What happened the day after

After the testimony last night, I was suddenly down with a sharp cutting sore throat this morning!

It was as if there's a spiritual battle and no matter how much i rebuked it, it didn't get better but worse through out the day. Even when w

e went to Lyn-ni Lee's house at night, and had an awesome time of sharing and worship, the pain persisted.

Interestingly enough, during worship, i started getting goosebumps all over! And so it was, goosebumps all over, plus sharp pain in throat, plus a very bad cough which came up during lunch, plus a sharp throbbing migraine at the back of my head which came during the meeting at Ritchie Tay LipChee's house! :o

After going home, my fingers went numb :o (don't know if it's a good or bad thing).

Fell asleep after washing up only to awake at about 2 am with the song "Where you go I go", by Jesus Culture.

And as I googled "neck pain spiritual attack", all the sudden Catherine Ong messaged me and while chatting, she asked, "you got neck pain?"

:o

And as she proclaimed healing, the palms of both my hands suddenly turn super hot, like there was anointing on it!

And as we agreed and I laid my hands on my throat, neck and forehead, the fever suddenly went off and sore throat subsided to 15% of the original, with the cough going to to 10% of the original cough.

Amazing! God is indeed our healer!

the crazy testimony week =)

Here's some short testimonies.

Migraine gone!

Two Sundays ago, I was down with a bad bout of migraine that was sharply biting into the right side of my head. As I visited World Harvest Church in Wangsa Maju and walked through the door, the pain was still throbbing.

Usually it takes a full night rest, and perhaps parts of the morning, but as I remembered Bill Johnson mention about the manifest Kingdom of Heaven on earth, I began to claim healing.

As I rebuked the Spirit of fear and as the worship continued, within 5 minutes, I was 95% healed with what was the throbbing pain, now becoming a slight pain! And as I continued engaging in worship, while placing a hand on the remaining 5% spot, the pain went off completely! And throughout the night and the days after, I was migraine free!

Fever defeated!

Fast forward last Wednesday and I was down in Johor Bahru for the International Prophetic conference, organized by Pastor Paul Ang of Paul Ang Global Visions Ministry.

I woke up that morning feeling feverish with a slight sore throat, and while I took Panadol, the aircond in the conference was really cold! It was so cold that even my fingers and feet turned numb before the last session at night!

The next day, I woke up in the middle of the night, finding myself sweating while shivering with the fan turned on at only the 1st speed. Perhaps the fever was worse than I understood? Even holding a cup felt painful as my skin was sore.

As I began to struggle with the panadol resistant fever, I began hearing the song, "Our God reigns" by Jesus Culture in my mind and I knew I had to play it! So then as I basked in the presence of the Lord, even in the midst of shivering in sweat filled clothes, I asked God whether he sent me down to JB just to miss the conference and lie sick in bed for the next few days.

And as I was asking God, I had a thought at that moment, that just perhaps I was going to be like the leper who was about to be healed by Jesus to be a testimony unto Him.

Naturally it was impossible for men and medicine, but with God, all things are possible! And as I began claiming that were not in existence, as if they were (Romans 4:17), I felt the fever was subsiding on it's own!

At that moment, I actually fell asleep and woke up again at 5 plus for a potty break, finding that the fever had gone down by 90%! And it remained that way for the rest of the day up to even the end of the conference!

Learning to Prophesy!

After the lunch breaks for one of the sessions, I bumped into Aunty Janet, who were with some sisters and a couple. And they seemed to be doing something like a Culture of Honor driven prophecy thingy.

You know, it's always a scary thing when we pray for a prophetic word for others, but Paul said "I wish that all of you may prophesy". But it's a scary thing to get it wrong and get an in your face respond. How sure are we that what we see is really from God or just from us? No better way to develop our gift except by trying, no?

After trying out Treasure Hunt a couple of times, it wasn't that scary to take risks. After all faith requires risk taking on our part.

So I sat down as Joshua started drawing stuff for a few sisters, some I saw some pictures, and had them confirming it as true, but it wasn't as mind blowing as the next sister. When it was Miss A's turn, we did the usual of asking God for something, be it pictures, wordrds, or others.

I had seen this picture of this beach side resort, something like Sipadan with the words, "Holiday" and then I saw a picture of a baby. And I wasn't too sure with the baby as the sister didn't seem married! :o

But anyways, I was prodded to just try sharing, and as I asked her about the beach and holiday, she exclaimed, "Ah! yes, I haven't been to a holiday for sometime! In my first 3 years, I didn't even take a single day off!"

And I was surprised.

Then I said I saw a baby. And her friend said, "She's not married lah!" And while her friend was saying that, Miss A suddenly said, "This is strange, but a Pastor from India told me I'll be getting married soon! And then you tell me I'll get a baby! And I'm ok not marrying, but I want to make my mom happy and get married because she is concerned for me"

Stunned silence on my side :o

The next day we had lunch at the famous E & Y mamak shop near Pelangi Plaza. And as Aunty Janet suddenly prayed for her while she was sharing something personal, I saw another 2 pictures! And I was like, "Sure not God?"

So yes, after the prayer, I asked her whether this picture of this dark house with many closed doors and windows meant anything to her, and that she was like the only open door shining into this house, while she proclaimed "Yes! Yes! The house is like what you said, it's dark and have many closed windows!"

I was again surprised by the goodness of God's leading!

I asked her the second picture, on whether it made sense to her of an altar build on a hill, looking like a Buddhist thingy, when she said, "Yes yes! The house is build on a hill!" And none of them were saved! (I don't know whether she said there were altars in the house)

I truly believe the weapons of our warfare, in this times, are not carnal, but spiritual. And the house of God must move in power. More anointing Jesus!

Are we back again?

Was just going through google plus when I remembered I used to blog when blogging wasn't cool yet, when Facebook wasn't out yet and when DOTA was still in it's infancy and CS was still the in thing. Yet, many years has passed before I found I had time to blog, and not just blog about anything, but yes, blogging about life itself.

I previously took down the other posts and made it visible only to myself, due to the spam I was getting and yes, I didn't want to blog at that moment due to somethings that had happened.

But yes, I'm back, and blogging =) No longer 20s, but life is only beginning =)

Hambone Enterprise

The past year saw us starting a new company, called Hambone Enterprise. By the grace of God, we've survived the 6 months period, and are now stabilizing in Malaysia's photography industry.

More soon!



Cheers & God Bless!

The Affable Balinese Guy

Before I forget. Had the most interesting of days in Bali, when after service, a Balinese friend & wife I met brought me for lunch.Though a little disappointing that there weren't other Balinese around, we had an interesting meal, 'Babi Guling', which literally translates to Rolling Pig, or in better terms, roast pork rice, Balinese style for lunch.

After our basic introduction, which we spoke about soccer, music, serving in church and the likes, he then asked, 'Do you have any plans after this?'

Not having any plans, I mentioned that I'm free and easy. Didn't mind hanging out at Starbucks, clicking away on the free internet, with their calorie inducing drinks that are obviously too sweet.

He then mentioned, 'We're free, how about hanging out at my house?'

...

Which is surprising, as we Malaysians seldom invite others to our houses, even when we're bringing our visitors like Pastors and Missionaries around. Most of the time, well, my house's just too messy to bring over. Plus I'm sure they don't want a 2 hour speech by my dad on why they should open a business and make more money for God.

Oh, and ya, Rudi (as his name was), was an amazing chap. He purposely borrowed a Jeep from his family just to bring his new found friend (me), and his newly wedded wife (in April 2007), for a ride around Bali. Did I mention that he likes to pose for pictures, unlike our local Malaysians who tend to block their faces with their hands, feet, or just give us the death stare.

God Bless!

Of Bali, I-bridge camp 2007 and humor

Just got back from one of our I-bridge post camp gathering in ss2's Sky Cafe, an affordable air conditioned place with wi-fi and drinks a quarter of Starbuck prices, not forgetting the ample seats. One question we asked, 'What would we do if we're financially secure & don't have to worry about the future?' The answers were amazing, ranging from missions, serving God more to baking cakes even.

But then again, should we ask, how much do we need before it's enough for us to start doing the things that God's placed in our hearts? How much, how far, and how willing are we to go the distance? Money shouldn't be an issue if God's called, and the timing's right. I'm sure He'll provide, wouldn't He?


Which reminds me, I've just got back from Bali, and yes, it was beautiful. God gave me the sun, sea, beach, and also 4 days of diarrhea! Amen for God's blessings in all things!

But on a more serious note, the potential of God's work in Bali is great. There's a freedom to believe in other religions, and thus, there's a great potential to serve God there. With only a 5-10% Christian population, Bali's ripe for the picking and for missions work.

Finally, I've just started a small start-up. Do pray for directions, the heart to do God's work and call, instead of building an empire. Also need bucketfuls of discipline.

p/s: Am learning the art of humor as well. Humor you say? Ah, humor it is Pete ;)

I-Bridge Camp 2007

Have you just graduated and are looking for some directions? Or perhaps you've worked for a number of years, but yet find the transition from studying life to the working life still a challenge, a gap that leaves many things to be desired. Or maybe you've lost the luster that once was in your Christian walk, whereby the once close fellowship and passion for Christ has been replaced by an emptiness and meaningless pursuit of career.

If so, consider joining us at I-Bridge Camp 2007 this year, http://www.ibridge.com.my. Located in the scenic Cameron Highlands, the refreshing, fun and invigorating camp will the best choice for you. 4 days 3 nights or 3 days 2 nights (depending on your leave), I-bridge Camp is organised by I-bridge, a part of Graduates Christian Fellowship, an interdenominational Christian Organisation, part of NECF.

Thank you, and please help us post/forward this to your friends.

God Bless!

Lost

Lost. Broken and confused. Would like to write more, but somehow, somethings are a little private. Sigh.

God Bless.

July

Finally found sometime to blog today, as taking the hectic CIM schedule out has made life a lot more relaxed, thank God.

Firstly, I found that disciplining myself to walk closely with God does has it's benefits. Thank God that many things are falling in place. The Lord indeed knows what we're going through, and He supplies abundantly.

Secondly, I do need a clear direction over the future. Have in mind to study bible college, while starting a small business on my own. Current job's not too clear..

Finally, as my schedule would be more flexible nowadays, do call me on Mon-Wed nights if you're around the area. would be able to do dinner/supper (depending on availability). Hope to hear from you out there.

God Bless!

It's March!

Wow! It's now March! It has really been a hectic few months now. Shifted jobs due to the previous one going into administration (it's currently having a massive court case to deal with, tough huh?) Passed 2 and failed 2 subjects for CIM level 2, thus having to continue on this level again.

Would be helping out in some weddings come May. Plus, I-bridge camp committee meetings are about to start soon. Throw in graduate classes and Toastmasters, and you'll know why I'm toast.

Trying to fix the new Dell laptop with Vista. Trust me when I say it's tough. Gotta go. God Bless!

Pilgrims on a Journey : Tolstoy and Nouwen (part 1)

Pilgrims on a journey. I've been wanting to blog about this topic for awhile, keeping a reminder on my PDA that keeps popping up. But yet, what journey and what pilgrims are we talking about?

Reading Yancey's Soul Survivor, on Yancey's heroes of faith, I find myself deeply identifying with both these heroes, Leo Tolstoy and Henri Nouwen. Today, I shall talk about Tolstoy.

Although born as a nobility, Tolstoy, once considered the finest writer Russia has ever produced, sharing the honour with Dostoevsky, lived a tumultuous life punctuated by high ideals and the depths of depression of the failure to obtain it. Even Mahatma Gandhi, the father the nation of India, found Tolstoy's spiritual writings profoundly moving and credited Tolstoy's 'The Kingdom of God Is Within You' as his inspiration of non-violence. However, as Yancey puts it, for every Gandhi stirred by Tolstoy's high-minded ideals, another reader is repelled by how miserably he failed to fulfil those ideals.

Whil growing up, I've always asked myself on how could I be more Christian in my conduct? The bible states in Matthew, for us to turn the other cheek, but in the world we live in, turning the other cheek only means being given a hiding by bullies and people who think you're just too soft. And how about the other aspects of the Christian life? How can we ever hope to reach the standards preached to us by Christ on His sermon on the mount?

During his time, Tolstoy constantly had to reply critics, which included his wife, Sonya, on whether he carried out what he preached. And Tolstoy responded with this, 'What about you , Lev Nokolayevich, you preach very well, but do you carry out what you preach?' This is the most natural of questions and one that is always asked of me; it is usually asked victoriously, as though it were a way of stopping my mouth. 'You preach, but how do you live?' And I answer that I do not preach, that I am not able to preach, although I passionately wish to. I can preach only through my actions, and my actions are vile... And I answer that I am guilty, and vile, and worthy of contempt for my failure to carry them out.

At the same time, not in order to justify, but simply in order to explain my lack of consistency, I say: 'Look at my present life and then at my former life, and you'll see that I do attempt to carry them out. It is true that I have not fulfilled one thousandth part of them [Christian percepts], and I am ashamed of this, but I have failed to fulfil them not because I did not wish to, but because I was unable to. Teach me to escape from the net of temptations that surrounds me, help me and I will fulfil them; even without help I wish and hope to fulfil them.

'Attack me, I do this myself, but attack me rather than the path I follow, and which I point out to anyone who asks me where I think it lies. If I know the way home and am walking along it drunkenly, is it any less the right way because I am staggering from side to side? If its not the right way, then show me another way; but if I stagger and lose the way, you must help me, you must keep me on the true path, just as I am ready to support you. Do not mislead me, do not be glad that I have got lost, do not shout out joyfully: "Look at him! He said he was going home, but there he is crawling into a bog!" No, do not gloat, but give me your help and support'

Yancey mentions that Tolstoy, like a spawning salmon, fought upstream all his life, in the end collapsing from moral exhaustion. Don't we all at times, whereupon at our weakest hour, we fail God, only to be fraught with dissapointment and despair. It seems so easy to just go to church on Sundays and cell group on Friday/Thursday, and then living back the same life as everybody else. 'Hypocrite' is what some fellow Christians call me when I tell them I'm trying to live a life worthy to be a testimony. Like Tolstoy, I want to pursue the authentic faith, even though I might seem to fail at times. Is it much better to just live a nominal faith? No! I can't bear standing in God's presence, knowing I'm wilfully sinning and not bothering about it.

'I'm not an orphan on earth as long as that man lives,' said Maxim Gorky, one of Tolstoy's most talented contemporaries. He raised the sights of an entire nation, and still today his writings bear that message to the world.

God Bless.

The Problem of Pleasure (and sex)

Trudging through life, I'm sure dat at times you wonder, why does bad things happen to seemingly good people, like for example, the friend that had her bag snatched by a snatch-thief, or even worse, as Ravi Zacharias puts it, a man who was an eye-witness to the slow murder of young Jewish boys in a Nazi concentration camp; whereupon the boys were hanged and slowly left to choke to death. The Jewish man promptly cried, 'Where is God, in the midst of all this?'

And I'm sure that we can go on an endless debate about the problem of pain. But take a moment with me with this jolly philosopher, who struggled with Christianity before accepting it, and was known as the philosophical Peter Pan of the 20th Century, as it was explained by Phillip Yancey.
'In addition to the problem of pain, G.K. Chesterton seemed equally fascinated by its opposite, the problem of pleasure. He found materialism too thin to account for the sense of wonder and delight that gives an almost magical dimension to such basic human acts such as sex, childbirth, play and artistic creation.

Why is sex fun? Reproduction surely does not require pleasure: some animals simply split in half to reproduce, and even humans use methods of artificial insemination that involves no pleasure. Why is eating enjoyable? Plants and the lower animals manage to obtain their quota of nutrients without the luxury of taste buds. Why are there colours? Some people get along fine without the ability to detect colour. Why complicate vision for all the rest of us?'

and here

'As Chesterton saw it, sexual promiscuity is not so much an overvaluing of sex as a devaluing.
To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once. It was incommensurate with the terrible excitement of which one was talking. It showed, not an exaggerated sensibility to sex, but a curious insensibility to it...Polygamy is a lack of the realisation of sex; it is like a man plucking five pears in a mere absence of mind'

And thus, wouldn't pornography and masturbation be a devaluation of sex and the intimacy of a Godly, loving relationship that is to come with it? It is like forgoing all aspects of a ten course meal at a lavish, exotic five star restaurant, in order to have the final dish, the ice cream, as an entire meal by itself, on a daily basis.

God Bless!

p/s: Comments welcomed! Please do post your views! ;)

Orthodoxy

Just got back from Borders, clinching one of the books I've been looking for almost a year. Orthodoxy, the book by G.K. Chesterton, who in turned influenced people and thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi and C.S. Lewis among the others. The repeated hearing of Ravi Zacharias' audio CDs convinced me to look and read for myself, what the modern fathers of Christian Apologetics wrote and thought about.


Oh yeah, got the compilation of C.S. Lewis' writings. Looking forward to get his other book, 4 loves. Do let me know if you're interested to borrow them ;) Now, yea, it's time to continue the exam preparations.


God Bless!
p/s: Yancey and Francis Schaeffer are good writers as well, though, you can't really find much books on apologetics in places like Salvation. MPH and Borders do offer a wider range.

Awesome Camp photos

And they try hard to crab-dance. The winner gets a year's supply of crab :p Now you know.. haha

Famous Amos. It seems to be the best way to win people's hearts ;)

I-Bridge Camp 2006 - The Report

Hello there! Just got back from the recent I-bridge camp at Selesa homes, last Sunday till Wednesday. How do I sum it up? ;) It's really good, in terms of being a good break from work, a place to network and to meet friends (old and new), plus, well, realigning our priorities in life and work balance. Makes you think whether you're really hurtling down the correct direction.

Attached are the camp photos for this year's and last year's camp. Do take care. God Bless!

The hedonist in us

More to be posted soon. Please stay tuned. ;)

I-bridge Camp 2006

Just got this. Would you be joining us? I promise it'll be fun and refreshing ;)

See you there!

Hey peeps! The closing date to sign up for the camp was 6 October but now we have extended the date to another week! If you have already decided to sign up, then what are you still waiting for??? Just click on the registration form to sign up! If you have nothing much better to do during this Deeparaya, then why not take this opportunity to learn more about God in this conference and also fellowship with each other in the camp? If you are still hesitating/doubting, after hearing about this camp for the second/third time/many times, what is stopping you? In the stressful working world today, we needed so much of words of comfort from God and also from our brothers and sisters in Christ! The Lord cares for everyone, the same comfort He has poured out in the lives of others, he longs to pour out in ours. Therefore why not you come and join us to be encouraged by God through the speakers and also the campers?! We are longing to hear your reply! For those who have already signed up, can you please help to tell others about this camp? We do want our friends to also be encouraged by God and not missed this out, don't we? Till then, just keep the registration forms coming in, ya! :)

In His Service,
The planning committee.

The Economics of Working

You know, how funny it is that when we start working, we find ourselves sometimes working beyond the usual working hours, or working on something we do not have a passion of doing, or perhaps, working, but hoping that one day, one fine sunny day, we'll hit the jackpot and will be able to sit around at home, sipping our ice lemon teas and just lazing around at home? That childroom dreams might not be as easy as it seems?

I thought of this topic after going through Freakonomics, the book your truly so plainly tries to imitate (but fails miserably)

Think about this, an average graduate gets around RM 2k-2.5k upon graduation. In most cases around Klang valley, the graduate works 3-7 years to get promoted to executive and then managerial position. However, in some jobs, the graduate has to work late, sometimes 8, 9 or perhaps 11 pm. In extreme cases, till 2-3 am. And lets say, in some sectors like the IT sector, it's not a one off thing or a one month in a year thing (that auditors go through), but an average of 3-4 days/week, in a year, the graduate has most probably worked around 150-180 days of overtime in a year.

If you do calculate this by 5 years, the graduate spends at least 2.5 of the 5 years working overtime and coming back late.

You know, it's quite interesting to find that if a person was offered RM 300 more to work late on a regular basis, he'll most probably reject it. But add the opportunity of climbing the ladder (no matter how long it is), and most graduates would jump at the opportunity. Hmm, smart or foolish?

And it's most telling when senior staff of companies that worked them overtime start counting down the days till retirement. With the rise in the marrying age, the drop in the amount of social time we have for family and friends, we in danger of losing more than we hope to gain in pursuit of the 'American Dream' and being better than the Joneses (or in Malaysian terms, the Ah Kows, Ah Bengs and Alis, not forgetting Muthu too)

I've always told myself that while it might seem good to work for money, why don't we take work as a part time job and life/ministry as a full time thing. After all, in climbing up the work/political ladder, it's quite a common sight to see people scheming to get ahead of the rest in terms of lies, deceit and manipulation. Isn't life meant to be much more than just climbing a wrongly placed ladder?

Just watched 'Walk His Trail' by the Footstool Players and highly recommend it to anyone's whose reading this article. Your life might be changed.



Till then, God bless folks!

Branding

Recently, brands and managing of brands caught my attention. I wanna be a brand manager. Oh yea, ;) Got some ideas on a new company. Let's see what happens will ya.

God Bless!

The new gizmo

Please welcome gizmo.








;)
It's a HP IPAQ rw6828.

And I used to think I would never get a Windows based handheld. Hmm.