Show me the Ancient Paths..

Amazing. I can't sleep tonight. I watched a VCD on Anastasia. Beautiful movie. I recall i watched it 3 times.. but i keep forgetting it.. so today it's like watching it all over again.

Then now i still can't sleep,.. k i'm worrying about tmrw.. something i still haven't done. But that aside.. i just reflected on this movie.. and praise the Lord for the thoughts that just flowed..

Firstly, i remember how i've watched it at least 3 times, but forget the story again and again. How many times do we forget God's story? Indeed, how many times we forget OUR own love story with GOD? or do we have any? Like what? Like... The first time we realised God loved us? When??? The first time we realised that we couldn't survive without GOD, when was that? THAT is our own love story with God..

This movie made me believe in a beautiful love that can last forever.

Oh well.. the reason I wanted to blog was really actually about this concept/theme of "The Ancient Paths". Up till now, the words didn't make any sense. But listening to one P&W song that I had.. it said:

"Show us the ancient paths, lead us along eternal highways, we want to walk in the ways of Jesus, we want to enter your rest... "

"Show us the ancient paths, lead us along eternal highways, we want to follow the footsteps of Jesus, we want to enter your land..."

That got me curious. What is "THE ANCIENT PATHS"? Some secret path that God has for us?

I then did a search on the internet and found this amazing article:
http://stardust.blognz.com/archives/005527.html

Man it just blows me away, this concept of Ancient Paths.

Think about it, when God created us, there was a path HE intended for us. But mankind has just veered away from it.

"Because My people have forgotten Me,
They have burned incense to worthless idols.
And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways,
From the ancient paths,
To walk in pathways and not on a highway,
To make their land desolate and a perpetual hissing;
Everyone who passes by it will be astonished
And shake his head."
Jeremiah 18:15-16

Jeremiah 6:13-16 (New International Version) 13
"From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.
14 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace.
15 Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct?
No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them," says the LORD.

16 This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'



After reading the article, I came across something the author said, which i share the same view: What then is necessary to set a course in the lives of Christian young people which results in their serving Jesus Christ all the days of their lives?

Indeed.. I find myself questioning myself every single day. Every single minute. WHY am I almost out of my mind? Have I gone crazy? This passion to do stuff for God, aka serve, aka do church-y stuff.. Who would understand? It doesn't mean i'm gonna be a nun... why can't people understand? That deep desire to see people come to know GOD! KNOW HIM FOR YOURSELF!

I don't know what has made me so broken to seek God in such a deep way. So far, nothing so 'terrible' has happened in my life. But I know. I just know. The path God has led me.. to seek Him.. to know Him.. and i desire to see more people taking a path towards God...

Indeed, perhaps, I have to do it even more loudly. Boldly. Trying best. But my suffering comes from the feeling that these efforts may be a result of over-spiritual hype.. covering up daily problems with a coat of spirituality. The fear of being a hypocrite in God's eyes. But then, reading Romans 8.. I am even more convinced that there is NO CONDEMNATION in those who love the Lord. Not to say we are without sin. But there is nothing which can stand against us if God is for us. Well.. that's another concept. Read Romans 8. WHOLE Loads of promises in there...http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?go=Go&q=Romans+6-8

Life in the Spirit
8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [6] 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you [7] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, [8] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Heirs with Christ
12 So then, brothers, [9] we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons [10] of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ?Abba! Father!? 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs?heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Future Glory
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because [11] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, [12] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
God's Everlasting Love
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be [13] against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died?more than that, who was raised?who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [14] 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
?For your sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.?
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My brain is 60% female! hmm!

Your Brain is 60.00% Female, 40.00% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

HAHAHA, what does wear your heart on your sleeve mean???

Godly Rewards? Are there any? This inspires me.

Godly Rewards
TGIF Today God Is First, by Os Hillman

You have said, "It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out His requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape." - Malachi 3:14-15

Have you ever felt that serving God had little reward and the ungodly seemed actually to be more blessed than you? This is what the people of God felt. God heard their cry and responded through the prophet Malachi to explain God's view on this matter.

Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name. "They will be Mine," says the Lord Almighty, "in the day when I take up My treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not" (Malachi 3:16-18).

Notice that after the people complained about this, they began to talk to each other, and the Lord listened and heard. God had been taking note of those who were serving Him and honoring Him. There is a day coming in which God will honor His "treasured possessions." We will see that there is a distinction between the righteous and the wicked on that day when "the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall" (Mal. 4:2). What a beautiful picture of what we will feel like on that day.

God rewards faithful obedience. It often requires patience, suffering, and perseverance. Be of good cheer; He will reward you if you faint not.

--------------------
Sam - MALACHI 3:14-15. My pleas to God for so long.. it's comforting knowing that it was in the bible too.

MSU 2006: I know a star there!

Check this out! Ju is there! My sis has found her way to Miss Singapore! Vote for her when the voting opens!!! As for everyone out there.. don't be shocked! Be amazed! This gal has got guts and I'm just utterly dumbfounded.. but glad for her! Vote vote!!!

http://ch5.mediacorptv.com/wassup/hotpicks/view/619/1/.html

Voting will be up soon and 8 Days will be out soon!

Spoof of Brokeback Mountain

For those of my friends who 'didnt't or wouldn't like the movie.. hehe... Now isn't this like a kinda "bubbly"back sheep.. haha



And well.. the movie was just Sad!!!! No more comments..

Saber & the Invisible Sword!

Rantings:

If you ask me what is a cool girl... i'd say -- SABER! from the anime called 'Fate/Stay Night'. Ok i haven't watched enough of the anime to tell you what SABER is really like.. but all i can say is she's the most powerful and carries an invisible sword... which leads me to think.. (read next)


Reflections:

Okay as you might know, I like to relate everything to God. And amazingly, I have found that everything and anything can be RE-told in a way that glorifies God. And so for example Saber's invisible sword - isn't it JUST LIKE the WORD OF GOD? The word of God is a spiritual sword (not literal, but 'invisible') that we use in fighting things like temptations, sin, and negative thoughts... "For the Word of God is quick, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." (Hebrews 4:12). Haha.. trust me to think of it this way.


To-dos:

Meanwhile.. once again i come to the list of things to do.. they're amazingly overwhelming this week...
- Read the pile of stuff i have on my desk - piling up
- try out daddy's guitar chord book of more advanced chords
- get that diet going
- get the Sun morning driving and cooking going..
- Sleep earlier, drink more water, eat more fruits.. the list of health concerns goes on
- enquire about golf and begin planning for lessons for 3 of us: Me, pauline, ruby (not to mention that we're all rather busy people)
- do up the saccre youth card & website
- olps e-newsletter which i seem all so wacked up about..
- at work: figure out how to be more assertive
- at work again: figure out how to be more efficient.. geesh!
- at work once again: be more diligent!!! show some results!!! JEESE! I'm pissed that I seem so normal. Then again.. is that ok or what? I freek out at the thought that people can get fired at anytime.. and that's a constant fear. DO i simply need more reassurance? ;)
- yam website.. one of my last on the list of to-dos for now.
- Oh wait - last is probably wakeboarding.. the forever wanted to do but still haven't gone.

Now there.. the only way through this all is a healthy mind, healthy body, and healthy spirit!

Now then.. God help me..

Discipline

Today, I learnt something at the string quartet practice - the first gathering of the year of olps orchestra. I learnt about ---- discipline.

I had been playing the same song "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" by Mozart, for the past 4 years at NTU and today, we played it yet again. In my mind i go -- darn... we're not trying anything new after all. And .. i play - almost half-heartedly; almost carelessly; almost proudly, thinking that I know it all.

And yet, after jamming on my violin, samuel our conductor stops us and makes us play pair by pair (1st & 2nd violin) and (3rd violin & cello) and then makes me play with the different parts and listen to them. AND I REALISE - that there's always something new. And that there's always the fact of LISTENING.

Perhaps in life, we all do the things we do -- for years, till we think we know it all. And then when a new conductor comes into play, we think we know it all still. But the new conductor brings change and demands discipline, and we can't afford to do it haphazardly or proudly anymore. We'd have to bow down and listen to this new conductor and start to follow in obedience. So that the whole orchestra can play in unison. For the sake of good music.

This is what I experienced today. Discipline. In playing the same old part that I've played for the last many years.. today, I had to play it bar by bar - scrutinising each section and each note - playing it for what it should really be played like.

And i think - this discpline is gruelling. But then again - it sounds just like God coming into my life and changing me and making me go through the little parts of my life bit by bit.. thrashing it out and taking a real close look at the little bars and notes and the expressions that should come along with them.

IN a way, I look forward to great music at the end of this all. But I realise that God is a detailed and thorough God and does not let us sweep things under the carpet!

YIKES! God help me. I know I tend to escape. But where can I go from your presence?

It is this absolute knowledge ----> that I can't flee anywhere else from God's calling and presence --->that compels me to ministry and service to God. So call me a "holy" person, or "pious" or whatever. I know what I must do. I have to persevere and do what God calls me to do.

My Crazy Stunt in 2003

A crazy thing I did in 2003.... Type out a whole book by George Verwer.

Though it's not a thick book, i still wonder how I ever managed to do it! But i thought it was the most compelling book ever written about christianity and our mission of Love... how we are all revolutionaries of Love, like Jesus was. I was in campus crusade at NTU then.. and so fired up. I think the fire from then has still lasted till today. I thank God for giving me this great desire to be some sort of 'revolutionary' in my own way.

Now then, with today being my 24th birthday, I pray that I may continue to Live in His Grace, walk in His Power, and Learn how to Love. Amen!

courtesy of my colleagues.. how sweet!

The title - "The Real Revolution - Come! Live! Die!" You can check it out & download here [Split into 4 parts]:
GeorgeVerwer1
GeorgeVerwer2
GeorgeVerwer3
GeorgeVerwer4

How am I unique? Think Sam...!!!

Came across this and it made me think...

1. How are you unique?
God created me. I'm a great listener. I seek to understand people and I'm quite bad at suanning haha. I am unique coz.... I find that no one else has the same dreams as me - aka. only I have my dreams... that I am going fulfill in my life. My dreams? to Serve God with all my heart, my soul, my mind, and my body.. It's amazing, thrilling, and yet frustrating as well. I'm unique coz i'm real. I'm not afraid of showing my weakness. Yet i can be afraid to face up to things and actively manage change...and that is probably my weakness.

2. What are three things that make you memorable?
Being the gal who plays violin, the classical boring gal who's a mystery, the nice one who smiles a lot. Or the born-again..

Hmm.. i dunno if there's more?

3. What are the special talents that you are genetically coded to do? What have you been good at since you were a kid?
Art, smiling, being happy, sunshine, simple things.. making others happy.. doing little things for people makes me happy, caring for the lost and those whom people "miss" out...

Sidethought: But it seems as we grow older we become cynical and ironically, more fearful. We stop caring and stop being sweet because we hold grudges, or are afraid of the other person's reactions. Why am I even afraid to be nice? But if i were to get out of this fear - i'd be the true me - the person God made me to be. I hope i get back there again. THAT is freedom.

4. What do people always compliment you on?
Clothes (only certain ones); That I had lost weight? if not, no comments; Earrings (man now my ears have become sensitive to most of my earrings..darn...); Great ideas....

Hmm compliments don't come very often. Its no wonder one sometimes feels sad or lonely, or disappointed. isn't it?

5. What do you love or never grow tired of talking about in your personal life? Or when you are asked about your work?
God. The meaning of life. Anime. Dreams. Childhood. Philosophy. Music (what i can do with it).

Corporate Blogging

OH DEAR! I'm now going to do corporate blogging.. on?

Shared Services.

Check it out! http://ssonblog.blogspot.com

In all your ways acknowledge Him

Quoting from Os Hillman:

God is filled with paradoxes. Why can't life be seamless and smooth? Because God likes to show Himself in the midst of the messes of life. This is what brings us into the harvests. So often the bigger the mess, the bigger the harvest.

When a major road-construction project takes place in a crowded city street, it appears to be absolute chaos. It is inconvenient, slow-moving and tends to get us irritated because it appears we are moving much slower than we would like. It is ugly, and so much of what we see is torn up. But when we look at that same area a few months or years later, we see why the construction was necessary. There was meaning to the mess. It actually made life so much better for those who would use the road.

It has been through the messiest of times in my business and personal life that God has revealed His power and strength in my life. It was when these "oxen" of hardship have walked into my manger that the greatest harvest was manifest. However, when I have sought to remove the "oxen" and rid myself of the odor and the mess, I have fought the ultimate work of God.

With this, I realise that if Life were perfect, there's be no space for God. We won't need God. We'll be self-sufficient.

If Life were exactly the way we wanted - we won't need heaven. We'd be happy here and now.

I sound like I'm in a mess - but truth is - I'm happy - coz i know God can work in my life. So I just have to Trust in Him.


"Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil...."

Proverbs 3:5-7