While looking for past youth photos to feast my eyes on (yes, i know i should be mugging hard), I chanced upon this Bible Brain Busters book which someone gave my brother awhile back. It's a good youth resource, because the way it puts forth Bible trivia is very interesting. My brother and I spent some time testing each other and had an incredible amount of fun.

Here's one example from just one of the many categories:

Identify the mystery person.
Heritage: My dad's name was Amoz
Occupation: A prophet
Favourite pasttime: Writing biographies of kings (I wrote two)
Favourite outfit: A mourner's coat
Memorable phrases I've coined: Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace
Personal philosophy: You don't always see the fruits of your labour, but you work anyway.
Biggest embarrassment: Naming my son. Maher-shalal-hash-baz.

Interesting eh?

reading week.

i dont' really know how to describe what was going on over the past two days. in between the mugging and hanging out with the youths was this sense of helpless pleading for God's deliverance for someone who has been so instrumental in my life this year.

on one hand, it was a struggle to surrender the outcome and acknowledge God's sovereignty. on the other, His peace did flow like a river and it transcended all understanding. though there still lingers some uncertainty, i really thank God for the successful op today.

indeed, those who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

Like a river glorious, is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious, in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth, fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth, deeper all the way.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Every joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully all for us to do.
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.


Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest
Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

"If God wants you to trust Him, He puts you in a place of difficulty. If He wants you to trust Him greatly, He puts you in a place of impossibility. For when a thing is impossible, then we who are so prone to move things by the force of our own being can say, 'Lord, it has to be you. I am utterly, absolutely nothing.' "
-Donald Gray Barnhouse

Heh, I read this quote in one of my books today.

"On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
the emblem of suffering and shame;
and I love that old cross where the dearest and best
for a world of lost sinners was slain.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
has a wondrous attraction for me;
for the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
to bear it to dark Calvary.

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
a wondrous beauty I see,
for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
to pardon and sanctify me.

To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then He'll call me some day to my home far away,
where His glory forever I'll share."

haha, i do feel like this is where i am now.

Brokenness
Total obedience
Building intentional relationships
The centrality of the Word
Total dependence on God

These themes have been running through my mind all weekend.

I don't really know how to link this, but this article was a good reminder for me to put Jesus first and to remember that my passion for whatever I do has to come from Jesus alone.

http://www.jesusinside.pe.kr/jesus-first.htm

It'll be a good reminder for all who are serving actively. :) Sorry for the lack of HTML knowledge.

"Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise Him.
Praise the Lord with the harp;
make music to Him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to Him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.
For the Word of the Lord is right and true;
He is faithful in all He does.
The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of His unfailing love.
By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made,
their starry host by the breath of His mouth.
He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
He puts the deep into storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the people of the world revere Him.
For He spoke, and it came to be;
He commanded, and it stood firm.
The Lord foils the plans of the nations;
He thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,
the purposes of His heart through all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people He chose for His inheritance.
From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind;
from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth-
He who forms the hearts of all,
who considers everything they do.
No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him,
on those whose hope is in His unfailing love,
to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
We wait in hope for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy Name.
May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord,
even as we put our trust in You."
-Psalm 33

i wish i could put into words what i am feeling now, or even put up songs to depict what i'm thinking.
but i can't, don't think it's very appropriate.

all i can do is trust and depend on God.

Psalms 33:18-22

In the middle of a very trying week, this is all I can say:

"Into Your hand, I commit again
With all I am, for You Lord.
You hold my world, in the palm of Your hand
And I am Yours, forever.

Jesus I believe in You, Jesus I belong to You
You're the reason that I live, the reason that I sing
With all I am.

I'll walk with You, wherever You go
With tears and joy, I'll trust in You
And I will live in all of Your ways
And Your promises, forever."


I'm just going to trust You.

some things just need to be laughed about instead of being brooded over. heh

i came out of dispensing lab test today upset with myself for not managing my time in there properly and brooding over my unfinished and half-baked prescription form. was whining away to sarah on the way to the bus stop.

but after awhile, i realised that no use crying over spilt milk and to focus on the hilarious parts of dispensing lab would make my perspective a tad bit more light-hearted. heh heh. like one of the lecturers exclaiming "why you keep on calling me? your pharmacy no business ah? very free issit?" and other funny things like all of us scrambling for the trolley at 5pm, and the things peiru did which she is telling me about now.

one day we will all sit and reminisce, look back on these things and laugh them off.

presenting........... the 85s!!!

well, not all of us. but with nick. :)

Offer yourselves completely to God

'"So," Paul says "take your body; take all the tasks that you have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the office, the factory, the shipyard, the mine; and offer all that as an act of worship to God..."

True worship is the offering to God of one's body and all that one does every day with it. Real worship is not the offering to God of a liturgy, however noble, and a ritual, however magnificent. Real worship is the offering of everyday life to Him'
- The New Daily Study Bible; The Letter to the Romans, William Barclay



"The point is this: Everything on earth (except sin) can be done as an act of worship to God. Everything we do is worship when we do it for Him, displaying His face as we go.
The question is not what you do, it's who you do it for.
Your calling is to turn your place in life into a place of true worship.
To do whatever you do in a way that will reflect God's heart to those around you.
It's to worship... as you live your life."
- The Air I Breathe, Louie Giglio


All this is taken from "The Worshipping Artist" by Rory Noland

"Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!
Bowing before Him, His glory proclaim;
With gold of obedience and incense of lowliness
Kneel and adore Him; the Lord is His Name.

Fear not to enter His presence in poverty
Bearing no gifts to present as your own
Bring truth in its beauty and love in its purity
These are the offerings to lay at His throne."

"Oh,what I would do
To have the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And He's holding out His hand

But the waves are calling out my name
and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win,
you'll never win."

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!"
and the voice of truth says "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth"
-Voice of Truth, Casting Crowns

'Because this trait is so interdependent on created man, a godly woman must "find a man who commands her respect and wins her love; to please, be beautiful for, desired and cherished by such a man."'

Haha, this is only two lines out of the whole article. To read the rest of it, go to boundless and look for "Becoming a godly woman".

now i feel terribly silly. oh well.

"In His time, In His time
He makes all things beautiful in His time
Lord please show me every day
As You're teaching me Your way
That You do just what You say
In Your time

In Your time, in Your time
You make all things beautiful in Your time
Lord my life to You I bring
May each song I have to sing
Be to You a lovely thing
In Your time."

He has and will continue to make everything beautiful in His time. :)