Sleepover @ Eastpoint Green!

Mummy "Want to stay at Eastpoint Green this weekend? We're going to rent out Eastpoint Green next Friday!"

We were all...huh?

That's when I had this brilliant idea "Why not I call my friends stay-over at Eastpoint Green?"

After verbalizing much thoughts of us messing up the place, destroying furniture, spoiling the air-con and upon realization that all these were just paranoid figments of her imagination, my mum consented and allowed me to call friends over. Haha!

I was elated! I love sleep-overs and chalets! Haha. So I went about calling my newest group of friends from Heart of God church :)

Since I don't really hang out with them and know them so well, I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to have fun and get to know each other :D

Out went the SMSes and facebook invites and it was on! :)

Hong Hwee was the first to arrive at around 8.40pm. His commando skills are power. Haha. He called me "Jonavan, I'm here" So I went to the main entrance to fetch him. I reached the gate, looked, saw no one, went out of the gate only to realize he was already inside...Haha!

We swapped places. He ended up opening the gate for me! I became the visitor! LOLS. Haha.

So off we went to...the billiard table. Standard ah...Everyone whom I invite to my condo will sure play pool one. Haha.

Hong Hwee & I pooling & billiard-ing :D With Andrew in the background...haha.

Next to arrive was Chor Seng followed by Yong An & Andrew :) So they joined us in our mission of potting coloured balls into the pockets.

Chor Seng, Me & Yong An :)

Hong Hwee on fire! Haha.

Don't see Hong Hwee eyes like small, small ar...But his aiming power one sia. Haha! He potted the most balls I think. Haha.

Andrew & Hong Hwee

Andrew & Yong An :D

Myself, deep in the technical process of taking aim...Haha.

Who's the ghost in the middle?

It's Yong An! Haha. I set my camera on double take mode where the first shot is w/o flash and the second shot is w/ flash. The flash really spoils it. Haha.

Won't you look at the time? Time to go and end off with a group photo :)

We've just completed one quarter of our training program man. Haha! We then headed up to eat! Chor Seng's hunger was devouring him. Cup noodles, potato chip packets burst open and a Chinese chess match between me and Chor Seng ensued. Haha. Re-living the poly days. HAHA! Chor Seng was a bit rusty...made 3 wrong moves and handed over his army to me. Haha.

After filling our tummies, we watch a DVD movie..."Knight and Day". It was a cool movie with a lot of missing links...Haha. Cameron Diaz will have blurred vision and the next time she opens her eyes, she's in another place!

All in all, quite an entertaining movie. Cameron Diaz is getting old. She should be acting as some glam mother role soon. Haha.

3/4 into the movie, Wei Hong arrived at around 12.30am+ I think. Haha. He woke up like 11pm and rushed down from Jurong! I'm so touched. Shows how much he treasures spending time with us. Haha. I was half expecting his absence due to the valid reasons of "very late liao" and "haven't eat dinner lei..." But hey, he treasures you more than the reasons standing in his way :)

Yup, he arrived. Watched the last part of the show and after that, played guitar. Haha. We had a short guitar and song session. Hong Hwee and Wei Hong are great musicians.

Next, we played Monopoly Deal! Haha. It's been quite some time since I played that game...because in Bethel, we've overplayed that game. HAHA! Everywhere we go, we'd carry a pack of those cards and play it at restaurants, at each other's homes, at cell group, after service, etc...Haha.

Chor Seng smiling profusely at his good hand...haha. Oh, do you notice a sleepy Hong Hwee in the background? Haha!

He knocked out first. Lols. We played the game late into the night. In between turns we'll pass the guitar around, strum chords, sing songs and all...Haha. We played 3 rounds of monopoly deal...and the 3 winners are...Chor Seng, Me & Andrew! Whoo hoo! :) Haha! Whatever...LOLS!

Wei Hong & Myself :D This was taken during our Monopoly Deal game. Haha.

After that game, Yong An was still full of energy. He beckoned the rest to watch the movie "The Mask" Haha! Really old show, but it's a really good show. Haha.

With Hong Hwee down, there's Yong An, Wei Hong, Chor Seng, Andrew and me left watching "The Mask". First to KO was Wei Hong. The mask of sleepiness then took over Andrew who fell asleep in the chair while watching. HAHAHA! Finally, I knocked out too...not even half the movie was over. Haha.

Yup, had a great time man. Hope we can have more of such sessions.

I think they're all very real and loving people, just like all of us in Bethel. Really love them :) I think that's what makes us Christians set apart. Whenever I bring a non-Christian friend out with my Christian friends, they will tell me about how pure our fellowship is (no need to put on a mask to impress each other) and how fun hanging out can be without booze, without coarse and dirty jokes, without vulgarities and all.

Yup, look forward to getting to know more friends and more than knowing them, falling in love with them...Not in the gay way or BGR way (duh...HAHA!), but in forging a strong friendship that is foundationalized by God's love and by our understanding of each other as a person. :)

Bullets or Seeds

My mum found a piece of rough paper with this awesome lesson in it...

Bullets or Seeds

Richard C. Halverson

Former Chaplain of the United States Senate

You can offer your ideas to others as bullets or as seeds.

You can shoot them, or sow them; hit people in the head with them or plant them in their hearts.

Ideas used as bullets will kill inspiration and neutralize motivation.

Used as seeds, they take root, grow and become reality in the life in which they are planted.

The only risk in the seed approach: Once it grows and becomes part of those in whom it’s planted, you probably will get no credit for originating the idea.

But if you’re willing to do without the credit…you’ll reap a rich harvest.

I've encountered my fair share of bullet-people and seed-people. I've also had my fair share of shooting people down and sowing into their lives.

I think what makes people shoot bullets is because of pride. They shoot others down to show that "Hey! Look here! I've got a fantastic idea! I'm not like that stupid guy who has no ideas! C'mon! Look at me!"

We don't really want to bring much of a change, we want the limelight, the fame, the glory. We shoot because when you fire a round, it's real loud and everyone notices it. But more often than not, after the shot is fired, the person who shot it will get charged.

This is how pride can destroy people and make unity crumble.

Always sow seeds, not shoot bullets because the end result is almost always devastating.

BMT in HOGC

I took off to attend BMT today.
HUH? I thought you're already a sergeant in Tekong?
Yes I am :D
Then what's BMT?
Oh, it stands for Basic MINISTRY training! HAHA! It's a course offered by Heart of God to train people interested in serving in Heart of God church. :D

It was a 8am - 6pm session full of sermons shared by the senior leaders (equivalent to Bethel's ZSes and above)

I must admit I slept like 3 times...slept for like 2 minutes at 9.30am, 3pm and 5pm. HAHA! All the sleepy interludes.

From 8.30am - 6pm of sermons I only slept thrice, not bad sia! It shows I was engaged like 90% of the time. Haha. Those incidences was because I was just too sleepy. You know sleepy spells, they come at certain hours. Those are mine. haha. Anyway...

Topics they covered:
1) Importance of ministry and the importance of your involvement in ministry
2) Values and character traits needed to sustain you in your ministry
3) Time management and discipline
4) Discipleship
5) How to manage your time, life and learn and lead - Prioritizing and managing your life
6) Heart of God's church heritage

They covered those and more. They also taught us Heart of God's culture, like agreeing with the speaker by saying "Yes" and explaining the rationale behind it motivatingly.

They taught us how to build atmosphere in the church like by saying "yes" when you've turned to the scripture the speaker asks you to turn to, sitting up straight and all...All the basics which many churches don't have and don't bother because it's too minute a detail to talk about.

Because of all these small minute and seemingly insignificant details that the many other churches ignore, it has resulted in mundane, dull and boring services that doesn't engage the individual. HOGc recognizes the importance of atmosphere.

Sure you can explain that oh, our faith shouldn't be so service based and it's the individual...well, stop insulting the pastors because you're telling them that they can set the service standards so low. What about professionalism & giving your best? Well, the difference shows.

Anyway, I learnt and re-learnt quite a lot of stuffs. However the most touching part was the last part when one of their senior leaders (ZS equivalent) around my age shared about their church's heritage.

He browsed through photos of the past showing how the leaders were groomed by Ps How & Ps Lia and he talked about all their funny stories they shared and what are the foundational values that kept the church and its leaders going.

As he shared so personally and so full of love for his church, it brought a sense of sadness to me. I was thinking "That's how much I used to love Bethel! If Bethel had such a session and got me to share, I'd look exactly like that guy (Jian Ming) sharing. Full of joy, pride and love for his church." It's quite a pity that the chances of my thoughts materializing are really slim.

There's still that huge attachment to Bethel and it's people. There are so many superb leaders and lovely members in Bethel. They're just all in the wrong places.

I now know the delusion leadership can cause people and I guess God's doing something in the hearts of everyone. Well God, what I don't learn in Bethel, I'll learn somewhere else...I can't run from a problem right? It'll come back embodied in a different person, a different setting...Hopefully by then, I'd have gotten my faith and strength back.

Yup, got homework to do sia! Haha. Long time since I knew what was homework. Haha. Yup, God may you continue to walk with me down this journey of faith. It's you I live for Jesus.

Lebbillie & Amy's Departure

This is a really outdated, expired post. Haha. But hey, it's still important enough to warrant a page in my life's history :D haha!

Yes, before their departure we spent a lot of time hanging out and playing before they leave again...We went out sooooooo many times that I can't recall and pen down all of them. Haha. Only those with pictures taken are important enough to be remembered as an outing. Haha.

So yup, here's our outings :)

SHOKUDO! :D Because I've got Shokudo vouchers to clear, I brought us all there. Haha! A pizza at half price...that's all. LOLS!

Anyway, had a great time eating and chatting. They're awesome friends, you can just chat about anything...chat about...the mundaneness of life, future, what we think about each other, our love languages, what we think of our church, how would Lebbillie & Yang Cheng feel after they separate again, etc...HAHA!

It's amazing how I can still remember the topics we covered! That shows how deep our conversations can go. Haha!

Joel & I with our main courses :)

All of us! :D Clockwise from top left hand corner...Lebbillie, Amy, Xin Jin, Myself & Joel :D

While everyone else is joyous about Lebbu & Amy's departure, I'm not :( HAHAHA! :D

Next we went to...Dessert bowl at Serangoon Gardens! :D They were all saying the durian mousse is awesome here...haha.

However, when we placed our order, the durian mousse was already sold out -__-" Nevertheless, there were other awesome desserts that really whetted and abated our sweet tooth's craving. Haha.

Clockwise from top left hand corner: Amy Ching, Debbie Soh, Lee Xinjin, ME! :D, Joel, Yang Cheng, Lebbu & Laureen :)

Take 2 :D

Yang, Amy & Me :D

Oh, and did I forget to mention, we're recently obsessed with the new Iphone app...Iswap faces. Is that what it's called? You take a 2 people photo and you use the programme to swap your faces onto each other's body...The result is HILARIOUS!! HAHAHA!

Lebbillie & Yang were our inspiration. They first tried it out...they swapped faces and Lebbillie looked like Jonathan Yuan and Yang Cheng looked like a THAILAND AH-GUA!!! HAHAHA! Words cannot describe Yang Cheng's face on Lebbillie's body...HAHAHA! You see already just feel like punching kinda feeling. HAHA!

So yup, Debbie & I were trying the I-swapping too...haha.

I-swapping! :D

D-day! Lebbillie's & Amy's departure :( They left on different days la...duh. Haha. So the last 2 pictures are at the airport...

Anti-clockwise from right, Debbie Soh, Lebbillie, Laureen, Me, Belicia, Lynn, Amy, Xin Jin and Yang Cheng :D

Me & Amy :)

Yup, there they went :( Now we have lesser 2 companions to go K-boxing, L4Ding, makaning, movie-ing, etc... :( haha.

You'll be dearly missed.

Will wait for your return to record your new song then Lebbu! :D Haha. Take care! :)

Some FB joke...modified

GRANDPA TO GRANDSON: Go hide, your teacher is here because you skipped school today!

GRANDSON TO GRANDPA: YOU go hide…I told her I'm absent because YOU PASSED AWAY!

LOLS!

Haven't had time to blog lately...or rather, haven't made time to blog lately. I find it quite time consuming to blog so exhaustively about my life.

But what motivates me is next time, 10-20years down the road I can look back at those posts and see how I've grown. Or maybe read it with a bunch of friends or with my wife and simply laugh at the events that made me who I am.

Maybe I can publish it as a book or something. HAHA!


Yup, will update soon! :)

Show Me by Audrey Assad

As posted on my fb wall..

This song is for those who have so much to want to do for God, but can't because you have not died to yourself, or discovered God enough to. 

Amazing lyrics that echoes my frustrated soul. Feast on the morsels of truth revealed in the lyrics.

Show Me

By Audrey Assad

You could plant me like a tree beside a river
You could tangle me in soil and let my roots run wild
And I would blossom like a flower in the desert
But for now just let me cry

You could raise me like a banner in a battle
Put victory like a fire behind my shining eyes
And I would drift like falling snow over the embers
But for now just let me lie

Bind up these broken bones
Mercy bend and breathe me back to life
But not before You show me how to die

Set me like a star before the morning
Like a song that steals the darkness from a world asleep
And I'll illuminate the path You've laid before me
But for now just let me be

Bind up these broken bones
Mercy bend and breathe me back to life
But not before You show me how to die
Oh, not before You show me how to die

So let me go like a leaf upon the water
Let me brave the wild currents flowing to the sea
And I will disappear into a deeper beauty
But for now just stay with me
God, for now just stay with me

You Are (Final)

We did a final recording for Lebbillie's song "You Are" :D

This time we didn't do it at Aaron Leong's place...we did it at Lebbillie's place! :D

Used her mac to record. Not bad a recording quality I must say. Haha.

Check it out:


The main thing to catch in this video is my guitar solo! HAHAHA! At 2:00! :D LOLS!

Yup, thanks Lebbu for giving me this opportunity to help you record your first song! :) Haha.

Shall see many more songs coming from you eh? Haha.