What difference is there...

... if I lift my hands during worship and at a concert?

... if I lead worship on Sunday morning in church but swear when someone tries to cut into my lane?

... if I call myself a leader in church and ill-treat my own sister?

... if I give clap offerings to God and play an instrument in the worship team but with that very same pair of hands, I take what is not due to me?

... if I take the time off from work and serve in the mission field but feel absolutely nothing for the beggar who begs for money when I am having my food at the hawker stall?

My point is, how can one make a difference in the world if one is not making them on their daily basis?

Want to make a difference? Start with the small things.  

"... and the truth shall set you free."

It's midnight at 2am, a beep from my phone. It was an SMS from the god-sister, who had gone to Utah a week earlier.

It was bad news.  She didn't get along with that guy, whom she had been crazy about for the past few months. He's nice, I don't doubt that. The only thing that troubled me is simply this guy is a Mormon.

I've always had this issue with her being a Mormon without knowing much of what she believes in. Almost no knowledge about the doctrines and why she believes in what she believes in. You can say that she's almost blind to it, as it seemed so to me when I questioned her understanding about the religion.

My fear, is that if she ever get on with this guy, it'll be ever harder for her to get out of it.

Before she left for Utah, I wrote her an email. Apart from all the obligatory good-byes that I have to say, I included a prayer for her, that she will, in exact words, "know the truth and let the truth set you free".

She's hurting, I know. I can tell from the SMS.  I am sadden that her pursuit of happiness had to come to an end, but I can't help feeling a good sense of hope. It's God's answer to my prayer. Truth has been shown to her about this guy and the reality that they can't be together. And hope for me, that she can turn back now, anytime she wants.

I guess people have to be cruel to be kind.

Surely there's a reason why God has allowed this. I have been praying for her to know Him for who truly is, and not by what a random guy who digs for things and rewrites the Bible.

I just hope she recovers soon.  

Food for Thought

William temple, archbishop of Canterbury 1942-44

"Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.

It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness.

Nourishment of mind by His truth.

Purifying of imagination by His beauty.

Opening of the heart to His love.

And submission of will to His will and purpose.

And all of this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expressions of which we are capable."

Making a point

I spent two hour writing a post. Towards the end, I find that the points I was trying the make were rather contradicting.

So I deleted the whole post.

Anyway, here's a picture I took with Instagram today!

 Hope you're having a good weekend so far! :)

Back on Track

Of late I have been having this nagging feeling to start writing again. Some of you might know, I was in college to be a trained writer (I was trying to be fancy. Really I meant that I did journalism). Writing was something I find myself to be relatively good in since primary school. Also as an extrovert, I find writing (or talking) allows me to express- an avenue for me to pour my feelings.

Of course, along the way I've gotten distracted. There's the new job (Yes, I have ANOTHER new job now!) which is huge blessing from God. It is a steep learning curve for me, therefore I have found myself in situations where I will think about work first thing in the morning and it is also the last thing at night before falling asleep.  At times I work weekends, so it was hard to sit down and actually pen down my thoughts because I'll be exhausted.

As I was talking to a dear colleague about this, she said something which I thought was interesting. She said I maybe going through quarter-life crisis. I think there is some truths in that. As I am turning 25 this June, maturity is what I want to see myself progress in while keeping a positive and almost child-like outlook in life. Writing meant a lot to me, so is journaling my quiet time with God, spending time mentoring a young church member, exercising, missions and photography. I want to travel and see the world, particularly Europe for myself. Some years were wasted in the first quarter and I want to make the best out the rest that I have. I don't know how many more years ahead, I just want to make it count this time.

Running the race a little differently this time. Will run it purposefully and not just running for the sake of running it.

And because I cannot stand having a blogpost without a picture, here's a picture taken with my iPhone last month during my church's youth camp. It's one of those rare times I think iPhone photos are better than my DSLR's.

The sun setting at Peaceheaven, Genting Highlands. 

Tech savvy

I've always had this app on my iPhone since June last year, I mean the Blogger app, apparently allows me to blog right off my phone. Since insomnia came to visit again, I thought I'd give it a try.

So to test this out, I am going to publish a random photo from my phone.

I unearthed my old Nokia today as I was clearing my desk. That tough cookie was stuck with me for almost 3 years, although in between I used a cool O2 Atom Exec. Cool during it's time, anyway.

I shall put that away in the museum.

Lost & Found

Found the existence of my blog after more than 1 year.

Yes. I am ought to start writing again.