Pastor Chris' Birthday Surprise?

Laying in wait outside pastor's house at 9pm on 20th Sept. We all crouched down behind a car and looked like refugees in party hats. It's hilarious. Everyone squatted until some complained of cramps in their legs.

We had to eventually stand up when Pastor himself came out and saw 'shadows' outside his house and so many cars. So we stood and sang birthday song...


How old is he this year? I forgot.

Dear God, bless him with your wisdom and strength and patience...

The whole crowd for the night.

L-R: (top) Sharon, Miaw Yee, Bryan, Margaret, Charlotte, Zin Vi, Paul, Nicholas
(mid row) Hooi Ping, Qing Rong, Canest, Doreen
(front) Quintin, Joe, Qing En, Pastor Chris, Mandy, Nerisa, Regina, Mei Yi, Catherine

I know it's slanted. Timer - which Joe took ages to figure out - placed on the sofa.
Hence, slanted...

They couldn't get the timer on the camera to work properly. Getting into position and having Joe accidentally snap heaps of pictures was really funny.

The TOAST... Arm on right side of pic is holding a glass of Irish Cream... And a bowl of ???

Mandy has a 3/4 cup full of Irish Cream which she gamely downed in 30 seconds. We had Red-Lobster-Faced-Mandy after that.

It's Almost The End of the Year... again

Here we are, in September, with another 3 months to December 25th.

How time flies...

I just remembered how we went door-to-door caroling last year. And how we were at shopping complexes the previous year in 2006. It's already 2008 and here we are, still wondering what to do for this Christmas.

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Now, I need to sit myself down and wonder, what IS the purpose we try to do so much during Christmas every year?

What is the meaning of Christmas IF we don't do all that we do every year.

What if we didn't do a single thing this year?

Or what if we did something ELSE other than what we did last year and the year before that?

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Before I go into a round of stressful rantings, let's just talk about the birth of Jesus.

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Jesus was born. Jesus is the reason we are called Christians.

Then with the birth of Jesus, I want to only mention two main reasons for Christmas:

Firstly...
To remember how God sent His one and only Son - that whoever would believe in Jesus, will have eternal life.

Secondly...
To show the world about God's love, joy, peace and His power and majesty.

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The first point is on salvation.

We're so engrossed with the politics within the country and we get so worked up at our countries leaders, we tend to forget that the same things are happening right next to us.

We have our own politics in our office, in our homes, in the church and even with our neighbours.

Sometimes, we choose to rave and rant about the 'bigger macro picture' because we don't want to deal with our more personal issues.

But then, it's not everyone who is like that.

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The second point covers basically who GOD is.

"I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14)

Christmas is the one time, for our church, to reach out to our community.

It doesn't seem like much. But it's something. So we can't take it away at all, or else we will have nothing.

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We are the body of Christ, many parts.
(excerpt from 1 Corinthians 12:12)

This is my prayer:


Dear Lord,

Let us all remember our roles as part of Your body and with Christ as the head. If we think ourselves as without a function or talent, I pray you help us know it's not how much we can do, but that You see our hearts and desire to serve You and glorify You.

Let the Christmas 2008 be a time where we can fully make known who God is.

In Jesus' name we pray...
Amen.


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Looking For A Cross

It's not looking for THE cross. It's looking for A cross.

In Malaysia, it's rather difficult to have a church registered as a 'church'. So we have to remain as an administrative office. Since shifting to this building, we do not have a signboard or a symbol of a cross outside the building.

Now, we have decided to put up a cross - IN the sanctuary, on stage, behind the altar.

Outside? not sure about that yet. But it will be inside first.

There's not much space onstage on the back wall. But I've been looking at various pictures of crosses and I would love a building with very high ceiling so that the cross can be really big and huge!



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The cross is like how you wear your school badge - a symbol, an identity.

On it's own, made of metal or gold or silver or wood, it does not hold any magical powers. Movies have made the cross into a physically magical item.

It is not about it being magical physically, but its meaning and significance that gives the cross its power.


Why use a Cross?

Why not just flog Jesus to death? Or behead Him? Or hang Him?

Why use a cross?

1. The cross was about humiliation, rejection and the lowest form of punishment.

2. To fulfill the prophesies in the scriptures mentioned about 800 years ago. (eg. Isaiah 53:5)


God has prepared us since the beginning of man's fall from holiness to redeem us for that dark pit of sin.

This cross is a heavy burden to carry, but it lightens our spirit and soul with what the cross has achieved for us. The cross that bore Jesus - an instrumental piece of wood in helping God complete His plan to save His people.

We say today, "the higher we climb, the harder we fall."

For Jesus, it's "The lower we crawl, the higher we fly."