lai belajar talking

i was half awake, and didn't sleep well, the air was rather stuffy inside the room.

it wasn't too early in the morning, caleb walked into my room, with a piglet figurine in his right hand, and a petite blue soft-toy bear on the other hand. he gave the bear to me. and somehow i figured out he wanted me to hold it, and so i did.

his right hand started to be busy. he was walking the piglet, tuk, tuk, tuk on top of my pillow, toward the bear. and as soon as it's close enough, he began making some sound, cute as an angel, "helllooo..", he meant it for the bear.

"oh helloo, piglet.. going somewhere?" my head was still heavy, as if i hadn't sleep all night. teddy wasn't too ready to do a role play, but i tried my best.

"ai ke farm!" he affirmed quickly, with a streak smile of satisfaction on his little face.

i chuckled.. the boy had just done justice toward the efforts from the adults in teaching him conversing in multi languages. he stuffed them up, just couldn't decide on which one is which, and he couldn't care less, so he just mixed them for any occasions.

it was a combination of hokkien dialect, indo lingo and english respectively within the three-words sentence!

[and so the convos carried on..]

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next generation

i don't always blog on the cn gatherings that i attend, but i'm grateful for a week-long of faithful bible teaching up in the mountain over the past week. next generation is a conference aims at equipping people involved in the youth and children ministry.

the core activity is the strand group that teaches how to unpack a bible study that is true to God's word. i was doing strand 1 that looks at a passage in the new testament (John 14:1-7). the daily programme was quite packed but followable. i didn't feel exhausted at all, apart from the company of nasty coughs throughout the whole week! but thank God i can follow and enjoy the whole conference.

in the morning, we listen to the talks by grant ratief, a humble yet insightful south african pastor, exposing from john 14-17. grant's talks were clear and helpful, without too many points. during the night, carl mattei gave talks from genesis 1-9. if i have a chance, i'd like to listen to his talks again, which was interesting, but i found rather difficult to remember much without proper notes taken down.

sandwiched in between were the strand group activity and workshops covering the topics such as the strategies for a youth group ministry, evangelism, one-to-one personal ministry and the life of a spiritual leader. these are all very informative, which needs things to be put into practise to make them count.

needless to say, i had also enjoyed thoroughly especially the singing and the funs brought along the interviews, games and competitions. the interview with john chapman was particularly inspiring. john graciously urged people to be faithful to God for the long term, just as he still finds himself keen on serving God at his old fruitful age. there were also heaps of encouraging prayers. i remembered one of the prayers on the last day was very much a recap of the many things we've learnt from the talks throughout the week, how edifying at the same time depending on God!

i think there were around as many as 300 people attending for that week, mainly the uni students. there will be another week of the same programme happening next week, so do remember to pray for this. we came with around 18 people from our church. it's delightful to get a chance to attend the conference with some of the evening service peeps.

oh, have i not told you what the theme was all about? it's regarding the spirit-empowered life. i think it'll take me a few weeks to re-digest them.

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time is catching up, always..

as i was thinking about some resolutions for 2009, which i didn't end up posting for some reasons (still getting refined :), i remember thinking about a very common issue with regard to making use of the time that God gives us. personally, it is meant to be the theme for this year, so i won't get distracted too easily on too many things that won't matter too much. for that purpose, i've roughly thought about a few things that i can do more as well as do less in the hope that time will be redeemed.

i came across this article Time. Redeemed. with suggestions that are rather helpful and practical, at the same time non-exhaustive. they are a few good suggestions if you get your hands into them.

point 1 is non-negotiable.
point 2 looks to be a lot of work in putting into practice.
recently, i'm doing more of point 3.
point 4 is subsidairy at least for now.
i found point 5 so true.
point 6 is similar to point 3.
i'm learning to make sense of point 7 in a way that's non restricting.

i got you totally confused, so you better be reading the article if you're keen on knowing what i'm talking about.

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cohabitation

not trying to be nosy, but i just had this convo with a cn colleague in the team, which turned out to have a positive outcome.

he was sharing that a day ago his pastor gently told him to not stay together with his girlfriend. in the past, i knew of this as i was told. i found myself very unease at trying to voice out my disapproval of that, and ended up saying nothing about it.

on another hand, i was considering whether it would be appropriate for a girl to 'rebuke' a guy on a private matter as such. if it is, i wondered what sort of ways would produce the least resistance toward the person. i understand guys dislike being led in general, or has the reality been so different nowadays? perhaps i'm asking the wrong question here. so for a time, i kept it to myself (i know i'm no less guilty for fearing people labelling me as a hard nut cn), and prayed for him on this matter a few times, that somehow God might help him to see the issue at stake.

until today, he shared to me with a teachable heart about his ignorance at seeing how it can be a stumbling block to others and the mounting temptation that can bring. though the real outcome of either one of them moving out is yet to happen, and whether they both will treat the moving out as a matter of urgency or else, i'm reminded that God is at work to change people's live, especially in those who claim to have Jesus as the Lord of their lives.

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wots #20090107

here is a concise article on barriers to sharing the gospel.
a good read, with easy-to-digest points.
my prayer that God will help us in cultivating a mindset that seeks to bear witness to Christ.

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teppanyaki at darlinghurst

these pictures were taken by a colleague who is an avid amateur photographer during the christmas dinner of 2008. by this time around, the immediate team has 11 members (these pictures include partners of colleagues as well) after downsizing a little bit due to the slow down of businesses everywhere, leaving me the only female member who nevertheless is being well looked after by the gentlemen in the cublicles..

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short trip to jervis bay

hello, getting back to work where the office is still quiet helps to adjust back from the good break. holiday was refreshing with a little bit of everything sandwiched in-between.

highlight was a weekend trip to the jervis bay with eleven other friends. we visited a few beaches (hyams beach, cave beach, and ?) basicly taking pictures, playing in the water, gazing at the horizon, enjoying the serene nature or simply lazying around having some chats. the wind was a little rough and chilly around the beaches for a summer season, resulting in the wardrobe malfunction of having to put on my over coat (though a very light one).

we did kayaking as well. it was enjoyable after a rough start in the ocean part (the creek section was much suitable and friendly for many first-timers). as one big wave came, it hit some three kayaks that happened to be close to each other, stranded us for a while after hitting the rock, and also ended up in one kayak getting flipped upside down, rather surprising despite some minor injuries to our friends.

before leaving, we did a very short bush walking in the royal national park, the boderee reserve.

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