Listen to His voice calling out to you...

be a winner

Sunday, 30 September 2007

a statement that impacted me as i listened to today's sermon in church: no matter the result, as long as we follow God's instructions, we are not failures, we are winners.

this was exemplified by the life of Fanny Crosby, blind since 6 months old, but later became one of the most prolific hymnists in history. she was not bitter about her condition, as she wrote the following poem at 9 years of age:

Oh what a happy soul I am,

Although I cannot see;

I am resolved that in this world

Contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy,

That other people don't;

To weep and sigh because I'm blind,

I cannot, and I won't.

she later remarked, "It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me."

by the time Crosby passed away in 1915 at the age of 95, she had written more than 8000 hymns, and to this day, the vast majority of American hymnals contain her work. Some of her more well-known hymns include "Blessed Assurance", "To God Be the Glory", and "Safe in the Arms of Jesus".

the conclusion is that Fanny Crosby did not consider herself a loser, or choose to wallow in self-pity, but even in her condition she chose to praise God and lived a winner's life for Him. it's a great reminder for me to serve Him whatever the situations i'm going through now, for by choosing to do that, i'm already a winner! thank you God! =p

giving thanks at 22:34 :)

touching skit

Saturday, 29 September 2007

this is a video clip which my bro and michelle introduced to me. i cried when i watched it; i guess i'll always be amazed and touched by God's love for us. enjoy the video!

link: http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee73e63418003b47d7d5

giving thanks at 20:16 :)

matt's injury update

Wednesday, 26 September 2007

on sunday afternoon, jason, simon, michelle, RJ and i went to matt's place to see how he was doing. matt tore the anterior cruciate ligament on his left knee 3 weeks ago during a friendly soccer match, and after the MRI scan the doctor said that matt should go through an operation to replace and reconstruct the torn ligament, transplanting a tendon from another part of matt's body. thankfully, the operation last friday was a success, and matt is currently resting at home. at the end of this week, he will go for a review, to see how the recovery has been. i thank God for being with matt and giving him strength throughout the past few weeks, including the operation period last weekend.

this week is supposed to be my mid-sem break, but quite expectedly, it is becoming a week of work and in the end i find that i will not have much free time. however it is still a good break as i had the chance to rest and take a break from the hectic schedule of school work. hopefully i'll be able to settle all the stuff by the end of this week, be it for crusade, church, or school work. i pray for God to help me to make full use of my time and maximise my resources, and i also thank God that i can still have time to relax and enjoy. =)

giving thanks at 23:13 :)

new blog skin!

Wednesday, 19 September 2007

haha finally i have a new blog skin! rather than the traditional default 1. hopefully it's a good change. thanks bear for helping me with it! =) anyway it's finally week 6 of school! after this week there will be a 1-week break, it's such good timing. i can take the coming week to rest, to keep my mind off work (of course not too long), and to draw close to God and to seek Him. thank God!

have been having a bad toothache for the past week. my wisdom tooth is threatening to grow out and it hurts a lot haha. by experiencing and enduring the pain, it led me to think of how much more pain Jesus must have felt as He was tortured and mocked as He made His way to Calvary. haha i guess even through seemingly bad times and situations we can still learn something about God and about ourselves. =)

giving thanks at 22:51 :)

A journey of Faith-stretching

Saturday, 8 September 2007

My 1st 4 weeks of school can be described as a roller-coaster ride. Probably i went through more ups and downs than i have ever gone through before for a long time. The reality of putting myself into so many things finally sank in, and i was quite overwhelmed by it. By my own strength i definitely cannot do it, so i have to keep reminding myself that it is by God's strength that i'm able to do what He has called me to do. Things will continue to keep coming in, but i guess i've found the balance between serving and drawing from the Source. As long as i keep the balance, nothing can faze me anymore! i really thank God for bringing me through and i know that He will continue to do so =)

Last weekend my family went to Johor Bahru for my cousin's wedding! It's so exciting, and i always look forward to seeing my extended family because we're such a close and unique family, bounded by God's love! i always thank God that i have such a big group of relatives who are Christian, and because of that i think we're different from other families. During our annual family gatherings we talk about how we are serving in church, we praise and worship together, and we talk about going on mission trips as a big family together! haha it's so exciting!

ok back to the point, the oldest Chow cousin was getting married, so everyone was invited to the wedding ceremony and the wedding dinner. Too bad we did not bring our camera along, have to wait for cousins to send the pics online. It was so touching to see Wincii and Kelvin during their wedding ceremony, i wonder who's next in line in our series of cousins? It was a refreshing and timely break from ministry and work, and i was able to relax my mind and just enjoy the day, even though it was tiring. i thank God for His perfect timing! =)

giving thanks at 22:27 :)

Match Report: Team TCC 7 SMFC 1

Wednesday, 5 September 2007

SMFC crumbled to a 7-1 defeat at the hands of Team TCC (Trinity Christian Church), on Sunday, at The Hiding Place. The match was overshadowed, however, by an injury to Matthew Yong, who twisted his knee in the 20th minute. He was immediately taken to the sidelines, and a substitution had to be made as it was ascertained that the player could not continue play.

Though the match was won at a canter, Team TCC was forced to defend during a number of occasions, and SMFC's effort paid off with a goal early in the second half, with midfielder Chaw Shing providing the assist for star striker Ilango to place the ball beyond the reach of the keeper. However by then the game was already out of sight for SMFC, as Team TCC dominated possession and proved to be too much for the inexperienced team to handle.

SMFC striker Ilango hailed the unity and spirit of the team, even though they lost 7-1. He commented that even though it was an immense loss, it was a show of the kind of never-say-die attitude and spirit of the team. "If not for that, we would not have been able to get the goal."

After scanning, results confirmed that defender Matthew Yong had sustained a torn knee ligament injury, and will likely be out of action for a couple of months.

giving thanks at 15:26 :)