Life Of Excellence

My favourite guest speaker -- Dr A.R.Bernard is here to preach again! The revelation that God has given him is always so prospective and powerful and deep...we are so so blessed to have him again with us! :DD

Considering if I should get this DVD, either for me or for mum & dad, and maybe a mp3 sermon for Christina too? Oh well...thinking only... :P

Holy Spirit (26/01/07)

Acts 9:31

"Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord."

Note:

1. living in the fear of the Lord -- refer to our daily lives living in constant awareness and consciousness of the Lord.
2. strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit -- refer to Holy Spirit being our present administrator of the plan of God.

In Luke 4:18, Jesus calles to the Holy Spirit to fall upon him:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed..."

Jesus has shown himself in many ways before he leaves.

The 12 apostles follow Jesus, a man they are puzzled about, for 3.5 years

• they saw Jesus perform the miracle works of God that they have never seen before
• they probably be thinking: "Who is this man that prevail himself as God?"
• they live with him, dine with him, travel with him
• YET they still don't understand what they see
• because what they see is only the physical!

How do I made transition from tangible to someone you cannot see or touch anymore?

Acts 1:6

"So when they met together, they asked him, 'Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?'"

• The disciples are still asking the same question: Will Jesus restore Israel?
• They still don't understand the kingdom of God & God's revelation.
• Jesus tells them that they will be witnesses & receive God's power ONLY when Holy Spirit comes upon them.
• Witness is someone whose story is so powerful and compelling that he will be put to questions and prosecution because of how convincing their stories can become.
• Hence, when you have transited, you will go into the culture NOT because you have the power but because you REPRESENT the power from God!
• Eg. When we pray, we always end off with asking "in the name of Jesus". This is because we are asking through the Holy Spirit as a representative of Christ.

John is loved most (the Gospel of John) as he is able to see beyond the physical.

When Jesus asked Peter of his identity, Peter recognised Jesus as the son of the living God while other apostles recognise him as prophets or Elijah.

• Flesh and blood does not reveal what Peter has spoken about the identity of Jesus as being the son of the living God...so who else?
• It must be from the Holy Spirit!
• And Jesus STERNLY warn them not to tell anyone about this. Why so?

When Jesus appears together with Moses and Elijah (whose deaths are still mysteries) on his sides, and his clothes become illuminated, the 3 disciples are shocked.

• God cannot reveal certain things to us because of how we react might be totally opposite and in the wrong way.
• And again Jesus STERNLY warn the 3 disciples not to tell anyone about this.
• Because if they tell now, they would not have the right and articulate way to represent Him.
• Represent Him only when the Holy Spirit comes or otherwise you may make serious mistakes!

We don't go to people to be religious and simply tell them to live like us.

• What we are supposed to do is to let them see the transformation in us, in which how we are changed to become a better person!
• And we are changed because our God is alive.
• Eg. Confucians won't have a problem with Confucius being dead.
• Our religion is to have a relationship with the person who is still alive and understand us.

Because it is not judged by the things we do BUT by the quality of the relationship!

Adam (27/01/07)

Genesis 4

• Man -- product of heaven and earth coming together.
• ie. Earth + God's breath = Adam
• Adam never experience the full capacity in him because he falls and being corrupted.
• Although he has fallen, he is not lost and at a state where people can redeem him.
• Because he still have a redeemptive value.
• So the whole gospel is about to redeem that value and bring it back to the places of its original state!

Even Adam is in fallen state, he can still have offsprings: Cain & Abel.

• The state is then passed on to the next generation and is manifested, both good and evil.
• Abel --> Does what God wants him to do.
• Cain --> Plan his way to God (eg. Offer to God what he wants and God accepts it instead). He himself determines what is evil or good, what is clean or unclean.

Even Cain is fallen, he still have the capacity in him. So he made his own city and put in his own elements [refer to Genesis 4]:

1. Raise livestock (Jabal) -- Industry (eg. food, clothes etc)
2. Live in tents -- Housing development (an alternative to living in caves)
3. Play harp & flute (Jubal) -- Arts & Entertainment (You need to first made the harp and tune the music!)
4. Forging tools made of bronze & iron (Tubal): Weapons (You need to first mine these elements, separate them, extract them and mould them!)

This is a society that is built on the abilities and capacities of Cain in the fallen state, BUT with God outside of its element! From above:

1. + 2. + 3. + 4. = Human Society!

Social Institution

1. Family
2. Church
3. Education
4. Politics
5. Economics
6. Arts & Entertainment

Even though nowadays we have these elements, we are still like Cain in a fallen state!

Kristos Kai Cosmos --> God is empowering us to bring us back into this fallen society and change it in order to make a difference!

God gets to each individual in different ways in order to redeem that value in each of us.

The question is not about WHAT am I here for but WHO am I here for!

• God saves you to redeem your value, and you could be that someone to help him redeem the value of someone else.
• In other words, God saves you to save someone else!

Kristos Kai Cosmos says no matter how beautiful this culture is, it is still fallen.

• But REDEEMABLE!
• We have to redeem that value in the culture!

God is a junk collector.

• We are the junks he is collecting.
• God pays a price, sacrifice his time to change us by putting in new elements in us or restoring the original values that we have.
• ie. A piece of junk may cost you only $5 to get it but when you clean it and repair it, it will worth more than $5...or even millions of dollars!

Europe Trip: UK > London! (07/06/07...feat. Wimbledon, Tower Bridge)

YES this WAS something from last year and I haven't even finished blogging about it! Gosh...and I am just too busy (meaning too lazy...hehe..lol) to blog about it now. Oh well, look for yourself because pictures say a thousand words ya? :P

This is the good brother and friend who take care of people...and cook their meal! :)

I must just praised him more for his great hospitality manz...hahaha...lolThis is the day when I finally return back to London after the long 18-days backpacking tour. I was to stay in London for just a while more till I am leaving again on the next night to Edinburgh, Scotland by an overnight bus.

Anyway, this is the famous Wimbledon Tennis court! And the Wimbledon Championship is just last than 1 month away since this photo is taken...too bad I will miss it... :PSince it was closed when I got there, the best to show you how the place looks like will be through this poster...pretty isn't it? :)I came all the way here just to take a look at this...even though I wasn't a tennis fan at all...oh wells why don't see it when you can ya?Went grocery shopping at Sainsbury...and guess what -- I found this lovely Forever Friends Sponge Cake! Wish Singapore supermarkets can just do the same...sigh...Heading to the heart of London and coming to the London Tower at last!But I never go in there as the entry fee is very expensive...so this is all I got from the outside...some gates from the past of London Tower?! :PTower Bridge! Note: This is NOT the London Bridge in our childhood song but it is known as the Tower Bridge. Yet, somehow, somewhere, sometime in the history, this has become the iconic bridge of the bridge in our song "London Bridge Is Falling Down".Birdview of River Thames.Inside the upper level of Tower Bridge!

And I am having fun with the coin stamping machine that will stamp out the picture of the Tower Bridge as a souvenir for us to bring home!Walking along River Thames!The Monument!This is a complimentary to the Tower Bridge...the scenery here is as good as ever!Except for the fact that you have to climb this super long winding staircase all the way to get up here...and at the end of it the staff will reward you will a certificate to show that you have completed this tough task...coolz ya?

There goes the song in my head:

"London bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down,

London bridge is falling down, my fair lady."

Faith

My new handphone SGH-F330!

It was a very good deal @ S$88...my cheapest phone so far. Moreover, it comes with a FREE S$20 Takashimaya voucher & 512 SD memory card...woohoo! :DD

First of all, I have a testimony that happened just now to share with you all! ;)

This week has been a hospital week where Terence was admitted to hospital because of his high fever (and still warded till now for further observation), as well as Tina's mum who is hospitalised for her usual problem in which there is water retention in her lung.

And to me, this week has been one of the busiest week for me ever where I get off work as late as 12am...I am it is finally over! :)

I went to visit Terence on Thursday and this afternoon with Lynn and Weng (Yehui and Rachel join us soon after). On Thursday, his condition was still pretty bad as his fever is as high as 39 degrees and there is machine draining the pus from his liver. Lynn, his girlfriend, was just so worried about him and I am concerned about her too.

On Saturday, his condition, compared to Thursday, has improved much better. We came at the time right after he has gotten his injection. He was in pain and drowsy condition. After about an hour, the nurse came to deliver his medicine and added an extra pill of Panadol as painkiller. We thought he should have feel much better after taking the medicine.

But we are totally wrong.

What scare us is that he told us he felt worse and even more painful after taking in the pills. So his mum, who was with him 24/7, went out to look for the doctor. Lynn asked him how painful he is feeling then, on a scale of 10. He gave us 7 as the answer.

Concerning for him and wanting to distract his attention from his pain, we decided to sing a worship song together. As we sing, the four of us truly felt the presence of God is with us. And miracles do happen. Right after we finish singing the song, Terence face looks much relief and less tense. He weakly told us that his pain has subsided and now he would give a 2 out of 10 as the indicator of his pain! You would never understand the joy among us at that time when we heard that. And to brighten him up further, we continue with our singing session with pop songs and oldies too in which his mum even join in with us!

My God is truly the God of healing...may all praises be to God! :D

FAITH

Hebrews 11:1

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

What is faith?

1. Faith is the substance or foundation of things that you are hoping for.
2. Faith is a positive attitude of confidence.

So...what about confidence?

1. Confidence is the ability to hold your ownself in front of everyone else.
2. Confidence is not being rude, but is the assurance that you know God is with me.

God rewards those who have confidence in themselves.

Hebrews 10:35 -- "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded."

We must also know this: FAITH and CONFIDENCE can be used interchangeably!

#1: Confidence is the attitude by which you conduct the work of God.

It is the confidence in you that moves God's power!

In Greek, the word "offended" is scandalizo which means "trip up, stumbled, enticed to sin!"

In Matthew 4, Jesus is being tested by the devil in the desert.

In the bible, the devil used the word "if" to test Jesus 3 times whether he is the Son of God. (Matthew 4:1-3, 5-6, 8-9)

Satan is trying to tell Jesus to prove his spiritual power. But Jesus didn't follow. Why?

If Jesus takes the effort to prove his spiritual power to the devil, it only shows that he is reacting to what the devil and the others think about him. It will show that he does not have the confidence to believe he is indeed the Son of God and is walking in doubt. And if that is the case, he will not be fit to be the Son of God!

So instead of proving to the devil, all Jesus did is just to prove to himself that he will and has indeed finished God's work that is entrusted to him!

Satan is a bible scholar --> You need to study well the word of God and have the faith to defeat the devil on the knowledge from the bible!

In nature, with every few good news, there will always come one bad news. This is to bring a balance in news reporting in today's media. As a Christian, the public will want us to prove to them if we are religious.

It is true that the moment you put your react to something, you give strength to what you act upon. For example, when you react to scandals or rumours, you are strengthening them and giving them the chance to be spread out. Vice versa, the moment you act upon something out of your faith, you are actually strengthening your belief.

Read Matthew 11:2-3, 4-6

When John in prison heard about the activities of Christ, he sent a message by his disciples to ask if Christ is the the One who was to come. Jesus only tell the disciple to go and report to John what he heard and saw.

"And blessed is he who takes no offense at Me and finds no cause for stumbling in or through Me and is not hindered from seeing the Truth."

(Matthew 11:6)

You don't need to prove to anyone, not even yourself, because you have the confidence in the Lord!

#2: Faith comes by the word of God;

Confidence comes by the revelation from God.

Isaiah 9:27, 53; Psalms 32, 16; Hebrews 10; John 13:3

You got to know what God has entrusted in your life:

1. Your Position
2. Your Power
3. Your Purpose

John 13:4-5

"So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him."

Confidence is to embrace humility and to bow yourself down among all so as to empower you to be a servant of all!

The only reason we work hard for God is not because we want to prove to others, that we are better or anything else, but it is because we love God!

John 13:14 --

"Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet."

The reason why many people cannot serve is because they are not humbled enough and have no confidence in themselves. Yet, in the bible, we see Joseph has the amazing ability to serve. From Daniel 1-4, we see that Daniel "had the ability to serve in the king's palace".

To boost in our confidence, we need to have a secret place with God too.

Psalms 91:1

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."

When your confidence is shaken, don't run away from God but run towards Him!

Psalms 23:1-2, 4

• Jesus moves from the Lord, and from the Lord to us.
• I am not in fear because I am in relationship with Jesus.

Jesus will go to a place of solitude, prayer, and even fasting whenever his faith is being shaken. And that's Jesus's secret place with God!

Question: Do you have a secret place to nuture in the presence of God?

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. ~ Psalms 23:4 ~"

Forgiveness

After service fellowship @ Holland Village Eski Bar!

From left: (2nd row) Chris Su, Baoli; (1st row) Me, Sing Yee, Florentine, Xue Fang, and Dennis.

The Ice Room was at -11 degree celcius when we were there...truly a CHILLING out session for us all. :P

Realised it was the 2nd service of 2008 and pastor has preached another powerful message during the service...praise God! I truly want breakthroughs and more changes in my life this year. So for a start, it's time for me to share again the wonderful message that I had learnt today -- Forgiveness.

Colossians 3:13

"Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

What is real forgiveness?

1. Real forgiveness is unconditional.

• Forgiveness is always your initiative.
• You should forgive the person no matter if he asks for it or not!

2. Forgiveness does not minimize the seriousness of the offense.

• Proverbs 26:18-19
• Forgiveness is needed only when people intentionally hurt you.

3. Forgiveness isn't resuming a relationship without change.

For a relationship to be resumed, you must first have to have:

a) Repentance -- It must be genuine for the relationship to come back.

b) Restitution -- You make changes from your past so as to restore that relationship. (eg. You need to repair the thing you destroyed!)

c) Rebuilding of trust -- This takes a very long time to rebuild the trust you have for someone else if you ever get hurt from him/her.

4. Forgiveness isn't forgetting what's happened.

• The more you are trying to forget something, the more you are focusing on this very thing you want to forget!
• So change your focus on something else!

5. Forgiveness isn't my right when I wasn't the one hurt.

• You got to go back to the person who offended you!

Why should I forgive those who have hurt me?

1. God has forgiven me.
2. Bitterness will destroy my life.
3. Only when I forgive, I will be forgiven too.

"Life is 10% 'what happened' and 90% how we react to it."

Instead of blaming others, take ownership and responsibilities of your own life! You will never do something about your current situation until you see the VALUES of it in your life.

So what is the definition of values?

1. What is most important to you.
2. What you stand for.
3. And what you are willing to pay the price for.

Hebrews 12:16-17

Let illustrate with a simple experiement:

• When you filled an empty bottle with pebbles...is it full yet? No!
• When you filled the bottle again with gravel this time...is it full yet? No!
• When you filled the bottle later with sand...is it full yet? No!
• When you filled the bottle and poured in water...is it full? YES!

Question is -- What did you learn here?

Imagine you start with the water, sand, gravel and pebbles this time and place them in the bottle in this order...could you fit them all in? Well...of course NOT! If you never put the big rocks in first, you will never be able to fit them in at all! And for our lives, our big rocks consist of our families, friends, work, spiritual growth, studies...the things that hold important values and make up the big portion of our lives.

So is it really worth it to harbour unforgiveness and bitterness in your life?

Think about it...I believe eventually you will realise that there are certainly more things in life that deserve your focus and time on!

How to forgive someone?

1. Give up your right to get even.

• It is true that you HAVE the right to get your revenge. Yet this is not important!
• Romans 12:19 -- God will eventually help us to settle our score when the judgement day comes. So for our part, we shouldn't focus on getting even with the person who hurt you, but instead to let go of our right to do so.

2. Set boundaries.

• Setting boundaries does NOT mean to build walls.
• For here, your boundaries are walls with gates that will allow the good things to come in and the bad things to go out.
• You should not reject everyone else but to let those you trust to come into your life.

3. Respond to evil with good.

• Luke 6:27-28
• Return good to the evil and bless others.

4. Repeating these steps as long as necessary.

• Peter has said that he will forgive 7 times.
• Yet Jesus Christ said in the bible that we should forgive 7 x 70 times!

People always say to forgive is to forget. Instead of forgetting, we should remember how God can turn this hurt or pain in us into something even better. It is because of this hurt or pain, that one will come to realise what I have learnt and to make changes to it.

"I will forgive and remember how God has made this hurt of mine to become the key turning point of my life."

Stocktake @ Wuxi! (30/12/07 to 01/01/08)

Going for our stock take at Wuxi...my FIRST oversea working trip!

Thank God for blessing me with this wonderful experience and a chance for me to learn! :D

And to my surprise (I only got my ticket from Yan Fang that morning since I was on leave before that)...we are heading straight to SHANGHAI international airport! :DD

The excitement is just undescribable as I have always wanted to visit Shanghai one day...and now I have the chance to get to their airport at least...woohoo! Yet the flight will take us 5 hours to get there...so in the meantime let's have some fun on our own ya? Say 'cheeze'! *bleah* :P We took the 10am flight from Singapore and hence we reached Shanghai Pudong at around 3pm. Unlike Europe, Singapore or Hong Kong, the paranomic view from the plane is just pieces of brown farm land.

Oh well, now is winter isn't it? :/ Yan Fang told me these are the farm houses for those who owns a land or work there to stay in. From afar, they truly look like mansions or even holiday resort...hahaha...lol Finally we arrived at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport!

It is actually quite big, new, and pretty clean and neat everywhere...GOOD! :) This is our very first oversea working trip together...and I am so glad to be working with my colleague Yan Fang as she is just so fun to be with! :)) This is my 4-stars hotel room! So nice right? :D

Our client gave each of us a room to ourselves at this high class 4-star hotel that is meant mostly for the expats. Thank God for this comfortable and luxury stay here at Wuxi! *bleam* Since it is winter, the sunset here is about 5pm and the sky turns dark truly fast. From Shanghai to Wuxi, the car ride alone already takes up another 2 hour 30 minutes. By the time we get to our hotel room, it is already 6pm.

From my window, you can vaguely see the tallest building of in Wuxi, the 360 degree, at the far end. That's is also where the Wuxi city central area is located...After settling our luggage down, the first thing we did of course is to explore our new surrounding environment! According to our client, our hotel, Xin Wang Hotel, is located at one of the most happening areas in the New Town.

We found a People Supreme Court and a Investigation Court right beside our hotel. Further down the road, there are a few shopping malls, a giant supermarket, a KFC fast food outlet, and many many Korean and Japanese restaurants. There are also many Korean pubs and KTV lounges where you can hear people singing korean songs from outside.

What's more unique are the pool centres where you get to play the usual American snookers and billards, and also the traditional Korean pool game that consists of 2 red, 2 yellow and 2 white balls. Anyone can teach me to play that???

We were getting hungry but in the end we have decided to return to our hotel restaurant to taste some local food. Thus before that, we shall get ourselves some local hot snacks and finger food...yummilicious! :P Guess what I am eating?

That's the chicken chop I am holding in my hand! :D Very thinly sliced, marinated with herbs and garnish with some herbal grasses as well, it is skewed and bbq with the satay stick.

Something different and special from Singapore isn't it? :)

Here's our sumptuous dinner @ Wuxi!

Moreover can charge to client's account...yeah! :P Two of us we ordered 3 dishes and a soup. We order one more crispy duck roll to take back to our hotel room for supper in case we are going to work and prepare our work papers late into the night...yum yum... *drooling* :P

Thank God for my wonderful Daddy whom I called with my roaming phone, the very first thing he told me is to recommend me what to eat in Wuxi! Hahahaha...lol

I trust my Dad and really order those that he recommended (except the claypot fish head) as he is so experienced with all the food in China since he has been working here for such a long time...so let me introduce to you the Wuxi delicacies...in case you will be there someday too! *wink* ;)1. Old Countryside Claypot Toufu

It has a very special taste for the toufu here that appears a little like burnt smell. Yet it tastes not too bad and the prawns are just so fresh that I think Weng is sure to love it...ha! :P

2. Wuxi Xiao Long Bao (mini meat dumplings)

For us, this is a slight disappointment as we still prefer the traditional soup based Shanghai Xiao Long Bao.

For this Wuxi one, the soup in the dumpling tastes very much sweeter and thicker. This is actually the Jiangsu food culture to produce mostly sweet tasting food.

Oh well, personally I guess I just don't really like it but take note this is something special of Wuxi! *wink* ;)

And last but not least...the most well known dish of Wuxi:

3. Wuxi Pork Ribs! :D

This is a MUST TRY food in Wuxi and there is even ready make packet ready for tourists to buy and bring back to their own countries. And again, this saucy pork ribs taste pretty sweet in nature too!

Yet it is also because of this special sweet taste that I believe contribute the most to the fame of this cuisine that make it so well known and stands to represent all the other Wuxi food dishes! :)) On the New Year Eve, we are all ready and dressed up (like this!) for work! :D

Oh well, you won't get the chance to wear like this to work in Singapore ya? :P

Can't you tell how we feel about our work??? :P

Our stocktake starts from 830am and the driver came to our hotel to fetch us at around 750am. There 3 companies in this stocktake and we were supposed to finish all of them today.

Thank God the client is actually very friendly and cooperative and we manage to get everything done pretty smoothly. We did most of the work by 7pm with a few more documents that is pending to get them from our client. In the end, we decided to stop waiting and let them either fax, email or mail to us since they are not so urgent... :)Yan Fang is blessed that 2 of her aunties came all the way from Beijing to Wuxi just to pay her a visit! Oh that's so sweet of them...I bet they must have missed her lots! :) After work that night, we decided to take a ride to the Wuxi city central area to tour around. Well, from the photos you can see how beautiful and prosperous Wuxi is ya? :)

I AM SO GLAD TO BE HERE!!!Thank God for opening and exposing me to so much more new learning experiences and trips that I would benefit so much from it. Maybe I should just love this part of my job that I get to travel around ya? Hahahaha...lolNight life of Wuxi is just simply dazzling!My New Year Eve dinner -- Korean BBQ! We returned back to the nearby area of our hotel for dinner and get ourselves seated at one of the Korean restaurant there. The food is very very delicious and I love them!!!

Certainly, you would NEVER get such a good deal back in Singapore...so enjoy while I can! :DD

Korean seaweed rice balls!

The both of us like it so much that we almost want to order one more dish! :P Yan Fang's face should tell you how much we enjoy our last dinner of 2007 here...hahaha...lolOn the first day of 2008, we did something special...we missed our hotel breakfast buffet in the morning! Leaving with no choice, we had to go out to get our breakfast on our own... :S

It was not easy to get a restaurant there to open this early on the New Year Day. Thank God we manage to find a Japanese restaurant that opens! So somehow, we had a pretty heavy and fantastic ramen and sushi for our breakfast! Geez... :P

After a good meal, we head back to our hotel room and wait for the driver to fetch us to the Shanghai Airport. We arrived at the airport pretty early and thus we got quite a good chance to have our wonderful Western lunch (photos with my colleague; will update if got chance) and wander around this spacious, newly renovated airport...not bad at all ya? :P

Finally, there is an end to everything. It was a very blessed and wonderful business trip to me for the very first time.

Certainly I may not expect the next trip to be as good as this one, but I have gained yet another working experience in China and I would be well prepared for the next one to come...I hope I could get that chance! :)

Coming to China truly changes your thinking a little and you will realise not just the potential the China market now possess and the future influence they may have, but also there are many current situations that you might want to give help in.

I remember people sometimes warn us about thinking twice when you want to give some coins to the beggars on the roadside in China. Because if you do so, you will probably be swarmed by a crowd that is watching and waiting to see you reaction nearby. And THAT, shameful to say, had actually become my hesitation and barrier to help the beggars. Yet, thank God I didn't just walk away or I know I would truly regret it...

That happens when I saw an old man on the empty parade square after my Korean dinner and pool game on New Year Eve. It was about 11pm when my colleague and I decided to return to our hotel rooms because of the chilling weather outside. On our way back, an old man stood on the parade square and walked towards any passerby for money. He took my attention because I was concerned about the thin clothes he seemed to have put on and yet he stood in this empty square all by himself in this cold night. It really touched me that I truly want to help.

Yet part of me was afraid because it was late at night and I wonder if there is really anyone watching nearby to see how much you give to the old man and later came over to rob you. Or would the rumour of beggars waiting nearby be true? My colleague actually warn me about it when she saw me looking at the old man and urge me to ignore and walk away. I followed.

However, thank God for speaking to me and tell me to stop. Though I didn't give him a lot, but at least I decided to turn back. Come to think about it, it was rather an odd scene as by the time I turned back, I was actually quite a distance away and the wind is still blowing rather strongly. I left my colleague and just ran back to him. I feel so good to put the money into his bowl. And my reaction probably would have surprised him more because once I pass him the money, I actually ran all the way and jogged back to my hotel room. This is all because I scare of the rumour that there will be other beggars coming after me! Oh manz...I feel so ridiculous to think in that way! Ha! :X

Well, in fact, there is no one coming after me that night. So the rumour is probably false. And what if it is true? Sometimes, if we can give then just blessed the others while we can. Didn't the bible also says that it is more blessed to be a giver than to be a receiver? If these people are in good life or they don't need help, I believe they won't want to be out here to run after people for money too. So come to think about it, we are already blessed to be staying in such well conditioned houses, neighbourhood and even have high quality education provided.

It is always not easy for us to migrate and stay overseas for work and study. With all the language barriers, this is made even tougher. So here in Singapore, sometimes we can just stretch our hands and give help to our China neighbours, friends and colleagues too. I am truly glad and proud to see how my cell group members sacrifice some of their free time to give their friends from China English tuition to help them overcome their language barrier.

Even if you find there is nothing you can help, simply being there to interact and build friendship with them is already something good enough to make them feel more comfortable at home.

There is just so much we can actually do for others. I truly hoped and prayed for yet another China trip, and also for any chance that I can be a blessings to the people over there. Amen. :)