Saturday, January 19, 2008

Youth Choir Outing

Morning service. I was less adventurous about the warm up. Yesterday the choir was squeaking like a mouse. I was more confident than yesterday as I elected a helper from each section to stand in front of the members to guide them along. I felt that it is essential to rise up new people in choir as we are moving in the direction of mulitplication. But 无敌 was right. I need to select the right people. After the service, we set off to prepare for the youth choir outing. I wanted to sell masking tapes and mahjong paper to the choir. But I forgot to bring out of the office. Superman forgot to pass to me during service. Next time ba. Twelve teams. Six stations. The Mummy Returns. Pirates of the Curry Bean. Walls of Jericho. Animal Planet. Captain's Banana. Bridegroom's Wine. It was fun helping 无敌 to manage the games. It was like playing a strategy game. Messengers provide information for the king. The king makes his decision. The soldiers make their move. I wanted to stay on, but I had to leave at 5 pm. I had a family photo shoot at 6 pm. It is a miracle that our family can come together to take a photo. There was once when I thought that our family will never sit together for dinner. But after the photo shoot, we went for a BBQ buffet. Thank God.

Posted by Benjamin at 7:00 PM

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The Holy Spirit

Dr. A. R. Bernard revealed a truth about the Kingdom of God. God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. God make the world by faith. He made it through and for Jesus Christ, His one and only begotten Son. The word 'begotten' means 'produce' or 'make to happen'. God has made an entity that shares the same glory as Himself. The word 'glory' means 'sinless' or 'perfect in man's sight'. The world includes Adam, a man made in the image of God from the earth and the life of God. He is made in but not with the glory of God. In order for God to commute with man, He gave man a powerful but dangerous tool called free will. This free will allows man to choose his destiny as well as who to love. God, being the maker of the earth and man, knows what is good for His creation. So the saying ' God has thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.' Man, however, has the ability to choose this future, or his own, though God constantly encourages to 'take His yoke, which is light'. Adam has chosen to disobey God. God look upon his sons and descendents, hoping they will choose God and life. But they has chosen to disobey God. But God so loved the world. He works by laws and convenants, thus he made a new convenat with man. He gave his only begotten Son, so that those who believe in Him may not perish but gain eternal life. This is a new convenant with man, so that it may be easier for man to return to God. To ensure that man is able to fulfill his destiny, He sends Jesus Christ to be a physical entitiy of God so as to demonstrate the full potential of man to love. Then he sends the Holy Spirit to reside in Jesus Christ to demonstrate the full potential of man to believe and transform it into power, and to resist evil. Jesus Christ demonstrates what God can do for man, and what man needs to for each other. But Jesus Christ needs to return to God, as His physical entity does not permit it to be omnipresent. But the Holy Spirit, being a spirit is able to permeates the earth and all man. The same power that Jesus Christ has, man has to because of the Holy Spirit. God has the perfect plan, Jesus Christ can influence the plan, and the Holy Spirit reveals and executes that plan. The Holy Spirit represents Jesus Christ directly, for God has given Jesus Christ the power to choose who He wants in the Kingdom. Jesus Christ is appointed the King of our future kingdom. He has chosen the twelve disciples to rule over the twelve tribes of our future kingdom, and He will also choose who is to enter into the Kingdom. If man don't pray for his loved ones to enter the Kingdom of heaven, then his loved ones may not be chosen. Indeed everything is possible. We can ask for anything persistently in His name and it will be done, but not all things are good.

Posted by Benjamin at 11:30 PM

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Got A Scratch On My Car

God forgive me. I was hoping that the service could end earlier as I was looking forward to drive my cell group to a far away land to enjoy a good meal. It has been a long time since I joined them for dinner. Caught up with carolling and service. Christmas is the season of giving, and I gave my time to my family, some friends and people I do not know. I was planning to drive them to Bedok Market Place when I was called to serve a greater purpose: to plan for a choir outing. What a man got to do is what a man got to do. I discussed the outline of the event with Frankenstein. Then I went to eat dinner with 无敌, All Smooth and No Big. I flew to join my cell group. Eliz Navida was standing at the cross junction. Cars were zooming past. She hopped into my pickup. We drove round the carpark thrice but could not get an empty parking space. I was waiting for a passage to clear when a car made a big swing and scratch my door. I wind down the window to check the damage. Thank God. Just a scratch. I looked at the other party's car. His Hyundai got a scratch too. I decided to let him off out of kindness and drove off. I realised that the car was behind me. I drove out of the carpark and entered it again. The car did likewise. Suspicious. I stopped by the side of the main road. The car stopped beside me and the driver motioned me to wind down my window. He said, "Get down. We need to talk." I asked with a curious tone, "Why?" He answered, "You scratch my car." I was taken aback by his answer. He scratched my pickup. I let him off. He chased me and claimed that I scratched his car! What is his problem, I thought to myself. I was agitated as I explained to him the whole picture. He made a swing. I alerted him with a honk. His car scratched my pickup. He and his friends insisted that my pickup moved and scratched his car. Eliz Navida tapped at my shoulder and asked me to keep my cool. But she barked at him herself. You should have seen her face. Never mess with a woman. Finally he said, "Forget it." His car scratched my pickup and he acted like the good Samaritan. What a big joke.

Posted by Benjamin at 10:00 PM

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

A Family Outing

I was woken up by the voices of my parents. My family were planning to go to Johor Bahru, Malaysia! I was not informed yesterday. I hardly had the chance to join any Malaysia trips because of my commitments in work and in church. I was free on a public holiday for once! What a great start to 2008. We ate our lunch at Teck Sing Restaurant in Johor Bahru. Paper-Baked Chicken is their specialty. After that, we drove to a shopping centre and had a go at all the machines in OSIM. Superman owned an OSIM uPaPa. I always feel that the name is a bit diaoz. The machine produced drum beats on my back, but made my back itch after use. I almost fell off the uGallop. We tasted green tea ice-cream. A bit weird weird de. Thai massage @ Giant. My mum has been singing praises about the massage for months. She extended my message session to 90 minutes! My massager was a man leh. Nothing 'brokeback' happened, though I thought he broke my back. A dinner at Johor Bahru Food Centre as usual.

Posted by Benjamin at 11:32 PM

Friday, December 14, 2007

Dare You To Move

I have made a decision to move. In this world, I shall have tribulations. But I will be of good cheer, for Jesus Christ has overcome the world! If S. A. Tan is going to dwell in my failures and weakness, I am going to move to somewhere better.

I dare you to move too.
http://squeakytoad.com/dare.html

Posted by Benjamin at 12:00 PM

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Song In Season

You Are Faithful

Verse 1:
Lord of all the earth
How you care for me
You have made me
You will save
And carry me always

Chorus:
You are faithful
You are faithful
You are faithful
You joy is my strength.

Verse 2:
Lord you are my guide
I rely on you
I put my hope in things not seen
Your promises are true

Bridge:
Always you're with me
You hand will lead me
My trust is in your name

Posted by Benjamin at 7:15 PM

Backup Vocalist

The service started. The band played. The chorus board was empty. No lyrics. I was stunned. I smiled. I suddenly realised that I didn't know how to move with the music when I was holding on the microphone. I turned to look at Herbal Tea. She swayed naturally from side to side with the music. I tried to imitate, but her movements were too feminine. What was I thinking? Of course her movements were feminine. I tried clapping. The micophone seemed to picked up every sound I made with my hands. Thup, thup, thup. I put my hand in the air. I put my hand on my chest. I put my hand on my diaphragm. Ran out of movement. Repeat. I had a feeling that many eyes were looking at me from the front and from the back. I saw people running at the back of the hall, trying to correct the fault on the chorus board. Took ages. I sang 'destiny' during the song Destiny and 'rain down' for the song Rain Down. Nothing else. I realised Comestic Surgery was stunned too. I heard his voice. Then it disappeared. Then I heard his voice again. I did not know what happen to the other BVs as I did not dare to look at them. The lyrics appeared when we were singing the song You Are Faithful. Thank God. After the P & W, we went to the Artists' Room. Before I made a sound, the other BVs started screaming and complaining. It turned out that they were having problems too. Bigger ones. Comestic Surgery and More Than One J did not know the lyrics too. There was miscommunication between them and the band. Sword River knew the lyrics, but lost his voice all of a sudden. He said that this was the worst P & W experience he ever had. We sang better after the offering and at the end of the service, now the lyrics were on the chorus board. What a start for me. It will never get worse. I hope not.

Posted by Benjamin at 6:30 PM

Saturday, December 8, 2007

My First BV Practice

New experiences. I sang P & W songs in chinese. I always wonder what the BVs are listening to when they put a ear piece in their ear. The answer is... *drum roll*... themselves! They hear themselves sing! I borrowed a ear plug from Sword River for the ear piece. He told me not to leave any 'chocolate' on it, if you know what I mean. Helpful and friendly guy. When I returned to choir full-time, he was my first friend in choir (other than Sponge Jem) and the first person who made me feel appreciated. Now he was the first person who taught me the 'do's and 'don't's in the BV ministry. Tired night. Practice until 11:30 am. We had two new songs to learn: Rain Down and You Are Faithful. I almost slept on the sofa in the Artists' Room after the practice. No dinner at home. Ate cup noodles + steamed chicken legs. 无敌 is going to wake me up tomorrow morning at 6:30 am. Too tired to be nervous.

Posted by Benjamin at 11:30 PM