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Meet Joe Black

With a tiring day before me, I couldn't help but to sleep for a mere 10 hours only to wake up around 11am the following day. Didn't really do much except mainly to sit at home watching TV, reading newspaper and lazying around. However, I manage to catch hold of a show called "Meet Joe Black" played by Brad Pit, Claire Forlani and Anthony Hopkins. It was a very interesting story where they brought the idea of the "Death" coming in the form of a human and learning to adapt to the things around him and also handling his emotion when he began to discover what love is. I couldn't help at the moment to question what love is as well. At the same time, the setting cause me to think about her as well. I kind of missed her at the point but realise that I had to get a grip on my emotions and feelings, not letting it wander to far that I find myself lost in it and going through a struggle with emotions if I let it take control of me. I prayed that He will teach me to guard my emotions and at the same time prayed that He will show me His way.

Fruitful Saturday

Eventhough it was kind of a monotous day, I decided to make an attempt to wake up early the next morning for a jog. Finally, after much trying, I finally woke up and with that went with my dad and sis to the beautiful Lake Garden. We reached there pretty late, around 7.30 am. Guess, u must be wondering why I considered late. It was because the number on the road adjacent to the Lake Garden were beginning to build up and instantly replacing the cool and fresh air to smog. With that aside, I manage to venture around the Lake Gardens taking a full circle and stopping at the little shed for 20 sit-ups and 10 push-ups. It did good to the protruding tummy but it was shortlived momentarily by a sumptious breakfast at a nearby mamak of a tosei, capati and puri that was accompanied by a plate of mutton, vadei and a cup of tea. Fast it went, fast it came back. One of the most interesting that I came across while on my run was to spot a group of senior citizen filling the air with melodies of good Chinese oldies on their harmonica. It was seemingly an interesting presentation who gather frequently. My dad was telling my sis and I that it was common to see such antics in China where parks in the early morning are filled with people demonstrating tai chi or coming together for fan dance or a musical presentation. It was a rare sight in Malaysia and could be consider a soon to be lost facet of our life. Lifestyle have change tremendously for the past years. Cultures and activities such as things have began to be a thing of the past. The young generation are normally up late in the wee hours of the night spending time at clubs or mamaks only to awake in the mid of the day just in time for lunch. Half a day is gone and sometimes very little achieve and no wonder the day passes by so quickly. It would interesting to see young people arise early in the morning going for a jog and participating healthy activities such as this. It would be even more harmonious if the different races can gather in one place doing a similar activity. It such a shame to see the division. Though many have said that Malaysia maybe a multi-racial country but the division are obvious. My morning encounter saw the Chinese playing the harmonica and the Malays having their own aerobics near the state library. It would be a good idea to gather people, probably with a few music instrument and just play a song or two to entertain the crowd that seem to gather for their daily exercise. I could envisioned the Lake Garden as a place filled with street performers. What a wonderful it will be though on one hand it could be a mere distraction rather than entertainment to a handful.

Awaiting the New Drum Set

I was called upon last week by Paul to be on the drums this week although it was Pastor Phil Stevenson from Perth, Australia would be ministering to us this week. It has always been a joy to be on the rickety drum set in my church. Having been around for almost 10 years, it was beginning to give way with various part coming out, most of the time due to shifting. However, it still gave a relatively good sound and it complemented in me accustomising myself to provide the best beat and sounds for praise and worship.The thing that made me glee with happiness is that we would be changing a new set of drums soon. Its always good news for a drummer to know that we have a new set to get our hands on. At first, we was going to purchase a 5 piece Pearl set for the price of RM6k. However, the recent news is that Pastor Ben manage to negotiate with another music company in Damansara to purchase a 6 piece Master Pearl set drums which is suited for studio recording. The news blew me away. And not only that, we were below the budget of RM7k and had extra cash to add on in purchasing symbols which would bring to a total of RM10k for the new set. Furthermore, we would be getting it in a months time. Boy, is this good news or what. During practice, we had Mary Gentleman, one of the people who came with Pastor Phil coming in as a backup vocal. Although she had a back sorethroat, probably due to the excellant food our land had to offer, we made sure she didn't feel out of place and assure her that everything would be okay. Quite a tall and good looking blonde I would say and she is a year younger than me but alot more matured looking than me.

Finishing The Race

It has been quite a long time since I step into Aspirers, the youths of my church. I used to serve as a leader but decided to take a leave from it as it was beginning to occupy my weekends and causing me to spend less time with my family. Besides that, I decided to commit to CF back in campus and focus only in the Music Department in church. The main reason I came was because Pastor Phil and team would be ministering that night. It was good to see him again after his last visit here 3 years ago. A very nice pastor who spoke wisdom. I wouldnt think that he would recognise me but I don't blame him as he must have seen so many people to remember them all. That night preaching wasn't done by Pastor Phil but a guy by the name of Josh, who was part of the team that came 3 years ago. He was the first guy who approached me when I entered and he still look the the same charming guy that girls would go ga-ga over. It was surprising that this engineering student had gone into full-time and was now the youth pastor of the church. The then shy guy had grown up to be a very outspoken and exciting person. Amidst his charismatic behaviour, I realise he was an introvert and a thinker as well. However, this did not detered him from giving a strong sermon on "Finishing the Race". One of the point that he made that stood out to me was his sharing about completing his degree although he had this burden midway to his course to go into full-time. He said that his flesh wanted to go into full-time but his spirit made him stay in uni. It was a tough decision to make but he felt that God wanted him to finish what he came to do first before he decided to go into full-time. It really spoke to me and the people I knew who decided to quit halfway came into picture. The picture of fellow committees in the CF for the past years who decided to leave the committee halfway due to God's calling. It was rather strange for me and I sometimes doubt whether is it really God's calling to them. Personally, I have a thing about people quitting halfway. To them it may seem a calling, to me it would seem to be leaving a responsibility behind, a responsibility that was agreed upon in the very beginning that has not met its completion in the end and resulted in others around having facing the consequences of such decision. I realise that many people, speaking to myself as well, seem to loose our focus so easily that we loose sight of finishing the race that we started. We give up half way, thinking that we can start again somewhere else which we think is the best option at that time. Even if it is God's calling, I guess the lesson I learn is to finish what we have started before continuing on another journey God has plan for us. I wouldnt believe that God has ask us to take an immediate decision even after calling us but we should be wise and responsible to settle what we have started peacefully for the benefit of all and not self. Besides Josh, there was also Mike and 2 other girls who came along. One of them was a surprising 14 year old who look so much older than her age and pretty as well. Guess, the angmo's seem to look much more older than their age compared to their Asian counterparts.

A Session With the Future Doctors

After the meeting, I had the priviledge to meet up with a few IMU students who have frequent the church I attend for a good few months, whom I had not the priviledge to get to know. One of the reason of this disadvantage is being up on stage serving and not able to meet them after coming down from the stage as most of them would already be gone by then. I decided to take this oppurtunity to get to know them by going out for supper with them at S2. It was good to hear that they are feel alot at home even after a few month having attending cell and also participating in the recent Easter musical. Besides that, I had the priviledge of meeting Steven, the ex-president of IMU Bukit Jalil CF, Marilyn and also 2 other girls whom I now forgot their names though I know they begin with "Y". I have a bad memory of chinese names but was better at remembering faces. It was a interesting that our conversation for the night was a tale of medical discussion as we began to talk about menopause and PMS. It all started when I got mix up between the two of them. I would have thought that PMS was the one in the later stage which I was wrong and the whole debate began to start. Me, Esther and Daniel were the only non-medical student there. It seem that Daniel had a good understanding of this terms which some of them I had no idea of but his mistake when he got mix up with flush and menopause. Other than that, we even talked about eating vegetables that would help the gut in collecting water for disposal or generally called shit. It was all in the good name of laugh and we truly enjoyed it. During the whole conversation, I was kind of shy on one area. That is mentioning the word God and Jesus. I realise that most of the jokes that they made were somewhat "Christian" in some sense. I would normally shy away from it or not being comfortable with mentioning God's name. Guess, I haven't had the confidence enough to mention His name let alone in public or even to my friends. The thought ponder as I reflect on the sermon that was spoken earlier by Josh. He mentioned about having a personal relationship with Him. At that instance, I realised what being a Christian was all about. I always had the thought that being Christ-like seem to sum it all up. But, I think I neglected the part of having a personal relationship with Him. I questioned myself about it and I admit that I dare not say that I truly have a personal relationship with Him as I do not keep a constant walk with Him. I realised that I pray at different times of the days, sometimes when I am free or when the need arises. I do not make it a point to do it as a routine. Though I disagree in making it personal rather than a routine, but i realised that routine helps makes it personal. An area which still need alot of discipline.

Gracious Father

Sunday was here and had to quickly wake up to be at church early as I was serving. My parents and sister were busy packing things in the car as my sis had to go to Malacca to register into MMU for her orientation week. After months of lazying around at home, she will finally be off to uni. While she is there, I hope that she be able to get some scholarships which has applied to further her studies. My sis has seemingly no idea what to do and it would be a wise decision to apply everywhere and choose the best option available to her. Probably, admitting her to MMU would be an exposure for her to choose her profession, hopefully. At church, Pastor Phil delivered the message. It was about learning to "Live An Intimate Life with Him". His testimony of how he went through the pit and the grace of God that brought him out from that touched me. He was involved in a car accident about few year ago in which he ran a red light unknowingly. This resulted in one of kids that he was bringing back home from church died. He was the only child of the family. It was God's grace that brought the mother to forgving him although he knew he deserved to be rediculed for being careless and killing her song. He had an encounter with Him. Its hard to imagine living with the though that you had unintentionally killed someone due to your negligence but the love of God is so much greater and He is there always to save us especially in the darkest pit of our life as long as we humble ourselve and call unto Him. As my parents were away and looking for people to have lunch, I was out again with the IMU people, thanks to Shiau Yen. We made our way to the Seremban Market where the famous beef noodle stall is located. I decided to have mixed rice instead of beef noodle but made an exception for a small bowl of beef ball. As the weather was really hot, we headed to the nearest chendol stall and indulge ourselve in the cool and extremely sweet dessert.

Easter Musical Appreciation Dinner

After a mere few hours, I was back in church again. This time was the Easter Musical appreciation dinner. I was kind of surprise to be invited as I only played for only Good Friday as I had to be back in KL for committee meeting. There weren't many people around as many had gone back to KL or much food served as well. After dinner, we made our way to the sanctuary where we previewed the VCD of the musical. It was mainly for the benefit of those who were involved who didn't have the chance to see themselve in it. It was kind of funny to hear background noises of baby crying and talking and at the same time seeing the people around me responding to their action on screen. It was nice to see it again and also it was nice to realise know I was blessed to be in this church. The amount of preparation and effort to put up a play of this magnitude was simply God blessing. I realised that our church was blessed to have so many talented and participating people who always lend a helping when needed. My thoughts began to reflect back the time when I had thought of moving to another new church. One of the main reason was I realise that I couldn't really grow in my church. This was because of having been to other church where the preachers were alot more dynamic and the congregration was more happening. It was merely satisfying my wants that led me to contribute less. I realise that I shouldn't expect the church to give me but to give to the church. This though had been lingering in me for the pass weeks as topics of giving instead of receiving seem to speak out more. I kind of realise that I am never contented with what I have until I realise it which sometimes can be abit too late. Guess, the grass is always greener on the other isnt really true after all. We tend to see ahead but close out eyes to the things in front of us not knowing that it is good as well. Other than that, I was approached by Jenny at the dinner about writing scripts that were based on sermons being preached in church. I had written a script for Christmas last year which we didnt manage to present it due to my late submission of it. I was glad to hear that the Drama Team would be using the script this coming Christmas though I did mention that I could gather some ideas for another one as well. Can it be that my sudden crave for writing would lead me in beginning to wrtie scripts for plays that would be used in church? I really do not know although I had though of starting to indulge in having a hobby of gathering ideas for drama, dance or a film which would be used to spread the Word. It is a very interesting thought but thought would remain thoughts unless action is taken upon it. I hope to begin slowly and probably start with writing short sketches during my free time. One way of not wasting my time aimlessly.

A Title Won Without Splendour

I came back after church wanting to watch the match against my favourite Arsenal with Spurs. It was the London derby. A crucial match to see as Chelsea had just lost the match against Newcastle earlier and all that Arsenal need is a draw to clinch the Premiership title. It started off pretty well in the first half with goals coming from the captain Vierra and later my Pires, which was exceuted in a fashionable way with skills in the passing of the ball and precision in finishing it. Having 2 goals at hand in the first half cause Arsenal to display a poor second half. Pride had settled in. There wasn't a display of superiority at all. They kept loosing the ball and played around in front the goals which saw a whole load of chances wasted. My dad was pretty upset with the game and was not surprised that complacency would rob them of a win. And it was surprising true when 2 goals were let in, one by superb drive by Redknapp and a stupid penalty given by the emotional Lehmann, who should be given the boot. Though a draw was enough to seal a victory, it lack supremecy and Arsenal had allowed complacency and pride to set it that ended the game without any flair. Guess, pride is men worse enemy of defeat.