I don’t know why exactly I’m fascinated with bread vans of obscure brands. Every morning if I leave at a certain time, I would encounter one of these bread vans on the road.

A strange sense of nostalgia would snuck up to my heart when I see those weather-beatened vans with faint letterings bearing names like, “Roti Sedap” (Delicious Bread) or Kuih Baulu (a traditional Malay cake).

I mean, who in the city consumes brands like these nowadays? It’s really strange to see such bread vans almost everyday when I don’t encounter them in the supermarket aisles. Even when I do go to the sundry shop, those brands are not to be seen.

Gone were the days when the bread man would come down the street where I live. Man, I still remember how good and delicious all those ‘Bengali’ bread used to taste like. I especially love the ‘Roti Manis’ (sweet bread). Now that’s so good, you can even eat it on its own. I have to be honest, I never could eat Gardenia on its own. So in my opinion, its famous tag line rightly belongs to the one and only Roti Manis.

Maybe one day if I should ever come across Roti Sedap, I’ll give it a try. It’ll be sad if they come to the same fate as the bread man of days of yore.

Since the [url=http://www.sprint.com.my/penchala.html]Penchala Link[/url] was opened for public use, the traffic on the Sprint highway have decreased and I can now wake up after 7am! Hurray!

My dad doesn’t realise this – haven’t explained to him why I’m waking up later and later these days. But the best part is, he’s cool about it. He used to be easily agitated whenever he thinks I overslept but now, it seems that he trusts that I am doing the right thing. He’s even cool about me going for mission in Nepal. The past few months have wonderful with him, and we are going to honour and celebrate his birthday this Sat.

Let the good times roll!

Have a listen to [url=http://www.independentbands.com/realaudio/ourgodofwonders_volume1_lordoverallsonicflood.ram]Lord Over All[/url] by Sonicflood.

Get the lyrics [url=http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/s/sonicflood9818/lordoverall323079.html]here.[/url]

It’s simply awesome.

Recently, our church has been sending missionaries and church members have relocated to some foreign lands. Every one of them covets our prayers. I believe that just praying, “God, please bless him, her and them in every way, amen,” is grossly insufficient.

This article provides a good guide on how to pray effectively for our missionary friends:
[url=http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/1229/28521" target=_blank]How to Pray for Missionaries[/url].

And if you come across scriptures that you sense will bless them, you can pray those scriptures over them. Better still, share with them those scriptures if you have the opportunity to. You never know when it will make all the difference when they are on the verge of giving up due to immense challenges.

I was reminded in fresh new way when I read a few sentences from a book about the importance of feeding on God’s Word.

It was a wonderful moment when I realised that some of my head knowledge has finally made it to my heart.

It helped that for the past two weeks, I have not been watching DVDs nor VCDs. Most of my time was spent with people who love God and who are serving in the ministries that I am in. All these wholesome input around me was a great boost to my spirit man.

And after attending the Personal Healing and Wholeness seminar last weekend, I was equipped with an effective framework and biblical principles to help set me free from struggles in my Christian walk. More often than not, healing is a process rather than a miraculous one-time thing.

After applying those principles in areas of my life that were still in my control rather than Christ’s, I felt cleansed from within. With some of the bad stuff gone from my heart, and no worldly DVDs to feed my mind and spirit, I began to feed on God’s Word with a renewed hunger.

My struggles (in principle) are found in [url=http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?passage=romans+7%3A15-25&search=&version=NIV&language=english&optional.x=7&optional.y=6]Romans 7:15-25[/url] and if I were to live a victorious Christian life, then it made sense for me to feed on God’s Word constantly and be very careful in guarding my heart against bad and unwholesome input.

Yes, these are age-old principles but now, they are taking on a new dimension as my spirit is renewed, rejuvenated and cleansed by the power of God’s Word.

It is very sadly true that the longest distance is from one’s head to one’s heart. Let it not be the case any longer. We need to be concerned when we stop having passion for the things of God and having compassion for others. For these are symptoms that emerge when we feed ourselves with the wrong things. Continue Reading »

Motherhood is not something that I look forward to with bated breath. It’s more like something to be endured rather than a joyous phase in life. Perhaps it’s because I’m influenced by the mothers I see around me.

A case in point: I would see harried and haggard-looking mothers with screaming kids in tow and thank God that I’m not in their shoes. They do not look joyful to me. It’s more like, “It’s a natural phase in life, we are stuck to each other so let’s get on with it and hope it works out well in the end.”

On the other hand, I recently encountered a mother who is joyful, vibrant and has three lovely kids. She makes motherhood seem like a breeze and an exciting chapter in her life. She’s Foong Ling, my mission team leader’s wife whose children accompanied us to the clinic for our anti-tetanus jabs.

Her tips for success in raising well-disciplined children? “Being firm and make sure you carry out what you promised to do – be it in rewards or punishment,” she says.

I was particularly impressed with the children’s attitude of not wasting their food. I noticed that they made sure they finish every single morsel of food on their plates. Foong Ling shares the secret behind this, “If they refuse to finish up their food, they would go hungry before their next main meal as I do not give them in-between meal snacks. So they learn pretty quickly that it’s a bad idea to waste food.”

But then again, it’s not sunshine all the time. “My son would sometimes ask why are mothers more strict than fathers,” sighs Foong Ling.

I replied that I guess someone has to be the bad guy to say ‘No’ in the family. In my case, my dad was the disciplinarian in the family. I’m sure that no children appreciates being disciplined at the time it was meted out, but the people around them would definitely notice it and appreciate the fruits of their parents’ labour.

Being part of her family for one evening had left a very positive effect on me. That motherhood is not something to be dreaded after all. That it can be a very rewarding experience especially when your children grows up to be responsible and caring. And if they turn out to be bad and rebellious despite all that you have done for them? Well, I’ll cross the bridge when I get to it.

The Healing and Deliverance workshop conducted by Mr. Ho-Tan was a real eye-opener. HK and I attended the first of the two-day session today. We are reminded of the major reason behind why most people who made a decision to be Christians end up abandoning the faith. It happens when sanctification does not follow the salvation decision.

Acknowledgment of the Lordship of Christ in the head does not make one a believer. Real salvation happens when one’s spirit acknowledges and worships Christ as Lord. The experience is akin to “just knowing that I belong to Him deep, deep down in my heart.” It also includes the cleansing process of all that is not right in us.

1 John 1:9 says,”If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

When we ask for forgiveness and repent of our sins when we said the sinner’s prayer, God forgives us. But if we do not take the next step of allowing Him to purify us from all unrighteousness, we cannot move on in our Christian life and it would be so easy for us to backslide.

Mr. Ho-Tan shared a testimony by the British ministry team who helped Jackie Pullinger with her work in Hong Kong. They went to a room filled with drug addicts and prostitutes who wanted to be ministered to. Now, these folks could only understand Cantonese and the British team could only communicate in English. Did this pose a problem? Not at all!

The British ministry team members prayed over a prostitute in English and after a while, she suddenly broke out in tongues and started to praise and worship God. Incredible, isn’t it? The communication to one’s spirit transcends all language barriers.

We also learned many more stuff and there’ll be more to come tomorrow. Can hardly wait!

With regards to shoe shine, of late I have been despairing over the state of my work shoes -they looked really dull. Today as I pondered over them, I suddenly saw a quick-fix shoe-shine located on the same shoe rack. It was there all along but I never seemed to see it. I soon put it to good use. In a few moments, all my shoes were shining in their glory and seeing them like that made me feel so good. Now why haven’t I done that before??

Lord, please open my eyes to see the things lying around me that I need to use. I’m just thankful that the quick-shine has not expired yet. I think I bought it nearly two years ago!

Crash, boom, bang!

I was startled by the noise that suddenly invaded the peace and quiet that surrounded me.

Mike, my colleague, jumped from his seat at that point and we stared at each other.

“Boy, that was loud,” I commented.

“Did you hear the commotion and banging that went on all morning?” he asked me.

I shook my head, “Nope, I didn’t notice.”

Mike flung his hands in disbelief at me. “Arrghh, I don’t believe this! This is not the first time you’ve not noticed the awful din that has been going around these past few days. You must have a knack for zoning out noise!”

Some of my colleagues looked at our direction in curiousity and we all had a good laugh over it.

I suppose when one has grown up in a household filled with noise and shouting, one gets trained to block off unsavoury noises. In my household we all talk at the top of our voices, eager to be heard for the loudest noise will command the most attention.

Guess after all these years, I’m seeing its benefits ;)

I received a very encouraging and personal letter from Kat yesterday morning. It meant a lot to me as I read it in the office where the atmosphere is directly affected by one of the bosses’ moods.

When she sms-ed me to tell me that she will be bringing the famous Klang nasi lemak to cell meeting today, I remembered that I forgot to thank her for her kind and lovely words yesterday.

As I typed my heartfelt thanks to my loving friend, tears began to surface as her words just touched my heart over and over again. I did not realise that her words would affect me so much. They were a message of affirmation and acceptance. Even I type to share this on my blog, the tears keep on coming bringing healing to areas in my soul which needed encouragement.

A lot of times I would tell my Father in heaven of how much I appreciate Him but could He send some friends with skin on to encourage me when I most needed it? I believe that He heard my prayers and even when I did not realise that I needed to hear it, He sends close friends like Kat to remind me that He loves me.

God bless you, Kat :)

Had a slight fever yesterday night. This and the sore arm are reactions against the anti-tetanus jab. I slept as soon as I got home without having dinner, and I woke up this morning still feeling that I needed more sleep!

I used to console myself whenever I am sleep-deprived that I would get all the rest I want in heaven. But after learning that in heaven, we shall rule and reign with Christ, I soon chuck that consoling thought out of the window.

However, there’s still one thought of heaven that I find much comfort in. That there will be no more tears there. But as long as we live on earth, pain and suffering is very much part and parcel of our lives.

I wanted to understand the pain that some parents go through when their offspring rebel against them despite all the love that they have received while growing up. So I am currently reading this book entitled [url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0800786920/coolcatalystc-20]Parents With Broken Hearts[/url]. To my surprise, I could identify with some of the pain listed in this book.

For example, a parent may be lining up at a check-out counter in the mall when she notices the young man who is manning the cash register. Immediately, the parent recalls that her son used to work as a cashier in that very same mall, and now she has no idea where her son is, nor when he would ever come back home.

That sounds a bit like what I go through every now and then. I would be walking around, minding my own business when suddenly I see someone or something that reminds me of an ex-boyfriend and the fact that the friendship did not survive the ending of the romance.

I guess pain and suffering is universal – just experienced in varying degrees and depths. In this particular suffering of being reminded of the loss of someone dear to us, it will help a lot to realise two things:

1. It won’t go away so soon, in fact it may never cease to torment us
2. We have a choice of succumbing to the trap of self-pity or to resist, resist, resist

If we start to entertain thoughts of self-pity and what-ifs, we would be robbing ourselves of the joy of living today, with the people whom God has placed into our present lives.

So live life to the fullest and when negative thoughts threaten to assail you, to resist, resist, resist!