To Bunbury We Go

First drafted 08.10.2008
Finished 13.11.2008

Day -1
10:30pm – Bought 4 cans of Redbull in anticipation of the long day ahead of me.
11:30pm – Slept.

Day 0
3:30am – Woke up.
3:40am – Set out to pick up the 3 girls from their homes, Wembley, Maylands and then Claremont. Consumed the 1st can of Redbull
4:40am – Begin the drive down the Kwinana Freeway toward Bunbury
5:30am – Consumed the 2nd can of Redbull
6:45am – Arrived at Finesse Foods factory
7:15am – Spoke to receptionist and filled out some forms…

It’s been over a month and the draft is still sitting here. The girls got the job after much persistence on that same day. I got a call from the HR person in the late afternoon telling the girls to turn up for work the next day. They checked into the YHA Dolphin Retreat in Bunbury and complained that it was well, not a conducive living environment. (I tried sleeping there one night and I had to take breaks in between sleeping)

And so they began the hunt for a better and cheaper place to live in. We saw an advertisement for rooms put out by a Korean guy also working in Bunbury. Honestly though, I was not comfortable with the girls, especially my girlfriend, putting up with a single guy.

But God is faithful, always. They found a place with one of their friends and the main tenants were a young married Korean couple. To make things even better, they devout Christians! And to add icing on top of this cake, they now stay 15 minutes walk away from the workplace whereas the backpackers hostel was a taxi ride or 45 minute walk away!

I believe this is a testimony of God’s grace and faithfulness in the life of believers. I will continue to trust Him for more good things to come!

Beautiful Sarah

source: wikimedia.org

Beautiful Sarah
You may be my wife
But please tell Pharaoh you are my sister

Beautiful Sarah
I hate to lose you
But I fear for my life

Beautiful Sarah

I thought to myself on Sunday, “Sarah (Sarai) must have been a really beautiful woman!”

Pastor Cara was preaching and had made a timeline and it showed her age at different stages of her journey through the world with Abram.

The timeline shows her leaving Abram’s family at 65 and shortly into the couple’s journey we are told of a famine in the land.

Abram and Sarai take off and head into Egypt.

Genesis 12:11-13:
11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

We see in verse 14 and 15 that the Egyptians found Sarai very beautiful and the Pharaoh takes her into his household.

I thought, “65, beautiful, wa, she must be really beautiful!”

Or maybe there were different standards for beauty as you can see in the picture of the engraving at the top of the post.

Or maybe the desert was a very lonely place, see cartoon:

source: thebackpew.com

Famous Christians?

I have a tendency to be very excited to learn that a famous dead person was Christian. One of those people was Bob Marley, haha. Hey, Bob’s cool. I just heard lots of stories about him becoming a Christian before he died or something. I never did my research but simply re-told that story to other people.

One other such person whom atheists and theists are fighting to get on their “side” is Albert Einstein. However it is not important who stands for Christianity! The credibility of the God’s gospel does not depend on man’s fame. The truth stands on its own.

Albert Mohler in this post puts it like this:

The emergence of the letter from Albert Einstein to Eric Gutkind goes a long way toward setting the record straight. Evangelical Christians are prone to over-excitement when any famous person, living or dead, is claimed as a believer in God. This is not an attractive habit, and it often leads to intellectual embarrassment.

Imagine the 1st century church, there were no celebrities believing in Jesus except for a bunch of fishermen and common folk. Did that hinder them from believing in God? No. It should not hinder our belief in God even if no famous person believed in God!

Liang Goes to Korean Church Pt. 1

Today was my first time at a Korean church. I’ve been blessed each time I attend my dear Korean caregroup. Here is the man that brought me to the caregroup, his name is Ji-hoon.

After a few wrong turns and a huge U-turn in a empty parking lot, I finally found myself at the carpark of Perth Full Gospel Church. While walking into service I could hear the sweet sounds of praise led by my brother Ji-hoon, they were singing Friend of God by Israel Houghton.

I was there slightly early and caught my friends practising before the actual service. It was a unique and beautiful sight because amongst the Korean worshippers was an African lady and she had a beautiful alto voice! Only in God’s family do you see people of different nations, language and colour join in one song. The love for God and his people overcomes these barriers.

At one point during worship, I had felt a certainty that God was in our midst and was simply relishing in God’s presence and Ji-hoon confirmed it by saying some words along those lines! God is good!

We sang Be Still for the Presence of the Lord and time was given for us to wait on God and felt God speaking to me with Philippians 1:6. Just as worship was coming to a close, the congregation was given a chance to speak what God had placed on their hearts and I went ahead took the mic and read the verse! I thank God for speaking to me, I thank God that he speaks even today!

God Never Fails

I am so glad I went to my Full Gospel cell group today. I’ve been in a mess these few days, Satan was having a field day with my head and heart.

I went because of duty, you see I was slotted to lead worship, and the thought of coming up with excuses to not go for cell crossed my mind. I mean I was really not feeling well in my spirit, to the extent I can feel it in body? However, in the back of my head, I knew that God was going to do something good. God never fails.

So I went to cell, and people could sense that I wasn’t my usual self. Many showed concern and I just said I wasn’t okay but didn’t talk much about it. The fellowship with my Christian brothers and sisters lifted my spirits a little and I was talking a bit more but fellowship with the Lord is much better, it’s unexplainable.

When I led worship, I was in battle mode, I fell back to all the promises of God that I knew. Singing them boosted my faith even more. Though I felt lousy and depressed I knew what I was singing was true. The theme of tonight’s worship was Jesus Christ, and I’d taught the cell the actions to “My Redeemer Lives” and it was so good! They took it a step further and clapped each other hands during the song, it was just good to worship with fellow saints!

The truths of Christ, the cross really lifted my spirits and the Lord restored joy in my heart!

Min-kyeong taught today, she taught from 1 Chronicles 4, on the prayer of Jabez and it was good lesson! Knowing that Jabez’s name sounds like “pain” in Hebrew totally changes my perspective on the account. Imagine introducing yourself saying, “Hello, my name is Pain”, although some people are a real pain or some have names spelt “Payne”, or be both. Mwahaha. Yes, imagine.

Jabez ends his prayer really powerfully, he says, “and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” The Lord spoke to me when I read that.

You see, Jabez was named “Pain” and having such a name was not easy. Just because someone calls you a name, be it “Stupid, or whatever”, or you can be in a situation that is causing you much pain. It does not mean you have to accept it, you can pray to God for deliverance of such names and situations and the Lord may (will) do it for you!

“And God granted what he asked.” – 1 Chronicles 4:10

Be encouraged Christian! Glory to God!

Lifehouse’s Everything – Drama

Watch it, brought me to tears.

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=ee73e63418003b47d7d5

Every Christian a Missionary

I attended a Korean care-group today. It was attended by mostly Koreans and they were very surprised when I spouted random Korean words! Hahaha, it was fun seeing their reaction!

I got to know about this meeting through my Korean Brother in Christ. His name is Ji-hoon, nice guy, quite handsome too. Anyway, he also invited his classmate who happens to be from China, Guangxi. I was glad to see someone whom I could speak Mandarin and Cantonese to! This classmate of Ji-hoon’s is a non-Christian, so I’m glad that I got to know her. I am sure there will be chances to evangelise to her.

I also met an Arab, the only person I exchanged numbers with! He’s studying English in the same uni as I am so this will be a good chance to build a bridge too!

You don’t have to go to a foreign country, or meet foreigners in order to be a missionary, you can do it where you are! Although being in a foreign land throws you out of your comfort zone, well most of time anyway.

So, Christian, be a missionary ok? .)

A Note on Prayer

“It is not really the case that we are prayerless. It is just that we have such an exalted conception of prayer that we have overlooked the many prayers that we have despised as unworthy of the name of prayer.” – Lee Irons

Got this quote through Between Two Worlds. Insightful post on prayer.

Prayer is the Christian’s breath, it shouldn’t be so hard rather it should be effortless, like breathing. You don’t pant the whole day do you?

Deteriorate

Demon Hunter – Deteriorate (Fan Video)

This is my heart song Lord.

Time has had its way with me
My broken, tired hands can’t build a thing
The wires that have held me still
Embedded now in flesh, define my will
The idle of my days has won
The empty I have fed has made me numb
Despite what you will find in me
The failures of my past still swell beneath

(Pre-chorus:)
I need a heart that carries on through the pain
When the walls start collapsing again
Give me a soul that never ceases to follow
Despite the infection within

(Chorus:)
Our careless feet leaving trails
Never minding the fragile dirt that we all end in

This is where I find my fall
The cares that held me life don’t work at all
And every step away from here
Is closer to the plague I hold so dear

Awaiting my end
Breathing in the day that finds me new
Redemption begins
Bleeding out the flaws in place of you

- Deteriorate by Demon Hunter

Post #93

I was on the bus on the way home. I was passing the Tanglin Mall bus stop at about 12 midnight and I saw this old lady. I think she looked like she was about 55 or 60 years old. She wore this blue clothes which I assume is a uniform of some sorts. Let’s call her “Ah-mah” because she could be someone’s granny.

Ah-mah had just gotten off 106, probably changing the bus to some other destination. The residences in Tanglin are for the rich and famous. Ah-mah doesn’t have that luxury, she had to work till 11pm and had to take the bus home, alone.

Right this moment, I see Ah-mah with one leg up on the kerb and one leg down on the road. Her hand was on her right knee, (the leg on the kerb) as if she was resting for a while because it took too much effort for her to get off the street onto the sidewalk.

A boy with earphones plugged into his ears, who must be not much older than 20 was sitting, waiting for his bus. Let’s call him “Kevin”.

Ah-mah tries once to heave herself onto the sidewalk, but she doesn’t manage, so she continues to rest on her right leg. Kevin is watching. From where I was in the bus, he looked somewhat baffled. Ah-mah tried again and she doesn’t make it again. She tries a third time, by this time my bus was moving off, in the corner of my eye Ah-mah looked like she managed to get up onto the sidewalk. I hope she didn’t fall or get hurt or anything.

As the bus drove off, I saw a Maserati at the junction waiting for the lights to turn. Is there a link to this story I am trying to tell? You decide.

Now, I’m not saying I did the right thing, because I was selfish and tired and so I refused to get off the bus to help. Kevin could have helped but he did not.

We are placed each day in different situations, at different times and places. Look around you, a need can be filled by you. Someone can be blessed because of your little act of kindness.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. – Matthew 5:14-16