Elevate10 Camp

Photo taken from facebook.com/xyzyouth#!/xyzyouth.
Photo edited with Picnik.

Coming back from Elevate10 Camp, it's SO GOOD to know that many of the youths are reawakening to the state of relationship they are in with God. I really thank God for this year's camp cos it's just... different. There were many understandings that were redefined.

Camp was not about hype anymore. Ahh! So thankful to God that this year's message was authentic, real and brutally honest. Life in Christ is more than good music, fun, good friends - though those are not entirely excluded. But they are definitely not the main focus of life in Christ.

But here is what life in Christ is: Apostle Paul puts it plainly in Phillipians, for him "to live is Christ and to die is gain". I cannot say that I fully understand these deep words yet, but I'm getting there (hopefully by His grace!), because I do not want to miss out on the life of the eternity.

James 4:14
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Life is like vapor. No... life is equivalent to vapor! I think this session spoke most to me. How short life really is. What am I doing with this life? And what is life really about?

Am I striving to please men and seek their approval in order to get my way to the top, and be somehow, successful in the world's eyes? Or am I willing to be living according to the upside down rules of God and not of the world to please Him, and be significant in the eyes of my Father?

The Bible says in Matthew 5; blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers. But as long as we live in this world (which belongs to the ruler of the air), the poor in spirit will be scorned, those who mourn will be ridiculed, those who are meek will be crushed, the pure in heart will be taken advantage of, and the peacemakers will be casualties.

Am I willing to really lay everything aside to walk on the narrow path? Am I willing to die to myself to follow Christ?

I have so much to think about now, Lord. Everyone has to come to point of decision..

I stand in awe of Your grace that You have revealed Your kindness to me when I do not deserve it in the least.

Matthew 7:13-27

Googled image, edited with Picnik.

Matthew 7:13-27

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never know you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

*****

I thought I understood this passage years ago. How wrong and blind can I possibly be??!!

I have just come to understand each and every word that Jesus had meant here; I'm just like those crowd of people, honestly amazed at His teaching. Jesus had been brutally honest about what He said from the start. And everything connects... Everything (above) connects.

I'm in awe of God's truth.

Tis' my 120th post

Someone said,

"Life is much like driving a car. While you look forward to drive, you must also look at your rearview mirror once in a while. As much as you're moving forward, don't forget to look backward and reflect."

Wise, hor? It didn't come from me lah. It's from Kau Sern, from church. (Doubt he's reading this though)

For me, I'm learning that the journey is more important than the destination; and transformation is more important than transportation.

Instead of saying, Jesus take me higher, take me further; Jesus, take me back to the basics and roots that I may be firmly rooted in You. That my understanding of You will not be of what I make You up to be, but of who You truly are.

Picture taken from Inmagine.
Picture edited with Picnik.

Its a snail's life

Paper Dreams

tired of lugging his shell, every fibre in schnell’s shapeless form craved adventure. adventure, by his definition, was to fly gracefully through the air.

“blasted cockroaches”, he grumbled.“foulest creatures ever, yet they get to fly!”, he continued—slithering over a piece of paper.

then it hit him.

“a piece of paper!”, he exclaimed.

“…if folded right, will fly!”, he exclaimed again.

3 days later, the craft was complete.

“tough work, this”, he moaned; looking over his paper cut-riddled body.

“perhaps rubbing some salt will ease the pain.”

and that was the last we heard from schnell the snail.

The above story was contributed by @ TheFreshFreak.

100 word stories written by readers are now printed on receipts! This is an effort by Book Xcess (a bookshop hosting the annual Big Bad Wolf Books Sale!) which believes reading more should be for less. The book prices are CHEEEAAP. It's located at Amcorp Mall. Hmm I might go there.

Read more receipt stories here. And you can find out how to write in your own receipt stories too.

Things changed because God remained faithful

How can it be,
That You were the one on the cross, lifted for all our shame?
How can it be,
The scars on Your hands are for me?

Hillsong United, More Than Life.

BUT God,
who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us,
even when we were dead in trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ,
and raised us up together,
and made us sit together in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
He might show
the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:4-7 (NKJV).

Ceeli

I realized how silly I was this past week;

1. While watching the TV, there was a big fat fly around the living room. We got slightly frustrated so I decided to hunt it down.

With the electrical mosquito swat (I'm sure you've seen those before, the made-in-China ones; if not, can go pasar malam and you'll find plenty there!), I thought I did a pretty good job at killing the big fat fly. There were about 3 electric shocks given to kill the fly. I picked up the fly and threw it into the rubbish bin.

Minutes later, another big fat fly was in our living room.

But... it wasn't another fly. It was the same fly that I didn't properly kill!! I checked the rubbish bin and confirmed there was no fly inside. It was the return of the flying fly. =.=


2. I think I watched too much of Commonwealth. Especially the aquatics events. Decided to go for a swim yesterday afternoon after class. Followed my dad to Rahman Putra. But the swimming pool was closed on Mondays and I didn't know... Was stuck there for 2 hrs. =/


3. This one is Chian Hui's sillyness. Hahaha, getting the phonecall from her, she said she mistaken Aileen and Li Yen for being the same person! She made me laugh.

Please feel free to share your sillyness with me. It'll make me feel a little less silly!

Usian Bolt could have joined the Commonwealth Games

This year's Commonwealth Games is pretty under the radar, no?

Currently, Malaysia has bagged 3 gold medals. Namely by Amirul Hamizan Ibrahim (56kg Weightlifting), Acricco Jumitih (62kg Weightlifting), and Josiah Ng (Men's Keiren - a cycling event).

I didn't watch the weightlifting prize-giving ceremony but I watched the prize-giving ceremony for Men's Keiren.


When Josiah's name was announced, this man leaped off of the ground to the podium. One could tell how sincerely happy and proud he was. Next up, the national anthem. My heart went oh-oh, how is it going to be ar? (Sorry, I've never heard our national anthem being played after ceremonies like this before. Never. And to see our national flag being raised(slightly higher), in between two countries...)

Josiah Ng sang the national anthem and I almost wanted to stand in front of the television. Next, he did the unthinkable (well it was to me), he shed tears. By this point, I felt my vision sorta blurring away.

I admired him for his love towards Malaysia. God, let there be more people who love the country like he does! I want to love this country more as well, inspite of its weaknesses. Inspite of its people's weaknesses.

Picture courtesy of Getty Images.

Oh! My blog title has little connection to the blog post. Lol.

Things;

1. 127 Hours

Based on the real-life story of Aron Ralston. If you check out Aron's page on Wikipedia, you'll find out what his story is about.

To summarise, guy goes mountain hiking without letting anyone know, guy gets stuck in his hike in a very deep part of the mountain with a big rock crushing one of his hands, guy cuts off hand with dull knife to escape. There, 40 words.

Side note: The amputation scene in the movie was so real and intense that it made several spectators faint in the premiere at Toronto International Film Festival. 0.0

Plus points: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) as director and James Franco as Ralston. READ: James Franco!!


2. Am going to snip every page covering the Galas by-election out of the Star newspaper, starting from today, yes

Surprisingly, it's actually kind of interesting to observe politics when you get the whole idea behind it (courtesy of Malaysian Studies). My dad also pop-quizzed me about Galas this morning while I analysed the newspaper cutting. BTW Galas is the state level seat while its parliament level seat is Gua Musang. (Not so interesting a fact when you don't understand the whole big picture)


3. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual (reasonable) act of worship.
-Romans 12:1

Dead sacrifices in the Old Testament. Living sacrifices in the New Testament.

Living sacrifices; to die to self (this not physically but spiritually), to be selfless, to act in His obedience.

To quote Pr Chris Kam on his pulpit message: "What is the hardest thing to do? To die to self."


4. Not forgetting, assignmentspresentationeditingtopicaltesttwofinalexaminationsin2weekstime. Yup, that's how crowded my brain is now. It's as if I only have 127 hours left!

Sweet dreams (cover)

I admire people who can cover songs in their own interpretation well. Here is a Pocahantas-lookalike and -soundalike singing "Sweet Dreams".

Hauntingly beautiful. It might be a bit sloppy and sleepy for some people, but it kept me awake (while I was working on my assignment). Haha.

If there's anybody out there who is reading this at all, sorry for the lack of updates. It's not that I have nothing to update, in fact I have a lot of things going on in my head. Err, maybe not a whole lot lah, but I've got a few..! But I'm losing the interest to blog. Hah, at least not interested now. I'm pretty fickle minded right. Sorry =/ My cup is dried up. My blog is getting dusty. My eyes are closing. My assignments are coming. My assignments' deadline are coming. My assignments' deadline are coming fast. So yes, bear with me. Or you don't have to. Haha. Me just taking personal responsibility here and putting up a notice that this blog will be off to nap for the mean time.

Will still be reading your blogs (if you blog, that is). Don't be lazy like me!

I like

I like your post.

Because it's honest and true.

To grow

Just when I think I know oh-so-much, God who is oh-so-mighty-and-faithful reminds me that I have nothing good in me. Selfish, invisible pride has been there all along, and I'm blinded by its proud flash of smile. I need to put on that dull, plain mantle of humility, and to be willing to be fully dependent on God, not my own strength. Thank you God for saving me.

And the above quotation slash picture (from Google) took the words out of my mouth on how I want to grow in my thinking and questioning. Whether it is with God's Word, or with people, or with knowledge.

I only have the breadth of the subject. Not the depth.

Again I say, thank you God.

Don't forget your homework

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in action. As a young kid! Aww.

Inception (2010)

This movie is not advertised much around here. But its impressive cast (Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Joseph Godon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy), and the good review that The Star gave (5 stars) persuaded me to go watch it.

Tagged Joanna with me and oh boy, were we glad we went for it!

No robots, no vampires, no werewolves, no aliens, no toys, no comic book characters, no 3D.

The movie explores the human's subconscious mind through its theme revolving around dreams. Sounds like a movie that will put people into deep sleep (and dream), but it wasn't. Violence is involved, but it is highly intellectual. People who like to think (while watching movies) should go and watch this.

Not gonna spill too much beans on this one. The lesser you know about this movie, the better. I haven't watch a good Hollywood movie in a long while. Inception was a good fix.

This movie left my friend thinking about the power of the mind. And how God has given us fantastic minds... it all comes down to how we use it.

Every actor gave their convincingly powerful performances which only solidified the film's turnout.

I give it a 8.5/10.

PS: Joseph Gordon-Levitt of 500 Days of Summer looked so sharp in the movie!


:D

Credits to Google Images.

A Walk to Remember

I had a walk in the park this evening. Normally (I say normally cos sometimes there are strangers that you don't expect) it's the same faces in the park. There's always this group of boys playing basketball. They're tall, and very white. Very fair one. They speak in high-pitched Cantonese. (Haven't got the chance to see them score though). Then there's always a group of Indian boys, who I assume are primary school students.

The last encounter I had with a particular young Indian boy was last week, where he was riding his bike and he almost banged me. I smiled, "It's ok!"

So it's a new week this week, and this time around, he didn't cycle. He was walking, like me. But towards the opposite direction. But being a semi-circle path, we're bound to meet anyway.

And we did. I was quicker (for obvious reasons, hint: leg), and he quickly commented when we crossed paths, "Why you so fast?"

How innocent. I laughed, and I kept walking.

This time, he got smarter, he swiftly followed me instead of going the opposite direction. Then he pointed at one of his friend who was riding a bicycle, "He's a Christian, I'm a Christian too."

Not many people start off their conversation that way. In my heart, I went WOAH. I replied, "I'm a Christian too. What's your name?"

"Kivannesh." (I may have spelled wrongly but that's how it rhymed).

Then he picked up his speed and he ran.

And there I was, thinking about this kiddo. Walao, being a Christian is more important than his name when it came to introduction. He's setting some example for me.

A few more rounds of walking, he needed some help plucking some leaves and veins from the tree. I helped him (for obvious reasons, hint: height). He kept calling me "sister, sister!" Haha so cute.

PS: My post title is such a genius! :D

PPS: This boy, probably 8, is an orphan. The Indian kids come from an orphanage near the park. His words put a smile on my face, and I can still recall his smile and excitement.

Realised

google images

It is when I am feeling like the most ordinary person, that I realize how extraordinary He truly is.

Isaiah 40:28
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

Emoticons and emotions

I don't know what threw me to the stressful edge.

:( :(

I need to chill. My friends are asking me to chill, too.

:( :(

:)

Now what does the Word say about worrying?

Luke 12:22-26, NIV

Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?’

That's a word of the season for me!

:D

*I hope the title wasn't a redundant one. Haha.

Free hugs?

I can't help thinking this picture is so cute!

And yes, I need a hug. Don't worry, I'm okay. Haha, everyone needs a hug once in a while, no?

(googled picture)

Eat for the ecosystem

I was reading The Economist (a free introductory copy) the other day and they told me to eat the lion fish.

This naughty fish is said to be a predator to most small fishes and they are capable of reducing the number of such small fishes up to 80%. And I don't think they meant ikan-bilis small fish...

They eat a lot, but they are not likely to be eaten (but they are consumed once-in-a-while by predators like groupers). That's due to the sharp spines that act as the lion fish's defense mechanism.

The only way for things to turn around is for people to eat it. I know it doesn't look very appetizing, but it supposedly tastes like the snapper. But then again, I'm not sure if this fish is served in Malaysia, heh.

Hello, good afternoon

picture from tumblr.com

There are 7 days in a week. But each day is NEW. Regardless of how bad yesterday had been, today is a whole new day.

Psalm 118:24
This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Make it count? :)

Grace is all around me

1 Timothy 1:12
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.

I don't have much to offer. I am weak. I am lowly in strength. But Someone has considered me faithful.. My emotions are imbalanced.

I can't believe God considers me faithful, even when I disappoint myself or had been too hard on myself.

I can never understand His grace, my thoughts are not His thoughts. I only know that He has given me grace over and over again.

Sweet influence

flippinsweets.tumblr.com

"Young children who are rewarded for good behavior with sweet foods and candy often retain a taste for (and positive attitude toward) sweets as adults."

It's taken from my Consumer Behavior notes (thx Mr Victor). Gotta agree!

Good times never seemed so good

This song is old school.
Used to listen to it when I was really young.
Glee covering it is just so cool.

"hands touching hands"

thank you tumblr.com

Spiritual awakening

1 John 4:8 (NIV)
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Yes, God is love. But He is not only love, He is holy.

Many people question if there's such a loving God, why are there present sufferings?

Charles Templeton, was an evangelist and a close friend of Billy Graham was a spiritual giant who was predicted to succeed Graham. But he failed to see God as a holy God. His faith fell through the rocks when he saw a photograph of a North African woman carrying her dead baby, looking up towards heaven, hoping for rain.

"Why couldn't this God of love send her rain? All she needed was rain!" Templeton questioned with frustration.

God is love, but don't put a full stop to it. He is holy, too.

He is holy too.

1 Peter 1:16 (NIV)

For it is written, "Be holy, because I am holy."

I'm still learning to grasp this spiritual truth, but I believe it with all my heart :)

Photograph source: brfuk.com

It's green. Very

When I get a little bored or a little sleepy, I take a few rounds at the photoblogs. Look what I found today!

The original image (it's bigger) has a better effect. Why don't you click here?

This author posts personal notes after each photo he takes. A very different photoblog, compared to what I've come across so far. (mostly it's just a picture that says press "previous" or "next")

It's 12:14am. Go sleep.

Caught my eye

from beautiful.tumblr.com

This is an unexpected post coming, even for me.

It was about 8pm. Not too sure, didn't check my watch. But it was definitely after 7.30pm. It's kinda dark.

Was going home after dinner with my mom and my sister, and we passed by my primary school.

Someone caught my eye. It's a school boy. A school boy caught my eye.

It's around 8pm. The boy must have waited for more than an hour for his dad to pick him up. And I see a taxi picking this boy up. The father, the taxi driver, must have been worried too. But his job needs him. He's probably able to make a few more ringgit while his son waited.

This Indian family (the father and son were both Indians) didn't lead easy lives, my mum assumes. But I thought they made a good choice of sending his son to Chinese school. Chinese language will come in handy for this little boy someday.

This boy waits for an hour to get home every weekday (I think). God just sent me a timely reminder. I am so blessed. I should start/continue counting my blessings. Life does not revolve around me(!). It causes me to think and care for others.

Observing people and things around can prove to be inspiring. That's how God refreshes me, sometime. :)

Growing

I kept switching the radio channels when this song plays. I thought, "eh! this song again! TURN".

... But after giving it a try, it seems decent. I especially like the drum beats behind :)

It is now growing on me.

PS: Wow. 3 ppl read my (dead) blog. Aww... thanks Wei Wei, Chia Yee, Aisha!

Complaint

Guess no one is checking my blog since I've been updating so little lately.

Guess it won't hurt to complain on my blog.

I am VERY hungry!