was one night last week when i was on bed, about to sleep, i suddenly thought about the wedding. all at once, all the tiny details rushed into my mind, making me both excited and nervous, i got up after much turning and tossing in bed to switch on my laptop and continued with the wedding planning for another 1 hour plus! @_@ hehe. Another blessing from God came when this morning Roy's colleague kindly gave us the one and only copy of our honeymoon package tour itinerary which she took at the fair yesterday too (coincidentally). We accidentally threw away all the brochures yesterday and realised we need the information for our package tour.

Thanks God for the interview call from Mcys last Tuesday too! the interview went well and i'm praying to be shortlisted for the 2nd round of interview soon! :) thanks for praying for me.

I appreciate the time spent with Shirls last Monday morning, watching the Oscars award together. its always nice to spend unrushed time chatting away.

some things i want to thank God in advance this week...
Our Dance troop! want to thank God for their hardwork, giving their 101% in all they do. very thankful for Jiali. recently, we had a funny convo which i liken her to be Shikamaru, a Naruto character. hehe. Jiali is someone who is committed to what she do, her school work, her ministry. Its my joy to be in Minops with her.
Royston, for his patience and understanding when i am cranky and notty. this week, we will continue with the wedding invites and also some other details in the wedding program. i want to pray with him for his family too, we want to sow seeds of understanding in relating with our parents more.
2nd round of interview with Mcys! yahooooo!!! :D
SPT gang! we're going to meet this weekend and there are more things to discuss, more exciting stuffs coming up :) team, lets continue to dream together as a team and be committed to the Cause for which we are called.

Have a blast today! :)

Freedom in the worship ministry

ripped this off Shirls' blog. its a very reminder for me and a good read for all of us, serving in the ministries. enjoy it :)

Guest Blog: Wade Joye, Service Programming Director

One of the frustrations I tend to hear from other worship leaders or creative directors is that their lead pastor does not give them the freedom to drive the creative elements of the Sunday worship experience. What most fail to recognize is that they have not earned that freedom.

At Elevation, we have a very unique situation. Pastor Steven used to be a worship leader. He loves the creative process and is extremely good at it. However, he has given us tremendous freedom to take his vision for a series and program around that. Because he trusts us, he is able to focus on preaching the word of God rather than carrying the weight of the other aspects of the service.

Here are a few ways you can gain that freedom with your lead pastor as a worship leader or creative director.

• Embrace and understand your pastor’s vision for the worship experience: If your pastor’s heart is to have a high energy worship set, and you always bring set lists filled with slow songs that put people to sleep, your pastor will feel compelled to begin picking out songs for you.
• Present your series ideas as far in advance as possible: This will let your pastor know that you are being proactive and putting significant thought into each set, rather than waiting until the last minute and picking your old favorites. Any great creative element takes time to really plan well and execute, so the last minute doesn’t produce a world result.
• Don’t grunt when you have to make last minute changes: There will be times when your pastor feels led to change their sermon at the last minute, and the element you were so excited about just doesn’t work now. Or he feels that a certain song (that you may not like) really sets up his message well. When that happens, don’t act like the world is ending. Go with the flow and make it happen. Trust that God is leading them and submit to authority. Doing this joyfully goes a long way.
• Take chances: If you play it safe, your pastor will feel the need to push the envelope. Our services and the worship of our God should be remarkable, and if your programming falls into a rut and becomes boring, your pastor will feel the need to step in. Push the envelope, take chances and get reigned back in if needed.

the rainbow connection

A rainbow always remind me of God's promises and goodness in my life. seeing one always make me feel happy and re-affirm the God's presence. He is around and He is everywhere.

hung out with Jerel and Jason for lunch yesterday. its been a long time since i last caught up with Jerel too... miss the west days. its also to thank God for the feb ess too. throughout the process of preparing the services, we learnt many valuable lessons and we praised God for that :) many things are changing, yet one thing remains constant- God's presence and help.




After a full lunch, i headed up to amk to meet with my family. i am never a big fan of jewellery, yet, i have to choose a gift set for my wedding. after looking through a few sets, everything seems to look the same. haha! this is daddy and me. we were bored after i made my selection choice and the 3 ladies are looking at the jewellery... no wonder, "...a diamond is a woman's best friend..."

from left: ku ma, ah yi, aunt jane

Miss L&M

last week, we celebrated Livi's birthday. the chocolate cake that germs bought is simply.... AWESOME! Thanks germs! its a great time of catch up too, with evelyn in town too!
something random, we were chatting and commented of how love can make you radiant and flourish with a glow... just look at yanyan! :P
ooh! two strangers kinda crashed our photo! how fun! :) something random again, ooo.... i like germs' top! nice nice~

DEYI

Do you know that i was from Deyi Secondary? :p
recently i found back several of my secondary school friends through facebook. fun memories....
Can you spot me? ;p
these two pictures were taken in my sec 4 days. the above picture was my class kakis. maybe it would be fun to have a reunion gathering after so many years... :)

25 and above club

A few of us went for a steamboat buffet dinner at Bugis just now. It was a fun time together, makaning and chatting. Its 15 bucks per pax and it offered free flow of drinks.

We simply love Gideon! Its fun to be around him.

After the dinner, we were so full and we decided to try a game at Left4Dead. yahoo! Here's a shot while Dennis was queuing up to get PC seats.

Sharlene is all in black - black top, black pants plus her new pair of black heels! Hot! *whistle*

Daniel is flying to Taiwan for a family holiday this weekend. Soon, he will be going to Germany for his overseas program.

Gideon demo-ing to be the Hunter, Dennis tried to mimic the Smoker.

A big THANK YOU to the FALL hiphop drama team!!! :)
from left: Joel, Jian Hao, Jason & Joanne. (ooo.. the 4 Js) They worked really hard in putting the drama together, many many hours of rehearsals, memorising their lines, improving their acting skills, etc.
It was Jason's first time coming up with the story plot and directing the drama. It was also Joel's and Jian Hao's first time taking on acting on stage. you guys served with such excellent and joyful spirit.
Also, big big THANK YOU to Dennis and Yushan who came in to help the actors too ^^
Who can forget about the shimmering/ all-glitter lit up stage too! Brillant idea of the Decor team for piecing together many CDs for the stage backdrop :D

After a busy day, i headed down to Pasir Ris to meet up with Roy to do our grocery shopping for our Vday dinner. We are quite noob at cooking but decided to go with that option as its cheaper and fun too. We did pan-fried salmon & some steamed broccoli and carrots plus clam chowder soup. We watched an old film on dvd "Interview with a Vampire" starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. hehe. (Pitt is soo young and dashing!!)
It was a very simple celebration for us, but its meaningful because we are also preparing for our big day too. i love how Roy leads our relationship by his love for God's Word. a short abstract from the pink card he gave: "...i pray that God will help me to understand more and more about the highest standard of His love described in 1 Corinthians 13 and apply it to our relationship..." it just reminds me of the 3 Ps Shirls said in her recent blog entry...

Priest, Protector, Provider

HP colleagues

I got to know Kristin and Henry a little bit more when we were tasked to plan the Christmas party last year. Its really fun knowing them as we are all fresh graduates from Uni and HP is our first job. These photos were taken at my farewell lunch, both of them were nice to treat me to Sakae. Keep in touch, guys! :)

a step closer to cosplay dream

come come paradise! is kakashi's only and favorite novel.

Livi san from Konoha village.

Shirls Yagami

heartbeat

"Love is the root of missions; sacrifice is the fruit of missions."
Roderick Davis

Its February!

February is soon here, after the cny festive season and i almost forgot about my blog! *gasps* the above picture was taken with Roy's niece, Tanya, a sweet little girl. we hung out together on day 1 afternoon when i went over to Roy's late grandma place to pai nian.


This is Rendy! Another niece of Roy. (at his age, he has a few nieces and nephews le...hoho!) we took with Rendy's poloroid camera.


Last Monday, a few of us had dinner with Joanne who is leaving for her degree studies in Perth tomorrow morning. i am very surprised and blessed by her wedding gift for us! she couldn't join in the wedding celebration coming May, yet she thoughtfully bought us a gift. Thank you, Joanne! i'll be praying for you in your next venture over at Perth.

spelling Grace

from nursery school onward we are taught to succeed in the world of ungrace. the early bird gets the worm. no pain, no gain. there is no such thing as a free lunch. demand your rights. get what you pay for. i know these rules well because i live in them. i work for what i earn; i like to win; i insist on my rights. i want people to to get what they deserve - nothing more, nothing less.
yet if i care to listen, i hear a loud whisper from the gospel that i did not get what i deserved. i deserve punishment and got forgiveness. i deserve wrath and got love. i deserved debtor's prison and got instead a clean credit history. i deserved stern lectures and crawl-on-your-knees repentance; i got a banquet- spread for me...

forgiveness is not the kind of thing you count on an abacus.
God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.

"What's so amazing about Grace" by Philip Yancey.