Thursday, November 19, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
MANADO 2009
Our group of 15 divers and 1 non-diver went to Tasik Ria Resort on the 27th Aug and stayed till 1Sept.
We enjoyed the personalised service of very friendly and efficient TRR staff:
- the front desk staff took all the disorientated guests arriving late at night from the AirAsia filght to each of our rooms
- the housekeeping staff who looked into every complaint about the toilet flush or the room A/C
- the restaurant staff who will try make a good pot of hot ginger tea even if it is not on the menu
- hotel staff who took such good care of the non-diver in our group while the rest of us went out diving everyday. ( Thanks, Dan, my Mom had a really good time)
- and last but not least, the diving team at Tasik Divers who made this diving trip so awesome.
We loved the diving at Bunaken, Lembeh as well as the closer house reefs of Tasik Ria using the big diving boats of Tasik Divers with the very easy-to-climb-up ladders, we enjoyed the pampering given to us divers coz' we didn't need to change our own tanks or wash-up our own equipment, DMs who could point out the strangest of critters for us to see - the Rhinopias scorpionfish, the flamboyant cuttlefish, the hairy frogfish, the fingered dragonet...simply amazing!- the food was quite good at the restaurant and the accompanying condiments superb, but the lunch provided during the dive trips out can be improved.
Overall, an excellent and memorable stay with Tasik Ria.
We enjoyed the personalised service of very friendly and efficient TRR staff:
- the front desk staff took all the disorientated guests arriving late at night from the AirAsia filght to each of our rooms
- the housekeeping staff who looked into every complaint about the toilet flush or the room A/C
- the restaurant staff who will try make a good pot of hot ginger tea even if it is not on the menu
- hotel staff who took such good care of the non-diver in our group while the rest of us went out diving everyday. ( Thanks, Dan, my Mom had a really good time)
- and last but not least, the diving team at Tasik Divers who made this diving trip so awesome.
We loved the diving at Bunaken, Lembeh as well as the closer house reefs of Tasik Ria using the big diving boats of Tasik Divers with the very easy-to-climb-up ladders, we enjoyed the pampering given to us divers coz' we didn't need to change our own tanks or wash-up our own equipment, DMs who could point out the strangest of critters for us to see - the Rhinopias scorpionfish, the flamboyant cuttlefish, the hairy frogfish, the fingered dragonet...simply amazing!- the food was quite good at the restaurant and the accompanying condiments superb, but the lunch provided during the dive trips out can be improved.
Overall, an excellent and memorable stay with Tasik Ria.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Puchong Ladies' Meeting 8/8/09 Loving your Family
When May called me to speak at this Ladies’ Meeting, she mentioned it was because she remembered on one occasion, my family visited her home during Chinese New Year and she noted that my children were quite good and well-behaved.
Little did she know that minutes before arriving at her home, I was in the car warning the kids that ‘they had better behave themselves’ or else!
I am sure for those of us here with more than one child will agree with me that God made them all very different. And when they were born, we wished each of them came with a manual, like when you buy an electrical appliance or some gadget, but we know there’s no manual with each of our children.
The topic for today is Loving Your Family. I am sure all of us here, whether married or not, with or without children, all have family: father and mother, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, so will be able to relate to parts of this topic quite easily.
Proverbs 24:3-4 says
By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established, and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
In this verse, homes are built and established with 3 primary tools: wisdom, understanding and knowledge.
Wisdom is the ability to see with discernment, to view life as God perceives it. By means of wisdom – the skill to see with discernment- a house is rebuilt, restored, so that those within it don’t simply exist, they flourish, they reach their full potential.
I sometimes remind my children that they are not staying in a hotel, ‘so don’t treat the house like a hotel’; that they are all active participants, all contributing to making the house a home.
Do we pray and ask God constantly for wisdom to bring up our children to reach their full potential, not only intellectually (most parents are pushing only this area nowadays), but also reaching their full potential mentally, emotionally as well as spiritually?
Understanding is the skill to respond with insight. By means of understanding-the ability to respond with insight, gaining a full awareness of the situation that results in an insightful response rather than a surface reaction - we bring order to a home.
Often when children disagree or fight amongst themselves, how long does it take before we parents intervene? Immediately? Or only after they have killed each other?
For me, I always try to nip it in the bud, before it becomes overblown and gets ugly. And when the discipline comes, the children expect that it is fairly administered, that if ko-ko was also at fault, then he should also be punished.
As parents, we all know ‘being fair’ requires a lot of understanding – the skill to respond with insight – to be able to access the situation as quickly and as accurately as possible, to see who started it first, to administer the punishment if necessary, and to demand that they apologize to each other if needed.
Mothers are blessed with this instinct and insight more than fathers.
Knowledge is the rare trait of learning with perception, discovering and growing. By means of knowledge – the willingness to learn with perception, knowing the facts and pursuing the truth – we cause each life to be filled with good memories, positive attitude, mutual respect and depth of character.
As parents, we keep on learning in our journey of parenthood. Sometimes we make decisions that we regret later, but we learn from that and move on.
Like it or not, our KL lifestyle forces us to be in the rat-race with everyone else. It causes us to sign up our children in all kinds of activities, like tuition classes, piano classes, art classes, swimming, and the endless list goes on.
So we become exhausted parents to exhausted kids and very often, activities or competitions are held on Sunday mornings. And so sometimes, we have to make tough decisions whether to allow our children to skip church to go for their swimming meet or their ballet classes, and we justify our decisions with excuses. Not easy. A constant struggle…
Let us look at another verse in the Bible, this time in the New Testament, where
Paul writes to his young friend, Timothy, from his prison cell in Rome, in his letter to Timothy in 2 Tim 1:5:
‘I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.’
Paul knew Timothy’s heritage. He knew Timothy’s grandma and mother. Paul was able to see that the sincere faith Timothy had must have been passed on to him by his mother, Eunice and his mother, from her grandmother, Lois.
What good characteristics are we passing down to our children? Has anybody complimented you the same way Paul complimented Lois and Eunice?
In the same passage in 2 Timothy chapter 1, in verse 7, it says:
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and discipline.
Love and discipline comes together in this verse. Discipline is the setting of parameters or boundaries for our children.
Discipline
In Proverbs 19:18
The Living Bible translation says:
Discipline your son in his early years while there is hope. If you don’t, you will ruin his life.
The Good News Bible says:
Discipline your children while they are young enough to learn. If you don’t, you are helping them destroy themselves.
A child who lives with consistent, fair correction learns that we value him or her. When we care enough to set healthy limits, take the time to enforce the rules, and model the things we expect, children grow up much happier and more secure than those who are given virtually free rein.
Well-loved, justly disciplined children are healthier, and they mature to be more productive, secure adults than those raised in ultra-permissive environments.
In Proverbs 13:24 says:
He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
We who love our children realize the importance of consistent discipline. Believe it or not, a child grows up more secure when parents maintain these parameters they have established.
There is, however, a distinction between abuse and discipline.
Abuse can be unfair and unexpected, degrading and demoralizing, extremely harsh and brutal, torturous and leaves scars, results from hatred and resentment, creates terror, emotional damage and resentment of authority, destroying self esteem.
Discipline, on the other hand, is fair and expected, upholds dignity, balanced and within limits, painful, but leaves no scars, prompted by love and concern, leads to healthy respect for authority, and strengthens self-esteem.
I believe we cannot use the same form of disciplining on every child. The outcomes are also very different. Different children can handle different types of discipline: some, like my eldest, Joshua, is able to take correction and a word or two is sufficient to get an apology from him. However, my second son, Jeremy, considers the lightest discipline as unfair and abusive. My youngest, Jessica, being a girl, is more sensitive than boys, so after we have scolded or reprimanded her, Jessica would be in her room, and the next morning, there will be little notes of apology, or notes to say she is the saddest little girl alive, or that she is returning that little glass photo frame she doesn’t deserve…
We need to constantly ask God for wisdom, strength and self-control when we discipline our children, don’t we?
There is also a distinction between crushing the spirit and shaping the will.
In Proverbs 15:13, it says:
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
In Proverbs 17:22, it says:
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries the bones.
How does one ‘crush the spirit’?
Perhaps through constant, demeaning or derogatory terms or labels like “idiot”, “stupid”, “good-for-nothing” or constantly putting down a child in front of his or her siblings or peers.
When the spirit is crushed, deep inside the child, a light goes out.
The “drive” needed to reach goals and accomplish targets disappear.
Wise is the parent who keeps a protective watch over the child’s fragile spirit, while attempting to shape that stubborn will.
Remember, one of the goals of discipline is to build up a child’s inner strength, to give him the security and self-confidence for the rest of his life.
3 points to note in disciplining our children:
1. Start early
Don’t delay the discipline process. If we wait to start, it only gets harder.
Many verses in Proverbs speak of using the rod.
Proverbs 13:24 (we read earlier) says:
He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
Proverbs 22:15 says:
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.
Folly or foolishness, bound up in the heart of my child and your child: starting early to shape that foolish will is wise.
2. Stay balanced
Proverbs 23:13-14
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with a rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from death.
Proverbs 3:11-12 says:
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father, the son he delights in.
It is extremely important for us parents to remember that as the child grows older, there should be less and less physical punishment and more and more verbal correction.
There is no specific age or magic number when this switch occurs. Some children have moved beyond the spanking age much earlier and will resent the physical punishment however well you meant it in the first place. Both Soon Guan and I learnt this the hard way with our second son, Jeremy.
3. Be consistent
If we have established firm rules so that our children understood what is expected, then we must try to follow through with our expectations consistently.
There are times when we are so exhausted after a long day’s work that we don’t have any more energy to deal with certain issues; there are other times when we spank our kids for relatively small issues.
Proverbs 29:17 says:
Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul.
I would like to end my sharing today with this poem I found by Dorothy Nolte
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
Little did she know that minutes before arriving at her home, I was in the car warning the kids that ‘they had better behave themselves’ or else!
I am sure for those of us here with more than one child will agree with me that God made them all very different. And when they were born, we wished each of them came with a manual, like when you buy an electrical appliance or some gadget, but we know there’s no manual with each of our children.
The topic for today is Loving Your Family. I am sure all of us here, whether married or not, with or without children, all have family: father and mother, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, so will be able to relate to parts of this topic quite easily.
Proverbs 24:3-4 says
By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established, and by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
In this verse, homes are built and established with 3 primary tools: wisdom, understanding and knowledge.
Wisdom is the ability to see with discernment, to view life as God perceives it. By means of wisdom – the skill to see with discernment- a house is rebuilt, restored, so that those within it don’t simply exist, they flourish, they reach their full potential.
I sometimes remind my children that they are not staying in a hotel, ‘so don’t treat the house like a hotel’; that they are all active participants, all contributing to making the house a home.
Do we pray and ask God constantly for wisdom to bring up our children to reach their full potential, not only intellectually (most parents are pushing only this area nowadays), but also reaching their full potential mentally, emotionally as well as spiritually?
Understanding is the skill to respond with insight. By means of understanding-the ability to respond with insight, gaining a full awareness of the situation that results in an insightful response rather than a surface reaction - we bring order to a home.
Often when children disagree or fight amongst themselves, how long does it take before we parents intervene? Immediately? Or only after they have killed each other?
For me, I always try to nip it in the bud, before it becomes overblown and gets ugly. And when the discipline comes, the children expect that it is fairly administered, that if ko-ko was also at fault, then he should also be punished.
As parents, we all know ‘being fair’ requires a lot of understanding – the skill to respond with insight – to be able to access the situation as quickly and as accurately as possible, to see who started it first, to administer the punishment if necessary, and to demand that they apologize to each other if needed.
Mothers are blessed with this instinct and insight more than fathers.
Knowledge is the rare trait of learning with perception, discovering and growing. By means of knowledge – the willingness to learn with perception, knowing the facts and pursuing the truth – we cause each life to be filled with good memories, positive attitude, mutual respect and depth of character.
As parents, we keep on learning in our journey of parenthood. Sometimes we make decisions that we regret later, but we learn from that and move on.
Like it or not, our KL lifestyle forces us to be in the rat-race with everyone else. It causes us to sign up our children in all kinds of activities, like tuition classes, piano classes, art classes, swimming, and the endless list goes on.
So we become exhausted parents to exhausted kids and very often, activities or competitions are held on Sunday mornings. And so sometimes, we have to make tough decisions whether to allow our children to skip church to go for their swimming meet or their ballet classes, and we justify our decisions with excuses. Not easy. A constant struggle…
Let us look at another verse in the Bible, this time in the New Testament, where
Paul writes to his young friend, Timothy, from his prison cell in Rome, in his letter to Timothy in 2 Tim 1:5:
‘I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.’
Paul knew Timothy’s heritage. He knew Timothy’s grandma and mother. Paul was able to see that the sincere faith Timothy had must have been passed on to him by his mother, Eunice and his mother, from her grandmother, Lois.
What good characteristics are we passing down to our children? Has anybody complimented you the same way Paul complimented Lois and Eunice?
In the same passage in 2 Timothy chapter 1, in verse 7, it says:
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and discipline.
Love and discipline comes together in this verse. Discipline is the setting of parameters or boundaries for our children.
Discipline
In Proverbs 19:18
The Living Bible translation says:
Discipline your son in his early years while there is hope. If you don’t, you will ruin his life.
The Good News Bible says:
Discipline your children while they are young enough to learn. If you don’t, you are helping them destroy themselves.
A child who lives with consistent, fair correction learns that we value him or her. When we care enough to set healthy limits, take the time to enforce the rules, and model the things we expect, children grow up much happier and more secure than those who are given virtually free rein.
Well-loved, justly disciplined children are healthier, and they mature to be more productive, secure adults than those raised in ultra-permissive environments.
In Proverbs 13:24 says:
He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
We who love our children realize the importance of consistent discipline. Believe it or not, a child grows up more secure when parents maintain these parameters they have established.
There is, however, a distinction between abuse and discipline.
Abuse can be unfair and unexpected, degrading and demoralizing, extremely harsh and brutal, torturous and leaves scars, results from hatred and resentment, creates terror, emotional damage and resentment of authority, destroying self esteem.
Discipline, on the other hand, is fair and expected, upholds dignity, balanced and within limits, painful, but leaves no scars, prompted by love and concern, leads to healthy respect for authority, and strengthens self-esteem.
I believe we cannot use the same form of disciplining on every child. The outcomes are also very different. Different children can handle different types of discipline: some, like my eldest, Joshua, is able to take correction and a word or two is sufficient to get an apology from him. However, my second son, Jeremy, considers the lightest discipline as unfair and abusive. My youngest, Jessica, being a girl, is more sensitive than boys, so after we have scolded or reprimanded her, Jessica would be in her room, and the next morning, there will be little notes of apology, or notes to say she is the saddest little girl alive, or that she is returning that little glass photo frame she doesn’t deserve…
We need to constantly ask God for wisdom, strength and self-control when we discipline our children, don’t we?
There is also a distinction between crushing the spirit and shaping the will.
In Proverbs 15:13, it says:
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
In Proverbs 17:22, it says:
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries the bones.
How does one ‘crush the spirit’?
Perhaps through constant, demeaning or derogatory terms or labels like “idiot”, “stupid”, “good-for-nothing” or constantly putting down a child in front of his or her siblings or peers.
When the spirit is crushed, deep inside the child, a light goes out.
The “drive” needed to reach goals and accomplish targets disappear.
Wise is the parent who keeps a protective watch over the child’s fragile spirit, while attempting to shape that stubborn will.
Remember, one of the goals of discipline is to build up a child’s inner strength, to give him the security and self-confidence for the rest of his life.
3 points to note in disciplining our children:
1. Start early
Don’t delay the discipline process. If we wait to start, it only gets harder.
Many verses in Proverbs speak of using the rod.
Proverbs 13:24 (we read earlier) says:
He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
Proverbs 22:15 says:
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.
Folly or foolishness, bound up in the heart of my child and your child: starting early to shape that foolish will is wise.
2. Stay balanced
Proverbs 23:13-14
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with a rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod, and save his soul from death.
Proverbs 3:11-12 says:
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father, the son he delights in.
It is extremely important for us parents to remember that as the child grows older, there should be less and less physical punishment and more and more verbal correction.
There is no specific age or magic number when this switch occurs. Some children have moved beyond the spanking age much earlier and will resent the physical punishment however well you meant it in the first place. Both Soon Guan and I learnt this the hard way with our second son, Jeremy.
3. Be consistent
If we have established firm rules so that our children understood what is expected, then we must try to follow through with our expectations consistently.
There are times when we are so exhausted after a long day’s work that we don’t have any more energy to deal with certain issues; there are other times when we spank our kids for relatively small issues.
Proverbs 29:17 says:
Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul.
I would like to end my sharing today with this poem I found by Dorothy Nolte
If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
CGC Ladies' Meeting 31/7/09 Fruit of the Spirit: PEACE
Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, PEACE, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
PEACE
I wondered why the the two Mrs Lims (Siew Peng and Janet) asked me to speak on PEACE…perhaps because seeing that I have 3 boys and a girl, the house must be so noisy that they hope that I myself will find peace as I prepared for this sharing.
In Hebrew, the word PEACE is Shalom
Greeting
The root meaning is wholeness. It describes the state of integrity, harmony and completeness, of a person in a community, and of a community of persons in right relationship with one another and with God.
Actual Hebrew writing looks like the word ‘DIVE’ …that’s sometimes where I find my peace ;)
The words of the hymn summarizes where to find peace:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest,
Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest.
Peace is the tranquility of a soul who finds rest in God.
True peace rests in the objective reality of our right standing with God and the knowledge that ultimately nothing can snatch us from His loving care.
Mark 4: 37-40 Jesus calms the Storm
In this passage, Jesus and His friends set sail across the Sea of Galilee, when a furious storm came up. And what was Jesus doing? He was asleep in the back.The disciples woke Him and said “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”Jesus turned to the winds and said “Quiet, be still!” And the winds died down and it was completely calm.And Jesus turned back to His disciples “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
There are storms on the voyage of life as well as calm seas, and serenity of heart can be ours in all weathers.
Let us learn from this passage that following Christ will not prevent us from having earthly troubles and sorrows. In this passage, perhaps the disciples thought that if Jesus could raise the dead, heal the sick, feed multitudes, He would never allow his disciples to suffer. Perhaps they thought that He would grant them smooth journeys, fine weather, an easy path, and freedom from trouble and care.
If the disciples thought so, they were much mistaken. Believers of Christ do go through our share of sickness and pain, sorrow and tears, losses and deaths, separations and disappointments, so long as we are in this physical world. Many would prefer having Christ and good health, Christ and plenty of money, Christ and no deaths in the family. But they do not like Christ and the cross, Christ and conflict, Christ and the howling wind, Christ and the storm.
It is often during the storms of life that we grow closer to our Lord because it is during these times that we are so helpless , isn’t it?
Let us reflect back over the last 5 years: were there storms in our lives?
When I reflect on my last 5 years, I think of
My Mother’s Experience with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
· SJS affects anyone, of any age, any gender. Any kind of prescription drug can trigger it, in susceptible individuals. In my case, the culprit was Tegretol.
· For five days I suffered high fevers of 40 degrees and above. Rashes started to appear on my hands, my legs, my body, my neck, my face – everywhere. The rashes then formed into blisters. The blisters grew and joined together. My skin turned from red, to purple, to black, and peeled off, leaving raw skin underneath.
· I couldn’t swallow anything, not even water, not my saliva. My mouth was so dry that my lips were cracked and bloody. I could hardly speak; my throat was so dry.
· I had to go on intravenous fluids to keep hydrated. The veins in my hands kept collapsing, and the doctors had to switch the intravenous needle from my left hand to my right, back to my left, and down to my left foot.
· My eyes were swollen shut with pus. I couldn’t open them more than a tiny slit. Everything looked hazy.
· I could not breathe. Mucus in my nose hardened into huge plugs, and I could only pull in air through my mouth. The doctors had to give me extra oxygen, but it could not get into my system because my nose was totally blocked.
· When I dozed off, I would wake up choking. Thick mucus started coming out through my mouth. The mucosa, or the membranes from my digestive tract, was stripping off and coming out from my throat, choking me.
· Going to the toilet to pass urine was a nightmare. My urinary tract and private parts were totally blistered and broken, and the acidic urine burned into the raw skin.
· After a while I could not walk. Blisters formed at the soles of my feet. I had to use bedpans. When the nurses inserted the bedpans, they scraped the blistered skin off my back.
· On the third day after admission, the hospital started treating me as a burns patient. They used Melolin dressing and wrapped it around my body and my neck. Some nurses were not trained to handle burns and blisters – they plastered the dressing on with surgical tape. When these were removed, large pieces of skin from my face and back came off as well. The dressing procedure was so painful that I needed extra doses of painkillers. But the painkillers would raise my blood pressure up to unacceptable levels – one evening, after dressing, my BP shot up to 230/100. The doctor decided that he should reduce the painkillers, and that I should bear the pain.
· Soon my relatives found out, and they all came to see me in large groups. Many of them broke down and cried – in front of me, and outside the ward.
Well, you all know that God healed my mom, and she stands today testifying God’s grace and goodness to everyone she meets.
Let us give thanks for the calm seas, and also thank God for the storms which came and went with Jesus seeing us through.
When the storms of life rage away, we can be assured that Jesus is able to still the storm, speaking peace to our souls.
The hymn writer John Newton wrote:
“With Christ in the vessel, I can smile at the storm”
and we’ve been singing this in Sunday School!
Speaking of Sunday School, every week we tell bible stories to our Sunday School kids, and one of my favourites is this one found in 2 Kings 6: 8-23: A story about the prophet Elisha.
The King of Aram was at war with Israel. Elisha helped warn the king of Israel again and again and this angered the King of Aram. He sent horses and chariots and a strong army to capture Elisha when he found out that Elisha was in Dothan. They went by night and surrounded the city.
The next morning, Elisha’s servant got up and saw an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. Elisha’s servant was understandably upset when he found the Israelite city surrounded. He cried out: "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" This is a question most of us have asked, or will ask, at some point in our lives. We probably will ask it more than once! Imagine you were the servant. Imagine you were there that day, confronted with the whole army waiting to kill you.
There is nothing wrong with asking such a question in the face of overwhelming opposition. The answer is important for us, though.
Don’t be afraid, Elisha replied; “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.”
Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Have we been confronted with life-threatening problems beyond our control? Perhaps we should remember how when the servan’t eyes were opened, he could see God’s armies ready to fight on his side.
This passage tells me about the all-sufficiency of Christ, that our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for every problem in life and for any crisis we face.
The God in the OT is the same God in the NT, and His promises are as much for us today as they were during Elisha’s time.
There is a true story in the Global Prayer Digest (9/91) while tells the story of a medical missionary from Michigan who served in Africa. One day, this missionary helped a native African who was wounded in a fight, and later, the wounded African confessed that he and 5 other African friends had planned to rob the missionary earlier, but they were afraid because they saw 26 armed guards surrounding the missionary.
When the missionary went home to his home church in Michigan and related this story to his church members, one church friend stood up and asked for the exact date and time of the incident. When they compared, it was the same time as when this church friend had felt a strong leading by the Spirit to pray for the missionary in Africa. He got some fellow church members to pray together with him. When they recalled the incident, there were 26 men who gathered in the church that day to pray for their missionary friend! Isn’t that amazing?
How often do we pray for our own missionaries? We read in this coming Aug’s bulletin about our very own Chin Li going into full-time ministry. Perhaps this story will remind us to always pray for our full-time workers in CGC and elsewhere.
We need to learn to place our burdens, our problems, our issues, at the feet of Jesus. Or at the foot of the cross, just like Christian, in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, carried the heavy burden on his back until he reached the foot of the Cross, and the burden fell off and he was free. “Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said, with a merry heart, ‘He hath given me REST by His sorrow, and LIFE by His death’.
We have met Jesus at the Cross when we accepted Him as Lord and Saviour, do we still have the burden on our backs or have we laid it at down, knowing that in Christ, we can be free?
Remember the meaning of the word Shalom: completeness, contentment, soundness, wholeness, health, welfare, safety, prosperity, rest, harmony, tranquility, absence of agitation and discord, peace.
Peace in our Relationships
· At work (with argumentative colleagues, unreasonable bosses, injustices)
Hebrews 12: 14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men
1 Peter 3:11 Seek peace and pursue it.
· In the home (husbands who are overworked and often come home late, children who take you for granted, in-laws you don’t get along with, relatives who bad-mouth you or keep saying that you have put on more weight since they last saw you..)
1 Cor 7: 15 God has called us to live in peace
· In the church (brothers and sisters in Christ you don’t really get along or see eye to eye with)
Ephesians 4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
When faced with opposition to our ideas, our programs, our efforts to be involved, our attempts to minister or serve God, our first instinct is to fight back. Of course, there are circumstances where we must take action. However, when our first reaction is to strike back, we probably need to stop and evaluate our motives carefully. It is easy to vent our frustrations and anger at other people. It is even easier to do it under the cover of speaking or acting in the name of God.
Anger is not necessarily a wrong response, until I choose to harbor and nurture it. When I enfold anger, it drains my energy and takes up valuable inner space. Brewing anger taxes my physical, mental and emotional well- being; it also hampers my close relationships with others and with God.
Another hymn we often sing:
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer
Learn to daily lay our burden at the feet of Jesus, to pray and commit everything to God.
Let us look at some precious verses on prayer in the Bible:
John 14: 13-14
Jesus said: “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
1 John 5: 14-15
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.
Mark 11: 24
Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
And so many precious verses on PEACE:
John 14: 27
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The peace of Christ is an inward peace, not dependent on outward circumstances.
John 16: 33
Jesus said: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”
Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.
Ephesians 2:14
For Christ Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…verse 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
Isaiah 32:18
My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
Psalm 46:9-10
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth, he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.
Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Isaiah 26: 3-4
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 48:18
Peace…like a river
A river flows in one direction and is resistless in its flow. When we are single minded and wholehearted in our purpose and calling, we will have flowing, perennial peace.
Isaiah 9:6
And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…
Let us learn to be peacemakers
Matthew 5: 9
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
And to end this talk on a very important aspect of the fruit of the Spirit: let us all turn to Numbers 6: 24-26
The LORD bless you and keep you,
The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you,
The LORD turn His face toward you and give you PEACE.”
30.7.09
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, PEACE, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
PEACE
I wondered why the the two Mrs Lims (Siew Peng and Janet) asked me to speak on PEACE…perhaps because seeing that I have 3 boys and a girl, the house must be so noisy that they hope that I myself will find peace as I prepared for this sharing.
In Hebrew, the word PEACE is Shalom
Greeting
The root meaning is wholeness. It describes the state of integrity, harmony and completeness, of a person in a community, and of a community of persons in right relationship with one another and with God.
Actual Hebrew writing looks like the word ‘DIVE’ …that’s sometimes where I find my peace ;)
The words of the hymn summarizes where to find peace:
Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest,
Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest.
Peace is the tranquility of a soul who finds rest in God.
True peace rests in the objective reality of our right standing with God and the knowledge that ultimately nothing can snatch us from His loving care.
Mark 4: 37-40 Jesus calms the Storm
In this passage, Jesus and His friends set sail across the Sea of Galilee, when a furious storm came up. And what was Jesus doing? He was asleep in the back.The disciples woke Him and said “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”Jesus turned to the winds and said “Quiet, be still!” And the winds died down and it was completely calm.And Jesus turned back to His disciples “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
There are storms on the voyage of life as well as calm seas, and serenity of heart can be ours in all weathers.
Let us learn from this passage that following Christ will not prevent us from having earthly troubles and sorrows. In this passage, perhaps the disciples thought that if Jesus could raise the dead, heal the sick, feed multitudes, He would never allow his disciples to suffer. Perhaps they thought that He would grant them smooth journeys, fine weather, an easy path, and freedom from trouble and care.
If the disciples thought so, they were much mistaken. Believers of Christ do go through our share of sickness and pain, sorrow and tears, losses and deaths, separations and disappointments, so long as we are in this physical world. Many would prefer having Christ and good health, Christ and plenty of money, Christ and no deaths in the family. But they do not like Christ and the cross, Christ and conflict, Christ and the howling wind, Christ and the storm.
It is often during the storms of life that we grow closer to our Lord because it is during these times that we are so helpless , isn’t it?
Let us reflect back over the last 5 years: were there storms in our lives?
When I reflect on my last 5 years, I think of
My Mother’s Experience with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome
· SJS affects anyone, of any age, any gender. Any kind of prescription drug can trigger it, in susceptible individuals. In my case, the culprit was Tegretol.
· For five days I suffered high fevers of 40 degrees and above. Rashes started to appear on my hands, my legs, my body, my neck, my face – everywhere. The rashes then formed into blisters. The blisters grew and joined together. My skin turned from red, to purple, to black, and peeled off, leaving raw skin underneath.
· I couldn’t swallow anything, not even water, not my saliva. My mouth was so dry that my lips were cracked and bloody. I could hardly speak; my throat was so dry.
· I had to go on intravenous fluids to keep hydrated. The veins in my hands kept collapsing, and the doctors had to switch the intravenous needle from my left hand to my right, back to my left, and down to my left foot.
· My eyes were swollen shut with pus. I couldn’t open them more than a tiny slit. Everything looked hazy.
· I could not breathe. Mucus in my nose hardened into huge plugs, and I could only pull in air through my mouth. The doctors had to give me extra oxygen, but it could not get into my system because my nose was totally blocked.
· When I dozed off, I would wake up choking. Thick mucus started coming out through my mouth. The mucosa, or the membranes from my digestive tract, was stripping off and coming out from my throat, choking me.
· Going to the toilet to pass urine was a nightmare. My urinary tract and private parts were totally blistered and broken, and the acidic urine burned into the raw skin.
· After a while I could not walk. Blisters formed at the soles of my feet. I had to use bedpans. When the nurses inserted the bedpans, they scraped the blistered skin off my back.
· On the third day after admission, the hospital started treating me as a burns patient. They used Melolin dressing and wrapped it around my body and my neck. Some nurses were not trained to handle burns and blisters – they plastered the dressing on with surgical tape. When these were removed, large pieces of skin from my face and back came off as well. The dressing procedure was so painful that I needed extra doses of painkillers. But the painkillers would raise my blood pressure up to unacceptable levels – one evening, after dressing, my BP shot up to 230/100. The doctor decided that he should reduce the painkillers, and that I should bear the pain.
· Soon my relatives found out, and they all came to see me in large groups. Many of them broke down and cried – in front of me, and outside the ward.
Well, you all know that God healed my mom, and she stands today testifying God’s grace and goodness to everyone she meets.
Let us give thanks for the calm seas, and also thank God for the storms which came and went with Jesus seeing us through.
When the storms of life rage away, we can be assured that Jesus is able to still the storm, speaking peace to our souls.
The hymn writer John Newton wrote:
“With Christ in the vessel, I can smile at the storm”
and we’ve been singing this in Sunday School!
Speaking of Sunday School, every week we tell bible stories to our Sunday School kids, and one of my favourites is this one found in 2 Kings 6: 8-23: A story about the prophet Elisha.
The King of Aram was at war with Israel. Elisha helped warn the king of Israel again and again and this angered the King of Aram. He sent horses and chariots and a strong army to capture Elisha when he found out that Elisha was in Dothan. They went by night and surrounded the city.
The next morning, Elisha’s servant got up and saw an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. Elisha’s servant was understandably upset when he found the Israelite city surrounded. He cried out: "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" This is a question most of us have asked, or will ask, at some point in our lives. We probably will ask it more than once! Imagine you were the servant. Imagine you were there that day, confronted with the whole army waiting to kill you.
There is nothing wrong with asking such a question in the face of overwhelming opposition. The answer is important for us, though.
Don’t be afraid, Elisha replied; “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.”
Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Have we been confronted with life-threatening problems beyond our control? Perhaps we should remember how when the servan’t eyes were opened, he could see God’s armies ready to fight on his side.
This passage tells me about the all-sufficiency of Christ, that our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for every problem in life and for any crisis we face.
The God in the OT is the same God in the NT, and His promises are as much for us today as they were during Elisha’s time.
There is a true story in the Global Prayer Digest (9/91) while tells the story of a medical missionary from Michigan who served in Africa. One day, this missionary helped a native African who was wounded in a fight, and later, the wounded African confessed that he and 5 other African friends had planned to rob the missionary earlier, but they were afraid because they saw 26 armed guards surrounding the missionary.
When the missionary went home to his home church in Michigan and related this story to his church members, one church friend stood up and asked for the exact date and time of the incident. When they compared, it was the same time as when this church friend had felt a strong leading by the Spirit to pray for the missionary in Africa. He got some fellow church members to pray together with him. When they recalled the incident, there were 26 men who gathered in the church that day to pray for their missionary friend! Isn’t that amazing?
How often do we pray for our own missionaries? We read in this coming Aug’s bulletin about our very own Chin Li going into full-time ministry. Perhaps this story will remind us to always pray for our full-time workers in CGC and elsewhere.
We need to learn to place our burdens, our problems, our issues, at the feet of Jesus. Or at the foot of the cross, just like Christian, in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, carried the heavy burden on his back until he reached the foot of the Cross, and the burden fell off and he was free. “Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said, with a merry heart, ‘He hath given me REST by His sorrow, and LIFE by His death’.
We have met Jesus at the Cross when we accepted Him as Lord and Saviour, do we still have the burden on our backs or have we laid it at down, knowing that in Christ, we can be free?
Remember the meaning of the word Shalom: completeness, contentment, soundness, wholeness, health, welfare, safety, prosperity, rest, harmony, tranquility, absence of agitation and discord, peace.
Peace in our Relationships
· At work (with argumentative colleagues, unreasonable bosses, injustices)
Hebrews 12: 14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men
1 Peter 3:11 Seek peace and pursue it.
· In the home (husbands who are overworked and often come home late, children who take you for granted, in-laws you don’t get along with, relatives who bad-mouth you or keep saying that you have put on more weight since they last saw you..)
1 Cor 7: 15 God has called us to live in peace
· In the church (brothers and sisters in Christ you don’t really get along or see eye to eye with)
Ephesians 4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
When faced with opposition to our ideas, our programs, our efforts to be involved, our attempts to minister or serve God, our first instinct is to fight back. Of course, there are circumstances where we must take action. However, when our first reaction is to strike back, we probably need to stop and evaluate our motives carefully. It is easy to vent our frustrations and anger at other people. It is even easier to do it under the cover of speaking or acting in the name of God.
Anger is not necessarily a wrong response, until I choose to harbor and nurture it. When I enfold anger, it drains my energy and takes up valuable inner space. Brewing anger taxes my physical, mental and emotional well- being; it also hampers my close relationships with others and with God.
Another hymn we often sing:
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer
Learn to daily lay our burden at the feet of Jesus, to pray and commit everything to God.
Let us look at some precious verses on prayer in the Bible:
John 14: 13-14
Jesus said: “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
1 John 5: 14-15
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.
Mark 11: 24
Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
And so many precious verses on PEACE:
John 14: 27
Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The peace of Christ is an inward peace, not dependent on outward circumstances.
John 16: 33
Jesus said: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.”
Colossians 3:15
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.
Ephesians 2:14
For Christ Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…verse 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
Isaiah 32:18
My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
Psalm 46:9-10
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth, he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.
Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
Isaiah 26: 3-4
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 48:18
Peace…like a river
A river flows in one direction and is resistless in its flow. When we are single minded and wholehearted in our purpose and calling, we will have flowing, perennial peace.
Isaiah 9:6
And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…
Let us learn to be peacemakers
Matthew 5: 9
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
And to end this talk on a very important aspect of the fruit of the Spirit: let us all turn to Numbers 6: 24-26
The LORD bless you and keep you,
The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you,
The LORD turn His face toward you and give you PEACE.”
30.7.09
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Peace : Shalom
Isaiah 26: 3-4
"Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusts in Thee. Trust in the Lord forever; for in the Lord GOD is everlasting strength."
"Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusts in Thee. Trust in the Lord forever; for in the Lord GOD is everlasting strength."
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Child abuse in HK
We were enjoying our trip to Hong Kong Disneyland in March recently. We managed to complete a few rounds of our favourite Buzz Lightyear attraction, and then decided to head to the Winnie the Pooh ride. We lined up in queue and right in front of us a mother and two young children came through the Fastpass.
Clearly, the mother was already frazzled and when the younger son screamed in tears because apparently his older sister (probably just one year older) took away his sticker. Mother screamed at the daughter, which sent the poor girl in tears too. The little girl hid her face in the mother's trousers and suddenly the mother screamed out loudly and started to hit the girl on the face, the head, the body, shouting obscenities and kicking the little girl.
All of us lining up behind were horrified and some ladies standing behind me commented disapprovingly. The mother overheard and looked at our direction, shouting out in Cantonese, "Don't you dare teach me how to bring up my kids!"
We were shocked beyond belief and felt so helpless. We observed the little boy imitating his mother and scolding his older sister in a very similar way the mother was shouting at her. I wanted to carry off the little girl or perhaps alert the authorities, but it seemed everyone preferred to turn the other way. Finally, the mother yanked her two children away into the Winnie the Pooh ride, still shouting and screaming and slapping away.
All through our Winnie the Pooh ride, I was still in a daze and kept wondering if the little girl survived the ride with her angry mother and equally angry little brother.
Monday, January 26, 2009
CNY 2009
It's Chinese New Year time, the year of the Ox, the hardworking animal we are supposed to emulate. It is the first time I will not be going over to Mom's place for CNY: it's because she's celebrating it in Singapore instead with Sis. Oh I miss the Chai Choy and the Pau Yue porridge!!! And it seems different to not stop by 108 after the reunion dinner, and not rush over to Mom's after the celebrations in FIL's on the first day.
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