FAREWELL, MY FRIEND!

Rev. Sunther, arm over Ethan (2nd son), Davian (eldest) and Devina (daughter) and friends

My pastor friend, Rev. Sunther, 40+, passed away this morning in Melaka hospital. He was suffering from serious Asthma attack, leaving behind wife, Lydia and three young children. He came in to BCM in 1993, the same year with me and he became "big brother" for our Class of '93. Just two weeks ago, I was having Teh Tarik with him talking about plans to visit Jerusalem together. Surely and sorely miss him!

Life is fragile and we don't know how our journey will end. Do not waste your life away, give your best shot for God!

PS: He was our first V2 Youth Camp Speaker. He was my songleader for my wedding. I was his songleader in his wedding.

BLAZIN' ACES HAS ENDED!

My feeling is mixed on that day when Blazin' Aces ended on the basketball court. It was a relieve tinged with sadness. Relieve because it's finally over after months of organising, booking, networking, heavy discussions (arguing lah), and etcetera. Sadness. Hmmmm! I don't know...maybe I missed the fun, the togetherness, the friendship made or ... ( you fill in the blanks), the joy of victory and the agony of defeat...wahsei, like real!

To put everything in a small nut, it's a fantastic program. I was glad to be part of it and I believe the committee members were too. To some, we may not fulfill all fairness standard but we did our best! Moreover, this is the first time for us organising in this scale.

To all who participated in Blazin' Aces, I say thanks for your sportmanship, patience and understanding. (For some, pay up also ah! hehehe) For my committee members, I salute you!

The prize-giving ceremony will be held in conjunction with V2 10th Anniversary in October. The date will be set asap and see you there!

PS: I am opening up for comments here. Pls feel free to say anything about Blazin' Aces (only no vulgarity) and if you want to thank anyone, feel free too. (so thickface!)

EXTREMISTS!

Extreme is a great word today where able youths find it very challenging. It's cool, such as extreme makeovers, extreme sports, extreme videos etc. Extremists (here I mean those who love adventure) are enjoying themselves to the max, sometimes dangerously. These are people who usually do no harm to others.

But some extremists, especially the political and religious ones are super dangerous in our world today. They are fanatical about achieving their idealistic dreams no matter what it takes. Anyone or anything that stands in their way should be marginalised or opposed violently! The majority of the people normally suffer at the hands of these extremists, creating unrest and chaos. They would come with a narrow interpretation of religious scriptures (here I mean all religions) with no room for flexibility and without an ounce of being teachable. Logic and reason are strange to them. Therefore, justice and mercy are often side stepped to advance their extreme idealogies.

One day, James and John were walking with Jesus towards a Samaritan village and they saw extremists there opposing Jesus. Samaritans believed God must be worshipped in Mount Gerizim and opposed Jesus and His men for going to Jerusalem instead. Then out of anger, James and John screamed, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" With these, they too became "extremists". What about Jesus? The Bible says, Jesus turned and rebuked them (James and John), and they went to another village. (Luke 9)

Jesus knew about the conflict between the Jews in general and the Samaritans. By His actions and words, Jesus presented a godly view of dealing with people. "Love your enemies" was coined by Jesus and showed to the very extreme by His deeds. He demonstrated it by dying on the cross while all of us are yet sinners!

Extremists cannot understand the language of God although many claim to love Him. They would carry on calling down fires from heaven. Then they wonder why violence breeds greater violence. And why oppression and injustice breed more uglier extremists. "Love your enemies" is unthinkable in the extremists' eyes. For them, it's "Resist to your own peril" or "Conform or be consumed" or even "Either you are with us or die".

This world has become a playground for such people who unknowingly (or knowingly) create such distrust among so many people groups. Among different religions. One day, they may be a clash of civilizations and what remains of us then. If you are sober today and think the extremists should be for adventurers who harm no one, then do your best to love people rather than hate them because of their differences.

But most of all, be like Jesus, and like the ancient texts in (Micah 6:8) He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

(This article was written by me two years ago. Bringing it up again in rememberance of all the victims in the 911 attacks by extreme extremists)

THE TALE OF TWO 'BOAMS'

There is an interesting story in the Bible of the days when king Solomon died and left his empire in ruins. His son, Rehoboam was geared to take over his father's throne. When he went to Shechem to be crowned king, he met an influential man, Jeroboam (not related to Rehoboam) who was his father's hated official. Jeroboam told Rehoboam that he would tell all the Israelites to support and serve him as the legitimate king if only Rehoboam could relieve his people of all the hardships of heavy taxes when his father placed on them. Rehoboam asked for three days to think.

In these three days, Rehoboam thought it is the best thing to ask for advice. So he turned first to the old, spiritual wise men of his father's time. They told him to give in to Jeroboam and he would be a king over all. And Rehoboam made the greatest mistake of his life that even affected the whole nation. He went to ask advice from his unspiritual young friends who grew up with him. These bunch had been very playful, couldn't be bothered about the things of God. They told him that he should add extra misery to Jeroboam and the people of Israel which Rehoboam agreed to do.

And the Bible tells us that Jeroboam and the people were angry and they became bitter enemies of king Rehoboam. Thus the kingdom of Israel was divided! (Read 2 Chronicles 10) Later, the Bible recorded thousands of lives lost because of these fightings (Chapter 13).

THINGS TO LEARN:

1. It's good to ask advice when there are difficult decisions.
2. It's bad to ask advice from unspiritual people about important decisions in life.
3. It's ugly to follow advice to suit your own pleasures which you already decided that you want.
4. There are consequences to bad ungodly decisions.

MID-LIFE LIFE!

Mid-life is when:

You know all the answers—but nobody asks you the questions.
You are too tired to work—but too broke to quit.
Your work is less fun—and your fun is more work.
Your narrow waist and your broad mind change places.
You have more hair growing in your ears than on your head.

Someone has said that youth looks forward, old age looks backward, and middle age looks worried.

CHURCH AND PUBS

It is reported that the Church of England (Anglican churches) is thinking of setting up 'pubs' in the church premises to get more people to come. The congregations in these churches are dwindling and is a cause for alarm. What a terrific (or terrible) idea!

How far (or low) must Christians go to win back Christians and non-Christians to the churches of Jesus Christ?? Should we also sing their songs, talk their (foul) language, dress their dresses, login their logins in the Internet sites, play their (immoral) games??? Jesus was with the sinners but never once acted like them!! He was Someone different so that they could look up to as a model.

There must be a limit to Christians going into the world and win souls. We are in the world and not of the world. We must set the standard for the world and not vice versa. We must be the light so that their darkness can be exposed. If Christians are drunk in the church, what is the difference of going to pubs and to the church. Would they still be listening to sermons when they are drunk? No! They might think Hillsongs are just loud music in pubs and ladies in the church as those flirty ones in the pubs.

TURNING 45

That's me (in the orange shirt??); How I wish!

It's more than half-way mark of my earthly life! Someone says when you get older, time is so precious to you that it just goes faster. Not only time is precious, every task you put your hand to do must be of worth. If I wasted my time doing unnecessary things, I could get easily annoyed. Speaking of annoyance, the older you get, the more sensitive you become. God, help old people like me! But, I thank God for having the youth in The Vineyard Church being the greatest supporters of my life. You guys have greatly blessed me and lessened my annoyance level! Clap! Clap! Clap! The rest my wife took care of it! (Awesome baby of mine!)

Looking back, I had lived a happy life with no regrets! This is ONLY possible because of the amazing grace of our awesome GOD! What is the best thing I have learned all these 45 years? God has never once looked down on me and said, "You are out of the game!" Yup! He never looked away when I was down, dry and dirty!

So, I am looking forward for something MASSIVE to come as I flow in God's river of grace! Praying God will guide me into His next plan for me as I keep flowing in this river.

PS: Thanks for the 'Surprise Party' sunday! I was so thankful to God that I have you guys celebrating with me. Although it was not a total surprised success, I was surprisingly swept away by the gestures. TERIMA KASIH!