Having a Vision for 2008

According to a secular research done by a British Psychologist, he found out that men were more likely to succeed in their New Year Resolutions, when they were told to focus on something measurable.

For example, instead of trying to lose weight, it might help to place a photograph of an appealing fitness model in a prominent place. It also helps if u make a list of benefits of exercising and place it in a prominent location, to look at every day.

When it comes to women, their success rate is higher when they tell their friends or family about their resolution, instead of keeping it to themselves.

The survey was based on the New Year resolutions of 3000 people- 60 percent from the UK and 40 percent from the US.

W0w....can u see the Biblical links with these findings?

This year I am believing for the Zone to grow to 600!...and though there will be obstacles...I am confessing that every mountain is going to be removed in Jesus Name!

Before the year ends, let's really think about our vision for 2008, as if we fail to plan, we plan to fail!

Habakkuk 2:2
2Then the LORD answered me and said:
"Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.

Before i go, Here's wishing everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR! U guys made the year great for my family and me! Special thanks to all the leaders, I luv u guys!


P.S - Here's something funny for everyone!

My Year in Review!

As the year comes to a close, i believe it's a good time for self-reflection and an honest analysis of how the year went. This year, i have decided to give a month by month tribute to God, for what He has done in my life!

Highlights of 2007

• Jan - Given more responsibilities to help Pst.

• Feb - Birth of Nathan on 6 Feb 2006. Jiahui's Mum was also able to help out during her confinement period, despite the circumstances which caused the unavailability of confinement lady. God's timing was perfect!

• Mar - Our maid Weng, though apprehensive about looking after 2 babies, passed with flying colors (We will miss her, as she is going back in Feb 2008)

• Apr - Finished giving to the Building Fund. Praise God for being Jehovah Jireh. Got an UPGRADE! My new MPV arrived. A brand new Toyota Wish!

• May - CHC EMERGE Competions kicked off, and prelimiminaries for all EMERGE COMPETITIONS went well without any hiccups!

• Jun - Nicole's 2nd Bdae! Held it at the Nursery. Singapore EMERGE was a success!


• Jul - Taiwan and Malaysia EMERGE - Praise God as I passed both tests with good results!


• Aug - Baby Nadine is conceived! A new chapter of my life is being written!



• Sep - Jiahui had a successful Festival of Praise! She was overseeing the Operations.

• Oct - Launch of edunloaded.blogspot.com. A new medium to communicate my ideas! Got voted to become the Hottest daddy blogger



• Nov - Got sponsorship to study my Masters degree at Trinity Theological College. Starting in Jan 08! Jiahui also stopped getting morning sickness...Yahoo! No more Vomiting!
  
  
• Dec - Excellent Breakaway Camp! God showed up for us in a BIG WAY! & Breakthru Attend for Xmas!

Jiahui and myself really had great fun, thinking and writing down all the great things that God has done for us! It's human nature to forget about our blessings. Therefore, when we started writing things down....We want to declare with all our hearts 2007 was a great year!

Looking forward to an even better one in 2008! Praise the LORD!

P.S - Here's something that we should not do on New Year's Day!

Grandma's Birthday

Last week was Grandma's Birthday Dinner. We decided to try out a new restaurant, and we went to Sabai Fine Thai at Takashimaya. It was certainly a "Fine Thai Experience!"

The dinner 'kicked off' with some rice crackers that really melted in our mouths.

Appertisers of popiah were 'mouth-watering'. It wasn't 'flakey' like when you u eat regular fried popiah and u can only taste flour. This popiah was just made with the right proportions!



Stuffed drumsticks were really good! I really like chicken, so u can guess that it was one of my favourite dishes!

Thai duck red curry was really sedap! However, u got to have a really good appetite for chilli to 'stomach' this dish. I was drinking lots of water, as i tasted the curry, and my bro looked like he just came out of the sauna!

The Sea Bass came with a very nice tangy sour sauce. Nicole was drinking it as soup!



Desserts of mango and durian puri was also DELICIOUS! The mango was really heavenly and the durian puree is a must try for durian lovers.



To end the party, we sang "Happy Birthday" to my mum, and also we tried the 'Rocky Road Mouse Cake' from "little foot". My wife likes it as it comes with rich chocolate with generous sprinkle of marshmallows within the cake. I personally prefer the 'durian cake' that he has!(Click here-as i blogged about it earlier)

Overall, the restaurant is a bit pricey but the food definitely worth trying! I think it would do well for special occasions and company lunches - when u are ready to spurge on a meal. On the average, we paid about $50 a person for the fine thai dining experience.

Breakaway 2007 Video

hucnGuys,
The long awaited Breakaway Camp video is finally OUT!

A Big Thank You to Brandon for producing the video...I know it probably took many late nites!

And also many THANKS to all the leaders and members, who made this camp possible!

Hope the video brings back great memories of our encounters with God and with each other!h

Breakaway Video - Check it out!

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Christmas Services at CIty Harvest Church

With services starting since last Saturday, it has been a long tiring Xmas.

But...it has all been worth it! the people just kept on 'flooding' in for the services... we are believing that more than 50,000 people will attend our Xmas services this week.

We are now believing for them to come back this weekend, so that we can see them become lasting fruits in the kingdom of God!

Being in the carnvial committee, my week started since last Friday. That was the day, that the carnival games shifted into the Hall.

The inflatables were a real challenge, as they came in very DIRTY.

A BIG THANK YOU to people like: Suting, Delphine, Shing, Sandy, Aaron, Clement, Joel. Choon Peng, Gail...and all the rest who helped out with cleaning the inflatables.

They got down on their knees and 'scrubbed' the inflatables with 'Dettol', so that it would be clean for the children! Many THANKS!

The best thing about Xmas, was of course seeing our friends and family members come for the weekend services, and respond to the altar call. My mum, brother and sis-in-law come and they all enjoyed the Xmas drama. Mum lifted up her hands when the altar call was given. PTL!

During the carnival, it was also really exciting to see ET ZONE dominate the 'Eating Competition'. We were the Unofficial Overall Champions, with us winning the eating competiton on all 4 days!

Cheer:

ET..Hey! ET..Ho! ET..Yea! ET..YA *11 claps*..ET!

To join in the Xmas Celebration, Nathan also competed in the 'Sunshine Baby' competiton. Unfortunately, he was a bit tired and cranky...Cried when he saw the judges! (Even when the Judge was Aunty Shirley-he sees her everyday!)

It's ok Nath! We'll win the next time! You are still my little 'SUNSHINE!'

Anyway, we are now looking forward to the weekend CGs, where we will see our friends come back!

GROWTH AND REVIVAL IS COMING!!!

Running out of things to Blog?

In Japan, there is this lady whose blog has about 300 occasional readers, and the blog is all about what she had for lunch! In fact her blog is called "I had my lunch" !!

According to 'The Straits Times', while bloggers in America blog to stand out, the Japanese do it to fit in. In fact, the above blogger mentioned is so 'bland' in her blogging that she gets no online comments or feedback from her readers - even though she is hoping she might.

This is so different from us bloggers in Singapore ... we put in personal stuff, unique to ourselves and effectively, we always try to stand out!

Personally, I blog to communicate to my audience, and to share my revelations to a wider audience!

And another BIG difference is that we, Singapore Bloggers love it when u guys give positive feedback, COMMENT and TAG! And of course when u vote for me too!



Hee.hee... Thanks for voting, if u have done so! (Click on the icon, if u have not)

BTW, Christmas services are starting in 24 hours time, so let's keep on praying and believing for a great revival!

And before i go, here's something really funny that I heard on the radio:

If Santa needed one of the reindeers to go and get coffee, which one will he ask?

Answer: Rudolph, as he is the "Star-BUCK!"

*Buck: the male of the deer, antelope, rabbit, hare, sheep, or goat

Rubik's Cube - A love hate Affair

Just the other day, as I was eating with my wife at the Suntec Food Court, i saw a youth, 'rip' out a mini Rubiks Cube from her bag.

Wow! I thought to myself..."Looks like its making a comeback! Its becoming as popular as a MP3 player!"

I remember the days when I used to own one. It was 1984, back when Wham! and Depeche Mode were the talk of the town.

I remember the love-hate affair, that i had with the cube - those nights of frustration, trying to get all the colors rite!

My failures with the cube led me to new avenues of resourcefulness!

I began to dismantle the cube, and also peel out the stickers - so that I could tell people, I conquered the 'cube'.

Actually, the cube itself also faced difficult beginnings. Invented in Eastern Bloc 'Hungary' by Erno Rubik in 1974, it did not seem destined to be a 'Hit'

Two Capitalists who saw the cube in Hungary wanted to translate the cube into world prominence. However, other major players did not see the potential of the cube.

They deemed it as, "Too difficult and expensive to manufacture, impossible to demonstrate its fascination on TV, too abstract, too cerebral, too quiet, a challenge for the esoteric academic mind rather than a puzzle meant for the young and the general public."

Undeterred by the opposition, the Cube made its international debut at the Toy Fairs of London, Paris, Nuremberg and New York in January/February, 1980. With Erno Rubik demonstrating his own creation, the Cube made an immediate impact. The trade buyers were impressed, and the rest is History!

Today, the cube has seemed to have outlived Wham!, Star Wars, and even Phua Chu Kang!

It has definitely left its mark, as I have Cell group members who carry one in their bags.

Party Packed Weekend

Nic had 2 parties to go to last weekend.

The 1st one involved Mummy's Forum Friends, where she had a fun time making cookies.

Nic is far from 'ladylike' when it comes to decorating her cookie, but she really enjoyed 'messing around'!

U can see her decorating...and uh..hmm..eating the decorations, most of the time!

On Sunday, she went to Denise's Bdae Party. This was a 'milestone' for Nic, as it was her...

1st Mcdonald's Bdae Party.

She was so excited about it, that she refused to take her afternoon nap. 'Blackmail' seems to work at her age, as we told her that, she does not sleep, she cannot go....In a flash...she closed her eyes...and was ready to go to sleep. :) If only Denise's Bdae Party is 'on' every day!

Once there, Nic took on a totally different persona.

She was shy and clinging on to Daddy for dear life!

Tried to get her involved in 'Musical Chairs' but she was not too interested. In fact, she did not really join in the games at all. Just when i nearly gave up hope on her....

Nicole started jumping up and down when the Food trolley came! I hope this does not mean, that she is going to marry a chef, when she grows up!

Nic with Denise - The Birthday Gal

Btw, Nic is really talking like 'Rod Stewart' at the moment, as she lost her voice from eating too many chocolates!

I guess, u can tell, that she is enjoying the Christmas Season....

Ps Kong Hee - Great Sermon

The Sermon today was really very good!

Pastor preached about Zacharias and Elizabeth, who are the parents of John the Baptist.

Luke 1:5-7
5There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
6And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
7But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.

The Bible tells us that Zacharias and Elizabeth were both righteous and blameless before God. However, Elizabeth was barren.

In today's context, it would mean that they are great Christians who prayed, tithed and served God fervently.

Interesting thing about them, was that when their breakthrough came, they were Not Ready to receive it! God was going to give them a great Xmas Present, but they said NO!

They were so used to barrenness, that they were indifferent to change. In fact, God had to shut Zacharias up, as he was saying the wrong things! His old lifestyle of barrenness, was hindering his faith in God.

Death and life lies in the power of the tongue, and our man Zacharias was saying the wrong things!

A contemporary example : U may look the part by dressing well and looking sharp, but if your speech does not match up to it, you would hinder your promotion and your level of influence automatically diminishes.

I believe that this is precisely why we need to be people who are full of faith, and yet well read at the same time. If not, we will not become 'pillars of influence' in the society we live in!

The old lifestyle of barrenness - Tradition
The breakthrough - Transition
The fruitfulness - Transformation

No one likes change, but every time, if we want a revival, it means CHANGE!

BTW, it's... 5 more days... to our Xmas Services....

Let's keep on praying... for 50,000!

New Christmas Traditions

Talking about Christmas and Santa Claus, We decided to do a search on some family traditions that we can start for the kids.

Some ideas are:

1. Preparing snacks & milk for Santa and the Reindeer


2. Singing carols followed by Christmas Eve Dinner


3. Tracking Santas' flight on the US Norad Website (click here)


4. Christmas Stockings


5. Opening 1 Christmas present at every hour on Xmas Day.


6. Kids get new pajamas for Christmas Eve, in case they run into Santa

We decided on 1 tradition today - Check it out!

Mummy is going to fill the stocking with sweets and other goodies, so that when Nicole wakes up on Christmas morning, she is going to be really EXCITED!!!

Santa Claus

How can any Xmas be complete without Santa Claus?

Just finished teaching on the subject of Legalism and Antinominism, and one of the subject matters I did some research on is Santa Claus.

Some parents today have made laws that have objected to their children being educated about the man in the red suit.

Conservative Christians deem it as a 'taboo' subject, which should be shielded from our kids.

It should go into the same corner as elves, pixies, Harry Potter and the magic faraway tree - Detrimental to the development of the child.

Objections range from:

• Rearrange the word Santa and you get the word Satan
• Santa is the devil's tool to distract your children from Jesus
• You will be lying to your kids
• How can u teach your children about breaking in and entering a house?
• Kids will be permanently 'scarred' when they find out the truth!

What do I think?

First of all, Hands up for those who were emotionally 'scarred' when they found out the truth!

NO rite..."I just went really? No Santa? Oh Good, now I know who I need to 'bug' for this years' presents!"

Books like Enid Blyton about the 'Magic Faraway Tree' only stirrs up pleasant memories of fun and cool memories of biscuits that had 'special' powers. - Santa stories and presents fall into the same category.

In my view, Santa only enhances the fun children fun have, without threatening their faith.

Even James Dobson and Jack Hayford (Heavyweights in the Christian World), feel excited about a figure who teaches giving and loving during the holiday season!

My kids will definitely love Xmas and Santa!!!

Gathering your Thoughts

Just finished leaders meeting today & my wife preached a Great Sermon!

Sermon was about how u need to ask God and venture into no man's land, if u want a breakthrough.

The 1st point of the sermon really impacted me.

It's about gathering your thoughts. If u want a breakthrough, u got to know what u want and ask God for it!

Recently, I just read an article about Will Smith in 'Time' Magazine.

When he was just starting out as a rap star and on the 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air', he had a goal!

He wanted to be the biggest star in the world!

He and his manager began to analyse the 10 top grossing movies of all time.



They realised that:


10 out of 10 had special effects
9 out of 10 had special effects with creatures.
8 out of 10 had special effects with creatures and a love story.

This probably explains why he did movies like 'Bad Boys','Independence Day' and 'Men in Black'.
In order for Will Smith to succeed, he gathered his thoughts and analysed what it will take for him to be successful. He then worked towards his goals.

In the same way, if we want God to answer our prayers, we got to analyse the areas we want to focus on, and work purposefully towards our goals!

Xmas Services at City Harvest Church

It's Beginning to look a lot like Xmas!

Yes..It's our favorite time of the year and u can feel it everywhere u go. Even 2.5 yr old Nicole is singing 'Jingle Bells' in the car.

For us as a church , it's not just a time of celebration, but also a time for us to share the love of Christ with our family and friends this holiday season.

This year, we have 5 services in total at Expo and another 2 at Jurong.

Besides the Great drama and the carnival, let's look forward to a great harvest this Xmas!

Something Interesting

Was watching the Internet recently and came across this youth pastor who raps!

Did a search and came across another rapper (Reggie Dabbs) who does it for Planetshakers and Youth Alive (UK).

Looks like Pop Music and the Internet really gives us a voice wherever we go. We got to go out on the edge, if we want to be a History Maker!

Camp Breakaway Photo

We look so good...Had to put it up!!!

Lets...

...OH OH..Running with your Fire, We Run to YOU...We Run YOU...WE RUN TO YOU!

Praise The Lord! For a great Camp!

Thanks for Voting

Hi Guys!

Thanks for coming to my blog since I started it. If u guys don't already know, I have been nominated for the 'Hottest Daddy' in the Blogger's Choice Awards!

Competition is really heating up as we are currently No. 3.

Really appreciate if u could vote for me. All u need to do is to sign up for an account, and vote accordingly. U can either click here or click on the icon on the right of my toolbar.

Thanks once again for your support, as we make another attempt at "Crossing Over!"

Btw, i love ALL the feedback u guys have been giving me. So do tag, or as Emily promised, leave your comments! :)

Friends are friends forever
Gwen was asking, what was the name of the song that we sang at the Camp. The song is called 'Friends are friends forever' by Michael W. Smith.

It was a real hit in the late 1980s, and it was constantly being played on the airways. Hope u guys can familiarise yourself with the song, as we will definitely be singing it at our "Thanksgiving Year End CG"

The Power of Asking

Nicole demonstrated the Power of Asking this week with mummy.

Mummy decided to bring Nic with her when she went shopping earlier this week. As there were a lot of impt bdaes just round the corner, Mummy was walking in and out of shops looking for good buys.

The only thing was that Nic was feeling tired and hungry, just as they started their shopping trip.

In order to distract the little gal, Mummy promised Nicole a 'chocolate bun!'

As they were at the Taka end, nearest to Wisma, they were a good distance to "St Leaven's" bakery. In shopping distance (due to going in and out of shops), this was about 1km away - Very, very far, for a hungry, grouchy girl!

As they moved in and out of shops, Nic will always look at mummy and say, "Mummy, chocolate bun?"

Going into another boutique, Nic will twist her little head and say sweetly again, "Mummy, where's my chocolate bun?"

As they went on shopping, she would go, "Mummy, I want my chocolate bun!", to just simply "Chocolate Bun!"

With her kind of persistence and asking, Nic got her CHOCOLATE BUN!

But to add on...Due to her persistence, Mummy got her a CHOCOLATE CROISSANT & a CHOCOLATE BROWNIE as well, as mummy felt guilty for making her wait!

WOW! Imagine what God can do when we ask Him persistently!

ET Breakaway Camp - 3 to 5 Dec 2007

The last few days have been fun-fiilled and yet extremely tiring!

One of the things I enjoyed about the camp was the presence of God on the 1st nite.

All of us leaders were worried about how the meetings were going to go, but PTL! God showed up in a mighty way.

Even as i was preaching, I was breaking up, as I shared my stories about giving up acting and about my dad.

As we all agreed during the camp, "...More precious than silver, more costly than gold, No riches on the earth compares to you, and what this world offer, when all i desire is YOU..."

I included the video of the 1st 2 days' highlights in below. Watch out for the Grand Finale video, which will be coming out soon.

ET Zone, Lets keep on Running with Jesus!

ET Breakaway Camp

3rd to 5th December

Nostalgia

Ed's not around...

So the guest blogger is in the house today! And today is a day of remembering what growing up was like!

I dropped Nicole off at school today. It was different the minute I entered the gates. Strangely quiet.

When we were outside her class, suddenly out popped all her classmates. They were there to welcome her (or so I thought!). No teachers were around (found out later, they were settling some stuff behind). Well, all the little tods came round Nicole, as she took off her shoes.

All was well, until one of them started showing me a toy she was holding, and chanting out "botak! botak!" It was like a new word for all 10 tods. Soon, all of them went "botak! botak", laughing hysterically at each other, pointing at the toy. Well, Nicole was sitting on the floor, shell-shocked. (she's never heard that word before) Suddenly, I realised, uhoh! She thinks that they are all laughing at her, and she's feeling totally "out of it!" And 3-2-1, she burst into tears!

That distracted the tods. They then decided to laugh at crying Nicole. ohh... at that moment, I really wanted to go "shut up, all of you!" But, I'm only Nicole's mummy, not all of theirs! And if I were a 3 yr old, I would be laughing too! It was a let's all laugh moment for them! Well, in what was like eternity, Mo Lao Shi appeared and took over.

Reality check (in chronological order)
1. Felt like a failure as a mummy to protect my baby
2. Realised I can't protect her all the time
3. Remembered that this is part of growing up--misunderstandings and being misunderstood

I drove back realising how important it is for the kids to know God! He'll see them through these 'trials of growing up'!

BETTER things ahead...

It's Camp Breakaway till Wed! Nicole, Nathan, Aunty Weng & I went down to check it out. ohhh.. it looks great! The campers were excited. There was a sense of "we had fun so far, and there'll be more to come" in the air! It's such times when I wish I'm in a better state physically, and the kids are older. So that we can all join in the camp!

Then again, reality check.

What we saw:
1. Wearing t-shirts that don't match your bottom. And no one will say anything, cos it's CAMP!
2. Eating fried rice (literally. Rice that is fried, and a little coloured) with an omelette for lunch
3. Screaming out loud the team cheer, cos it seems points are awarded for volume
4. Sleeping bags in the classroom for Zzzz later
5. Bathing in a primary school toilet where there're tiny toilet bowls and lower flushes and sinks

Of course that can't be compared to what we smelt: sweat+sweat+more sweat!

hmmm... to be young again....