"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."
- Hebrews 11:13
31 January 2008
Christ Grace Church blog!
So we've got a blog up and running! It has basic information about my church and also notes on our weekly worship sermons. Also, there's a link to our YAF blogspot, just as basic as its mother-blog. Haha. Will be playing around with it. We're also thinking of making a proper website with a webhost. Anyone know what on earth we'll need to do? Seems like not many IT net savvy people in church ya. Hehe.
All the way my Savior leads me; What have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy, Who through life has been my Guide? Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort, Here by faith in Him to dwell! For I know, whate’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well; For I know, whate’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well.
All the way my Savior leads me, Cheers each winding path I tread; Gives me grace for every trial, Feeds me with the living Bread. Though my weary steps may falter, And my soul athirst may be, Gushing from the Rock before me, Lo! A spring of joy I see; Gushing from the Rock before me, Lo! A spring of joy I see.
All the way my Savior leads me O the fullness of His love! Perfect rest to me is promised In my Father’s house above. When my spirit, clothed immortal, Wings its flight to realms of day This my song through endless ages— Jesus led me all the way; This my song through endless ages— Jesus led me all the way.
Some small misunderstandings occured, and I was a little discouraged 15 minutes ago (now clarified, thank the LORD). I was browsing through some hymns in the midi website, and remembered this particular one.
God didn't save us then leave us alone. He saved us, and became our Father. We became His adopted children through Jesus Christ. Now that He is our Father, He takes care of us all the way; not half way, not just when we are saved, not just when we are zealously serving, but also in our backslidings, our sadness, and our discouraged moments. And in His care, we are led by the Lord Jesus Christ. This reminds me of the Shepherd Psalm, Psalm 23, which gives a beautiful image of the Lord being our Shepherd, leading us little sheeps through dark and scary valleys. This is the love of God. The hymn is an exposition of His gracious leading. Finally, it ends with the joyous hope of being able to sing "Jesus led me all the way" for eternity when we are in Heaven.
I would be an astronaut. I would travel to space and see the stars and moon and the planets. If I behold God's creation, I'll remember how small I am, and know that my problems are really small. Taking the astronomy class now, I really wish I can see the billions and billions of stars in the sky. I wish I have a hammock on top of some roof where I can hide whenever I'm troubled, just to have my own time to comfort myself with talking to God and meditating His glory.
Or I may want to be a traveller. I'll travel to the deserts where there is no man made lights to obscure the wondrous heavenly bodies. I would love to star at them till I fall asleep, letting the last thought of my mind be the glory of God. Then maybe I can see that my problems are really nothing and maybe I won't be so upset easily. Or I can travel to the poles, to see the auroras, to experience how is it like having only 1 day and 1 night throughout a year.
I just wish to get out of this stifling city environment, just a month will do, to take a good look at what the rest of the world. I want to know what the polar bears see; how does the world look like to them. How do penguins feel? Do they ever feel nauseus being upside down?
In the hymn "Sweet Hour of Prayer", the lyric says something about us flying through the air. It may be figurative, but I really do wish I can do that. The vast expanse of the sky is more liveable than this stifling earth.
I was just blogging about my modules last night, and today I'm facing a dilemma between 2 modules.
Well, apparently, Dr Ho Chee Lick took over the CL2281 (Translation and Interpretation module) from another lecturer, and he doesn't know much about interpretation. I signed up for this module especially to take interpretation (simultanous translation and consecutive translation). So when Dr Ho says he is not going to focus on interpretation for this module, it was a big disappointment. Furthermore, he sort of hinted that he will be repeating some stuff from CL2280 (which I have taken already). So, all in all, I don't feel like I will be learning many new things from here. I may be wrong, but the Dr Ho's presentation really make me doubtful.
So I quickly, as soon as lecture is over at 10am, went to the Library and bid for CL3281 (Advance Translation). Originally, I wanted to take that next semester after the Interpretation class and after some more practices since I got a B- in CL2280 before taking advance translation. I also sat in their first lecture int he afternoon on the same day. It looks tough, but I know I am going to learn much for written translation.
Herein is the dilemma: After dropping back to 3.73 CAP last semester, I wanted to do really well for this semester, and so I selected many level 2 modules (including CL2281) and a S/U-able GEM. But now that I don't feel comfortable in CL2281, switching to CL3281 will mean that I'm adding on the possibilities of NOT doing well this sem again. But I enjoy that module. On the other hand, the repetitive CL2281 will mean that I can have a higher chance of scoring well.
Here is the dilemma: should I take CL2281 PURELY for the sake of improving my CAP, or take CL3281 for the sake of learning but at the risk of my CAP?
I really don't know man. I really don't know. I have until 27th Jan to withdraw before the W period sets in.
Modules For This Sem (and some thoughts on teaching)
I'm taking:
EL2111 - Historical Variation of English EL2151 - Social Variation of English EL3207 - Child Language CL2281 - Translation and Interpretation GEK1506 - Heavenly Mathematics and Cultural Astronomy
So far I've attended the Historical Variation of English and Heavenly Mathematics lectures. The former has interesting content but the lecture ain't stimulating enough. I forsee myself dozing off. I like Dr Peter Tan, of course, it's just that, well, it's a little tiresom to follow the contents, interesting though it is.
Heavenly Maths is taught by Prof Aslaksen, who really knows how to deliver his passion in class. The content itself is interesting too. Go to www.chinesecalendar.org if interested.
Actually, there is really nothing like being passionate about the subject you teach. It will inevitably be contagious to the students. It makes the life of the teachers easier too, you know? When the contents that you have to keep repeating is the same, the only saving point is its interest level to you. If not, you will end up mundane and boring, killing the interest of the students and murdering any possibilities of them ever touching that field in tertiary education.
For teachers whose teaching subject is not their passion (because one's passion can be things as random as coins, trains, and origami), the only other saving point is his or her particular interest in the wellbeing of the students. And it has to be specific. Many have asked me why don't I want to teach primary school children. Well, as much as I like children, I cannot pitch my communication at their level. I find it hard to go all squeaky-voiced and child like when balancing my teaching. Of course, there are many people who are able to do that, and I admire them. It's really a lot harder to teach K1 to read than teaching Shakespeare to Sec 3s, because the difference in frequency is so wide that it is truly a gift to be able to teach young children.
I digress. What I really want to conclude eventually is that I really hate teachers who teach for the money. MOE is putting up huge sum to attract the wrong crowd. People who have no where else to go and no other job to do turn to teaching as their refuge. Of course, there are some sort of classroom assessment, which only serves to filter out the really bad ones. So how about the not the worst but still bad kind? They have no passion for the subjects, or worse still, in depth knowledge, and they take pride in being impersonal to students. 12 years in the education system, I have come to despise teachers who do not see students more than statistics on their portfolio. I have also come to detest teachers whose motivation to teach is their paycheck. They are a burden to the students. It's no wonder students want to be lazy, they have no example to look up to!
On the other hand, truly passionate or caring teachers are often overlooked, especially the latter quality. This is simply because these qualities cannot manifest itself on papers and on statistics. These teachers seek the improvement of students, not their final result, and they take pride in imparting their passion and spreading their ideology. 12 years in the education system, I can count these sort of teachers only with 1 hand. That's a really sad fact.
And then there's the jaded ones, the in-betweens. They come in with a fire to teach, or to "nurture", as the MOE slogan goes. But as time goes, with all the marking, the expectation of grades, pressures from the HOD and the parents, drudgery of CCAs and admin work, they just lost the fire. They lament at their lose but that's nothing much they can do.
It's sad, the system. I just hope my own passion that is burning right now would not be doused.
So I went to stuff myself with sushi (literally stuff!) with El, Robin and Eliseus this afternoon. The guys went in first at 3.50pm. Because I had tuition till 3.30pm, I rushed down to Cineleisure only to reach at 4.30pm. Nevertheless, these boys were not half full. Haha!
I must say Suki Sushi buffet is definitely better. But of course, it's more expensive than Sakae Sushi. Student's buffet can easily cost about $19 after GST, and adults...well, $20 plus I guess. El's pocket has got a big big whole today. Hahaha! Why I think Suki's is better it's because of the choices they have. Plus the free flow drink! Although without the mochi ice-cream, they have delicious cream puffs and fruit on the belt for grabs, as part of the buffet. Haha, that makes up for the dessert already. The buffet also includes sashimi (not the freshest, but not un-fresh either) and many tempura items that Sakae doesn't offer for buffet. (Fried sotong is awesome!)
Pics here!
Eliseus's very very hot tofu!
El satisfying his craving.
This is only halfway through...
The remnents. Had to resort to Number Game to finish them. Haha.
Rob's achievement! (No lah, that's our total plates...hehe)
The number game.
El got it!
68 plates! That's how many we ate! Well, plus there are some of our orders which they combined onto 1 plate. So, give and take, I think we hit 80 plates! Wahaha!
I'm really happy that Eliseus came to join us. He's always floating around in church, I never really get to talk to him much, since I don't know what common topics we might have. But I remember when he was younger (12 I think), he was really funny and joking about. Back then he was still a chubby primary school kiddie, now he's all grown up! So tall lah. Haha. Like my own bro.
Well I thank God for the fact that we are financially able to afford the meal. I hope I was not being too spendthrift! I shall hold my pocket bridle until the next special occasion. =) Must be a good steward of the money that God gave me, can't anyhow spend. Hehe... (oops.. -.-").
I'm so not using Tag-world anymore (that's my old tag board). It keeps having server maintenance. Here's the new Cbox! And you don't need to refresh to see your post. Yay!
Sian man, trying to organise a sushi outing, but it turned out so hard. Worry about $, worry about time, worry about location. Want a time of fellowship also so hard. -.-"
Updates next time, bidding for modules now. Thank God for those that I've gotten!
Like last year, my New Year post is belated. For the first few days of 2008 I've been thinking what I should write, but never really got down to it.
So 2007 sees CGC trying to pick itself up from the post-trial state. After the church camp in Dec 2006, people are kind of motivated in their own ways, and in June 2007, we gather in Mersing (Johor) for a church camp of planning, prayer, visions, and resolutions. It was a motivating camp, God gave us a wonderful time of rest and fellowship amidst the tiredless meetings. I can see that even Pastor James and Aunty Amy, the main casualties of satan's attack got to find motivation and rest through this camp. This I am very thankful. I thank God also that He had used this camp to strengthen my sense of belonging to the church, and burden me to rebuild these Jerusalem walls together with fellow Christ Grace Church memebers.
Our Youth Fellowship had also revamp itself in 2007. We now call it the Young Adult Fellowship, which consist of not only young adults but also seeks to integrate the young secondary school people. So far, God granted us a very blessed time of monthly fellowship meeting in Reverand Joseph's house, learning and discussing practical issues of Christian living, like dressing, relationships, devotions, finance management etc. The rest of the weeks the YAF would go to the blocks around Guillemard Road to evangelise door to door. Evangelism is one channel that God never fail to use to refresh my thankfulness for my salvation. For everytime I see someone who heard the gospel, or know the gospel, or who had actually "studied" Christianity, I pity at their final choice of rejection. Indeed, it is all head knowledge unless God open his/her eyes and heart to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh and this year see 2 addition to our church! Wow! Like, last year I was crying about the people who left, and we keep praying for God to increase our church, and now we have Binqiang and Shaojuan! Both are rather regular in the church. Must pray for Shaojuan though, that she'll overcome her sleepy problem so that she can worship God more regularly. I really thank God for her. I've been good friend with her in secondary school, but she had never really want to come to my church, or go to other churches, or wanting to know more about God in general. I have been asking her to come for my church's gospel meeting every Christmas, but she kept declining. In JC I lost touch with her, until suddenly in June 2007 she messaged me asking whether she can come and join me in my church. It's not just worshipping in the same church that rejoices me, but the fact that she is beginning to grow in knowledge of God and change in her attitude towards the world. Indeed, God would have us to be in the world and not of the world, when we are saved, we can expect our value system towards the things of this world change. Education is not just for myself to gain in status, but so that I may have a good testimony to show to my unbelieving parents.
I was looking back at my old posts in order to prepare for my testimony on the Thanksgiving service. I realised that God indeed had answered my prayers, slowly but surely, according to His own timing. There are things that I was sad about and prayed about, and even blogged about, but after some time I just stop praying about it as life gives you more worries to pray about. So when God slowly grant it, I didn't even realize that God did it. I'm so negligent towards the mercies of God. Sigh.
So I thank God for seeing me through 2007. Indeed, everyday, every hour, if not for God's preservation, I may have lose a limp, my life, or my abilities, anytime. So often I hear of sudden deaths on TV. Just think about it, think about the cars that God had prevented from banging you down, the lightning that never strike on you, the fall that isn't fatal, the cut that did not become an infection which cause you to rot and die. I mean, seriously, just think about it. The invisible mercies of God that we cannot see, that we forget to thank. We gripe about the traffic, but we forget to thank Him for journey mercies.
I pray that He will really teach me to "number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom" in 2008. It is only when we think that we have so much time in our hands that we procrastinate. I am a very great sinner of that. Procrastination means I am a really bad steward of the resource of Time that God has given me. Procrastination, not just in school work and exams (though a very great sinner of that), but also in things of God - service, daily prayer and Bible reading... etc. As I shared in the previous post, I really had failed to STUDY the word of God, to go indepth into His holy word.
May God so help me.
I thank God once again for His many mercies in my life, for being my Father in Heaven, my God, my Lord, my Saviour, and my best Friend in life.
Eliseus's very very hot tofu!
El satisfying his craving.
