Our God of so much more!

Today's message was so timely. I have to make a decision and this is not an easy decision. I can pick the easiest way out or I can walk the tough road. Logically, I will pick the easiest way out. Humanly, I should walk the straight path. No one in their right mind will crash the brass gates, walk into a wicked and crooked path. Especially at my age. Especially having to walk into the pit. So I need prayers.

This human mind can only remember this...My God is a GOD of so much more than I can imagine HE could give. I have a GOD who wants to bless beyond my human capacity. HE wants to extend His powers above what I expected. This song was so lovely this morning. I only have the words. Sing with me:

He Cares For Me

Our God is far greater
Than words can make known
Exalted and holy, He reigns on His throne
In infinite splendour He rules over all
Yet He feeds the poor sparrows
And He knows when they fall

Chorus: 
His power is great and will ever endure
His wisdom is peaceable, gentle and pure
But greater than all these glories I see
Is the glorious promise that He cares for me

He rides the wild heavens
He strides through the sea
The high mountains tremble
To hear His decrees
His voice with great thundering
Sounds from above
But to His own children
He whispers His love

The earth and the heavens
Are the works of His hands
And billions of angels
Obey His commands
He guides the great galaxies, spinning through space
Yet He gave us His Son as a gift of His grace 

Like Ezra whom God has chosen to protect and do the task of building His temple, I am tasked to do something I really don't wish to do too. But I have to obey.

I will set my heart to search for the answer, study His word. 

The past week has been exciting and extremely exhausting. But it was a great week nonetheless watching God's work of peace and tremendous love showering from everywhere. Most of all listening to the Holy Spirit and wait for the timing of God's hand to work. 

Dear Father,
Thank you for all that you have blessed me with. Thank you so much for revealing to me all that I need to work on. Thank you for saving me from many of the pitfalls. Thank you Lord for my dad. Thank you for the provision of needs for both of us. While others forget, You didn't fail to provide. What a Great God you are!

Thank you for affirming me of my worth in You. You are so wonderful and your grace is indeed sufficient and you certainly satisfy while all others forsake. God you are amazing at how You use people to support me. Please bless these wonderful friends you surround me with. Bless them in their work and bless those who remember my struggles in their prayers.

As I start another week, help me to focus once again on You and to tune my heart towards you. Pray you will stir those who still choose to walk in their ways so they may turn their hearts towards YOU. Your ways are so perfect. Your peace so lasting when we choose to obey YOU.

So father, bless my week immeasurably. Bless my work with the students under my charge. Thank you for the colleagues I am working with. Bless Hwee Leng. Give me wisdom to know how to groom her teachers and the students I am placed there now. Bless the students with wisdom and bless me with wisdom to teach them correctly.

Thank you Lord for the gift of teaching. I see it. I know it. I believe it. So Lord Use me fully in this school to shine and bless the people who truly, truly need the help I am giving.

In Jesus Name and may Your perfect will be done in my life.
Amen.

Moon cake Festival

As I drove myself to work this morning, the radio djs were playing songs about the moon. I just had the thought to want to put all the moony songs together. But I was so overwhelmed with work that I could not sit down until now. So enjoy. Shin Miin you will enjoy because these songs are our era...hahaha

Bonita: This song is by a very famous singer Teresa Teng. She was a beautiful singer but died at the age of 40 plus. I learned to sing one of her songs while I was on the school trip round the world. By the time I finished touring China, I could sing it when I reached Singapore. Amazingly beautiful song. This song ask people to look at the moon to see how much others care about them. So imagine you dislike this person and asked this person to do that on a day where the moon was hardly seen...You really need to check the moon to tell people how much you care? I guess not. Some people, you don't even want to care whether there is moon or no moon. Some even if there is no moon, they know you care. Thanks Bonita. Moon or no moon you are always so great a sister in Christ.

This song is about a moon like a lemon, hanging up in the sky. It is a love song...but how sweet is such a love if it is under a lemony moonlight?

This is about a moon hanging up in the sky. I like this male singer not because he can sing. He is really good as a person. He just came to know Jesus as his personal saviour.

This is Sarah Brightman's rendition of Moon River. I bet you remember Audrey Hepburn. Me too.

I will always remember how you went to Chinatown to buy me a moon cake. We also had steamboat in the house to celebrate the festival. Thanks for making it possible for me to enjoy my culture. Tonight I was able to come home to have dinner with my dad. So it makes it all the more meaningful. I didn't want him to be alone on a night of reunion. Then I rush out again to teach. 

Have a great week! 

Meeting with 2 more ex students

About two weeks ago, I spoke to Alex online and planned that Sunday night we will meet for dinner. Tonight is the night. I picked Alex at 630 at Novena square and I was teasing him about the weight he has put on. He told me this was not the biggest he got. It is always good to meet up with Alex. He is the youngest in my class and he had a lot of struggles since he came to the school. He was a very angry boy and I had to really work on keeping my top down but I did lose my cool a few times. However, he always remembers me. He also drop in on my facebook to leave messages or say Hi when I was on MSN chat. He is a very special student. 

We drove to meet another student, Zelun. We had dinner with him in his parents' Taiwanese eatery. We had a freebie dish of bamboo shoots. The drinks were great and they are most homecooked food. The beef noodle was excellent. The beef succulent. Zelun was having a fever but we got him to sit down with us. 

We chatted about some characters in the class. I will not want to meet some and if Alex successfully organize the class dinner, I already told him who I don't want invited.


Zelun looked the same. Thin as ever. Quiet as a mouse. And he was surprised by my memory. Yah, a lot of my ex students are just amazed how much I can remember. Peck San and Lily never remember their classmates names. I do.

For the 3K class, I remember every detail. This class cheated in an English test except Bryan Yue did not cheat. I made the entire class write a reflection. And the reflections are still with me. I will read them out during their class dinner. Wicked! Actually everybody in the level cheated except Bryan. 3K protested when I made them stand before the level assembly and was reprimanded by me. But they still stood up front. Everyone in the hall found it scary. I intend to teach integrity. I taught it that day. They stoop low for less than 1% of the grade. Because everyone did it doesn't give us a right to do it. 


We went through thick and thin together and I remember that year to be dreadful because I had to make sure everyone of them could go to sec 3.


Why am I checking up on my ex students? I think it is time to find out how they are doing. They may need some encouragement? They may need a reminder of what they have become? Of course I am no moral police. They can make mistakes. But I sure hope they don't fall too hard.


On the way to send Alex home, I took the opportunity to find out if he has been going to church. He was at one time very regular. Somehow things just changed. He is no longer going to church and he told me he left because of the Christians. Aha! So familiar.


I shared about how for the last 15 years, I have given myself excuses not to enter the church. One of them is that the Christians in the church put me off. But Alex went beyond that and said that he didn't like what was preached. He dislike the way the church wants to run his lifestyle. He subscribed to a more free and easy lifestyle. Free to drink a little more? I believe when he listens to the pastors at the pulpit, he found God to be speaking to him. Then he numbed the holy spirit and then slowly snuffed the Holy Spirit out until he now hears himself.

What kind of God are we believing in? It is important to check to see if we are believing the God of the bible or the God we make out of the bible. The God of the bible is a just God. Yes He loves but He will chide when we go wrong. He will forgive and gives us grace to overcome when we ask of Him. But He will not tolerate sins. He loves the person, not the sin. Sin is a form of rebellion. To sin is to be independent of God and telling God we don't need Him and we ccan do it without Him. 

God forbids us to be independent. He knows independence from Him would mean certain death.


I am thankful that I can talk to my ex students this way. I shall continue my little visits with them. 

Tea Sessions with my ex students

Despite a heavy schedule throughout the week, I had tea with two very special students. One was Khai Shin, the other was Pompidou.

Khai Shin was back for three weeks and only had one day to meet me. He is a food connoisseur and so upon reading a blog Lady Iron Chef, he booked a very special tea place that afternoon. I almost forgot to meet him if not for his timely reminder. It was a posh hotel and we expected the buffet served round the hour on the hour. To our horror we had to choose from a three tier set with finger sandwiches and the only thing free flow was the beverages. Khai Shin ordered Jasmine and I tried three different beverages. The last was the earl grey. The ambience was just nice for us to catch up and he shared a lot on how he would cook 7 course meals for friends. Some of the food he cooked was elaborate. Have you ever tasted elderflower crystal candy in your lime juice. These elderflower crystal candy will burst in your mouth! Well, with his chemical engineering, he actually prepared food based on this knowledge. He told me that meat when it is frozen is not as good. The tiny fibres of the muscles will burst when they freeze and the taste is altered. This is what happens when you use the knowledge of chemistry to cook. Wow! He promised me before he left that he will cook me a meal when he is back the next time. I will cook him my lowly sphagetti ala my style. I think my sphagetti is the best though. Right Bonita? I think I perfected the meat sauce.

Khai Shin talked about how some of his friends really bothered him when they messed up his kitchen. He realized that it is better to stay alone. He is always so bright and cheery and I love visiting with him. 

This afternoon, Pompidou asked me out for teachers' day celebration and wondered why it has been changed to a Friday. Well, I think it is not a bad idea, teachers have an extra holiday this year and the holiday seemed longer for many of us. He wanted to buy me dim sum but the queue was too long so we settled for a simple noodle meal. He paid. He told me he is not earning much but he could still buy me a meal. We enjoyed the session together. Whenever I meet Pompi, we will talk about another special person in Cambodia. He came last week and Pompi met up with him. I missed the chance to visit with my cambodian student. I will want to meet him some day. I told Pompi about the reconciliation which is close to Pompi's heart. Pompi and I were the first to work together in an overseas CIP with Troeung Hao. Pompi and Troeung Hao taught math while I taught English and trained some teachers from China there. It was a very meaningful project. That was why Pompi and I had something special. He is always concerned with my relationship with Troeung Hao  because he feels so strongly that we need to reconcile, I granted him this wish. But he wants more. He wants me to meet Troeung Hao and carry on with this friendship. I will some day. I will.

Pompi is very mature and is always courteous. He actually served me first before serving himself like a true gentleman. He told me not to believe too much about him because he is not really nice as a lawyer but I believe what I see not just what I heard. I know Pompi to be of very steady character and rather principled. I saw how he worked with Troeung Hao. And I know he values and treasures his close friends.

This afternoon, he shared about his views on doctors. He said sadly that the doctors he knows are not compassionate except for one.  I agree with him. Most only treat the patient so they don't hurt, and they preferably don't die on them. Most just do it out of duty. But how many will take the time to really talk to their patients. He was sad about this. I am happy that he feels so. Because that would mean he will not be a lawyer without compassion. I hope he hangs on to this willingness to help the lower rungs of society. He realized that he came from a school that worked with the best. But he learned to work and play with the lowest these days. Good for him. He has learned to respect the lowest of the rung and I hope he will help these people some day soon. 

Today I also had the opportunity to share with Pompi about God and about how God helped me through the trials for the past months. He is open to the sharing and I hope to meet him soon to share more.


I told Pompi about the work I am doing and he was glad that I could make a difference. We discussed how the school's system has not wrought very useful students at tea. He didn't think the system taught well. I told him it depends on what cluster the students are put through. There are some faculties that are more rigorous than others. Some just pale in colour. In the end it is really up to the students to decide what is best for them. If they work on their own and work hard and pursue the things they want to work on, they can excel.

It has been refreshing meeting these two young men amidst my tight schedule. They took the time out for me and I truly appreciate their kindness to remember me. It is so good to know I existed. 

This weekend will be packed with meeting yet another student. I have not met him in the last 6 years and it will be great to meet again. We are going to drive to another student's place for dinner because this other one has a restaurant. I hope Alex remember our date!

Have a great weekend and I can't wait to hear what Kay Arthur has to say about the 6th tactics Satan use to draw us away from God.

Dear God

Thank you so much for the students that came into my life. Thank you for watching over each and everyone of them. Whether they know or yet to know you, I pray they will see Your mighty hand at work in their lives. I don't matter but You matter. Keep my students free from danger wherever they be. Stir their hearts to know you before it is too late. I trust them in your hands.  Bless those who bless your name. Teach those who don't know you to know more about you. Most of all that your love will be made known to them. For the hearts that are ready to receive, open that door wide and may they live a life to glorify your name. For those who already know you that they will anchor their lives in YOU because only YOU will satisfy. For those who still want to walk in sin, Lord, have mercy. Bring people to rock their world. Turn them inside out for your glory and help them Lord to honour you with their lives. I know you have a timing. And I know I have to trust YOU to do the work. So Lord work in the hearts of these students. They are not mine. They are YOURS. 

So Father, open their eyes and their hearts and turn them towards YOU. Because when they turn their eyes to look at YOU, everything else will not matter so much. May their eyes turn from the lure of the world, their hearts Lord be turned towards the poor and their minds to focus on finding an answer to a senseless world. 

That they may know this GOD.

Ezra

Last Saturday was my team's turn to prepare tea for precepts. I was a little anxy because I am trying something new with the potato salad. Thank God that everything turned out well. There were fewer people this morning but the food was all gone. And I was told the potato salad I did was the best. Wow...wait till they know what I added inside :)

We started Ezra two weeks ago. It is a short book but it is so powerful. I learn about the God of Heaven. This God who even King Nebuchadnezzar declared He is GOD, what can we not ask of Him! He stirred the hearts of kings and moved them to build His temple. He stirred the hearts of His people to return to Jerusalem to build His temple. Although there was a delay in the reconstruction of the temple, God's people completed it in 6 years. No one could stop what God had put in motion. He continued to work behind the scenes even though there was discouragement and obstacles.

During the process of rebuilding the temple of God, the Jews at that time had a lot of obstacles and trials. They were discouraged. They took a long time before these obstacles were cleared one by one. And God did it over a period of 14 years. Yes, the answer may not come instantly. It will come.

God wants us to rebuild our temple too. Our body, is the temple of the where He resides. He wants us to rebuild it despite our discouragement, our inabilities, our insecurities and our lack of faith. He wants to reside so that our life will be lived abundantly. 

All of us are insecure. It is where we place our securities that make us different. Some of us place our securities in celebrities and characters of movies and TV shows. And truly they will live and act out their false securities through these characters as they identify themselves with the characters in the show. What happens when the drama series ends? What happens after the show is over?

Well, be careful what you watch. Where your heart is, there is also where your values are. Sometimes we just need someone to tell us that what we are doing is right even though it is wrong in the eyes of God. Sometimes we will go towards those who "affirm" us as this person or that person. But we will never go to GOD. This is because we know that when we stand before God, we know who we truly are and this is scary to all of us. 


Thank GOD that HE doesn't condemn us. Instead He wants us to come to Him just as we are. Yes, just as you are. All so not nice. All so fake. All so fat. All so retarded. All so insincere. And He would love you. He will not change. Whether it was yesterday or today, and even forever, He is the same loving God. 

A parent who loves the child will correct the child when he or she errs. God does the same. He will correct our values when we give our heart fully to Him. He only works with those who are willing and He will grant these ones the richest blessings.

My security is in God. Not because I deserve it. Because I need to anchor my life in Him. For without Him, I am nothing.

Over the months, God is teaching me that He is enough. People will fail me. And many cannot be trusted. But He will not fail me. Sometimes I get frustrated with His timing. He seems to work very slowly and I do want a quick fix. So I will put my security on things I can see, people I think will help and satisfy. Aha! God says " I will show you what is best for you."

When I believe He is enough, my heart is at peace with even the worst enemy. I would very much like to put my faith in some celebrities but at the end of the day, what are they truly embracing?I bet Kay Arthur has much to say about the media and how the media is used by Satan to deceive many. I have since switched off my TV. It has been almost 2 years now. Going to the movies have been less frequent because I can save over $8 and if I had gone to the store to select movies I want to watch, I can share with my entire family. 



We need to believe that God is enough. That He has given us all grace to do what He wants us to do. 2 Corinthians 9:8. 
 And God is able to make all grace (every favor and ^[c]earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need ^[d]be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].


God's grace abounds. He freely gives. But we have to trust Him and obey. 



I am not a member of this church but this song is just what God gave me as a message to the question I was probing on Friday.