YAF ANNIVERSARY 2008

The Young Adult Fellowship (YAF) celebrated their 3rd anniversary last Saturday at Uncle Herbert Ong's house. All three YAF (Klang, PJ and USJ) came together to celebrate this memorable event. For the history of YAF, go to Hwai Tah's Blog and read up.

At the celebration we had the honor of having our Senior Pastor, Pastor Henry to come and share his heart with us. Also with us was Pastor John Beh who also shared and encouraged the YAF.

The big box you see in the picture is the Time Capsule. YAF came up with the idea of the Time Capsule. It was basically a box where we put anything we want inside. It will only be opened on the 10th Anniversary which is 7 years from now. We wrote letters and put them inside, some of them brought their underwears haha. Joking =) I wrote two letters, one for myself and one for someone else. The placing of our stuff into the Time Capsule was very sentimental for me hehe. Didn't cry though =)

That's all. Enjoy the pictures. Go to http://www.zlwinchew.blogspot.com/ for the pictures! 137 in all! =)

The difference? I wasn't in this picture haha. I was behind the camera you see =)

Your official photographer! =)
Big thanks to Hwai Tah for lending me his new Nikon D60!!! Awesome camera!


One of the treasured shots that I took that night =) nice eh? It's not in Hawaii, it's in Commander Herbert's house.

Third Eye to Testify

I don’t know how I got the passion for photography but I think it started when I went to Hong Kong with my dad about 2 years back. I don’t really remember. I think may be in 2006 when I played guitar for Inter-School Rally and the worship team had a lunch at Sunway Pyramid after rally. All I remembered was I started to get hooked to my dad’s camera.

Since then I have been so into photography but still I don’t know terms such as ISO, Aperture, Exposure, etc. All I know is that I am quite good in having people pose in front of the camera. Like the Spiderman picture and a lot of the Clique 5ive’s outing pictures. Love’em all, especially Suba, she always come up with good suggestions for shots. I also love taking radical kind of picture. I bring my tripod almost everywhere I go. The recent radical shot was taken during Yun Ling’s farewell. A group of us just sat down in the middle of the busy Sunway Pyramid shopping mall and I set my timer to 10 seconds. People were staring at us wondering what are we doing, protest or something ah? Haha =)

I hope that you are aware that I am actually running a little photography business as a part time job. I don’t charge very expensive but I hope you will consider me. I will tag along in your outing with friends and just snap pictures for you guys. My photography blog is at www.zlwinchew.blogspot.com . Hope you check it out. And check out www.mayzhee.blogspot.com also. She hired me for a photo-shooting session, the picture on her blog header is the picture I took =) the one with her lying on the book.

I believe that we Christian photographers out there should be able to capture God’s glory and show it to the world. Incorporate Bible verses into your pictures and share it with the world. God created everything that is in the world and whatever He made is beautiful. That is why the camera can capture the awesome beauty of God’s creation – from the minute flea to the gigantic tree and huge forest to the vast sky and the beautiful sun. God’s creation and their beauty testify for the existence of the Almighty God. Use your skills in photography and make Him known through your lens, your third eye.

Um, that’s about all for today’s post.

College life is tiring =(

The following pictures have been taken long long time ago in front of my mirror. No Photoshop effects whatsoever in the pictures, it’s pure creativity and lighting and timing.

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The following two pictures are my favorite. They are considered my best shots and so far I have never come across any picture like that. I will have to remind you that they are not edited in any form, I only added my name there and also reduced the size. The shots were taken in a plane up in the sky.

Youth Church

YOUNG PEOPLE!!!

This is the place for you! Come and join the Youth Church Service and be encouraged by the Words of God. If you are serious about changing this world for Christ, start by coming for the Youth Service and be equipped spiritually.

GRACE YOUTH SUNDAY SERVICE

Venue: Second Hall, Grace Klang

Time: 10.31am

See you there! =)

*Picture taken by Adrian. Edited by Poh Leong.

Radical Jesus... A Continuation.

In my previous post, RADICAL JESUS, I shared with you guys on how Jesus came and was on the side of no man except God. During the time of Jesus, the five political parties were among the most prominent and for a normal person; we would carefully watch our mouth so as not to hurt any group. We will normally be on the fence and siding for every political group so to keep our life safe. But Jesus was radical, he came and he spoke against every political party and their different beliefs. He went against the Zealots, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes and the Herodians. He was for no one except God and God alone. That’s radical!

Today, I am going to share about the following verses,

Matthew 5:38-42
You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

One may read in dismay thinking, “Does Jesus want us Christians to be weak and powerless?” I do not blame the person who says this. I once thought that it was rather ridiculous to do what Jesus told us to do. How could I let someone slap me on my right cheek and give him my left cheek to slap as well? Ridiculous! How can I be like a dog and carry my friend’s bag for a mile and I have to add another mile to it? What?! And if someone sues me for something, I have to give him more?! Huh?! This doesn’t make sense!

But if you are of the Kingdom of God, you will understand the simple message of Jesus in this Scripture (Jesus’ message was never meant to be hard to understand, it is either black or white, not grey). Read carefully the next paragraph and grasp it with a discerning spirit.

Of common sense, we would definitely go for appropriate revenge (an eye for an eye), but Jesus calls us to do the perfect opposite: reconciliation. Reconciliation is a new and radical way to approach injustice by a nonviolent resistance and active peacemaking. You may think of it like this:

1.
If a person strikes you on your right cheek, they have given you a backhand slap. During the time of Jesus, the Romans were the ones in power and the Jews were the ones under oppression. It would be normal for a Roman soldier to slap a Jew in those days. If you were to respond by slapping him back, that would reduce you to the same violent level as your oppressor. You would be just like him. If you were to walk away and leave him, this will make you seem weak, powerless and coward. This gives your oppressor the victory. The third choice is to turn your other cheek and let him have that too. Now if your oppressor were to hit you on your left cheek, he will most likely use the palm of his hand. This degrades him even more to the violent level. By doing this, you will have shocked him and shown yourself not weak, powerless or violent but rather strong, courageous and dignified. You have indirectly told him how violent he is. Now you are the victor and the stronger person. You have defeated him in a non-violent way.

2.
The rich people during the time of Jesus always oppressed the poor. A rich landowner would normally take a peasant to court if he has not enough money to pay his debt or tax. If you were take to court by the rich landowner and the landowner sues you for your garment, Jesus tells us to strip give the landowner our underwear as well! Your “generosity” makes you look defenseless and exposed. The other way round, your situation actually exposes the naked greed of your oppressor, making him look like a heartless person filled and clothed with greed. Again, by being radical you have defeated your oppressor the Kingdom way.

3.
If someone like a Roman soldier who forces you to carry his heavy backpack for a mile, you carry it another mile. By your willingness to carry it an extra mile, you have shown yourself to be a generous human being, strong, powerful, self-controlled and dignified. You have told him, “I am not dominated. I have free will.” Although the first mile may be forced, the second mile is done out of your gift from God – free will.

These do not necessary show you the exact rules you must follow if you face this kind of situation. Rather, they are the examples of the active, creative and transforming ways of the Kingdom of God. Jesus was radical in his speech and lifestyle and he calls us to be radicals as well.

We cannot afford to do as the world does; we need to be radical in order to make a change. Do you dare to be rad?

Atheism, Agnosticism and Humanism.

Many individuals nowadays who rejected the Christian claim have embraced other views. Most state that there is no God, contradictory to the Bible’s claim. Others state that even if there is a God, He is unknowable and unreachable. All these claims will not hold up under the simplest investigation.

There are currently 3 major beliefs or alternatives to Christianity. They are Atheism, Agnosticism and Humanism. Let us look and disprove each claims made by these three groups of people.

1. Atheism
Atheists claim that there is no God. The affirmation by the Atheist cannot be held dogmatically (a principle laid down by authority as being incontrovertible). This is because for any Atheist to make that statement with authority, he needs to be able to know the universe entirely and possess all knowledge. How can one who knows nothing about the universe and everything else claim and affirm that there is no God? If there is one person who possesses all knowledge about everything from ants to the universe, then by definition he would be God.

We can’t say that apple falls from the tree due to gravity unless we know what gravity is. You can’t say that there is no one living in the Sahara Desert until you see the whole desert and closely examine every square inch of it.

Therefore, we see that unless Atheists are all-knowing, they cannot make a dogmatic statement that God does not exist! He can only state that he is uncertain whether or not there is a God. And this view is called Agnosticism.

2. Agnosticism
An Agnostic is usually someone who is uncertain about the existence of God. Some Agnostics are aggressive in looking for the truth and for that we give applause. It is rather important that we seek to know the truth than to eat and receive whatever that has been put unto our plate. If you just accept whatever people claim is right, then you are nothing but a puppet. The fact that Agnostics are uncertain about the existence of God makes it logical that they should try examining the Bible. Therefore, Agnosticism is not grounds for rejecting Christianity but rather grounds for examining Christianity.

3. Humanism
Humanists are people who believe that men (and women) can solve all of his own problems. Today, Humanism is quite popular in our culture but the Humanist’s claim fall on two accounts.

First is that no human can set up true and right principles and standards of justice and values in the world without God. If one man says that killing is wrong but another man says that killing is right and both thinks that his view is right; then who will decide between them? Tell me, who?

Who would decide between the Nazis race and Jewish race in World War II? Both the Nazis and Jews had their own set of principalities and values and standards but who was right? Both sides claim to be right and thus who will decide between them?

Everything is all a matter of opinion if there is no existence of God! Because without God, everything can seem right in the eyes of man, and that includes murdering and raping! Think.

All three beliefs fall under simple examination.
The failure to consider each statements made here in this post is the failure to think and reason.

Jeremiah 29:13
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.