FOOTPRINTS

 

(I'm guessing that many of you would have read this story before.) 

 

Last night I had a dream. I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one belonged to me, the other to the Lord.

After the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, especially at the very lowest and saddest times, there was only one set of footprints.

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. “Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, You’d walk with me all the way. But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me.”

The Lord replied, “My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of suffering, when you could see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

 

Author : Anonymous (And definitely not me.)

 

WHEE!

I'm not sure if anyone still goes to FBB website! But here are some interesting food from Southeast Asia that you guys might want to know about!

CONTeSTANT NO. 1

it's brownish... it's slimy.. it's sweet and thick!!!!!!

all the way from Philippines.. it's CHOCOLATE PORRIDGE!

                     

VERDICT: nice to eat but i don't think i can finish more than half a serving!!

CONTEstant NO. 2

crispy on the outside... soft on the inside!! it used to be green but now it's brown!

from laos.... it's..

 

VERDICT: er. just don't think about it when you chew it and it kind of tastes like 'lao hong' keropok.

hmm.. anyone has any other foodstuff to share? spread the love and yummiest to BC youths! :D

Melanie don't want to blog so I shall blog first.

5 things about samson selvarajoo

1. i dislike vegetables
2. i have a 20 cent coin scar on my left leg because i fell into the drain on Christmas last year
3. i like to play soccer
4. i like PINK!
5. i like to use my butt and hit NATHANIEL LER!! :D

i tag yuan yi

Due to persistent pesters from cherlyn, i have decided to write 5 things about myself and continue the tag.

1. I hate people who backstab me.(Seriously, I hate it)

2. I like rum.(in little quantities of course)

3.I hate writing post(like this one)

4.I am in my school's military band(unfortunatly)

5.I dislike ending things (but i like ending exams)

I tag Melanie.

The following is a sharing by Samuel Lim

Uncompromised Obedience
Text: Mark 1:40-45

            There are many lessons we can learn from this text in Mark where Jesus healed the man with leprosy. But today I am only going to touch on 1 lesson we can learn, which is to have uncompromised obedience.

            After Jesus healed the man of his leprosy, Jesus gave the man a specific charge. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: "See that you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." (v.43-44) The seriousness of Jesus can be felt, it was like Jesus saying to the man, ‘You cannot fail me here, follow exactly what I am telling you.’ The charge from Jesus was two-fold. Firstly, the man is not allowed to tell to anyone about the healing. Secondly, the man is to present himself before the priest and follow according to the law of Moses (Leviticus 14). The law of Moses for the cleansing of skin diseases takes 8 days before the person can be declared clean. Instead, the man went away from the Lord and began to talk freely, spreading the news. And because of the man’s failure to follow the charge from Jesus, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. (v.45)

            I want all of us to see the connection in our own lives. Are there times when disobedience seems so much easier than simply obeying what we know God wants us to do? In these times, we need to persevere. Although we may not see where the road may lead to if we obey the Lord, or how things will work out. But this testing of our faith is essential to our spiritual growth, ‘to know that God can do all things, and no plan of His can be thwarted.’ (Job 42:2) Are there times when we get impatient and want to see things done quickly? Instead of working together with God, we work with our own strength and simply find excuses to make our disobedience ‘spiritual’? Like in the case of the man cured from leprosy, he is actually spreading the news of God and making people know about Jesus. But God is not interested about what we can do for Him, God is more interested that we obey Him!

            And we know the result of disobedience. That God is not glorified as He should be. And neither are we able to fully experience the joy of God working through us.

 

HELLO EVERYONE! :)

Just thought I'd attempt to liven the blog abit.

Some of you may know I just came back from a trip to Laos. Not sure if you guys are interested, but i'll just babble about it here! HA HA

I just came back from visiting Laotian friends and along the way, I dropped by at NongKhai, a place in Thailand near to Laos. You can just see Laos opposite the Mekong River from NongKhai.

Had several adventures and all, since it's the first time I travelled alone! But thank God for sending friends along the way! :)

Anyway, I'll just share about one thing here okay!

I made a new friend in NongKhai, his name is Phii' Diaw. He is truely a miracle! One day hopefully you guys can meet him too!

(okay i tried very hard to insert his picture here but i really can't do it. :( so if ya wanna see his picture/video.. can come find me!! :D )

He is actually an ex-Aids victim and he used to be very successful and rich, but after getting Aids, he was bed-ridden and became blind. He lost all hope and really wanted to die. In fact, he attempted suicide several times but didn't manage to die. And now he really thinks it's a miracle because he ate like 70 over pills or something like that, but he woke up nothing wrong the next day.

Ya, so he was thinking about dying and all, and one day, he heard about a GOD who loves him and can do anything from a Christian radio station (he can only listen to radio). So he thought "hmm.. wow. There is this God huh? If so, please please help me to see!"

And he prayed really really hard, and the next day, he really actually saw some light!!!!

His eyesight actually improved over the weeks and he was so encouraged and motivated to get better, and he wanted to know more about this God!!

So he decided to go visit a church in NongKhai, but the thing is, he doesn't know where. So he asked this tuk-tuk driver (sth like Taxi) and the driver decided to send him to this very prominent Catholic church in NongKhai. But, the tuk-tuk actually broke down halfway; and stopped outside a small church. He thought, eh? Church also! okay, stop here.

And so he came to that church and got to know about God.. and that's how my friend knew him! He was still suffering from Aids, and missionaries and people from the church kept praying for him.

And after some time, he went for his check up, and the doctors actually found that he didn't have any signs of having Aids!! But the doctors said that it was impossible, and they refused to change his medical records. So he had to go to another hospital which didn't know him, and check himself again, and really he was no longer suffering from Aids!

You know I really have no idea how this can happen, but there isn't a cure for Aids, but I know that God can do the impossible...

Now, Phii'Diaw has gotten a certificate for doing massages.. cause he still can't really see properly, so doing massages for people is a good way to work, instead of looking at detailed words and stuff.. so keep him in prayer ya! That his eyesight will continue to improve, and that he will continue to shine for God and serve Him in any way he can!

Well, hope i didn't bore you guys but just wanted to share this exciting thing that happened to my friend from NongKhai.. :)

Have a great holiday or work or school!  

PLease babble about your recent trips or thoughts or sights that you've seen that can encourage others okay! Don't make me the only extra. :x

After the class for Seekers and New Christians in BC Youth and the Second Worship Service, I was thinking (even harder during SSS as I observed a combine class) about the importance of God's word in our life. I was also praying along the line "Dear LORD, is it Your Word or my word that guides my life daily..."

I don't know about you, but it's definitely challenging for me to live by God's Word daily, there are temptations abound and many atimes, it just seems to tough to walk the talk. When was the last time you read the bible? When was the last time you pray to God? When was the last time you really enjoyed the "fei-lou"-ship (Fellowship:Fatty-ship:Eating and bonding) as a family in Christ? When was the last time you really exercise your trust (faith giving of time, money and personal testimony) in Christ?

If your answers to my four main questions was long long time ago... Don't despair. There is still hope. Let's remember to put on the Armour of God daily, support and spur one another onwards. Easier said than done? Not really, if we are willing, we can commit this to the LORD and He will help us work a way out of any sticky or challenging circumstances.

For one, those who are in a S4G and/or Ministy Team, you can take active step(s) to be accountable to your S4G and/or Ministry Team leaders about your walk with God. If you're not in any S4G or Ministry Team, you can approach your SSS Teachers, and I'm sure they are more than willing to come alongside you as you walk this faith journey. Well, if you find the courage to approach your teachers, there is still me. Feel free to drop me a mail, sms or whatever and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

The prophet Jeremiah prayed, "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (Jer. 15:16). It is my prayer that we will hunger and thirst for God's Word and His nourishing of our souls. Let it be Your Word and not my word that takes center stage in our lives.

Daniel Tay

Hey pple, GuoYao here. I will like to post this short sharing to testify about what I have and am still going through in my NS life. I hope that you may be encouraged by this sharing. AMEN!!!

Over the past year or so as I served my NS, I back slided and strayed away from God. I knew that I kept much sin hidden in my heart and my life was really out of sync with God’s Word. Bad habits and attitude plagued my life. This was partially due to the bad influence surrounding me at that time. Frankly speaking, I did not realize how sinful I was then until God spoke in a powerful way to me. He reminded me that He is my Savior and God. Let me share with you in greater detail.

Around the end of February, I was transferred out of my previous unit and posted to cantonment police station. The working environment was very relaxed and there was nothing much to do each day. I  could go back at 1800hours sharp everyday and I just allowed time to slip by, longing for my ORD to come.

After the first week of being posted to Cantonment police station, I came to church as usual and after service, I left my bible on the seat. I left church not knowing that I did not bring my bible back with me. So the next week, I went back to church searching high and low for my Bible but I just couldn’t find it anywhere. My heart was heavy as I really wanted to find this bible which I had taken plenty of notes and highlighted many verses in.  Deeply disappointed at having lost my bible, I sat at the PA corner and it was around this time that Theophjllus came to the PA corner as well. He opened up 1 of the drawers and to my pleasant surprise, I saw my Bible!! I was very relieved that I found my Bible. However, this was not the end of it.

One week after the incident, I went for Samuel’s wedding. As I was having my lunch after the ceremony in the carpark, I shared with some of my close friends that I had plenty of free time in my new NS posting. One of my close friends suddenly spoke up and said “Since you are so free, and you have 4 months to your ORD, why don’t you try reading the entire Bible?” Taken aback, I told him that “maybe I can try lohz” but I didn’t really think too much about it then.

A few days later, as I was preparing to go back to work, I was grateful that the Holy Spirit prompted me to bring my Bible to work! I really brought the Bible to work and started reading and taking down notes! I thank God that I am reading 1 Samuel now!

I will like to give all Glory to God because it is He who has rekindled my dying fire and given me new excitement and enthusiasm to read His Word. 

May I take this opportunity to challenge all of you to take out your Bibles and to start reading IT!! It is my personal prayer that God will continue to keep OUR light burning brightly and strongly for Him.  It is indeed amazing to see how God changes lives.

All Glory to God alone.

By His Grace alone,

Jacob Tan Gy 

 

 

Hear ye! Hear ye!

Since I was tagged on the Shoutbox, and encouraged by some to post, guess it's ok for me to do so...

1) Family

I am married for close to two years now and a father of one baby girl who will be turning 1 on end May! I have two other "flesh and bone" brothers, and I am a middle (2nd) child... like quite a number of you.

2) Studies

I studied in Tiong Bahru Pri (I am in the last batch that did PSLE there), Queensway Sec (Yes, we raised funds through walkathon and they built that funny looking building with the money we raised many years later), Singapore Poly (the course I took doesn't exist anymore I think... one BC member here was one of my favourite lecturer in those days, took quite a few modules...), Singapore Bible College (my latest endeavour at studying... hopefully won't be my last. :P).

3) Interest

I love reading the Bible! (http://biblegateway.com), play mmog games (lords, renaissancekingdoms, etc), enjoy "christian" (http://www.eugenepetersononline.com/ , http://www.josh.org/ , etc) and fantasy and sci-fi books (David Eddings, Raymond E. Feist, Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, Kim Stanley Robinson, etc ), swim and goal keep, and sing in a choir (http://hallelujahos.org/).

4) Learning

Now learning the guitar together with some of our BC Youth to better equip myself... If you've seen my hand writting, you will realise that I need to learn writing all over again... but don't think I'll have the chance... And yes, I can write with both hands and draw the circle and the square... But I won't show you! :P Those interested can come my table to see the result. (I wrote and draw them in between typing these five things.)

5) Time

I like to believe that I am available 24 / 7 for you all! So do feel free to contact me, via email, msn and sms and I'll respond ASAP. But I also do have my weakness and need my own personal family time (Friday is my off day aka family time) too. ;) so if I am not replying you instantly, I hope you do understand.

Okie, I'm done!!! Erm... Hope I don't set a standard to high that nobody dare to "tag" or be "tagged" after this. Also, if the Sec one's are not available to post yet, maybe we can get Sabitha to post! Or maybe even Clement, Joanne Tan, Melanie Tan, Sharlene Lee, Li wei, Yi Wei and Amos Lim... who are also "relatively" new to post. Haha... Basically all those who wants to (and should) be in the new class I am starting from April.

keke... So Sabitha / Clement please keep the tag going...

OR WHY IT'S OK TO ASK FOR EVIDENCE

 

Do you believe in Chang-E, the fairy who resides on the Moon in Chinese mythology? But, if you do not have perfect knowledge of all things, how can you say she does or does not exist? Any doubts of her existence must be due to our ignorance.

Does this disprove the existence of Chang-E? No. The picture could be a fake. Or they might have landed on the wrong moon. Or they simply missed her residence. After all, the Moon is so big.

But would it be fair to say, based on the EVIDENCE, that it's LIKELY that Chang-E doesn't exist? Of course, we are not declaring that we know for sure she doesn't exist; we merely state that there's reason to believe she doesn't.

(Also see Carl Sagan's Dragon in the Garage)

 

This is how evidence plays a part in our understanding of our world.

 

EXPERIENCE AND EVIDENCE

OK, maybe you're like Jamie Kidd. Maybe you had a fantastic personal experience and you're convinced without the slightest flicker of doubt that Jesus is working in your life. You don't care if all the biologists lay all the evidence of evolution and stuff before your eyes. Your faith is already like a mustard tree. You'd like that, wouldn't you?

But consider the view from the other side. What if you've had a terrible experience and you prayed and prayed and no one answered? Where is God when you cried in desperation? You don't care if all the apologists lay all the evidence for Jesus before your eyes. Your disbelief is already like the Amazon rainforest! Now would you like that?

Your experience is in your past; what you can learn is in your future!

 

WHAT ABOUT PASCAL'S WAGER?

Blaise Pascal came up with this 'wager' for belief in God as follows:

• You live as though God exists.
  • If God exists, you go to Heaven: your gain is infinite.
  • If God does not exist, you gain nothing and lose nothing.

• You live as though God does not exist.
  • If God exists, you go to Hell: your loss is infinite. 
  • If God does not exist, you still gain nothing and lose nothing.

 

Based on this argument, it would be equally logical and equally 'wise' to believe in any of the mythical characters! Wouldn't you also have to believe that Sun Wu Kong delivered you from suffering by collecting the Buddhist scriptures?

Believing the existence of something you don't know about just to feel good about it is as good as fooling yourself! Intellectual honesty means being truthful to yourself and admitting what you don't know even in the face of the risks involved.

(More Detailed Rejections of Pascal's Wager)

 

GOD DOES NOT PLAY DICE WITH THE UNIVERSE.
-EINSTEIN

THEREFORE, NEITHER WILL I PLAY DICE WITH GOD.