Why I'm not going to Malaya Corner for a while....

I had always respected Malaya Corner and its food.... I showed my pride towards this asian restaurant because of its affiliation with Malaysia... EVEN THOUGH it was owned by Honkies (and the food ain't true malaysian food).

But after today, I'm not going back for a long time.



We were having lunch there and look what Elaine pulled from the bottom of her dish.... on the serviette...



Massively long hair...


My Noodes weren't cooked well at all... the bottom parts were still bunched together like how they are cooked, and still lightly coloured and cold. Also had a really weird aftertaste like it had been soaked in some yuck liquid.

Surprisingly I ate more greens than meat/noodles... haha...

Birthday Poem

I thought this poem my uni friend (thanks Lily!) made up was pretty good and funny at places, so here it is :)

Dear Joshua,

Oh what a “grown up” boy you have become;

Since the day we met, you were our wee little chum.

You had made every uni day worthwhile;

With your weird wacky ways and your warm friendly smile.

You’ve cheered us up on our crappy crit days;

And helped us out with our sh*tty essays.

And even though we’ve only known you 3 years;

It has felt like way more, as we’ve shared our fears.

We’ve been through rain and hail together;

But our friendship has conquered worst weather.

And we couldn’t be more grateful with someone like you;

Someone with confidence, pride and cares like you do.

There is not a day that you’re not at the pizza café;

It’s the only place around uni that you seem to like to stay.

You always rock up in blue and sporty gear;

It makes you appear calm, clear and definitely not austere.

You always help out anytime you can;

So, I’d like to thank you Joshua Tan;

For being a mate, a leader, a teacher, a clown;

The nicest guy we could ever have around.

You’re sincerely what we’d call a true friend;

Let’s just hope our friendship will never end.

Josh, you are a great guy and you deserve to enjoy;

So, here’s to you, our grown up Joshi boy!

Worship 101

As many of you know, I'm quite involved and passionate about worship at churches, and how the music ministry serves the church in terms of the team members, the leaders and especially the congregation of worshippers.

After a number frustrating and eventful services which I have seen, led or been part of in some way, I have decided that this would be a nice place to voice my view on worship, give some tips and ideas to my fellow worship team members in my church and in other churches, and also to get some feedback on my views regarding this.

Over the next few weeks, topics such as: what is a church music ministry, what is worship and corporate worship, tips on worship leading, tips on coordinating a team, song choice, the flow of a service, and many other topics.

A book that has helped me rethink my ideas on worship is "Worship Matters" by Bob Kauflin. He presents the idea of worship and song leading with a theological and biblical foundation - something many christian books on worship lack greatly. Hope these next few weeks challenge your view on worship and we can open a new forum on evangelical worship and music at our churches.

Only in Dubai...

A fish tank of curved glass suspended of the side of a 10 storey building...

Contrasting the Cross

I recently read on the news about a certain radio show host, attempting to recreate the cross by being nailed on it himself, in order to investigate the cross for forensic purposes, in his SBS TV show. The man is said to be setting out to expose the hypocrisy and failings of religion.

This made me think of many contrasts between this man and the cross, and why his experiment is futile:

Radio Show Host (RDS): He is a man, a sinner, and falls short of being righteous
Jesus Christ (JC): He is fully God, fully man, righteous and perfect

RDS: He has a death sentence hanging over his head
JC: He is pure, blameless, yet dies for the sins of others

RDS: While he did feel pain, the pain he felt was the 4 nails precisely nailed into his hands and feet
JC: He was whipped, stripped, jeered, carried a heavy cross, given a crown of thorns which actually embedded into his head, and physically abused in many ways before being put on the cross

RDS: He is (probably) rejecting God and being rejected by God
JC: He is God's son, and on the cross he was feeling the separation from the perfect relationship He had with God for our benefit

RDS: He 'hung' on the cross for 5 minutes, and there was a plinth for his feet so he could stand
JC: He was hung and literally hung for hours. His body weighed down and the immense pain is unimaginable

RDS: He did not die or was near death, and had medics treating him after the 5 minutes
JC: He died on the cross, and He rose again after 3 days

RDS: His experimentation of the cross is meaningless in eternity
JC: His death on the cross determines our eternity

Jesus' Death on the cross (and his ressurection) is not vague, mysterious or myth. It is real history and many historical, archaelogical and biblical accounts and documents affirm this.

Caught Red Handed

Graffiti'ing in Hong Kong tsk tsk Leonie!

Mark Driscoll on RICE

Murals

This is a smoking room

This is someone's bathroom

This is the outside of a public toilet...

And this is the inside...

HMMMMMM!

Monstrosity - Bacon Explosion

Imagine.... 2.2kg of pure sausage meat coated in bacon...


Cooked with 10 litres of oil and spicy BBQ sauce..


BACON EXPLOSION!



Too bad Tom took it too seriously and exploded before the night service. His fart could be smelled 15 metres away (Amy said she could feel it)

To cap off a wonderful week.....

Realised that JOA (my car) got smacked by a stone yesterday sometime......



In other news, was so close to buying E this for his birthday.....


Can't you just imagine him playing this (with a wii board too)

Devil's Snare

I've been feeling like Satan has been attacking me heaps in the past week or two:

- in my family, friendships and relationships (rough edges everywhere)
- in my ministries (in particular Worship and RICE)
- at work (busy busy busy)
- driving (near misses of cars hitting me and pedestrians running in front of my car)
- mentally (feeling very drained and not very aware as I usually am)
- timetable (pretty much every day is busy and booked out)
- financially (a few big surprises which have hurt me quite a bit financially)

... need to focus. move on. keep striving.

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Sunday Lunch Poll

Due to constant indecisiveness in lunch choices, the lunch poll is back!

This week, I will determine some impartial choices (no Yahoo or 7-8 since we've been recently). As for next week, if there are any new food venues which would like to be added, please reply to this post, and to specify and vote for the "Other" option, please reply to the post.

Lastly, if you're not intending to lunch with us, please don't vote. Also please don't use multiple computers to vote for your choice.

Poll finishes when I leave to church on Sunday morning. PS - Can someone please check the poll for this week on Saturday night, because I won't be at church.

The Worship Leader

When you hear the term "worship leader" what comes to mind? You think of a professional singer and musician, on stage with a great crowd, sometimes a concert or rally experience, and figures like Darlene Dszchech, Chris Tomlin, and other high profile names.

In the past few weeks and monthes, I've been challenged to think deeply about the role of the worship leader at church, and what are the qualities that are needed of a worship leader, or a person who leads a Sunday worship service at an Australian evangelical church.

The book I'm currently reading puts it this way: The worship leader faces many challenges, including leading the singing, choosing songs, organising the team of singers and musicians, and constructing the flow of the service. However the biggest challenge is none of these things. The biggest challenge is what the leader brings to the pulpit each and every Sunday, which is not the voice or the look.... it is the heart.

Your heart shows what really matters in your life, what you love and are passionate about. Within each of us is a spiritual battle of who or what we will worship.. is it God, or something else? Someone who is leading a congregation in worship must himself be authentically and genuinely worshipping God, and not focusing on themselves or anything else.

Is God in the centre of our hearts? Do we love Him more than anything or anyone else? God deserves our all. He is worthy of our worship. He wants us to love Him. If God is in the centre of our lives, He is able to work in us and through us, using us to be His light in this world.

This applies for worship leaders too. If God is in the centre of our hearts, and we are genuinely worshipping Him as our top priority, He will work through us in all the other challenges in worship, so that His name will be glorified through us.

Living the Cross Centred Life

I've just finished reading a book by C. J. Mahaney on "Living the Cross Centred Life". Its a great book which reminds and/or tells us that we must live every day of our lives in the light of the Cross that Jesus died on for us. We must begin each day of our lives at the foot of the Cross, remembering how significant the Cross is for us.

So many of us live our lives centred on a range of different things. It might not be evident at face value, but we centre things like academics/intelligence, sport, technology, celebrities, wealth, prosperity, work (secular and even ministry) and many other things. These 'distractions' take over our lives and fill up all of our minds, and we forget about the one thing that has saved us eternally from an eternity of separation, suffering and death.

This book has especially reminded me that everything we do in our lives, from church and ministry work to simply going to the shops, should reflect what Jesus has done for us on the Cross. For example, how does the Cross affect me when I play sport? How does the Cross affect me when I bump into an old primary school friend who I used to dislike? How does the Cross affect my language to my workmates?

I would recommend this book to any Christian who wants to be reminded of how to live a Christian life in this world where so many alternatives are pushed at us. It is also great for new Christians who want to find out more about how the Cross should affect your life.

Thursday Lunch

I was really hungry during lunch today so I decided to go to maccas... unfortunately I got a bit too excited..

Engineers....

Saw an office on my way home in the middle of the technology park surrounded by about 100 engineering firms, so I took a pic of it.


Ironic its situated in the middle of all the engineering firms ;)

Says a lot about them :)

Drained

I feel the most drained in a while... both physically, mentally and emotionally...

For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

Game of the Day

But wait... there was more to come...

Youth Ministry Tool Showcase

The Dating Suit

Ordering 30 of these for FiGS tomorrow.

True Idiot