Love Story - Re-arrangement

A rearrangement of the song Love Story (by Taylor Swift) by an unsigned recording artist, Jon Schmidt. Sent to me by Ale.

I love the music and the piano. You can see the passion flowing out from the musician and how they're just having a blast playing it. I wish I have that gift. To make music.

Vege Fast

It didn't take long to get used to the constant hunger my tummy was triggering with the absence of meat. The trouble was more towards a disciplinary life of prayer and devotion. Without the one-eye-monster to haunt me, the choice became simpler. Another constant temptation was the delicious looking meat in every chap-fan stall. It's been 10days of vegetables and an obvious choice of ham-cha (a hakka vegetarian dish) for lunch.

I've lost 1+kg (didnt know meat made so much difference in weight) and I've gotten more things done then if I had continued watching tv. (I've gotta remind myself that) But what mattered to me more was my changing of perspectives over certain areas of my life. It was way over-dued. And it was a matter of the mind.

Here's to a greater year ahead...!

Ablaze Prayer and Fasting

AG Churches in Malaysia are rising up to the call to pray and fast for lives to be impacted and the nation transformed. The young and the old have taken the challenge to fast and join this prayer movement.

So have I. And praying for a breakthrough... are you? We need God more than ever.

More information on Aspirers Blog.

Leadership

Practical People know how to get what they want.

Philosophers know what they ought to want

Leaders know how to get what they ought to want.

- Developing the Leader within You, John Maxwell, chp2. pg19.

Making A Difference

There comes a point of time where you look back and wonder what you've done with your life. Success holds different meanings for different people. But every one of us want to have a meaningful life. We all want to have done something to make a dent in the world as we know it. The biggest question is: Can we really make a difference?

Back in my college days, the CF had a theme: "Are you Making A Difference?" or as we fondly put it "Are you MAD?" The question was: Are you really gonna do it? I think the days when you were in college (that age), you really believe you can change the world. Universities students are always the ones rallying protests, gathering petitions, going green and so on. They believe they can change the world. But 10 years down the road, don't you wish you're doing something about it? Don't you wish you had the opportunity to? Maybe you no longer believe it can be done.

I've always wanted to make a difference...
I've so often talked about it to my youths...
I couldn't figure out how else to make a difference...
I almost let the mundane sweep over me...

I was watching Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food (again). He was trying to make a difference in young lives by: picking kids of the streets, by teaching ppl to cook and eat healthy and then pass it on, by empowering his team to work alongside him, by starting a revolution to start a new culture of eating healthy. It is a 'larger than life' dream.

I'm starting a list on my sidebar about people who are MAD (making a difference) by chasing a dream that is larger than life. Perhaps at one time people thought that mad. Jamie Oliver is new on the list.

• Oprah Winfrey for making her talk show more than just a talk show, influencing millions by giving and challenging, fighting and supporting a cause, and empowering people. In her latest Best Life Weight Loss Challenge where she challenged the town in America which has the highest statistics of overweight people to want to live healthily.
  
• Bill Hybels brought GLS to nations around the world and believing that leadership (especially in churches) needs to be raised. The vision was simple, the task daunting. GLS saw inspiring speakers like Catherine Rohr (with her Prison Entrepreneurship Program and giving a chance for a life to convicted fellons), Gary Haugen (with Internation Justice Mission who fought for justice around the globe although it threatens their lives), Jimmy Carter (with the Habitat for Humanity where they built homes for underpriviledge people).
• Jamie Oliver who took kids out of the street and gave them a chance for living. It wasn't just about learning how to cook, it's a revolution that empowered people.
  

I've always wanted to make a difference in my life. And I meant something larger than life. It's not just about building a strong youth group. It's about something way bigger, way more. It's about a culture, a revolution, an opportunity. It's a dream. It could make a difference.

Should I share it with my youth? I'm afraid I will fail. Afraid I'd stumble and let people down. But what if sharing it is the one thing that will motivate and bring meaning? Will it make a difference?

Wolverine

I was prompted to re-watch the first two X-Men after the much talked about Wolverine. I loved that show. And it was for that very reason that I pulled out the old DVD. In my mind, the story should match perfectly, as any good story should.

However, as I re-watched them, I found a few inconsistency (as I suppose would be natural). Anyhow, these are what I discovered:

• Sabretooth (in X-men1) showed little resemblance in appearance, personality and character to Victor Logan, brother of Wolverine. Neither was there recorded any tension between the two men of vengeful brotherhood or arch enemy.
  
• In one of Wolverine's flashback (in X-men2), he saw himself escaping the laboratory naked, with his adamantium blades protruding and blood spilling all over his arms and body, while he screamed in agony. If Wolverine has had bone claws all his life, adamantium claws would not have such an effect on him.
  
• In X-men2, Stryker (the military scientist from Wolverine's past) said, 'you've always been an animal, I only gave you claws'. Wolverine has always had claws, what Stryker did was to make him indestructable. This idea of receiving his claws only during the adamantium experiment was seen throughout X-men2.
  

By now, you're thinking I'm way to free to be thinking all these things. Actually I'm not that free. But this occured to me. Thinking about it didn't take time. Blogging about it did.

Reading Assignments

This is my first official semester (or trimester as it is called). I'm taking 3 subjects and my reading assignments are more than I've ever imagined possible.


No, of course not all those books. These were some of the books displayed during one of my classes. And I don't intend to read any non required books. This trimester I have a total of 6books and a bunch of articles and partial books to finish. (I guess I'm definitely going to need that extension with the speed I'm reading) One of the challenge was to source for the books. These are but a few that I now have.


My favorite book, however, is the penguin book. The pages are few, the font is huge, there are pictures in it and it's like a children's tale containing lessons. (like a parable packed with truths)


Well, at least I'll perhaps learn to speed read out of this. And of course learn from all the things I read. Nothing like being forced to read.

Updates

Every now and again I'm tempted to be lazy and not update. But then either out of OCD-ness or the memory of one of the purposes of this blog (archives for future reference), I find myself here. Don't ask.

Brought a bunch of youth up for BCM Day on May 1st (a food and funfair day to raise fund for BCM annually) of which I need to play a part as a student there. =) The heat was insane and for some unanswerable reason I found myself sunburned at the end of the day. (I wasn't even under the sun, was I?)


I find myself being hassled to one of the many stalls to assist. The stall sold awesome Rendang and curry which we manage to finish selling! Brought me back to the days when Agape was holding fund-raiser fairs every year, where we, the teens then, fought to help out at the burger and hot dog stall. Those were the days, my friend.


The very next day, the scenario changed completely. The heat did not. So clad in dresses and tie, the youth took over a favourite restaurant in town. The sweltering heat plastered our pressed shirts and dresses to our bodies, not at all fancy. But it was our 26th ANNIVERSARY and we'd let nothing spoil it. Even if the sun was cooking us, and we had dinner at 5pm!


Everyone was simply beautiful and I wish I stopped to take some photographs of everyone. As usual I had the jitter bugs and could barely sit still or stop worrying. Not like there's much to worry about. The group had evolved and grew so much that it was still a good celebration even though we forgot to bring out the cake.


I hope the rest of the Anniversary pictures and video would come out soon for linking and archiving purposes. I'm a nerd like that.

Pictures courtesy of Lynne and DavKok. I failed to take any on my own, remember?

But by the grace of God

Do you believe that you can shelf everything in your heart
To busy yourself in the requirements of everyday
Responsibility is a science, deception is an art
Perhaps you never have to face what your heart wants to say

Men fear what the future holds and that which is unknown
Men scurry to take control of which he has none
We will reap what we have sown
To deny that it's all in the hands of the Son

You can run but you can't hide
Ignorance is bliss but it isn't safe
Don't even try to beat the rising tide
Your heart explodes and your world begins to cave

Oh God, You are my only
There's nothing certain under the sun but You
I know that I am not my own property
But it's hard to accept it as true

How can I throw caution to the wind
"Step out of the boat and just believe"
Against You I have greatly sinned
But Your grace I freely receive

Fear engulfs me whole
Of the things You've set before my path
Heal my heart and rescue my soul
Take me out of this dark shaft

By Your grace alone I still stand
By Your love alone I still am
Need I still Your guiding hand
Need I still Your providential ram

This is a story that will never end
I can't stand alone, I know thus far
I know what's around the bend
Didn't want to be the one setting the bar

God!