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....