Hey guys,

Was really great to see most of u at Easter presentation on Saturday!! But sorry, didn't join u all for supper afterwards, cos talking to my fren n su lih........(even more sorry for missing out on any food)


I have good news.......for those of u who met my fren Weiling on Saturday.....well, she was saved....yay !! Another soul in the kingdom of God !! Another victory !!

Please join su lih and me to continue to pray for her, that she will find great fulfillment in her Christian walk and experience God's miracles & abundant blessings in all areas of her life....
Oh, not just for her, but her family as well........


Thanks very much guys !

Power of a Seed

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”

Want to see a miracle? Try this. Take a seed the size of a freckle. Put it under several inches of dirt. Give it enough water, light, and fertilizer. And get ready. A mountain will be moved. It doesn’t matter that the ground is a zillion times the weight of the seed. The seed will push it back.

Every spring, dreamers around the world plant tiny hopes in overturned soil. And every spring, their hopes press against impossible odds and blossom.

Never underestimate the power of a seed.

As far as I know, James, the epistle writer, wasn’t a farmer. But he knew the power of a seed sown in fertile soil.
“Those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.” (James 3:18)
The principle for peace is the same as the principle for crops: Never underestimate the power of a seed.

You may not be called on to ward off international conflict, but you will have opportunities to do something more vital: to bring inner peace to troubled hearts. Jesus modeled this. We don’t see him settling many disputes or negotiating conflicts.

But we do see him cultivating inward harmony through acts of love:
Washing the feet of men he knew would betray him,
Having lunch with a corrupt tax official,
Honoring the sinful woman whom society had scorned.

He built bridges by healing hurts. He prevented conflict by touching the interior. He cultivated harmony by sowing seeds of peace in fertile hearts.

Do me a favor. Pause for a moment and think about the people who make up your world. Take a stroll through the gallery of faces that are significant to you. Mentally flip through the scrapbook of snapshots featuring those you deal with often.

Can you see their faces? Your parents. Your best friend. Your buddies from university/college.
Your colleagues. Your army comrades. Your uncle. Your neighbor across the street. The office cleaner lady at work. The new secretary in the next office.
Freeze-frame those mental images for a moment while I tell you how some of them are felling.

I went to our family doctor not long ago. I went for my first check-up since the one required for high school football 17 years ago.
Since I was way overdue, I ordered the works. One nurse put me on a table and stuck little cold suction cups to my chest. Another nurse wrapped a heavy band around my arm and squeezed a black bulb until my arm tingled. Then they pricked my finger (which always hurts) and told me to fill up a cup (which is always awkward). Then, with all the preliminaries done, they put me in a room and told me to take off my shirt and wait on the doctor.

There is something about being poked, pushed, measured, and drained that makes you feel like a head of lettuce in a supermarket. I sat on a tiny stool and stared at the wall.

May I tell you something you know, but may have forgotten? Somebody in your world feels like I felt in that office. The daily push and shove of the world has a way of leaving us worked over and worn out. Someone in your gallery of people is sitting on a cold aluminum stool of insecurity, clutching the backside of a hospital gown for fear of exposing what little pride he or she has left. And that person desperately needs a word of peace.

Someone needs you to do for them what Dr. Jim did for me.

Jim is a small-town doctor in a big city. He still remembers names and keeps pictures of babies he delivered on his office bulletin board. And though you know he’s busy, he makes you feel you are his only patient.

After a bit of small talk and few questions about my medical history, he put down my file and said, “Let me take off my doctor hat for a minute and talk to you as a friend.”

The chat lasted maybe five minutes. He asked me about my family. He asked me about my work load. He asked me about my stress. He told me he thought I was doing a good job at the church and that he loved to read my books. Nothing profound, nothing probing. He went no deeper than I allowed. But I had the feeling he would have gone to the bottom of the pit with me had I needed him to.

After those few minutes, Dr. Jim went about his task of tapping my knee with his rubber hammer, staring down my throat, looking in my ear, and listening to my chest. When he was all done, as I was buttoning up my shirt, he took his doctor hat off again and reminded me not carry the world on my shoulders.

“And be sure to love your wife and hug those kids, because when it all boils down to it, you’re not much without them.”

“Thanks, Jim,” I said. And he walked out as quickly as he’d come in—a seed sower in a physician’s smock.

Want to see a miracle? Plant a word of love heart deep in a person’s life. Nurture it with a smile and a prayer, and watch what happens. An employee gets a compliment. A wife receives a bouquet of flowers. A cake is baked and carried next door. A widow is hugged. An office attendant is honored. A mother is praised for her tireless effort in keeping the house spick and spank.

Sowing seeds of peace is like sowing beans. You don’t know why it works; you just know it does. Seeds are planted, and topsoils of hurt are shoved away. Don’t forget the principle. Never underestimate the power of a seed.

God didn’t. When his kingdom was ravaged and his people had forgotten his name, he planted his seed. When the soil of the human heart had grown crusty, he planted his seed. When religion had become a ritual and the temple a trading post, he planted his seed. Want to see a miracle? Watch him as he places the seed of his own self in the fertile womb of a Jewish girl. Up it grew, “like a tender green shoot, sprouting from a root in dry and sterile ground.” (Isaiah 53:2) The seed spent a lifetime pushing back the stones that tried to keep it underground. The seed made a ministry out of shoving away the rocks that cluttered his father’s soil.

The stones of legalism that burdened backs.
The stones of oppression that broke bones.
The stones of prejudice that fenced out the needy.

But it was the final stone that proved to be the supreme test of the seed. The stone of death—rolled by humans and sealed by Satan in front of the tomb. For a moment it appeared the seed would be stuck in the earth. For a moment, it looked like this rock was too big to be budged.

But then, somewhere in the heart of the earth, the seed of God stirred, shoved, and sprouted. The ground trembled, and the rock of the tomb tumbled. And the flower of Easter blossomed.

If you remember, didn't someone once planted a seed in you. Yes, all becoz of one seed. One invitation. Wouldn’t you have done the same for someone else? God believes in you. Could you take that belief that He has in you and pass it to someone else? Could you believe in someone? There is such power in belief. Believe in them as someone has once believed in you.

Someday beyond the pearly gates of heaven, someone you may have forgotten will come up to you, look you straight in the eye, shake your hand and say, "I'm here becoz you never gave up on me. My family and I are standing in the Father's House today becoz of the seed you've sown in my life. Thank you, my bro/sis." What a difference a tiny seed makes!

Never underestimate the POWER of a seed. Never will I. Never should you.

People of Peace from The Applause of Heaven by Max Lucado, modified by me

Salvation Testimonial

Hi Sunnydalers :),was contacted by Pei Xin yesterday to write up my salvation testimonial on the blog.Well donno what to write but anyway here goes,....I used to be a free thinker for many years.I never really believed in GOD,i thought we all evolved from monkeys as taught in school :P.But I kept searching for the true meaning of life,where does evrything come from?

Well then it so happened that one of my best friends(and flatmate at the time) was injured and broke his right wrist quite badly while playing soccer.This had a devastating effect on him and the doctor told him that it may time a long time before he can have proper use of his right hand,and whats worse he may never recover.

Luckily for him (and me) we met a doctor at SGH who told us about an upcoming miracle event in TCC and asked us to attend.My friend was reluctant at first (eventough he was a Christian) ,but eventually he decided to attend.

During the event he was prayed for by the many people attending and he got cured almost instantly ... he could use his right hand in what ever way he wanted.I too experienced the incredible power of GOD and realized that this was what I was looking for all my life :).

Since that day I have been regularly going to church every week ,and in Sept 2005 I made the best decision in my life... to accept Christ as my saviour.

And then I joined Sunnydale...one of the most fun group of people I know.Im fortunate to be a part of this gr8 cell.Keep up the good work,folks.C ya all soon. :D

20 minutes to... Good Friday?

Twenty minutes after supper.

Hi guys,

Just wanted to say that I really like the Sunnydaler attitude last Saturday!

It is true that a positive attitude towards things really helps us to GET AHEAD.
Last Saturday suppertime at Holland V, after our Young Adult Service, we felt a stirring in our spirit to really make use of the 500 handbills of "A Doctor's Journal" that we had with us. We decided to use these precious minutes (11:05- 11:25pm!) to just meet at least ONE person and invite them to come! I am really amazed at the positive attitude of our Sunnydalers and so proud of you guys! We are a really outstanding bunch because we also had friends in our midst, and we decided to just go forward - And every single one of the Sunnydalers' that was there managed to speak to at least ONE person!

We believed in sowing seeds, into the community - into strangers, some who were so willing to come, and there was one girl who exchanged phone numbers with one of our Sunnydalers and would be coming down! Imagine, if we had not seen the potential of these 20 minutes after supper, we would not have the opportunity to meet these 12 or so people and to give them the handbill.

According to sales statistics, out of every 100 handbills given out, there might be only 2.5 % of responses. But imagine, if these 2 or 3 people got saved, and you were the one to pass them the handbill, to tell them about Jesus after a busy workday or even a weekend night, wouldn't it be just so worth it? I hope that all of us catch this positive attitude of reaching out ferociously - it is good to be ON THE BALL for Jesus!

I shared / invited my msn friend to come for Good Friday - 14th April. God actually used what he said to speak to me. My friend asked me, what is happening on that date - which I mentioned, "Oh, it's Good Friday..." He said - everyday is good friday! (Reason being that it's the weekend!) But... hey Sunnydalers, it's TRUE! Every friday can be a good friday, a good opportunity to share with the oikos that we have the ability to meet with, on friday...

This friday, is it a GOOD friday for you?

Continue to pray! win! And nuture, I'm really proud of the tenacity of faith that we have!

The Lexus and The Olive Tree - Book Review

“The Lexus and The Olive Tree” is indeed a light entertaining book. No reader will neglect any single line. The book consists of four major parts. Each chapter opens with an excellence interview or example. The author is able to engage reader attention with a very smooth transition from chapter to chapter; keeping reader wanting to continue reading till the end.

Part One: “Seeing the System” describes about the Globalization as the New System. Part Two: “Plugging into the System” what it takes to connect into the New System. Part Tree: “The Backlash Against the System” highlighted some thought of side-effect of this system. Part Four: “America and the System” explains the role of United States in the New System.

I have short-listed three words which succinctly provide an assessment of Friedman’s book, namely, Insightful, Illustrative and Illuminating.

By insightful, Friedman has endeavored to cover a wide array of subjects with sufficient breadth and depth which included politics, diplomacy, foreign affairs, finance, technology, environmentalism, socialism, capitalism, culture. He also covered eras the Great Depression and Cold War; events like Currency Crisis in Asia and Mexico.

He described Globalization with insight detailed. There are three democratizations: Technology, Finance and Information. The Golden Straitjacket is a Globalization Standard: “No one is in Charge” but the shape and form is there. An Electronic Herb is a group of unknown moving in this Fast World of Capitalism in search of wealth creation. Group can consist of super-market (like London Stock Exchange) or super-empowered individual.

By illustrative, his metaphor of using “The Lexus and The Olive Trees” as a comparison between the Cold War and his “New System” is somewhat refreshing. The Lexus is characterized by improvement, prosperity, standardization, modernization, and higher standard of living. The Olive, on the other hand, symbolized identity, community, sense of belonging or rootedness. Friedman has presented a very good description on how globalization at work. Globalization is an International System. This framework is indispensable with its rule and logic thus symbolizing governance and the code of conducts.

By illuminating, Friedman’s book openly discussed the advantages of globalization which included the various stages of globalization, as well as various possible backlashes. Too much standardization looses uniqueness of various ethnic groups. Everywhere on earth becoming look alike. Too much machinery for automation looses our basic human touch. Too much de-forestation looses the uniqueness of our planet earth – ecosystem is becoming mal-function.

He further discussed the readiness of a country or company and the challenges faced by these institutions for choosing not to plug into the system. His roadmap also proposes country or company to be equipped for globalization.