Time present and time past
are both perhaps present in time future.
And time future contained in time past.

Hard to swallow?

Probably.

Read on, you will understand if you concentrate hard enough.

Last Tuesday night was my last night of Additional Mathematics tuition class. It will probably be my last Add Maths class ever in my life because I know my future will have nothing to do with that haha. Basic maths is good enough for me. Earlier this year I was just fretting over the numerous Add Maths class that I will be attending throughout the year, I dread that subject yet I have to study for study’s sake. And time flies, I have now finished my Add Maths tuition *claps!

Earlier in the year I had a hard time counting down the number of days to SPM but now it is just about 172, 800 seconds away! For those who realized this they must be rather busy dating their books and trying hard to swallow every information. Time is short.

How you spend your time now will decide your every tomorrows.

After my SPM I will be going to college and moving on to my next phase in life. I will have to be more independent and responsible for the decisions I make. Each step determines my next step. Like a game of chess, one wrong move will prove fatal.

The days are coming to an end soon. Not much time left, Jesus tells his disciples, “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work.” (John 9:4)

What then are you doing with your time?

Nothing is ours, but time.

Are you spending too much time playing computer games? Blogging? Football? Shopping? Doing everything under the sun except what is of significance and value?

Warns the famous 16th century quote:
Time and tide wait for no man.

Time present and time past
are both perhaps present in time future.
And time future contained in time past.

Use every tick of the clock wisely,
Zlwin Chew

Monday is SPM, Pray for all the Form Fivers. Thank you =)

SPM COUNTDOWN!!!

Relax la...

Chill ya know...

It will come and go like the lightning.

6 MORE DAYS TO SPM!!!

The countdown begins! All Form Five students are busy preparing for their biggest exam this year. Appointments are being cancelled, movie dates are postponed, outings are being cancelled, and shopping spree has to be cancelled. No more talking on the phone for an hour, no more playing computer games, no more MSN-ing, no more 24/7 SMS-ing with friends, and no more CSI and Desperate Housewives.

NO MORE BLOGGING!!!

Fortunately and unfortunately I (Pinko) will still be blogging =)

As the SPM examinations draw nearer and nearer, everyone is busy preparing and getting ready. Busy doing a lot of revision and reading and memorizing. Workbooks after workbooks are being flipped and flipped over and over again. Many (including me) are burning the midnight oil with the help of Nescafe 3 in 1, I am no fan of coffee but it helps me to stay awake.

Everyone is preparing to face their big day...

Isn’t it good and helpful to know when the exams are? You are given a dateline for an assignment and you can then arrange your time to play and work so that your assignment will be done in time.

What if I give you an important assignment to do but I did not tell you the date you have to pass it up, all I said was just, “I will come and collect any time.” What would you do?

Wouldn’t you get started on your assignment and try to finish it as soon as possible because I might collect it the very next day? Or would you leave it undone and go catch a movie or two with your buddies?

How important is it to you?

If a task is given to you which you find not very important or beneficial, would you work hard to complete it? Most probably you won’t. So again, how important is it to you?

Jesus gave a parable in Luke 12:35-48. He talks of servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding feast. The master will be happy and delighted with those servants who are still awake when he returns home, be it midnight or long after midnight when everyone are asleep.
Another parable was about thief. If the owner of a house knew hat time the thief would come he would certainly be awake and be ready to prevent the thief from breaking in. It is the same with Jesus; we do not know when Jesus would come back. Therefore, we must always be watchful.

The task is at hand. The mandate has already been given. Now it is up to you. Will Jesus come one day and find you working hard or will he find you enjoying yourselves, eating, drinking and being merry?

How important is it to you?

If the SPM examinations are very important to you, you will certainly work hard so that you will do well. If the task that is given to you by the Almighty God is important, will you do the same?

How important is it to you?

A mandate given by God should be the top priority in your life. If you do not see the importance of it, you will go on doing what you have been doing for many years and whatever you have been doing goes away in VAIN.

The countdown begins. We do not know the time or day Jesus will come back or we taken up to heaven. Work while it is still day.

How important is it to you?

If you don’t see the importance, you don’t see the need.
If you don’t see the need, you don’t see the reason of the mandate.
If you don’t see the reason of the mandate, you don’t see the world perishing.

The Mandate; The Great Commission:

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

How important is it to you?

Does it matter anyway?

Graduation Day

Graduation Day

5 years have flown by since I first stepped foot into SMK Dato’ Hamzah. I came in an unlearned, inexperienced, unappreciative student and now I step out a well-learned, well-equipped and thankful student. I have seen many things these 5 years in school. I have been into hot soup and out of it many times. I have hated teachers, scolded them, stood up for my rights (and wrongs) and cried in front of one teacher while talking to her about my troubles. There were times I hated school and there were times I love school and now there will come a time where I will miss school.

After all, we all have to move on. Time waits for no man (and woman). Yesterday was my school’s Graduation Day celebration for all the Form 5 and 6 students. Everyone was busy flashing away... with their cameras I mean. Pictures of each other is the only thing they will own once all else fades away. When the friendship ends and communications stop, the pictures will be memories. I believe in the magic of pictures, it has the powerful ability to stop time amidst the ever-moving hand of the clock.

I will miss all my 5 Science 1 classmates. I will miss the wonderful time we had together laughing and singing in class and constantly irritating each other as well as the teachers. I will miss all our crazy antics and stupid behaviors. I will miss all those times when I went to school and slept the whole day in class. I will miss you all dearly. Nonetheless I am glad schooling days are over and I get to move on in life.

Wanna Dice Your Life? Throw'em.

A die (singular. Dice: plural) is a very unique object. It has six faces with black dots numbering from 1 to 6. It is used in almost every kind of board games and gambling games. A small cube but yet no one has control over it.

Picture the classic game of Snake and Ladders in your mind right now.

In a board game of Snake and Ladders each player can only move his piece with the dice. A player picks up two dice in his hand and shakes it, says a little “prayer” and throws them on the floor. Whatever happens next is controlled by the faces of the dice. If it shows 2+4 then your piece moves 6 steps forward. If you are fortunate you might land on a box with a ladder going upwards and so your piece jumps a few boxes upwards. If you are not fortunate enough your piece might land on a box with a ladder telling you to descend.

Nothing is certain.

The winner of the game is not determined by how the player plays the game or how he throws the dice. It is not even determined by the strategies he uses to play the game. In a game of Snake and Ladders there is NO STRATEGY at all. You are not in control of the game, neither is your friend.

The dice is in control, not you.

In our daily lives are we playing Snake and Ladders? Do we hold the dice in our hand and throw them, and after that, it’s que sara sara, whatever will be will be?

The funny thing about the Snake and Ladders board game is that I used to think that I was in control of the game. When I was young I like to play it with my friends and cousins. I thought that since I was the one who throws the dice and moves the piece I am in control. Only now I realize that the dice is, not me.

Who is in control of your life?

In the Snake and Ladder game nothing is certain. In life, nothing is certain either. You do not know what tomorrow brings. You do not know what will happen if you do this or that. You can only guess. You do not know where you will be in 10 years time. You do not know what the consequences of your everyday actions may be, you can only guess smartly.

If you play with the dice, nothing is certain except uncertainty.

Where then is God in your life? Where then is God in your everyday’s decisions? Where then is God in your plans? Where then is God?

Or do you dice all the time? You dice your decision making. You dice your future plans? Are you dicing your life?

Play with the dice long enough and you might just find yourself playing Snake and Ladders with the Serpent one day.

Got dice? God or dice?
Zlwin Chew

You too, can lead.

What is a leader? Is he someone who has a lot of followers? Is he someone who says “Go” and everyone goes?

A leader is a person who leads and to lead is to have influence over his or her “followers”. The prime minister is a leader, George Bush is a leader, Osama bin Laben is also a leader, Saddam Hussein was also a leader, your father is a leader and a drug addict is also a leader. In short – everyone is a leader, you too! Surprised?

A leader is someone who influences others to follow a cause. The drug dealer is a leader who influences drug addicts to buy drugs. Mohamed Gandhi was a leader who influenced the people of India to gain independence in a peaceful way. Here we see both extremes of a leader, one to influence for a bad cause and the other for a good cause.

What type of leader are you then?

The pharaoh of Egypt was a leader who oppressed the Israelites during the time of Moses. The pharaoh led his people to enslave the Israelites. And when the Israelites wanted to run away, he sent his army to try to stop them from crossing the Red Sea. After that we all know the story of how God drown the Egyptian army in the Red Sea.
On the other hand, Moses was a leader appointed by God to save the Israelites from slavery and bring them to the Promised Land. Moses, with the help of God, subdued all of Pharaoh’s attacks and managed to bring the Israelites out from slavery.

Both of them are leaders but both of them had a different cause and purpose.

What is mine then?

Jeremiah 1:4
...before you were born I set you apart...

Jeremiah’s generation was a stubborn generation. God sent prophets after prophets to tell the people of Judah to turn back to God but they refused. And for 40 years they had their backs on God. God was going to destroy the nation if they still refused to change but instead of changing, they tried to kill Jeremiah, who had been appointed since before birth to warn the people. Jeremiah’s God-given predictions came to pass, Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Babylonians and the people were taken captive nearing the end of Jeremiah’s life.

In the beginning of the book of Jeremiah, God had revealed His plans and purposes for Jeremiah’s life. Read the verse above once more. God told Jeremiah that even before he was born he has been set apart. To set apart means that God has made Jeremiah different and has given Jeremiah a God-made plan for his life.

A commission was given to Jeremiah even before he was born!

What if I told you that the same thing is happening to all of us Christians today? What if I told you that even before you were born you have been set apart to do something God wants you to do? Something that carries eternal values? Something that has a divine purpose?

Yes. Even before you were born, God has set you apart like Jeremiah. God has given each and everyone of you a commission. A commission is a mandate; a mandate is mandatory which simply means compulsory:

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

God has called you to be a leader!
God has set you apart to be a leader that is different from the world.
God has given you a commission.

God wants you to be a leader that leads people to God and God alone. The leaders of the secular world lead people towards his own selfish and self-centered purpose. Christian leaders in the commanding army of God lead people to God’s purpose! That is the difference between the two kinds of leaders – one of the world and one of God.

Which one are you?

People often ask me, “How do I become a leader?”
There are endless answers to that question. Is it not hard to be leader, everyone is a leader whether you realize or not. Everyone has influence over each other. What matters is what kind of influence you are giving. Are you influencing people to Jesus?

THIS SATURDAY, 3rd November, Youth Energy (YE) together with the Young Adult Fellowship (YAF) have organized a LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM for everyone. If you are interested in becoming a leader for God and wants to learn how to influence people to God, do come and join us.

Event: Leadership Training Program
Date: 3rd November (this Saturday)
Time: 9am to 5am
Fee: Free of Charge (it is for a good cause)

There will be break and interval in between so that you will not be too tired. Do make an attempt to come and I assure you that you will be blessed!

More than 20 youths from Petaling Jaya and Subang’s Grace Assembly Church have already confirmed to come. There are unlimited spaces for all of you. Those who are in Youth Energy are advisable to come! =)

Please confirm with me (Zlwin Chew) as soon as possible.
Call/SMS me at 016-6254350 or
Email me at zlwinchew@gmail.com

You too, can lead!
Zlwin Chew