I Have Learned... But Have We Really?

I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what... you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

- Siew Wei Chaw

I remembered the first time I went to the youth church gathering in 2003. I was new there and didn't know anyone - not a single soul. I felt like stepping into new territories and I held up my guard. I was lonely and felt left out.

Then came a young boy, he greeted me and talked with me. And in no time, we were seated together side by side in the hall filled with strangers. He wasn't a stranger there, he knew people there and people there knew him. And even so, he came and reached out to me.

That forever changed my life.

I felt cared, I felt important, I felt that my presence was felt.

He became my close friend until today and it was because of his act of kindness, I am who I am today. If it wasn't for him, I think I would not attend church services again because my first experience there was filled with loneliness.

Thank you, Poh Leong.

The quoted words from Siew Wei rings true in our life. We should not let each day pass without reaching out and touching someone. There are many souls out there which needs healing and lots of it. There are people out there who are confused and let down. There are people who need compassion more than judgment.

What is life?

I have discovered that life is not merely about me, myself and I.

Father, Father, help us. Send some guidance from above. These people got me, got me questioning, "Where is the LOVE?"

- Black Eyed Peas.

A new commandment I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.

- Jesus Christ (John 13:34-35)

The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

- Paul, (Galatians 5:14)

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I Have Become All Things...

Woo hoo!

So glad to meet rads!

Last night I had a chat with Darren Teh of Army of Three and An Honest Mistake band. If you have heard of Army of Three (AoT), you will know what kind of music they play. They play heavy metal music and guess what? Their lyrics are all about God! Awesome. When I first attended one of their gigs, I was like, "What? How can Christians play such music and call it Christian music???" I shunned away from AoT that time. Then I began to realize that they were doing it not for us who are into country music, they are doing it to target those people who are into such heavy metal sounds. And last night Darren shared a little with me about what AoT does. It was amazing.

Another radical that I have the privilege to be friend with is Leonard Chua from City Harvest church. He is managing a club (yes, a club) at Mont Kiara, and it goes by the name Envy Club (I wonder why haha.) He is one nice guy and is passionate about what he is doing. He parties till late at night and always manage to wake up early to attend church service. He knows almost all the big guys in the entertainment industry and he tells me, "We have to be the salt." I know God is opening doors for him to minister to those people he works with.

As for me, I am doing what I can and what I need to do. With magic, I pray God will open doors for me to go to places others cannot follow and others will not follow. Above all else, God is the main focus of what I am doing and will be doing. Pray with me.

I am going off to Port Dickson now for a camp. Will be doing a Magic Night on the second night of camp. Was told not to share the Gospel. But guess what? I am in chains for Christ, so there is no way I am not sharing the Truth! =) I will be performing my usual magic routine but will subtly add Gospel elements inside. And at the end, give 'em a solid one to think and swallow =)

Magic.

1 Corinthians 9:19 - 24

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews, I become like a Jew, to win the Jews. To the weak I become the weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all things for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

Be Radical in The Things You Do.

=)

Moving Into Different Territories

This year has been a rather crazy year for me. I did not expect myself to be where I am today. 9 months went pass me and many things changed.

I am moving into different territories.

I am aware that there are people out there who are talking about me and against what I am doing. They are starting to point fingers at me and the people I work with. Well, go on, guys. I don't care. Someone has to do it right?

If no one will, no one will.

God is still my main focus and the center of my life. It has been a challenging 9 months. Trying hard to be on track and to be a lighthouse in the church and outside the church. I am starting to see the other side of the world which I have only heard of before. I am starting to feel the pressure of the challenges out there. Everyone wants to be different and to make a change. But who really wants to do it? You? Me?

God is interested in sending us out like sending the sheep to a pack of wolves. But who would stay alive and who would become sheepish-wolves?

Be strong and courageous.

To be strong and courageous you need to be in a position where your strength can be tested and your courage can be shown. You can't possibly stay at your comfort zone and yell out, "Behold, I am one who is strong and courageous. Look at me!" God told his people to be strong and courageous, then he sent them out to face the enemies and God was always by their side.

I have a great passion to serve the young people and help them to rise up to their own individual calling in their life. I still have that passion and it is ever growing.

"Who shall I send?"

"Here I am, send me."

=)

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God Is Dead. And We Have Killed Him.

"God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?"

- Friedrich Nietzsche

He was a 19th century philosopher who boldly told the world that, "God is dead." However what he meant wasn't literally the death of God. In other words, he meant to say that the modern world no longer needed God.

How true can this be?

Everyone proclaims that they are self-made men and they are entirely in control of their lives and everything that happens to them. No one wants to report to a higher authority. The need for a Superior Being to watch over man seems to them a poetry.

Yes, God is dead. And we have killed him.

We killed him with our selfish desires and dreams. We killed him with our need to satisfy the human body. We killed him when we stood up and supported communism. We killed him when we decided that forgiveness is pure crap. We killed him when we thought that we are self-sufficient and self-sustaining. We killed him when we took full control of our own lives, not recognizing a higher power.

We killed God in so many ways.

The modern man now sees that each person has the power to do whatever he wants because he can. With that, there is no need for a God. Why the need for a God when I can study and get a job and work hard and get rich and enjoy life? Why the need for a Being who is unseen when we can enjoy all the things we can see on earth?

If these are your thoughts, then my prayers are for you.

God is Not Dead.

He lives evermore. He lives everlasting in the hearts of men and women and children who believes and acknowledges Him.

God is so big he holds the universe in his hands. Yet so small to live in our hearts.

Hard to comprehend?

The modern world thinks that God is so dead. They are wrong. A remnant of faithful soldiers are rising up. A revival is going to sweep over the nations and then the Truth will be known to all.

God is Not Dead. And so are His soldiers.

But these are only my words. Who will stand with me to prove my words? Will you?

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Made For Praise

When God made humans, he knew what to give us. One of the desires God gave to us humans is the desire to worship. We have a heart of praise and worship. We long to praise something and worship something. God gave us this desire to bow down, to extol, to lift up on high, to praise, to shout and to honor and glorify.

He also knew our temptation to squander our praises on lesser things.

That is the reason God gave us the first commandment in the Ten Commandments:

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." (Exodus 20:2-5)

There wouldn't be a need for such a command if we were not prone to praise and worship. But God knew what humans were capable of. He knew if there weren't such a command, his people will look elsewhere to give their praises and worship to. God knew we would direct our praises to objects, to people, to idols and to other gods.

We roar for sports idols, wait in line to get autographs of celebrities and stars, watch red carpets and follow up on our favorite singer and actor, we pay tons of money to fly to another country to watch our favorite band performing, we look at stars in amazement and praise the beauty of the mountains and hills. We stand in awe at extraordinary mortals just like us, only "better." We rise to our feet in concerts and strain to catch a glimpse of performers on stage who stand no closer than we are to the One who made all of us.

And God knew that we would squander our praises and worships on lesser things.

So God gave us the one eternal thing that exists that can never be praise long or loudly enough, that can never get all the glory it deserves: He gave himself.

Mary moved forward to Jesus' feet and broke a jar of costly perfume. In full sight of all present, she poured the expensive and fragrant perfume over the feet of Jesus in a gesture of love, honor and worship. The whole room went silent.

As the rich fragrant filled the whole room, she knelt before the King of Kings and wiped the perfume into his feet with her hair. What she did was crazy. It was extravagant and considered an awful interruption. It may be intimate and perhaps even embarrassing to others in the room.

The object of Mary's affection had summoned her worship. She could no longer hold it anymore. She took the most valuable possession she had and gave it as a love offering to Jesus. She found no other means to show how in love she was with Jesus. Breaking the expensive jar of perfume that she probably spent her whole life saving on for Jesus was the only way she could think of to worship.

She was made for praise, and she found the One who was worthy to receive it.

Have you?

Click here for a beautiful song based on the story above - The Alabaster Jar.

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