Today was the last youth service and serving in the welcome team..till i return from SEP. Was kinda sad during ushering briefing cuz it was only in the recent weeks that i warmed up to some of them. And it really multiplies the fun when we get to know one another better and welcome pple to the house of God together. But it's ok, i will be back to serve tgter in Aug! hahas.

After dinner, some of us went to chill at holland V. And while walking, i was talking to Priscilla abt her siblings and she mentioned that she wondered if sometimes, she loves her family too much to a dangerous extent. She was refering to Luke 14:26 If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. I was slightly shocked, because i was just thinking abt that verse during praise and worship session! In fact, each time when i am reminded abt that verse, i cant help but to think to myself: gosh, that's really hard, Jesus.

Just to quote Pastor Peter during sermon today,
we worship God not bcuz of convenience, but cuz of conviction. :)

Gloria gave me the book Disappointment with God by Philip Yancey in December, but i never read it till today.I have 2 other books by PY but they didnt impact me much at that point of time. (not that they are not well written, but it prolly didnt answer my thoughts or needs during that period) But indeed the book sets me thinking..

Sufferings world-wide have always been present, and the question of ' If there is a God, why is there suffering?' is not new. If one day, someone were to challenge my faith, am i able to defend it? How do i gently explain everything? Sth like " Trust in the Father's Heart" works for me, but it will definitely not be easily received by many who have been thru extremely tough circumstances.

Nevertheless, I am only 15% thru the book and i am enjoying the new insights provided by py :)

pseudo reading week

This week is NUS's reading wk so i have no lessons! Hibernated at home from mon to wed doing housework, reading, watching tv.I appreciate the serene moments spent with God but slacking at home can be quite unbearable after some time. Yesterday evening was refreshingly cool after a heavy downpour, thus i dragged my younger sis to go for a walk with me! We walked all the way to Bishan central to buy ice cream and took the same route home :D

Met Gloria at Vivo today and we watch the curious case of Benjamin Buttons. Enjoyed the movie...enjoyed watching Brad Pitt..and of course, enjoyed the time spent with her :D And after finishing my video clip, i received highlighted mistakes from my teacher and SO...it's time to figure out how to correct my horrible grammar and redo my clip. Ahhh.

wow.

After reading about the terror attack at Cairo i went to google the map of egypt and israel because i wanted to be able to picture where Cairo and the Gaza strip are on the map. (to sidetrack, i recently found out that google is being used as a verb in german! but naturally it's spelt differently as googeln & I wonder how the German language will evolve further a few centuries down the road under the influence of English..) So this search brought me back the world map, which never fails to excite me and get me dreaming about exploring the different countries in the world. As much as i will never be able to tour the whole world, it takes my breath away to know that we have such an awesome creator! Besides, i am merely looking at Earth. I am not even talking about the universe, and i will never be able to fanthom how God create, cares for and interacts with the world.

ps19.1
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

i will sing for joy!

Yesterday Mikey left for australia. Hope he has a fufilling uni life over there :) Met up with liane before that and it was great being able to catch up, and also to pray tgter, which was important to me. But before i left the house i was feeling totally shitty. AH. i call that depression from being jobless and pigging out at home. So glad i got my lazy bum out of the house in the afternoon! I will never ever, NEVER want to be a housewife because staying at home too frequently makes me a depressed old hag!

Today as i walked to the swimming pool, i looked up to the sky and the beautiful blue sky was dotted with clouds, white with a tinge of shimmering gold. I realised the last time i looked up to admire the sky was quite a few weeks back man. hahas, it's ironic that i wrote a german poem about God painting the skies for us recently man. Anws, we have been singing this song for worship during service for quite some time but i didnt know the band name till recently marcus told me abt it. :D



"The Hand That Holds The World"

No greater joy
Is there than this
To know for what
We're meant to live

To hold Your hand
To touch Your face
To find ourselves
In loves embrace

I want to stand before the King
Join in the song that heaven sings
I want to hold the hand that holds the world

I want to know the mystery
Reach out and touch the majesty
I want to hold the hand tht holds the world

No greater love
Could be bestowed
That You would name us as your own

Your daughters sing
Your sons rejoice
They gather here before Your throne

You are, You are
The author of creation
We are, the chrildren of your heart

You are, You are,
The light of all the heaven
We rise, to worship all You are

For you, the lover of my soul.

Wenn Du die Welt mit Meinen Augen Sehen Könntest...

Wenn du die Welt mit meinen Augen sehen könntest, dann würdest du wissen, dass ich einen großen Maler kenne.

Schau einfach oben zum Himmel und da ist doch sein unbegrenztes Gemälde.

Wenn du den Himmel mit meinen 4-jährigen Augen angestarrt hättest, wärst du ganz fasziniert, weil der Maler viele weiße flaumige „Tiere“ auf dem Himmel gemalt hat. Nach ein paar Jahren später hättest du erfassen, dass die „Tiere“ eigentlich Wolken sind.

Jetzt wärst du immer bewundern, wenn viele schöne Wolken den weiten blauen Himmel verzieren. Besonders würdest die Zeichnung dir gefallen, in der die Sonnenstrahlung durch die Wolken scheint und alles ganz majestätisch aussieht.

Wenn du in Deutschland und Pulau Ubin mit meinen Augen sehen hättest, dann hättest du die wolkenlose, sternenklare Nacht durchaus genossen. Dort hättest du gedacht, wie hat der großer Maler ihre Schönheit so wundervoll gemacht?

Manchmal spannt sich ein unendlicher, prächtiger Regenbogen nach den grauen Gewitterwolken. Mit meinen Augen würdest du an das Alten Testament erinnern, in dem Gott zwischen Noah und den Menschen einen Bund schloss.

Wenn du die Welt mit meinen Augen sehen könntest, dann würdest wissen, dass dieser großer Maler Gott ist. Du wolltest dann den Schöpfer der Natur fragen, warum mahlen Sie so viele himmlische Zeichungen?

Er würde sanft lächeln und sagen, „Um Dich zu verwöhnen.“

URGH. :(
URGGGH.. :(:(