aLL[Y]SOn ®

20 Sept 2007: It’s just amazing how God works, He knows every single thing that had happened, is happening, and is going to happen…He knows me very well and He knows you very well too… Many things, in fact, in everything, only He has the say, but rest assure that no matter what He say, it is always for the best.. Below is the devotional material which my friend, Benji sent to me and the rest every morning…This material, "He is the Beginning and the End" is so timely, that i decided to post it so that many of you will be bless as well…

He Is The Beginning And The Ending "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty". Revelation 1: 8 (KJV) "ALPHA" is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and indicates the beginning. The Lord said, "I am Alpha and Omega", that means He is the beginning and the ending. In other words, the Lord is saying, "I am the beginner and the finisher of your faith". Above all, the Lord is declaring to you and me that, "I have the first word in your situation. And I have the final word in your situation!" You could have heard of some kind of heart breaking news about your job, relationship, finance or maybe you have heard the doctor’s medical report that shocked you.

My friend, whatever you’re going through right now is just temporal only, it’s not eternal. Do not agree with your situation now, and refuse to stay in your current circumstances. Whatever you have heard from man will never remain the same forever because man doesn’t have the final word for your situation. The Lord alone has the final word for your situation. The good news is, the Lord God Almighty is in the active business of turning things around you for your good and His glory. The Bible says that the Lord took all our infirmities and bore our sicknesses, when He hung on the cross. (Matthew 8:17). He took your sickness upon His body and paid for your healing with His blood. He became poor on the cross so that you might have the abundance. He took your place on the cross, so that you can take His place and live again. You tell me now; do you still have to agree with your temporal situation and live a life that the Lord never intended for you to live? Or should you wait upon the Lord for things to change according to His final and eternal word? Dearest, you can hear much heart-breaking news from man but the Lord’s final word can change your destination and future. The Lord went to the cross not to break your heart and disappoint you, but He went to the cross to save you and give you life abundantly. He holds your future. He knows your destiny. He is the beginning and the end. For He alone has final word in your situation.

Today’s Prayer, Dear Father in heaven, Thank you so much for your leadership and Lordship in my life. My words are not enough to thank You for everything that You have done for me. Truly, You’re the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending in my life. You alone have the final word in every areas of my life. Lord, I believe man’s words are temporal but Your word are eternal. Father God, help me to focus on You at all times. Hold my hand and lead me to Your ways. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. —

Regards,

Benjamin

It’s a Year of Overflowing…

20 Sept 2007 :

Thanks for standing beside me and assure me that everything will be fine..Thanks for not letting go and not giving up…Thanks for the words of comfort and for understanding me…Thanks for your love and for the good things that you see in me…Thanks for being there..

Indeed, it mean a lot to me to know that you care and also you’re going to be there to go thru this with me…that you’ll not let go…

It’s not going to be easy, but like you said " This is part and partial of life" …

and we will go through this together…

Few weeks back, I was telling a few of my friends and my mentor that I wanted to change church..going back to my first church…I’m currently worshipping in Wesley Methodist Church Penang, a church which I have been going for the past 3 years…

Reason I wanted to change church? – too long a story to be told, so yeah, I’ll leave it to next time… neway, below is what I wanna share most :

Last weekend (8 Sept) my church,

Wesley

Methodist

Church

had a youth rally/concert,  it is an outdoor concert and being organized by the youth in the church, basically the Joshua House youth (Joshua House = name of the youth group)..The concert was really great, the youth put in lots of effort in organizing it, they have been preparing for the last 6 months and been practicing all this while…a great job and I thank God for the passion that the youth have.. To me, I’m proud of them, they never give up and their passion, desire, love for God never burn out tho I know, they are tire sometimes…well, to KimBeng, Val, Sunn, Dennis, Lawrence, Deborah, Cordilia, Cho, Lawrence, Victor, Christina, Cherly, Veronica, Benjamin, KeanChai and everyone who are involved, I LOVE you guys and you guys are great…thanks for holding on to this vision and God.. Thanks for realizing this rally, thanks for not giving up, thanks for persevering till the end, thanks for EVERYTHING!!! Thanks for having the burden to bring the people to God and back to God.. Im really proud of you guys…seeing your hard work, reminds me of UNITY.. Something which every youth group, church, CG or organization needs… let the UNITY to continue to be strong and hold us together in doing more for God…

For those who are involved in the rally, you’ve done a GREAT job! And everyone is PROUD of all of you~ God, pastors, members, me, and everyone else…

Honestly, I didn’t help much in this event..and I regretted it, because I know, I miss out lots of fun and learning opportunities…as well as the chance to be closer to the youth, my family members. Nonetheless, God is good, He gave me the chance at the last few weeks…

I helped out in setting up the backstage, and being a kpc during their meeting, hehe…

Setting up the back stage was fun, full of laughter, jokes, teasing each other, learning and of course bring me closer to the youth… again, as I look at all the committees who has helped out in this event, it reminded me of unity and how we used to be so close last time. . .I miss the time where we were so close and had a lot of fun together.. I guess, and I know, along the way, I’ve and I am the one who has “bring” myself out of the group, putting a distance between myself and them…

Nonetheless, I thank God for last weekend where I can offer as much help to them as possible (tho everything has been done and set up) and I truly appreciate those time…I know I missed out a lot, but hey…a little time to a part of it is better than nothing right?

As I look at the band practicing the songs, again, I’m happy and proud of them; it shows their love for God, and God’s creation, God’s people and the rest of the community. Although they have to go thru some tough time (I assume they have ) they never give up, although they are tire, they never quit because they still hold on to the vision, to bring God’s people back and to reach out to the rest of the people, especially youth, who have yet to know Christ and those who have backslide…

To the ALIVE committee (ALIVE is the theme of the rally/concert), thank you all for your passion, love and your spirit of-not-giving-up…I’m sure you all can see that your hard work doesn’t go in vain as 20++ youth rededicate their life to God and 8 youth come to accept Christ… remember this; that although the rally is over, this is the beginning, because the seed has been planted and it needs to be watered…thanks for being ready for God and willing to be a part of His plan…

One more thing that touches my heart was when I saw one of the youth’s mum holding her son’s hand and lift her hands up as they worship the Lord. AMAZING isn’t it? The parents used to go against Christianity and against their son’s believe, but because of the son’s prayers and love for his family and his firm stand for God, his mum, on that night (the first time I seen) worship the Lord with the rest of the people. I saw her holding her son’s hand and lift her hands up in worship and I can see from her expression as she closes her eyes to worship, she can feel the presence and love of God in her and I know that she knows; Christ is real and is there… what a beautiful moment…

Thank God for all these, for He is the one who made it possible, we were chosen by Him to be a part of this and thank God for He has given us the chance to experience Him and His work… The rally will serve as a reminder to myself and the youth that God is LOVE, God is ALIVE, God is REAL, and through God, as we obey Him, all is POSSIBLE.

Well, going back to changing church, as this rally reminds me of the people, the youth and the church who has been a part of my life, and family to me…one question pop into my mind, do I really want to change church? If the problem is resolve, I wouldn’t want to because I really love this place very much and I know if I were to change church, I’ll miss them a lot…

Anyway, changing church is not about feeling. It should not be about feeling; it is about where God wants us to be and where God want us to serve Him best… so, I’ll continue to seek Him and see where He want me to be, as for the meantime, I suppose I will be in Wesley…

It’s been so long since i last post a blog..hehe..been busy actually…oh well, here’s another blog from me…. 7 Sept 07

Someone told me 2 days ago that my life is boring…

I don’t know what makes him say that…

Oh well, I know actually…

He said my life is boring because I always go to church and help out in church

I didn’t feel offended with his statement but I just told him that everyone has different way of enjoying life

To him, church is boring

To him, going to church is nothing

To him, my church has very different philosophies and thinking

But to me,

Church is fun

To me, going to church gave me peace

To me, going to church makes me feel very much at home

To me, going to church and getting along with youth, make me feel happy

It’s like a place for me to feel secure and be who I am

I suppose not everyone will understand that

Well, I didn’t expect him to understand it as well

Maybe I did say something that gave bad impression about my church, I don’t know

(I’m sorry God if there’s any, please forgive me)

But I feel that everyone has different ways of enjoying life

We don’t need alcohol or wine or a sport car to enjoy life

We can enjoy life in many many different ways

I have friends who enjoy life by staying at home, spending time with their parents

I have friends who enjoy life by talking and crapping

I have friends who enjoy life by making people laugh

I have friends who enjoy life by helping his @ her friends

I have friends who enjoy life by playing computer games

I have friends who enjoy life by singing

I also have friends who enjoy life by serving in church

And many more

So, there’s sooooooo many different ways of enjoying life

Why wanna judge other people’s life as boring just because their ways of enjoying life is different from yours?

Well, at the end of the conversation, he said he is just joking, don’t wanna kacau me anymore, else I’ll get angry…

Well, to me, I feel sad because people don’t seems to understand why some Christian enjoy life being in church and that there’re many other way to enjoy life, not just alcohol and party…

Btw, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t say that his way of enjoying life is wrong, it is not wrong and everyone can enjoy life as much as they want and in whichever way they want…. J