*+_Praise † Grace_+*

God is our refuge and strength,    a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,    though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam,    though the mountains tremble at its swelling.     Selah “Be still, and know that I am God.    I will be exalted among the nations,    I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us;    the God of Jacob is our fortress.     Selah    Psalm 46:1-3, 10-11 Psalm 46 is my anchor psalm whenever I am faced with nervousness and failure. I religiously recite this portion of the psalm every time before I take the pulpit. There are also moments in my service to the Lord that I needed this psalm to keep me forward and fearless. Indeed God has been my refuge and strength throughout my 7 gracious years of journey with Him. He has brought me through various hardship...

Last night, Sok Yeng approached me to ask several questions of Financing, a small portion of her course requirement. As engineering students, we are required to understand how financing works and support our line of work. With what little finance and economy knowledge that I have, I did my best to explain debt and tax to her. The discussion continued beyond her subject as she became more curious as we proceed. Joanna was quietly listening to my explanations on stock market, share trading, foreign currency exchange, interest rates and  currency creation process. I explained to them how people make gain their wealth by gathering them from people who are willing to lose them, how the government controls inflation rate, how banks creates currency that are just numbers. Joanna lost me somewhere along the way because there were some economical terms that are pretty hard to understand. The discussion ended with Scripture verses that put the commandments of God into the picture,...

Oh well, I had a little bit of an accident in  the workshop today. I was filing and de-burring my project, and I was getting a little impatient. It all turned catastrophic in less than a second. I plunged my thumb into sharp edge of the workpiece. The crack is about 1.5cm long. The immediate response I had was pulling back my hand and writhed in pain. I didn't exactly feel the pain. It was all just numbness, which the sensation was delayed by almost a minute. The bleeding soon started. In less than a minute it flooded the gaps around the nails. I was rather a little excited to see all these happened in less than 3 minutes. Doesn't it fascinate you? I mean, the fact that your body's defence mechanism was almost instantaneously activated when something goes wrong with your body, it's fascinating. When that catastrophe happened, the warning signal was fired all the way up your nerves. But instead of going into your brain so that you would go through all the lo...

I've been reading on Mere Christianity written by the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis. I have been expecting this book to be highly theological and intellectual. But to my surprise, it was no doubt a wonderfully intellectual masterpiece, but it isn't at all theological. I guess, it was all logical. C. S. Lewis wasn't exactly a Christian most part of his life. In fact, he was pretty vocal being an atheist before his conversion. Yet the change that Christ brought upon his life was such an impact, and voila! Click on the image to download this ebook from ChurchLeaders.com for free. The website also provides many other helpful resources. Here's a part of what was written on the book, which I personally find it mind boggling, I had a change of mindset about gay marriages and most other sins: Before leaving the question of divorce, I should like to distinguish two things which are very often confused. The Christian conception of marriage is one: ...

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” ...... And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.   John 6:60,65-66 If you think you are believing in a teaching that is nice and popular, probably you should think again. Today, I could probably talk you out of following Jesus. (Or maybe not.) Jesus wasn't exactly a very popular guy. Really. The things that He had said probably offended all the unbelievers churches today strife hard to attract. I mean look at Him: how do you think exactly the things He taught and said in John 6 would actually convince somebody to come to church? Instead, many of His followers, who followed Him from one place to another, turn away and left Him. And get this, they "no longer walked with him." Jesus isn't popular. Consider these: And he ...

I started doing something new for myself. I've been spending a lot of time on the Internet and Facebook. I would say that I'm terribly attached and addicted to Internet and Facebook. Now, to counter that, I made a promise to God and myself just few days ago: every time I would turn on the computer and check out Facebook, I would need to read a paragraph of Scripture. I did. In less than 5 days, I'm now on Chapter 6 of Leviticus. The Book of Leviticus deals mainly on Jewish rituals for atonement and sacrifice. With each paragraph, God would specifically tell the priests what to do and perform in order to atone for their sins. After reading so far, I can't help but notice this: God meant this for those who are convicted of their sins and guilts, who are willing to turn away and repent. Numerous times, the Scripture mentioned "and then he realises his guilt/sin". A lot of times, we do realise our sins and guilt, because the Holy Spirit convicts us of...

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.  Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “ The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire. ”  Nehemiah 1:1-3 Today, even as I read this word, I felt a great sadness in my heart. The Jews came back from exile, after spending years living in a land not their own, living a life of humiliation and disgrace. Finally it was the promised time for them to return home, and yet they still find themselves disgraced that their home nation is in ruin. Ancient nations aren't identified by black-and-white like nation in modern days do. They are often defined by city walls that m...