Ah Poh mai ham choi

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=D2Jc5s5h39M

This is SOOOoooo funnnny hahah

check it out!

Ah Poh knows who he is, says he's kinda well-known in singing hakka and i think hokkien songs. Unfortunately he is sick - has cancer. Ah Kong thinks he has passed away though.

Stuart Townend

At this moment, I feel like I just discovered something...I feel like "Wow" !!~

I was just surfing the net for some ideas of something and I stumbled upon a song we've been singing at church. And I realised that song + other familiar songs were written by Stuart Townend, a British Christian song writer and leader. I've seen his name plenty of times at the credits section at the end of the lyrics we sing...but the name didn't mean anything to me. And then, now I'm googling more about him and seeing all the other songs he wrote & even youtubing them.

Songs he has written:
Give thanks (such a classic), In Christ Alone, How deep the father's love for us, Beautiful Saviour (not the same song I was referring to a few posts ago)...

I love these songs - hymn+contemporary feel to it..but with such deep rich and meaningful words that are gospel-centred.

It's amazing huh...to get these "ah-hah" feelings..
well this one wasn't such a big deal..he's just a person but it was still wow nonetheless. To me anyway.

I felt like this (even more so ) in the middle of the week as I was preparing for Sunday school with another friend. We were reading Matthew and kept going away to other parts of the Bible from the main topic we were supposed to prepare. But it was amazing...just discussing and seeing the depth and richness of the analogies and thinking even more what the Kingdom of God means. I don't know how to explain it now..but I felt like I just saw...like, "how come I didn't see this before??"

Sometimes I feel like the Bible is just a regurgitation of things I know and I'm hearing again and again...but the good news of the Bible is indeed really really deep...and rich.

All right...just thought i'd blog! need to get my laundry out of the washing machine and hang them up. It's a BEAUTIFUL warm sunny day today!! Nice and warm as I was walking outside just now...what am I doing inside now?? ...I can just see the lovely blue sky outside my bedroom window right now with fluffy puffy white clouds floating about. And then I'm going to have some lunch - made some rice and gonna have some BBQ PORK MEAT by aunty left in the fridge for me...and then I'm going to go visit my grandparents @ my other aunty's place! they went to the flemington markets and bought boxes of really really cheap fruit and they're going to go inspect some properties too.

anyway..ok ...ta ta!

Grace is shockingly personal.

As Henri Nouwen points out, "God rejoices. Not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, nor because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising him for his goodness.

No, God rejoices because one of his children who was lost has been found."

Source : What's So amazing about Grace? (by Phillip Yancey) - Chp 4 - Lovesick Father

"Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices"

Yeah. So true.

My workmate called this out from his desk to us last week. I didn't catch the author of that quote but it must have been from my workmate's igoogle page under his "motivational quote of the day".

He's gotten me kinda hooked on igoogle too...but i'm only hooked at work. The day I got hooked, I just spent some time creating my own igoogle page ie. background wallpaper, adding tabs like motivational quote of the day hahah, petrol prices, bible verses, Wikipedia search, news etc...It's prettyyy coool!

Anyway...

I finally visited a very very lovely friend from college and talked to her for a bit and she invited me to her church's service where she was going to give the talk the next day. So, yesterday morning, I went. It was not very far, just over in Maroubra Jct. It was a nice small church in the neighbourhood. There were not many people there that day as more than half were away at church camp. When I walked in, my friend was at the music keyboard and about to start leading the audience in singing and a young teenage girl was also on stage song leading and another older man (whom I realised later was my friend's dad who was visiting that weekend!). I saw a few youngish people walk in later..and I realised they were from college because the guy in the wheelchair was wearing his group college shirt. I don't know these people as they moved into college way after I had left, but I remember someone telling me recently about a Christian guy at college who had everything going for him in life, and one day became paralysed and everything just fell apart for him. I can't remember how or what happened. But seeing that wheelchair guy yday, I think it was him. I looked at my friend on stage and I was just reminded again what a beautiful person she is. Full of such real joy and contentment. Her love and dependence on God above anyone. And I'm not just saying this like some cliche. Her love for people. She is seriously a rarity. She willingly sacrifices her time for people. Even as I just walked into her room the day before when there was another person there and then I ended up hogging her time for about 20 minutes.

My friend gave the talk later on from Gal 3:21 (or 23) till 4:7. It was about the awesome privilege of sonship compared to being in slavery under the law. I thought it was a very biblical talk, very sincere, not intellectually complicated (as the audience is different) and it was very helpful in helping me understand.

I sat next to a Thai-looking girl who was actually Japanese and she was new too! she just walked in as she lived nearby and had wanted to come visit for a long time even though she goes to a big church near the city.

And at morning tea, I spoke to this old man and it was a nice chat. He told me he and his wife had been missionaries from 1987-1998 in Kenya. And we chatted for a bit.

I'm glad I went yesterday. And as my friend concluded in the talk, we might have our differences theologically etc etc...but we are united in Christ. And may we not let the differences overtake love towards each other.

And truth. Truth in love.

But first, let me examine my own heart.

Grace

a mixture of emotions towards ppl today

The day started off at about 3 am as I was sleeping...and I picked up the phone..and I'm glad I did in a way. And I wasn't annoyed or anything. She blurted out what was wrong almost immediately and I realised how judgemental I had been and how easily annoyed I had been towards her just a few days ago....and deep down, my friend was really hurt about something else. I wish I could help her more...but maybe she needs to go through such pain. I think it's best if I just help her through the pain..if only I know how...need God's help.

Then there's this girl who smsed me a few times for the past few days now...and there's always an intention behind it. ALWAYS...and always relates to work. Even since the first time she emailed me and i didn't even know her. She msged me today that she got the job and asks me how to get there? do i use..this and this way? I reply and say congrats. What job is it and when do u start? and u can use this and this way. And she doesn't answer any of my questions but proceeds to ask me MORE questions in just one sms. All her messages to me are full of questions~!!

Mann...I see I can easily get annoyed.

After being "happy with myself" for relating to some ppl well today, my heart can turn against a few people too.

It's hard to love people you don't love...hard to be gracious ...a daily struggle. By my own sinful desires, I see that I just naturally turn to selfishness...

I'm going to continue reading "What's so amazing about grace?" by Phillip Yancey. Was reading it a bit before I went to sleep last night.

I was told about this blog recently: http://forgiven-by-grace.blogspot.com/

and today I realised that the author (very young indeed) passed away 3 months ago from leukaemia.

Have a read.

My Ah Kong and Ah Poh are here =)

since last Saturday. Been seeing them for the past 2 weekends now!

SW: To me, this photo is truly a M-I-R-A-C-L-E! WOW~!

Why?

SW: because there are 3 people in the photo!! Ah Kong, my 13 y.o couz Jessica, & Ah Poh

So?

SW: The last time I tried to take a photo like that (i.e. substitute my cousin with me) some years ago, Ah Poh said cannot! --> superstition of having 3 in a photo which I don't understand why which my mother started doing too when I tried to take a photo of my sis, me and her!

And then, what happened last Saturday? I was going to take a photo of both my grandparents alone and then, Ah Poh (by her OWN initiative) called Jessica to come into the photo. Oh my goodnesss - i really wonder what changed...I didn't even ask WHAT HAPPENED lest I break the wonder of this miracle. =P I should have asked today when I saw her but I forgot...i will next time.

Ah Poh gave in to my insistence on wearing the hat (After I kept placing the hat on her head a few times hahah) so I could take a funny photo of her...and even played along with me and went to dress up! hahahha

Ah Poh is so funnny...teasing Ah Poh is fun

Group photo :) Unfortunately, Aunty Kim couldn't join us coz she was working that day.

Finally, the next day, all of us in Sydney could be together. They came over to our place and we had yummy laksa which Aunty Kim cooked =)

It's been really nice hanging out with my grandparents. We went to the shops in Hurstville, walked around a bit, just sat at home and had dinner etc. I just sat around as Ah Poh folded the clothes and talked to me. She has been making me speak Hakka - stop speaking English...speak Hakka! - and of all the few chinese dialects I can speak (all spoken horribly), Hakka is the WORST. And supposedly she said I could speak it when i was younger...when I used to go to her house a lot. Sighh..what happened?...So HopeLESS...But today, I decided I needed to make more of an attempt to improve, so I brought a notebook to write since I see things better in writing. I even had a short session with her on how to say some words that involved time and wrote them down. She thought I was funny. I even took a video of them on my phone at a few instances. She looked at me funny and I told her why I was doing that. So I could listen to them speak Hakka when they're not around lohh! She thought that was funny too..haha

There's something different about how I feel for my grandparents now...I just look at them, and I just feel like I care for them more now and I feel more able to. They're the ones in a foreign land and they're getting even older. It's like when I was younger and I thought they were "always" going to be there as my grandparents and they're still here...but ...how long more?

Ah Kong always wants to buy us food to eat (like my other Ah Kong too who is not alive anymore.) and today as I was leaving, he wanted to come downstairs to see me off even though I said it was okay... I'm big girl now!2x y.o, okay! ... but as I was driving off, saw my aunty come downstairs (Sent by him I think) and she said he was going to watch me from the balcony. I don't know, felt kinda touched ...even though I realise now that this is not the first time he does this.

The worse thing about having your grandparents still around (unlike those of us who never got a chance to know ours) is learning how to cope the day we discover they're no longer around.

Graciousness

I guess a lot of people are excited that Barack Obama won! Indeed it is exciting news =)

I didn't manage to hear his victory speech, only bits from the news, but when I got home from work today, managed to catch John McCain's concession speech on tv (delayed). It was my first time hearing him speak and I just thought it was a fantastic speech. He just spoke so graciously and naturally, that I just sat on the floor and watched. He worded his speech very humbly and he spoke so well and clear and intelligently. Wow.

Anyway...on another note, I feel very ungracious now...what do I do with someone who comes into my life every now and then to ask for a favour after some problem crops up, and changes her mind a few times in the process...and such problems just follow her wherever she goes?? I feel so ungracious that I don't feel like helping her right now, even though I was going to but she changed her mind and then she changed her mind again, at 1 am in the morning.

I know I'm wrong.need to pray over this. G'nite