Reflections on Easter and His Faithfulness

I posted this last Easter. It's really interesting because the commercialism of Easter is even stronger here.

The irony is that being a Christian nation, or rather, a post-Christian nation, Easter, just like Christmas has become a cultural holiday and celebration. But rather than the message of the Cross being the main event, Easter bunnies and Easter eggs and whatnot have become the symbols of the celebration. I have no idea how it happened and this isn't the point of the post. And yes, while some non-Christians do go to church on this day, the real meaning of Easter - His death and resurrection is only known and understood by Christians. I might be wrong but this is once again, just my opinion.

Whereas back home, only Christians celebrate the event and understand its meaning... People from other religions might be ignorant but are always told by the Christians the significance of the day.

But it is most sad when we ourselves do not think about it. When we take it for granted. I don't believe in celebrating His death and resurrection only one day in a year. We need to ponder on it, thank Him for it every single day of our lives. Why?

Because His death and resurrection is the only reason we can truly live.

1 Peter 2:24
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

Ephesians 2:4-5
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

Who can comprehend the extend of His love and mercy? No matter how hard we try, His love is unfathomable. It goes beyond reason, it goes against the law of nature.

But He does not require us to understanding but to trust. To accept His love and walk on in this new life. That we may say, as He did 'Not my will but Yours be done'. He paid the greatest price - nothing we give to the Lord will make up for that. But that does not mean we do not give. We give because we love Him. We love Him because He first loved us.

That being said, I had a very good Easter celebration. Went down with the gospel choir to a church down at Lowell, the same one where we attended the Worship Conference last fall. It was interesting as they had 7 speakers who had 7 minutes each to speak about Jesus' sayings on the Cross. We were invited to perform a song.

Easter Service on Sunday at the church I've been attending regularly, how I found and decided to go to this church is a miracle in itself - He works. Was invited over by the Pastor's wife to their house for lunch and it was a very blessed time. They had 6 sons and for some reason, despite the many differences in character and family traits, it reminded me of my own. The grandparents were there too, having all generations together to celebrate a very important Day was just great. I think it was the first time I actually celebrated Easter with 'family' because all along in the past, it was just going to Church.

But more than anything, I am realizing how much God has blessed me. How He has been faithful. I came across a post in the past:

"There are many uncertainties; questions about what if I don't maintain the required CGPA to keep my merit scholarship, funding and settling down, finding the right church etc. Whatever they may be, I choose not to allow it to bother me, but that they may lead me back to Him. It's all in His hands. If He led me to it, He will lead me through it. He's a faithful God, no doubt about that."

I posted this on April 28 last year when I made my decision to attend Colby-Sawyer. And whats amazing is that

1) I didn't just maintain the required GPA, I excelled, far beyond my own expectations. And I only have Him to give glory to.

2) I settled down well with His provision and bringing various people to me who have been such a blessing... I could not ask for more.

3) He provided me with not just one but two jobs when I was doubtful of even securing one. And most recently, I was selected out of the many applicants and few positions available, to be a Resident Assistant for next year. Which is what I love to do, being in contact with people and it will ease my family a lot financially. And this is all His doing - not mine.

4) As I mentioned earlier, I've been attending the Andover Congregational Church. I never envisioned myself to attend a church so different in terms of the order of worship and running of the service, from what I was raised up in. Yet the first time I walked in that church, God showed me different signs and confirmed that there was where He wants me to be, at least for now. Because it is never about the denomination nor the practice, it is Him.

I can go on and on.... But the main point is to show that God is indeed faithful and we can trust Him. He knows what we need, when we need it and how we need it...

Thank You Lord, thank You... You are the Giver, You are the Gift - the greatest Gift of all...

singapore

Just got back from Singapore this morning. Went there on Friday. I'm too lazy to go through the details so I'd just mention a few of the highlights of the trip;

- Festival of Praise 2011. Fri and Sat night. New Life Worship was amazing and worshipping God along with thousands of people was so uplifting. There were moments where I just stood there totally in awe and loss for words just imagining what it'd be like in heaven one day where everyone will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Such joy indeed. John Bevere, known for authoring great Christian titles was the speaker and he was a solid speaker. Thank God for using and speaking through him.

- Chilling, eating, walking around, going here and there. Need I say more?

- Just spending time with the brothers. :)

I'm grateful I was able to go on this trip. Thank You.

jg

More pics of College's MidSummer Masquerade/Halloween Masquerade/McRave

Su Kheng as a Mime (Pics from her camera as well.) :)

 The Greek Goddess and Egyptian Queen 

Mid Valley last Friday. Started out with 15+ ppl but everyone else decided to go back instead cause they didn't wanna watch movie with us, they practically came for nothing, didn't even eat. 0_0. Anyway, watched SALT. Pretty good movie. Definitely better than what I expected.  

I tortured the guys with Fuzzy Wuzzy the whole time before the movie, it was hilarious. Hah. Till then. :)

mcrave

The annual college BBQ Nite was renamed McRave this year. The theme was Halloween Masquerade which was changed to MidSummer Masquerade instead. Most people were confused bout what the dress code really was so there was a mix of everything; from scary costumes, to princesses to really random ones like Sushi King guy and whatever else..

It was funny because I was absolutely clueless on what to go as so 2 weeks ago when I was talking to Su Kheng, I told her I had no idea and she was like; JUNGLE GIRL LA. (It's my nickname in college, an inside joke) Errr... Okay. She gave suggestions like coconut shells, leaves and stuff... Lol. Thinking it would be hard I didn't really want to do it. And on Sunday I told Vicki about it and she said it was possible. So we went to shop for stuff on Tuesday and ideas came up here and there.

The event was on Friday evening. Went to change in Vicki's place and the girls helped me with my costume.. Thanks so much!

People said I look more like Bamm Bamm... Kai Yen in the background. Haha

With Shernali (Cowgirl) and Praise (Hip Hop star)

Waiting for the other pics to be uploaded on FB. This is the last college event that the whole 0907 is gonna have... Sigh... Next year we'll have our last semester without the Science people. :(

The event was not bad, and I'm glad Chicken People featured. Chicken People is a group of the July juniors, mostly all international students who did a sketch that had Justin Bieber, George Bush (an Iraqi guy, HAH) and Paris Hilton (a 'sexy' guy).. It was really hilarious and original... Not everyone thinks so but kudos to their efforts and I haven't laughed because a sketch for a very long time already..

Anyway, the dancefloor was opened after the event but as usual I preferred not to join it. Dancing is definitely not my thing. Though I missed the 'best' part of the night, I actually enjoyed my time, just hanging around. :)

Thank God for performing a miracle. It was raining prior to the event, so it was delayed by nearly half an hour. And it was still drizzling in the beginning but it stopped soon after... Isn't He just amazing?

I'll cherish every moment now. Thank You Lord for everything.

Copa Iba

It's been quite a hectic week; wanted to post about Copa Iba but haven't had much time to get down to it. So here goes. :)

Friday: After CF, lunch with college peeps and dropping by YMCA booksale, I went to Wangsa Maju LRT with Amos; his church friend's dad picked us to go to a field nearby to practice. It was my second time meeting the team. Anyway practice was pretty intense as well as tiring. I was wondering how I would ever last the real competition when practice itself was abit too much for me. Then I realized; I barely exercise, so I guess I have an excuse. 

Went to Monica's house, one of the youths who weren't involved in the competition to stay the night. I didn't know her at all before that but she was really nice and her family was too. Went for dinner and CG after that; watched Facing the Giants; my fourth time watching. Lol. I slept shortly after I came back. The reason why I had to stay over was cause the comp was held in Klang, and I live really far from W.Maju; and I was supposed to go with them; so might as well make it easier for everyone. 

Saturday: The competition day. Met with the others at 6.15 and reached Klang in an hour. At 8 we had to gather for a brief sermon; it was an evangelistic event and the games started at 9. There were 4 groups consisting of 4 teams each; except for ours which had 5. And since we have to play each team twice, we had 8 games to play compared to other group teams who had 6. For the first time in my life, I drank a can of Red Bull and said it would be my last. Too sweet and medicinal tasting for my liking. But later on when I thought about it, I actually had a surge of energy that day and the 2 hours of gameplay didn't really wear me out like I expected. It must've been the Red Bull. I might just consider bearing with it in case of emergencies in the future.

The church I played for sent 2 teams, and sadly the draw was such that we were put in the same group. Well, overall we won 4 out of 8 games. The other church team won nearly all their games and went all the way to the semi's but were knocked out there. Anyhow, I think they played really well and were unlucky to get such a tough draw. For us, I think everyone did their best too, but with inexperienced people like me, I think there wasn't that much expectations either. Well, the main point is we had fun.

The day had so much drama. I thought I was rough; but when I came here, I realized what rough meant. Girls shoving, pushing, acting, shouting. You name it. I was downplayed in that sense, I didn't feel like being rough either; there wasn't supposed to be any body contact. Certain things happened which most of us felt like it was really unfair. But then again, it's the experience that counts and at least we tried... 

The whole team before the game.

Left at 4 plus, went for Bak Kut Teh with 24 other people; not everyone who came and played came along. Around 6, I was in one of the cars and was dropped off at Universiti LRT station; found out the LRT was down so I had no choice but to get back in the car. I didn't know how I was to go back. It was raining and there was jam; couldn't contact my friends at the condo either. So I ended up staying another night in Monica's place. Was really tired, slept early and woke up for the Germany-Uruguay match. Literally had to drag myself out of bed, muscles were already aching. The match was tensed enough to keep me awake. No regrets. 

Sunday: Went to their church. Service was alright. Met a few of those who were in the teams and stuff. Good to see them again for the last time perhaps. After brunch I was dropped off at Sentral and went back home from there. 

It was 3 tiring days for me, but I have no regrets though initially I had second thoughts about it. Made new great friends; and the competition experience was really something I would remember and cherish in the future. Definitely a highlight this year. I've never actually competed in any real competition; putting school Sports Day aside. And when I told my mum I was going to, she said she didn't know I played any particular sport. If you'd call Captain Ball a sport that is. Hah.

Both teams together

Guess everything worked out for the better. Thanks to my team mates and everyone else who has been so supportive and nice; all EEFC people whom I met. Thanks Amos for asking me to join the competition. Thanks to Monica and family who was so kind to have me stay over for 2 nights though I was a complete stranger. And most of all, I thank God for allowing everything to happen and fall into place. Thank You. :)

kids carnival

College organized Kids Carnival on Saturday, 13th. It was for charity and part of our Moral Studies project too. The money we raised was used to sponsor kids (Myanmar Refugees) from MalaysianCare to come and play games. Each kid was given a booklet worth 10bucks each. So in our groups, we had to set up our own game booths and stuff for them. My group planned to set up two; one; a game we call Pin the Moustache on the Choi San; revised version of Pin the Tail on the Mule and the second game was 'Shoot Me'.. Kids basically just get to shoot our human targets with water guns or throw sponges. It was kinda like a last minute idea; did some changes here and there. The original plan was to let the guys pop their heads up here and there with something to block them; but they ended up taking it away and had free 'showers'.

The Choi San game failed; which kid would want to play??? But surprisingly our water game was a success. Seriously; kids started crowding the place and some of them kept coming back; spending most of their coupons at our stall. HAHA. Someone was saying we were kinda promoting the wrong 'values' but c'mon it's just a game; where's the violence in that?

Anyway, at least we made some profit.. Compared to many other groups that worked so hard in preparing their stall; we barely had anything to prepare; we kinda earned much more.. So yea! I was kinda worried cause being the only girl in the group with 8 guys, I wasn't sure how it was gonna work out. But thankfully it was okay. =D

Our failed Choi San game

He deserves to be 'shot'. Hah

Moral Studies Group Pic..

Hopefully we'll get decent marks for our group effort; 40% weightage. If we can get good marks, plus another 10% from assignments, I just need to make sure I get a few marks in the exam and I'll pass! It's just Moral anyway.

I'm holding on.

fearless

So go on, go on and break my heart
I'll be okay
There's nothing you can do to me
That's ever going to burn me

So go on, go on and leave my love
Out on the street
I'm fearless
Better believe I'm fearless, fearless

If this is how it hurts
It couldn't get much worse
If this is how it feels to fall

Then that's the way it is
We live with what we miss
We learn to build another wall
Till it falls

CNY Celebration was held today; yes a day after Chap Goh Meh. Haha. It's also a part of our Moral project; so many sold food and drinks today; along with performances and stuff. My group originally planned to act but our sketch turned out too lame even though we have great talent (not talking bout myself) so we didn't audition and decided to go along with our back-up plan. After all; many teams didn't perform at all. And yea the highlight of the event (at least for me) was the Food Eating Competition.

I saw the notice; asked Eng Hoe if he was gonna go; obviously he did. Then later on in the afternoon; a girl from the group who organized the competition told Eng Hoe the time it was gonna be held. The conversation went something like this:

Organizer: (Looks at me) You're in.
Me: WHAT?? (Looks at Eng Hoe) Why am I in??
Eng Hoe: We thought it would be cool so we put your name.
Organizer: You're the only girl inside.
Me: Great.

Food competitions aren't alien to me though; I remember competing in one and only one back in 2006 for the Youth Christmas Celebration. The food was a tub of ice-cream; compete in pairs and it was RIGHT after dinner. No one mentioned there was a competition till we finished eating; so I didn't save any space. It was sickening.

I suddenly get this nostalgic feeling. I guess I miss those days. :)

Anyway, this time the food was Ngaku chips, 2 love letter rolls, some biscuit thing and 2 oranges. Prior to the competition; the guys were discussing and decided to let me win. Yes it was pre-planned. But according to some of them, they really couldn't eat as fast and felt like puking. LOL. I think I tried gobbling everything up; thanks to my friends who were cheering for me. Guess this is what happens when you're the only female. Hah. It was fun though. =D.

That's all for now. There's still Lit work to do. Till then. :)

OB Night

I wanted an answer from myself; that night; I got it.

OB Night was on Thursday at Renaissance Hotel. Since we already paid a whole sum for Student Activities Fee in our 1st semester; it was 'free' for us. The January batch had to pay RM60 for it. But I think it was worth it.

Sam came down to KL on Tuesday; was around for a few days. So he fetched me to and back from Renaissance. Thank God for him. Heh.

Anyway; we got caught in a jam just a short distance away from the hotel; the traffic lights were working but the traffic police were taking charge so we got stuck there for nearly half an hour. Thought I was late but turns out I wasn't. Registration didn't even take 5 minutes.

Briefly; the event was for all A-Level and Ausmat students along with the lecturers and staff. The only formal event of the college; mainly for welcoming the new batch and also for the seniors who will be finishing this semester.. Sad. Anyway; it started at 7plus with performances; awards etc. Dinner was at 9; food was great though I didn't eat much.

The awards were then given out; congratulations Gamma ppl; you guys were great and I think you all deserved the prize money though competition was really tight and other teams performed equally well too. LOL.

Then there was the dance for the Best Dressed Male and Female, OB, July and Freshie Kings and Queens to dance. Amos and Eunice; Thank us; we voted for you!! =p

After that, the dancefloor was open but obviously I didn't join in. Eric pulled me to where they all were but I walked back to where I was. Haha; just doesn't work with me. Most of you know dancing is one thing I cannot do and I don't intend to learn it either. I think there's only one Dance I'm good at. At least that's what you guys say. =D

Had much to think about that I spaced out for quite awhile; didn't even know what was really going on. Nevertheless I still enjoyed the night and I think most people did too. It was a good event; the Student Council did a great job planning and running the event. Kudos to them. It officially ended after the King and Queen dance but the dancefloor was open all the way till 12. So most people went back then; I waited till around 12.30 till Sam came; he had a few friends in the car; we went for Supper at Petaling Street. By the time we got back it was almost 2; but the journey was quick.

Glad I managed to get some pictures taken that night; will just put some up here. And thanks again Conty for lending me your camera. =)

With Eric; our new Student Council President; so proud of him. Haha; he's a Korean btw.

Wei Ren; Shu Jian and Brian from March intake =)

2/3 of the Gamma Girls.

Mei Xian :)

Wei Han, he wanted me to look tall.

Picture of the Night

0907, you guys rock!

I won't run away from it any longer

aches

My muscles are aching all over. But I actually like the feeling. Hah. I think it's been a long time since I actually ran around and exercised. Apart from the fact that I walk a pretty good distance everyday ever since coming here, I'm not the type who exercises. Maybe all the running around, rides and games yesterday has worn me out. I've been tripping especially more the past week; no idea why. My friends counted; 6 times on Thursday and 5 yesterday. Don't ask me why; I absolutely have no clue. But it's not that bad; not everyone knows about it. I still appear graceful to many people. =D.

This week will be the last week of college for the semester. Well of course it's not really over cause first semester A-Level exams are only in January but it's the last week of official classes. Will blog about this later on.

Anyway, as I mentioned, my business class had a party on Thursday evening; our lecturer isn't gonna teach us for the next semester so yeah.. =(. The party started at 6; started eating at 6.30. Then at 7smtg the non-business people came. We had room and enough food for more, so we invited some of those who stayed at the college accommodation; since our party was held at one of our friend's place there. 9 out of 12 of us from the class came (including Mr. John); and there were 8 others who came. Food was more than enough. 6 Large Pizzas, sausages, nuggets, drummets, shepherd's pie, punch, brownies, coconut jelly, konyaku jelly, Kit Kats; that's about all. Oh and there was ice-cream at the end for few of us who stayed on. We bought a watermelon too but completely forgot about it. We played a few games; charades (which I moderated), blanket-name game, Empire (nickname game), bing bang wa, mafia. I think that was all. It occupied the night. Some left early; most left at 9something. Only few of us stayed on till 10.15. Still pretty early la; but like for me, I was out the whole day so it was considered pretty late. Mr. John dropped me off at Sentral since it was rather dangerous to walk there at night. I did enjoy myself; I think most of us did. Though some people weren't in the mood prior to the party; I think they enjoyed themselves too?

They said this looked like a movie poster. Wonder what the title would be. LOL.

Till then! God bless.

They try to pull me away, but they don't know the truth.

a surprise?

Thought I could be strong, but it's killing me.

If you're hurting, letting it out does bring some sort of relief. But if you're hurting and yet you just can't let it out, it's either you're not really hurting anymore or it's too much that it seems like it's slipped away. Right now, I'm not sure which extreme I'm at.

Nevertheless, I'm actually okay. Thanks to my college mates who seriously made my day. Was very stressed out due to something. Lesson learnt: Don't take on anything without thinking of the consequences. Too often we do something without counting the cost and what the outcome might be. Sometimes we won't have to pay for it; but it causes unnecessary worries.

Hah, anyway had Lit paper today at 12.30. Ended at 2.45. Me, Praise, Vicki and Marian sat in Amanda's car to Mid Valley. Manda asked me on Friday night whether I wanted to go there after exams just to hang out. I asked who's going and she said she wasn't sure. I honestly thought it was just a normal de-stress thing. And I thought only us from arts would go; those who're taking Accounting and Lit since it was the only two papers left for my batch. So I ended up calling a few of my college mates from the Science stream. They ask me what we were gonna do and I said I have no idea. It didn't cross my mind I guess.

So when we reached; we went to Red Box. Manda suddenly told me to go in first. And then you can guess what happened. I entered and the room was dark; saw the candle and everyone started singing. They sang like three times cause there was like background music from the TV. Hah. I wish I have the picture of the cake now. Cause instead of the normal "Happy (age) Birthday (insert name here)," it was "Happy Birthday Jungle Woman. Ooh Aah Aah". My friends love me so much!! Haha, I was named Jungle Girl after orientation camp cause most of my friends fell sick but I survived and was extremely hyper. So it stayed and became an inside joke. Eng Hoe told me that they wanted to put Jungle Girl - Jungle Woman or something like that to show how I'm a 'big' girl now but there wasn't any space. And they added some sound effect as well.

Then they asked me to sing the first song which happened to be Fallin' For You. And then it was just singing and chilling out. Didn't sing that much actually; only for some songs but I still enjoyed myself. Thanks again guys for everything. I've been really blessed with such great friends and this came the right time. =). And some of them were so good at acting also. Cause when I called them to come to hang out they were so blur. And Eunice said she wasn't coming but she was there! Haha.

I'll post the pictures when I get them. Till then. -out-