Quote

We tend to pick up the best of Christianity and compare with the worst of other faiths. - Dr Tan Kang San (Ministry in a pluralistic context)

Thought

Challenge in Malaysia is not just to have as many Christians – but also what kind of Christians. - Dr Tan Kang San

TEE Class -Ministry in a pluralistic context

Over the last two weekends, I attended a TEE Class 'Ministry in a Pluralistic Context'. Dr Tan Kang San, our lecturer, was an excellent teacher and it was an interesting class throughout. It was also fun interacting with my class mates overall. Personally, I've learnt a lot from the class about contextualisation, about dialogue and the importance of being willing to learn and understand people of other faiths. It has definitely been one of my favourite classes.

Quote

"It seems that the Christ that has come to us is an Englishman, with English manners and customs about him…Is not Christ’s native land nearer to India than England? Are not Jesus and his apostles and his immediate followers more akin to Indian nationality than Englishmen? Why should we then, travel to a distant country like England, in order to gather truths which are to be found much nearer our homes? Go to the rising sun of the East, not to the setting sun of the West, if you wish to see Christ, in the plenitude of his glory." - Keshub Chunder Sen

My Cousin...

Am so proud of my cousin who came out in a Malay Mail article today! Read more below:

Sky's the limit when determination conquers disability

Ng's determination to succeed conquers his disability

Joseph Kaos Jr

Friday, July 31st, 2009 06:56:00

TRUE GRIT: Ng says he is lucky to have helpful colleagues

HOW many able-bodied people can boast of having earned RM2 million in sales before turning 30?

Not many to be sure but Ng Kien Ti has achieved this feat despite having cerebral palsy, a condition that he has to live with for life.

"Basically, my legs do not have the strength to walk or stand," said Ng, who uses a walker to move around.

Still, this disability didn't stop him from chalking up nearly RM2 million in sales within 15 months. Ng is a business development executive handling group travel agency bookings online for hotels.

His achievement comes from his remarkable self determination.

At 28 years of age, Ng has already served at several major hotels in the city as a business development executive.

He is now the e-business development manager at Dorsett Regency Hotel, Jalan Imbi, which he joined two months ago. His job is to keep track of the hotel's website, generate online sales and deal with clients. Despite being new at this hotel, his colleagues have only praise for him.

"Despite his disability, Ng is a very confident person and is full of self-esteem," says colleague Anthony Edwin.

"I am simply touched by his positivity and optimism." Dorsett Regency Hotel general manager Christina Toh said she is very proud to have such a committed and disciplined employee.

"To me, it doesn't matter if one is disabled," said Toh. "Ng completes whatever tasks are given to him and does a good job of it. I only have praise for our ‘star' employee!"

Ng is thankful that he is blessed with having the right people around him. "Every where I go, there are always people who are willing to help me go up stairs or lift things, which I am very grateful for.

"My colleagues especially, are very nice people. Everyone is kind and helpful. The hotel is like a second home to me, which suits its tagline 'You'll never miss home'!"

Ng is grateful to his parents who were a major source of encouragement. "My father and mother insisted that I continued studying all the way to my degree so that I could secure a good career," said the computer programming graduate.

"My parents' faith in me to succeed in life is still an encouragement for me to do well."

An independent person, Ng has even travelled around the world to countries such as China and Singapore, by himself.

"I don't think my disability is any dissuasion for me to go out and visit other places in the world," said Ng, who enjoys computer games, comedy films and music by Andrea Bocelli.

"When I was little, I pondered why God chose for me to be this way, and it made me rather depressed," Ng revealed.

"Then I started realising that being depressed over it isn't going to improve things. I told myself that I am who I am, and I am going to make the best out of the worst."

God Only Knows - Joy Williams

You're in one of those seasons
Everything seems to go so wrong
Wish I could give you a reason
But even I'm barely holding on

When it's hard to find the answers
Let this be your hope

C:
God only knows all your broken pieces
Only He knows what you're going through
God only knows what you hide inside
And He's holding onto you
God only knows

You've had your fill of questions
There's so much that you need to know
I don't blame you for asking
But it's time to let go of control

And I'm sorry for what you're feeling
Please hold on to this hope

Come on, come on, He knows your pain
Come on, come on, hold onto faith
Come on, come on, you're on your way
My friend, your struggle has an ending day

Ramblings

Now with Plurking, blogging seems to have taken a bit of a backseat - hence there's been less posts. It's definitely easier to type in one-liners rather than a paragraph or several paragraphs. Nevertheless, have no fear, I'm endeavoring to keep on posting from time to time.

Lots have been going on especially in the last week. Patches, our family dog died cos she was run over by a car just outside our house. It's been a little hard for us not to see her cheerful expectant face whenever we are in outside our house. I opted to sit outside the gate while waiting for my sis to pick me up cos it was just weird. The garden seems so empty without her.

Also, we had a bit of a scare - mum contracted a rather high fever that wouldn't go down and flu on Saturday. For a moment there, the doc said there was the possibility of her getting H1N1. She had just come back from a trip overseas - so it didn't seem impossible. Her fever has thankfully gone down and she's now up and about again.

I'm definitely in a much better frame of mind in the last few weeks. Despite the busyness of life (last week I had pastoral group duty, steward group duty, extra night class and extra TEE class to attend, a presentation due - all these on top of my usual workload), I'm glad to find that I'm still standing - something that I'm not taking for granted.

Other interesting stuff happened - with my second cousin (whom we are all very fond of) and it was good to hear from a friend I've lost contact with for a long time now(reminded me of the good ol' days of music jamming and just good fun).

This coming week's not going to much different from the last (except for the presentations and group duties). It's a crazy semester for me - lots to read and write within a short time. It seems that the for next few weeks, I'll be camping out in the library or being sequestered in my/lucy's room whenever I have no classes. I'll also try to drop in on some lecturers whom I've not been 'visiting' during my break. :)

Patches

I heard the news yesterday that our family dog of 8 years, Patches, was run over by a car. She has been our favourite dog because of she is super intelligent and is rather human-like behaviour. She will be greatly missed by our family. :(

Week 6!!!

Week six is officially over (in STM).. It's generally a crazy week for me!! I had been preparing for my presentation on Thurs for my counseling class. It consisted of preparing a ONE HOUR presentation of counseling youth in the issue of parental divorce and another hour of facilitating a case study(I have to do another one on depression in a few week's time *groan*)... An extra 3 hour class of Theology in Asia last nite and have a whole weekend of classes.

It's pretty much the same for me in the coming week - the only diff is I don't have a presentation. :p Have been doing much better overall, coping with things much better and am more or less out of my shell!! Am finally back on the track and am scrambling to catch up on a lot of things - but more doing a fast walk in order not to overdo and to strain myself too much. I look forward to my Sabbath this coming Monday - it'll be the first in the long time where I can really have a break - I'll definitely need it by then.

Quote of the day

Don’t have a dial-up connection with God when you can have broadband. The sad fact is that many of us operate on dial-up connection with Him when we can have a broadband connection.
- Dr Chew Tow Yow

The Medium Makes the Church

My friend, Channel C, highlighted this article in facebook and I thought that it's pretty good.

The Medium Makes the Church
by Meredith Whitmore

Excerpt:
Reflection vs. Formula
It's more than a little interesting to compare contemporary Christian books such as The Purpose Driven Life with the works of Edwards and his predecessors. I'm not criticizing Rick Warren or authors like him. But I do want to establish the typically massive difference in style, tone, vocabulary, intricacy of thought and even theology—between them and the older pieces.

Styles change, certainly. But such differences are deeper than mere preference. They seem to indicate that our very thought processes and concentration levels have changed over the centuries—and drastically over the past 50 years.

With today's American sermons usually clocking in at 30 minutes or less, how would modern churchgoers fare in Edwards' day of three-hour-or-longer services? (Or Nehemiah's and Ezra's day-long readings of biblical law?) And what accounts for our shift from theologically dense hymns and liturgies to more emotionally based praise choruses? How about worship services that include dance and even painting? Though Jesus captivated listeners for hours on hillsides sans microphone, backup singers and video screens, the prevailing fear among pastors now is that their churches—buoyed by hilarious skits, rock bands and audiovisual effects—will still be thought of as dull.

So what's caused these intellectual and spiritual shifts? Any number of sociological and technological factors, to be certain. But the biggest culprit is likely media; churches are competing with television, movies, cell phones, video games, concerts and the Internet for people's attention.

This isn't a positive thing. (Read more here)

Time

From: www.comics.com

A good weekend

It's been a rather hectic but great weekend - Irwin and Vanessa's wedding was on Sat and was worship leading on Sunday. Spent most of today re-organising stuff in my room - someone gave me a nice big desk and I had to assemble it with my dad (it was super heavy)!

My dad was in a pretty good mood and so I had a great time hanging out with him - when I was not at church. Also, my highlight was my tuaku (mum's oldest brother) came over on a visit on the way back to Melbourne. I used to live with him and his family for a couple of years while I was living there and it's been a long while since I saw him and my aunt. I really enjoyed the time I had with them both and it was really good to be with them again.

When I think of the stuff that's been going on the last few months, this weekend has been a really awesome one overall!

Be Thou Near To Me - by Selah

Oh Lord I come with heart here open
For in my hour of darkness I may be
Seeking the joy of love unspoken
Oh Lord, be Thou near to me

C:
And the holy voices sing “Hallelu!”
Ever will Thy reign be
As I wander through this life
Oh Lord, be Thou near to me

Though in this burden of my making
Yet in the shadows still a light I see
Maker whose love is not forsaking
Oh Lord, be Thou near to me

NT Scholar - first EFC Holy Communion @ STM chapel today

Today, my friend the nt scholar and newly ordained Reverend was the celebrant for Holy Communion at Chapel - it was the first time in EFC style. :) As usual, he looks super serious.. *grin

Quote on inner circles

"The people in the ring are loyal to the ring-not to the people in the ring" - Allen McClymont (Thurs Chapel - 2nd July 2009)

Lead Me To Calvary

My Current Favourite Hymn

Random

I cannot believe it.. Fourth week of final sem is starting... I bet it'll be another blur of a week... :p

Most memorable Holy Communion Service @ STM

Last Thursday(two days ago) was a pretty memorable Holy Communion Service. We had it in Presbyterian style - which meant that the elements would be distributed to the congregation.

Lucy was seated nearer the aisle and had a funny look on her face when the bread came to her. I saw the reason for her look when I looked into the small basket - the bread was flattened and had been cut into some weird shapes rather than the usual square-shaped bread. We both chalked it as leftovers as we were sitting almost at the last row.

Next was the grape juice. We were served with undiluted Ribena rather than the usual grape juice! Apparently the person who prepared the elements forgot to mix it together with water. Everyone was trying very hard not to laugh after drinking the juice - Holy Communion is usually a rather solemn and reverent moment after all. Unsurprisingly there was a lot of Ribena jokes going on that day. ;)

Quote on family

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. -Desmond Tutu

Sometimes our hearts get tangled
And our souls a little off-kilter
Friends and family can set us right
And help guide us back to the light.
~Sera Christann

In time of test, family is best. ~Burmese Proverb