A Recent Encounter

A recent conversation ...

Me: "Hi ~"

Ex-Student: "Hiya ~ why you call me for ..."

Me: *roll-eyes* {thinking in my heart: call must have reasons one meh ?}

Ex-Student: "Quick ! Tell me why you call me ..."

And our conversation was being disrupted by another incoming call ...

Must we *always* have a motive for doing things ? Can I not as a parent miss my children and call to find out how they're doing ? Can I not treat my students as though their my own children and miss them too ? *sigh*

Anyway, it seems to me like I'm the few left that is still made of flesh and bones and still have capacity for feelings ... people around me seems to be made of steel ...

Lord, may you reinstall back the original operating system into the hearts of your creation, do not allow the adwares and memory resident programmes to choke up the lives of people. Lord may phileo be that bond of love found in friendships. Amen.

Worship @ Cathedral Aftermath

Praise be to God.

The service turn out to be pretty OK though I did have my fair share of fumbles ... but I think no one noiced ... *bite lips*

Anyway, it's about a focus upon God Almighty, and in my case, a focus upon our Awesome God.

Pastor Tim delivered a very powerful sermon, but the harvest is few ... if only there were more unsaved who had the opportunity to hear God's anointed words through Pastor Tim ...

Lord, may You be the one that cause the increase. Bring in the lost and hurting and may they have a first encounter with You through Your Blessed Word. Amen.

The Old Testament

The Old Testament is God's earlier covenant with men, an account of His dealings with men from Creation until about 400 years before Christ.

Romans 15:4 (NIV) "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."

The first 5 books olf the Old Testament were written by Moses. These are called the 5 Books of Moses or the Pentateuch ("5 writings"):
Genesis - The book of beginnings (creation, man, sin, redemption, God's nation)
Exodus - God delivers His people from Egypt and gives them the Law
Leviticus - Priestly laws on holiness and worship - through sacrifice and purification
Numbers - God's people continually disobey and wander in the wilderness for 40 years
Deuteronomy - Moses' great discourses to prepare the people to enter the Promised Land

The next 12 books in the Old Testament are historical. They were written about 100 - 600 BC and described God's dealings with His chosen people Israel, the Hebrew nation.
Joshua, Judges, Ruth
1 Samuel, 2 Samuel
1 Kings, 2 Kings
1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles
Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

The following 5 books are poetical, describing in poetry and song God's greatness and His dealings with men.
Job - The suffering and loyal trust of a man who loved God
Psalms - Songs of praise and instruction
Proverbs - God's practical wisdom for successful living
Ecclesiastes - The emptiness of earthly life without God
Song of Solomon - A portrait of God's love for His people

The 5 books of major prophets follow. A prophet is one who is commissioned by God to deliver His message to men. These books are called "major prophets" because they are generally longer than the writings of the "minor prophets". These 5 books were written from 750 - 550 BC
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel

The last 12 books of the Old Testament are called minor prophets. These books were written from about 800 - 400 BC
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

There are in total 39 books in the Old Testament. These with the 27 in the New Testament makes a total of 66 books in our Christian Bible.

~ extracted from What is the Bible

Worship @ Cathedral

I don't know how I should rightly respond, except with great feelings of esteemed favour and privilege to be able to serve God through the church in such a capacity. As the Lord will call me, I pray for nothing short of His guidance in the preparation of the worship.

The theme that I feel an impression laid in my heart is: Awesome God

And these are the songs I will be choosing, may God continue to give me affirmation:

1. Our God Is An Awesome God (Em)
Our God is an awesome God
He reigns from heaven above
With wisdom, pow'r and might
Our God is an awesome God
Our God is an awesome God

2. You Are Awesome In This Place (D/E)
Chorus
You are awesome in this place, Mighty God
You are awesome in this place, Abba Father
You are worthy of all praise
To You our lives we raise
You are awesome in this place, Mighty God

3. I Sing Praises To Your Name (F/G)
I sing praises to Your name O Lord
Praises to Your name O Lord
For Your name is great
And greatly to be praised (2x)

I give glory to Your name O Lord
Glory to Your name O Lord
For Your name is great
And greatly to be praised (2x)

4. Be It Unto Me(F)
Be it unto me, according to Your Word
According to Your promises
I can stand secure
Carve upon my heart
The truth that sets me free
According to Your Word O Lord
Be it unto me

You promised Your Blood will deliver
Lord we believe its true
You promised us joy like a river
Lord we receive it from You
These things You have spoken
And You’re bringing to pass
This world’s disappearing
But Your Word will last

You promised to carry our sorrows
Lord we believe its true
You promised unending tomorrows
Lord we receive them from You
You’ll be our Provider
In Your Word its revealed
And by the stripes that You bore
Lord, we have been healed

About the 7% ...

My first reactions upon hearing it on the news was of course one of umbrage and indignation. Upon further learning that the claim of this increase was to help those in the lower income group which I borderly belong to, my eyes rolled in utter bewilderment. How can introducing inflation ever be for the interest of helping the poor ? Talk about lame excuses, this TOPS the list.

I laid my anger and dispair aside and turned to God.

I prayed nothing short of God's complete wrath and judgement upon the ones responsible for such policies.

Anyway, Noah, Abraham, and Jonah grew up as God's righteous agent amongst an equally oppressive, depraved and sick generation. I too pray for nothing short of God's providence and sustenance in this increasingly difficult period.

May God have mercy on us all.

The one about "Intimacy" ...

We are called to walk in intimacy with God, the more we draw nigh to Him, He draws nigh to us.

Similarly there are instances of intimacy between husband and wife. In the context of intimacy, should our intimacy be an outward spectacle or should it be a private, personal engagement ? On this note then can we draw similitude about our intimacy with God ?

Should worship be an outward expression of our deep love for God, or should worship be a private, intimate encounter with God ? And should we thus engage in public worship the same manner we do privately ?

Conversely, if we do not have an intimate personal worship of Christ, is there any value engage in a dramatised outward worship expression ?

5 Steps to Genuine Prayer

1. Feel God's presence. You are talking to a loving, all-powerful Being who wants to give you everything that's good. All over the world God is answering prayers because He loves His children.
2. Expect results. God has a track record. If you don't really believe God can and will help you, you're not really praying.
3. Pay attention to what God is teaching you. Everything that happens is for your good. If you are in need, realize God is teaching you something. If you trust Him, you will hear what He is telling you.
4. Get in touch with what you're really after. Know your bottom line. You're talking to the awesome Creator, so don't ask for nonsense. He wants you to grow up.
5. Being serious about what you're praying for means that you're doing everything you can to make it happen. God will lend a hand only when you put in the effort. He'll never take away your independence because that's his ultimate gift to you.

Journey to the West ...

Just emailed to Pastor Shoo today to tell him how much I missed him, and of course my beloved ACTS family too.

I am beginning to wrestle less within my heart as I sort of have a inkling of where I will eventually be by this December; that which I set out for my family to make an eventual decision of where we will be worshipping.

God is good and His mercy is everlasting. I testify to His goodness for lifting me from the miry clay and setting my feet upon the Rock. He indeed is the Lover of my soul and I really wish I'd never let Him go ...

However, there are still many issues in my life which I need to slowly deal with and present before God so that I can be and become that channel of blessing which I know I'm fashioned to be.

Many times we watch on TV how award winners always give tribute to individuals who have been vital to their winning the award. They claim to "dedicate" the award to so and so ... well, I'm dedicating my life to Christ ... my success, my victories, my sorrows, my pain, my anger, my sins, ... I'm dedicating them all to Him.

With that, I have come to terms and become at peace with myself. I think I no longer need to "live up" to it, just living in Jesus is all I need.

Hmm, I just spotted a little boy peeping ... signing off ...

Small small world ...

Just found Joo Khim in the blogsphere @ http://clappingtrees.com/ ... and she'd completed the course which I am taking ?!!

A New Chapter ...

Praises to God ... I'm in !

NTU here I come !! No, no, not what you think ... I mean, to NTU as a student again *hiaks* such a ticklish feeling to think that I'll be a student again ...

Here's the Online Registration List for Jan 2007 Semester:

Online registration (http://nieportal.nie.edu.sg/main.htm) started on 23 Oct 2006 and will end on 13 Nov 2006.

MID809: Designing, Conducting & Reporting Investigations
Dr Ashley Tan (email: ashley.tan@nie.edu.sg; 6790-3265)
Every Mon. Start date: 8 Jan

MID839: Designing School Learning Environments
Dr Quek Choon Lang (email: choonlang.quek@nie.edu.sg; 6790-3270)
Every Tues. Start date: 9 Jan

MID822: e-Learning Tools for Training
Dr Michael J Jacobson (email: michael.jacobson@nie.edu.sg; 6790-3275)
Every Wed. Start date: 10 Jan

MID834: Technologies as Cognitive Tools
Dr Victor Chen (email: victor.chen@nie.edu.sg; 6790-3280)
Every Thurs. Start date: 11 Jan

MID841: Evaluation Models and Methods
Dr Teo Kheng Guan Timothy (email: timothy.teo@nie.edu.sg; 6790-3238)
Every Thurs. Start date: 11 Jan

MID801: Instructional Design Models & Practices
Dr Michael Williams (email: michael.williams@nie.edu.sg; 6790-3276)
Every Fri. Start date: 12 Jan

MMM800: Critical Inquiry
Dr Cheung Wing Sum (email: wingsum.cheung@nie.edu.sg; 6790-3266)
Every Fri. Start date: 12 Jan

If time permits, must also do some reading on the following:

1. Evaluation Methods & Action Research
2. Designing, Conducting & Researching Investigations
3. Implications of Social Psychological Theories & Research for Educators
4. Instructional Design Models & Practices
5. Multimedia Development
6. Technologies as Cognitive Tools
7. Training Strategies & Methods