there’s no pretense.

If God is for you, who can be against you?
If God is against you, it wouldn’t count for anything if the whole world is behind your back.

But it would mean nothing if I have none.
And the whole world is just me.
and
the you.
and the dreams,
we believe,
really do come true.

I just got back from Thailand last Sunday morning. Battleking was alright this time, even a little fun. At least the weather wasn’t as hot as it was during February.

This is not the purpose of this post though. The purpose of this is well, below.

Salvation to me
is the start of a brand new chapter in my life. It is the beginning of a relationship that lasts forever.

Salvation to me
is knowing that my life is in His control. It’s the assurance that no matter what happens today or tomorrow, good or bad, is part of a greater plan that will not fail, because He does not fail.

Salvation to me
is a gift. It’s not earned by works or words. Neither is it by offerings or sacrifices. By grace we are saved.

Salvation to me
is about second chances, and third chances, and fourth chances, no matter how many times I need will them.

Salvation to me
means that I am no longer living for myself, but for a higher purpose and being.

Salvation to me
is my reason for trying to be a better person, day by day, believing that a good tree bears good fruit.

Salvation to me
is acknowledging that He is Lord, and He has the final say.

Salvation to me
is my confidence that come what may, a little mustard seed of faith will move mountains.

Salvation to me
is having received so that I can give, being loved so that I can love, made whole so that I can help, and being blessed so that I can bless. It is the giving to others of what I have received from it.

Salvation to me
means that I’m never alone. It is having a friend to share your weal and woe with.

Salvation to me
is precious and it teaches me to be thankful that though freely given, is not permanent and not to be taken for granted. It is not cheap grace.

Salvation to me
is basically knowing that He loves me. (:

I was just praying the other day, when it suddenly struck me. I’ve been in church for more than 3 years already. It seemed so long ago, but at the same time it feels like it was just yesterday I first stepped into the Jurong West (JW) auditorium.

I remember that first day. It was 26 November. I reached JW and the first thing I thought when I saw the church building was WOW. And when I stepped into the auditorium, it was double WOW. The second time I went back, I gave my heart to Jesus. That was 3 December.

How time flew. It’s been three years. I’ve learnt so much, gained so much, matured so much. Here I am now. I’m still in church. I’m still, very much in love with Him. I thank God for His love through this past three years. When I was unfaithful, He remained faithful. When I doubted, He believed. When I swayed, He was my solid rock. When I was at my lowest point, He was there to lift me up. I look forward to another wonderful year with You Lord. (:

Your love has seen me through all my days,
I stand here by Your grace.
Praises will not be enough to show,
How my love for You has grown.
Nothing matters when You’re here with me.
In the end just to hear You say ‘well done’.

My greatest honour will always be,
To serve my Lord and King.

I stole this story from Deadly Viper who stole it from Phil.

–

Often times, our point of view says more about us than it does the circumstance upon which we are commenting..

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside. “That laundry is not very clean”, she said. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.”

Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.
About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her that.”

The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”
–
Matthew 7:3-5

“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Asia Conference was a blast. I’m thankful that I was able to make it for all the night and weekend sessions, though I’m really disappointed that I missed all the electives. Honestly speaking, I wouldn’t say AC was better than Emerge, but it definitely had more meat, more substance. Emerge is a lot of campus ministry and taking your school for God, but AC is more of life transformation, and really living your life right before God. I look forward to Emerge next year, and I definitely look for to AC 2010. ( My ORD year! )

Christmas is coming in 14 days. I’ve been looking forward to this day for quite some time. Christmas always feels special to me. Maybe it’s because it’s the day we celebrate Jesus’s birth. Maybe it’s because it’s the festival everybody in the world celebrates, regardless of religion. But for me it’s definitely because it’s the time of forgetting and forgiving whatever that has happened in the past 12 months. The time of fresh beginnings, re-dedications, and of course new resolutions. Christmas always brings about a sense of warmth, joy and happiness every time I think about it. (:

The year 2008 is coming to an end, and 2009 is inching closer and closer by the minute. So what have I done that’s worth remembering or doing again? What has happened that I should learn from or that should never happen again?

I’ll go think about it. (:

Let’s take off our masks and start walking the fine line. Let’s choose to take the long and narrow path.

What if one day you woke up and realised you lost everything?

Love. Family. Friends. Money. Belongings. Feelings. Memories. Thoughts. Senses. Mind. Sanity.

You forget how to talk, how to smile, how to frown, how to feel sad, how to feel joy.

You get another chance at life. Start everything all over again, from scratch.

Learn everything all over again. Experience everything all over again.

Will you do things differently? Or will you lead your life the same way as you are now?

How will you feel? Happy? Or sad?

I know I’ll be upset to lose everything, but I know I won’t be sad if I get to start over again.

:/

I fall humbly on my knees, take this offering that I bring, take my hand and lead me through. My life’s nothing without You. You are my sustaining love.

The cell’s going to multiply soon. End of October to be exact. I’m going to miss the people. Time flies. I’ve been in the cell for almost 3 years. How army just seem to drain away the time spent with the cell. Seems that we’ve all ‘grown up’, entered into another stage of our lives. NS, university. I hope I can attend cell group at least once before we split. (:

The next two weeks’ going to be rather good. Off’s coupled with a public holiday, but I digress.