*+_Praise † Grace_+*

Stepping into year 2017, there is much fear. In 2017, Li Xin Baptist Church will continue to move forward with the absence of Pastor Matthew and Ai Hua. For the past 6 years, they have been shouldering the church and carrying her forward, nurture young leaders to take the baton as they go. It has been difficult to say goodbye. Countless farewells and goodbyes never seem to suffice. Personally, I am genuinely happy for Pastor. It has finally come the time for him to move on to somewhere he can grow to serve God better, where his sacrifices will be compensated. Honestly, for the time he served in LXBC, I felt that he ought to be treated better. Mustering Courage Losing Pastor Matthew also means that the young leaders that he and Ai Hua had been nurturing finally has an opportunity to rise up. Pastor Matthew left us a pair of big shoes to fill in, requiring almost the whole congregation to share the load. I have been appointed as the Liaison between the English and Chin...

Jeremiah 1:4-10 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,    “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,    before you were born I set you apart;    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” At the time of Jeremiah's calling, Jeremiah was a mere young lad in Judah. But God had a purpose for him: a purpose that was carefully planned and tailor-made for Jeremiah. God made each and everyone of us with a purpose in His mind, a part to ...

Read Part 1 3. The Hand of God Fights for His People Exodus 14:15-30   Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, ...

22 June 1986, on the faithful day which the world was eagerly watching the clash between Argentina and England in the quarter-final of 1986 FIFA World Cup. 50 minutes had passed and both sides of the match had yet to secure a goal. Just when things were about to get dull and boring, Argentina began their ferocious dribbles and passes across the enemy defend. Team Captain, Maradona made a low pass to his teammate, who chipped an overhead pass back to him. The England defender attempted to clear the ball, only to push it further into the penalty box. England Goalkeeper Peter Shilton ran out to punch the ball clear. Maradona, despite being 8 inches (20 cm) shorter than the 6-foot-1 (1.85 m) Shilton, reached it first with his outside left hand. The ball went into the goal. The referee claimed that he did not see the infringement and allowed the goal. At the post-game press conference, Maradona facetiously commented that the goal was scored "a little with the head of Maradona and...

Let's take a pause from updating my terribly delayed update on my  Mission Trip to Kaki Bukit nearly 2 months ago. I really think I should do some justice to August because I have procrastinated much in July and it's just not fair to have August suffer for it. Much like updates from months before, this is a season of the ordinary. Ordinary life, ordinary routine and ordinary passion. Ordinary is bad news for me. Really bad news. 1. Battling Restlessness I can't shake off that self-centered egoistic thinking that I am made for something of a BOOM! That's why ordinary is bad news for me. I can't settle with the ordinary. It makes me restless.With the recent change in my company: restructuring and ownership transfer, I became even more restless.  When I read about restlessness as a temptation in the secular working world, I didn't understand. Now I do. There are voices constantly telling me to change jobs and to jump the ship every two years or I...

(It's about time to get this over with. It's exactly two months since the trip.) 1. A Lazy Morning Zeson was such a good roommate: he didn't snore and he didn't fart. All was well! Or maybe I was just too tired to sleep through the night. Unfortunately, we needed to leave earlier than I want to. Pastor Aek was waiting for us at the lobby. We loaded our stuff and checked out early. You wouldn't believe what we had for breakfast: Malaysian food. =.= We crossed the border just to have Malaysian food in Thailand. It was not a bad idea actually. The food was cheap and it actually taste better. Best thing was, the sellers spoke Malay.  2. Dannok Praise Center I wasn't too sure how I could prepare myself to meet with church people who doesn't speak my language. Entering the sanctuary was awkward for me because I even forgot how to say "Sawadee krap!" Maybe I'm afraid if I begin with that, they would assume that I can speak Thai and st...

1. Break-first Chea Yeong had left already by the time I woke up. After the devotion led by Yvonne, we headed out for breakfast at the stalls nearby. It was a good break from our routine and we can now take our time with breakfast. The food was cheap and tasty. 2. Sweat and Poo Today, as planned and scheduled, we will be helping Pastor Lim to move things from the old sanctuary, where we had been sleeping for the past three nights, to the new sanctuary. There were a lot to move: tables, chairs, books, magazines, COMICS, washing machine, refrigerator and etc. We could not proceed with the moving because the lorry delayed, so we moved whatever we could outside the sanctuary. Pastor Lim also asked the local recycling and garbage management to pick up the recyclable. All of us helped, even though none of us enjoyed the work. Although the throwing and letting the book fall back onto us was fun, but some of the books were covered with cat poo. Erm, you know cat-poo right? That st...

1. Rise and Shine It's getting harder to wake up early. Xuan Yi was waiting for me to go for a morning basketball game. The spirit was willing but my body was weak. Nonetheless, with much reluctance, I was awake for devotion. It's Sarah's turn today, but by the time she said: "Let's pray!" My mind shut off immediately. So, I have completely no memory of what she said thereafter. My mind only responded to the sound and smell of breakfast. 2. Morning Session with Youth It was 9am and the youth had yet to have their breakfast. Yik and Matthew went out to buy them breakfast and they happily ate as we prepare for their session. We started off with a time of worship. I whipped out my faithful Ukulele and we sang to the glory of God. As suggested last night, Angela led a game of Charade. You can basically do anything with a tablet these days. They have an app for everything. And yes, they have an app for charade. It was a fun time with them. In the game w...