Qing Ming Festival

Qing Ming Festival is a traditional Chinese custom for paying respect to our forefathers at their tombs. It falls on the 5th term of the lunar calendar, usually in April.

This year's Qing Ming Festival started early April. 2 Sundays ago, I accompanied my parents to visit the Kong Meng San Monastry and offer my prayers to my ancestors at the columbarium. In the past few trips, my parents and relatives were surprised that I came along because of their misconceptions of Christians' resentment to honouring our forefathers. Even though I didn't participate in any of the rituals (offering joss sticks and incense papers to the forefathers), I am sure they appreciated my presence.

I believe God wants His people to honour our forefathers and parents. We need to know our roots so as to break the generational curses that flowed from our forefathers to our generations and beyond. May the Lord grant me revelation of the past generations' sins and bondages so as to deliver me and my family from these iniquities by the blood of Jesus Christ, who is our redeemer and saviour. Amen.

In the Name of Jesus, ...

I picked up Edmund Chan's book, "Growing Deep In God: Integrating Theology and Prayer", hoping to capture some spiritual nuggets of wisdom and stumble on the chapter on "Misconceptions About Prayers" (pp. 92 to 100).

In illustrating the mentality of treating God as the genie in a bottle, he talked about a little boy's fear of the dark when his mother asked his help to retrieve a broom in the back porch, and how his mother reassured him of Jesus' protection and omnipresence. Instead of trusting Jesus to protect him while retrieving the broom, the little boy prayed to Jesus to bring him the broom!

There were a few nights where my son would refuse to sleep and told me he was afraid of the dark and even ghosts. Despite reassuring him that Jesus is the head of this household and that ghosts would run away from Him, he would still be unsettled. I resorted to teaching him a Sunday School song "In the Name of Jesus" and after he sang that a few times, he was able go to sleep easily. That's the power of declaring Jesus' name!

For those with young children, try singing this tune to them before sleep in reassuring them of God's love and protection:

In the name of Jesus,
In the name of Jesus,
We have the victory

In the name of Jesus,
In the name of Jesus,
Demons will have to flee

When we stand on the name of Jesus,
Tell me who can stand before

In the mighty name of Jesus,
We have the victory.

International G12 Conference

The International G12 Conference, organised by FCBC, was held from 12 to 14 Mar 09 at the Singapore Expo. Many delegates from overseas churches attended the conference.

It was great seeing Pastor Cesar and his family again! I was deeply encouraged by Pastor Cesar's youngest daughter during her sharing of her diagnosed genetic disorder (rheumatic disorder) when she was younger. Her doctor told her that she would never be able to dance and lead a normal lifestyle. Believing that she has a God who heals, her family prayed for a divine healing upon her through the blood of Jesus Christ. She was healed and am now able to lead in the dance ministry in her church! Praise the Lord!

I learnt from Pastor Cesar the importance of the blessings brought about through the blood of Jesus Christ. Demons want our blood, which is why many diseases and genetic disorders originate from our blood system. Christ shed his blood at the Cross for us and redeemed our souls. So proclaiming Jesus' precious blood in healing our bodies and sins will defeat the plans of the evil one. Such is the revelation of the importance of claiming the Lord's blood and sacrifice in our spiritual warfare!

This G12 conference had a treat for us --- the final concert by Delirious!. This is perhaps my first time coming up close with the group performing in Singapore. I must say I was really impressed by the band's music and vocals! Despite a few not so well known songs (at least to me), I enjoyed "My Soul Sings" and "Majesty". I am a converted Delirious! fan already. Sad to know that the band will be disbanded and that the concert on the last day of the International G12 Conference would be their last performance. All the best to you guys!

Cell Group MTV for Joseph and Ying Ling's Wedding

After many late nights through trials and errors fiddling with Edward's videocam and researching on the Net on the conversion of VOB to AVI file format,in addition to learning some Movie Maker tricks, I've finally completed the final production.

Joseph and YL, congratulations and God bless your marriage!

"Here am I. Send me!"

It took just a simple memory verse to jostle me from my comfort zone. I was going through Naomi's Sunday School homework with the kids at quiet time last night and reminded of God's Great Commission for us to serve the world.

That verse came from Isaiah 6:8, "... Here am I. Send me!".

The prophet Isaiah had a vision of God sitting on a throne in heaven, with seraphims surrounding Him. It is said that seraphims have 6 wings: 2 to cover their faces, 2 to cover their feet (expressing their humility before God), and 2 to fly (expressing their service to God). And here is a perfect picture of God's servant --- seraphims willing to serve the Almighty God with humility. God wants us to be willing servants, not those who fake it just to please Him.

Last evening, I had the revelation of God's commission for us, that is, to submit to Him and be willing to say "Here am I. Send me!" when we are asked of our service to Him.

Merry Christmas!

Found this wonderful cartoon clip at Joyful 'Toons...

May the love of Christ fill our hearts with passion for the lost and may He use us as the light and salt of this world in telling the world His wondrous love for mankind.

Merry Christmas, every one!

God is like the wind...

Reading Paul Arden's "God Explained In A Taxi Ride" (2007, Penguin Books) is like reading the "Laughter" page off the Reader's Digest --- always a pleasure to read and at times tinted with a bitter after-taste.

Take this example in one of Paul's topics, "The Answer Is Blowing In the Wind":

A young child asked his father if he could prove there is no God.
'I can't prove it,' he said.
'It's like the wind. You can feel it, but you can't see it.'

How abstract, yet such simple truth! Now this is what I call faith! As Paul puts it, "are you brave enough not to believe in God", if you can't prove that He doesn't exist?

Light Up This Christmas With Hope

Yesterday, we had the privilege of watching the performance of Chinese oldie songs and self-penned Chinese worship songs by Pastor Henry Chong (张汉林牧师) & Raymond Lei Sheng Xiong (雷圣雄) at the Mandarin service, FCBC.

Pastor Chong has been a gospel singer for over 20 years and have travelled the world in bringing hope to the lost with his songs and preaching. Before this, he was the winner of the Chinese Talentime on national TV many years ago! Pastor Chan Hon Shek likened Pastor Chong to the equivalent of Cliff Richard of the east. I thank God for Pastor Chong's dedication to reach out to the lost through his voice and songs.

Matthew and Rebecca's Church Wedding

Ma SK and Kah Wee at the wedding lunch reception

Still feeling a bit lethargic from the past 4 days' overseas business trip, I was glad to be able to make it to the church wedding of John Seow's daughter, Rebecca at Foochow Methodist Church. The exhortation was incredibly light-hearted, with snippets of humour relieving much of my sluggishness.

It was also great to catch up with Ma SK and Kah Wee at the lunch reception.

May the Lord bless Matthew and Rebecca's marriage and fill their household with His love and peace.