Paper, Rock and Scissors

This is written on 1 January 2013 on Tity's blog...

Six months later, she returned to the Lord.

A photo of Tity having a meal at my place a few years back in KK.

This is a tribute to a dear friend who passed away earlier this month which I wrote on Facebook:

On 3rd June 2013, 10.50 am (GMT+8), I lost a great friend.

She fought a good fight all the years I knew her.

My first few years of serving in ministry, she was there with me.

We worshipped, we prayed, we laughed, we cried.

She showed me how living life could be so precious.

She laughed out loud always.

A wise and witty girl she was.

I remembered one night in Sacred Heart Parish Center,

I saw her arm with a needle sticking in it.

She said she sneaked out from the hospital for the night.

Tomorrow morning she had to go back.

I remembered laughing and singing along in her Kelisa,

while she and Egn drove me home.

That was when Kambing Kicik and Kambing Besar came into picture.

How could I forget her supportive sisterly love,

when she accompanied me to confront the someone who hurt me a lot?

And the wise advice she'd give me?

Nothing deterred her from living life to the fullest.

She was an example I gave my students when I was a teacher.

We briefly chatted on WhatsApp ages ago.

The next time I go back to KK,

we would go "jalan-jalan cari makan".

This summer, she will not be there.

But I know she's with Daddy God.

All healed and complete.

No more overnight transfusion.

No more hospitalization.

Now she's with her mom.

Maybe she met my dad too.

In the place where Jesus has prepared for us all.

Till we meet again, my dear sister in Christ,

I will be strong.

I will live my life to the fullest.

I will tell others your story.

A story of faith, hope and love.

You have run and finished the race first.

Say hi to Daddy God and Jesus.

I miss you, Tity.

Safe trip to heaven, sis.

Bye for now. — with Charlene Dawn Toyong.

Time to Praise God!!

I posted this entry in my personal blog (journal) and it is high time to ctrl-C the entry in order to glorify God's name, despite everything else...

November 22, 2009, Saturday (after Friday Life Nite)

Vision of Baby Presentation by Golden Angel

As we prayed for Felix and Yvonne Teo for their belated wedding anniversary just now, I saw this vision -- There was an angel, golden in colour, carrying a baby angel. The angel placed the baby onto Von Teo's arms and smiled. It reminded me of the Zaccharias and Elizabeth (cousin of Mary), parents of John the Baptist and how God promised that He would give them a son. At that moment, I had a strong feeling that Yvonne Teo will conceive with a child very soon and by this time of next year, there will be an addition to their current family.

A voice spoke to me in my mind, telling me not to tell anybody about the vision I had. In a year the vision will come true, then I can praise God for His goodness and His blessings upon this couple.

This vision seemed to be further affirmed by Von Teo when she said she felt like graduation from the school of marriage when we took photos with her bouquet of lilies. They are married for 3 years, seems timely for "further studies".

I shall be patient and wait until the day when the vision comes true. Then I shall praise God for His abundant blessings upon us all!

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for granting our prayers that stormed the heaven. Amen to the great I am!

First Day in KL

I'm in KL again, planning to visit my dad in Melaka by tonight. Now blogging using my bro's PC while he's gaming with his housemates somewhere in his house. As for me... I have good news but the news is not yet good enough to be announced. It's concerning my career pathway. Still in the process of negotiation. All I can say is God is my ultimate Provider and He will provide all I know... Listening to the song "To You" by Hillsong and also "Reaching for You"... I'm truly humbled by His grace in my life and how great His love for me that Jesus died for my sins.

It may sound a bit fanatic to some of you, but I saw Jesus speaking through one of my students when we discussed the meaning of being a Christian. The boy's name is David Tang, and when he spoke of the gist of being a Christian besides knowing the Word and the knowledge that Christ died for our sins... His face shone with peace... The gist is the experience of Jesus' love through the Holy Spirit, and how we have to seek forgiveness from Jesus always, pray always despite circumstances, because of His love. It is one moment that I never expect a Form 2 boy to be able to utter such wisdom in his words. And I truly cherish what he said, as though Jesus was telling me that this is exactly the experience that makes me able to acknowledge I'm a Christ-ian. Then as the days went by, I spoke to another student and he told me how he felt lost and away from God because of circumstances... Many-a-times, even young adults like me have the same problem to deal with... The moments of loss and confusion feeling as though the world is ending, and that's when I started doubting the love of God and His works in my life.

So I now choose to stand here and be amazed at His glory, looking at how the power of heaven reveals His purpose in lives, especially my own life, as I continue seeking His face in daily life. Love You so much, dear Lord!

The Power of Love

Happy and blessed Easter to all of you!!! Today's topic is the Power of Love. What kind of love will I be discussing? What did the Archbishop say during his homily on Easter Vigil? Well, the love I'll be discussing is the scandalous love of Jesus for mankind. The kind of love that brought Him death, and death is not enough, but death on the cross. That's the most shameful way to die during the Roman empire.

Look at this image I found via Google search. The caption is "If you get wet, you'll get sick." I guess the Lord knows this much better than any of us, especially the getting wet, getting sick part. He chose to come down and live as man on earth. He knew of His mission of being on earth, living and preaching and dying. He knows He will suffer this death in order to grant us mercy. Knowing He'll go through all these, He still came. Knowing He'll be executed by dying on the cross, He still stayed at where He was, asking God to take the chalice away from Him. When God did not answer Him, Jesus stayed to face the death. How courageous is our Lord!!!

By His death, we receive life. By His grace, we receive love. Bishop, in his homily, started with a question: "What is the core value of our faith? What do we believe in?" Simple words, we believe in the power of love, and that's what the whole Triduum we had celebrated last week is all about -- Jesus' love that conquers sin and death.

In life, we often stop and ponder the same question: What's my eyes searching for? Where will my journey lead me to? What am I doing on earth? And Bishop's explanation is that people (everybody, including those we read in New Testament) is constantly searching for something. The Samaritan woman? The lame man at the pool? They are looking for something, but nothing can fill up that thirst they have, because that thirst is the thirst for the love of God. In the first reading last night from Genesis, man was created in the image of God, thus man will always thirst for God's love. Nothing can satisfy that thirst until we come to search for God. A quote from St. Augustine speaks of this: "Our hearts are made for you, O God, and they shall never rest until they rest in You." Bishop said that although we're constantly seeking for God, God is also searching for us in order to give us His love. He is also making that journey to seek us to offer us the love. The act of Jesus dying on the cross for mankind shows that God goes all out to give us the love.

One thing that made me pondered after mass was about our baptism. I wasn't baptised on Easter Vigil that time, but when Bishop directed the points specially for those who will be baptised, I felt touched by the hands of God. He mentioned that when we're baptised, the transformation occurs so that we can be changed and be the children of God. He specifically mentioned about the reading from the gospel of St. Mark about the resurrection of Christ. When the women went to the tomb, they did not find Jesus. Instead, they found a young man dressed in white robe sitting on the stone. He told the women to pass the message to the disciples so that they will go to Galilee, where Jesus will be there to wait for them. This event happened on the first day of the week, and Jesus has resurrected on that day. Thus, in our modernised concept, what I would summarise of Bishop's statement is that the beginning of new life for those who believe in Christ is the day after baptism where we're raised from the death with Jesus.

The second point of the Gospel passage was about the young man in white robe. Remember a young man who was following Jesus after He was arrested by the guards? The man who ran away naked when the guards seized him? This was the same young man dressed in white robe at the entrance of the tomb. This young man came back. So, the question is this: WHO IS HE? Bishop's explanation is that this young man is the newly baptised Christians. Before baptised, we run away from Jesus (just like how the young man ran away from Jesus) but now he's back and he believes in Christ. He has a message for all his disciples to meet Jesus in Galillee. The Lord had ever said that He will gather His disciples in Galillee and the mission to spread the good news started there. And so, us, as baptised Christians, we have already encountered Jesus and be transformed. And if we have been transformed, then we must begin to preach and bring this message to others.

We will have the faith if we have experience the love of God. How do we express our faith to God? My first thought when Bishop asked was "trust in God". But when he gave the answer, I begin to realize that I do experience what he said. Bishop said "GRATITUDE" has to be experienced if we want to know if we have that faith. All the love of God, after we experience it, will generate a feeling of thankfulness. And if we, at that point of time, have yet to feel thankful, we must then pray for transformation to change our heart of stone into heart of flesh. He cited the example of St. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) and how he had written about his gratitude to God when he felt like giving up. God said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weaknesses..." (2 Corinthians 12:9) Indeed, it was because of that grace of God towards Paul that we have so many wise epistles and letters written by the intelligent apostle St. Paul.

Am I still making sense after such a long post, my dears? Last point of reflection whenever we renew our baptismal vows as a renewal of our faith is this: Are we at the tomb dressed in white robe? Are we thankful to God or not?

I am glad, I am thankful. Though I'm not perfect and never will be, I'm thankful He is with me.

Happy Easter once again. God bless.