Feng Shui Horse 

Feng Shui Horse & Clay

This morning woke up, saw my mum sitting in the living room polishing a bronze horse figurine that my dad bought last week. According to her, she said that it will bring us good fortune in everything… Chinese has a saying called “Ma(3) Dao(4) Gong(1) Cheng(2)… meaning the horse will deliver you success… I whispered: “What rubbish was that?”

I was a little puzzled… is there really something called Feng Shui Horse? In human terms, “polishing” a horse is like giving a man “facial wash” or “spa”… today if I see some guys doing these, I would say “Yucks! So sissy!” Imagine now you are polishing a horse… a sissy horse! Can a sissy horse bring success? When we talk about horses, I imagine those wild horses running across the grassland. Wild horses normally give people a feeling that they are “macho” and “powerful”. Think back how ancient people fight wars on horse’s back! Those horses dun need to be groomed but they brought victories to the generals. If horses need to be “groomed”, then they are only good for display… So now my mum is polishing the bronze horse hoping for good fortune? Yeah right!

Next, I would like to know who is the one claiming that there are “Feng Shui Horses”? Today someone might say a bronze horse is good for fortune, but another day the same person can say a gold horse is better. When he is in good mood, he might like a jade horse, but if you ask him the same question during his dad’s funeral, then he will tell you “TO HELL THE HORSES!” So why do people still believing in human’s words???

I remembered few weeks back, my parents were discussing on the topic of worshipping idols in our new home next year, they asked my elder brother if we are going to bring the existing idols from our home to the new one but my elder brother says he prefers “Guan Ying”. I thought to myself, “Wassup with these people? Today they are worshipping some kinds of idols of their choices? Then what God is this? A God that is under the selection of man… and people are worshipping their whole lives on it? I said they are just a piece of clay!” In fact people are still worshipping idols. I tell you the truth, a “Guan Ying” might look like the one in your home from one potter’s hands, but it can look another form in another potter’s hands. In the end, people are worshipping different types of “Guan Ying”… so it is the potter who shapes the idols... Then let me ask, “How powerful are these clays which are shaped by humans' hands... Isn't it that we need God to shape our life instead? So human are supposed to shape their own God to shape theirs?" Complicated? Well, they are just clays...

Lastly, I really can’t stand my parents keeps burning incenses for those idols… Wassup men? Are those idols dependent on the incenses? If they are then how can you still depend on those pieces of clays? How much do people know about the idols when they worship them all their lives? If these idols are real, then why aren’t the Westerners, Europeans or the Aussies ever heard about them? If these idols are so real, then why are we not celebrating about any memorial occasions worldwide?

Try asking around what does 911 means to you, and probably 10 out of 10 would tell you it’s the most dramatic tragedy that the world has witnessed… Why we know? Because we all saw on TV that 2 planes crashed at the top of the WTC that came tumbling down. It has been a fact and people will remember it for their LIFES! Try asking around your friends when did the Japanese invade Singapore and probably people who studied history will tell you it’s in 1942… It is a FACT. Today every one of us witnessed the death of Pope John Paul II and many people knows how great he is… Why? Because we saw on TV how Millions of people from all around the world came together and gave their condolences. In this new era, we have the benefits of watching every major events unfolding on TV and we believed that these things indeed happened…

Well, we said, “Seeing is Believing.” Then I ask you why 2000 years ago, when there is no TV, no HP, no Internet, yet everyone in those days seems to know who Jesus is? It has also been agreed that He has indeed died on the cross and has been resurrected 3 days later that we now celebrate Easther Day that the whole world is celebrating as a public holiday. If Jesus is not a true Son of God, then why is Christmas an official public holiday that everyone on earth is celebrating now? If during those times, the facts of Jesus can stand scrutiny until now, what does it say to us then?

Lets reflect then, why do people still believe that a piece of clay can change their life? I share with you a truth. My life has changed, not through clay, but through the death of the one and only Son of God, Jesus. I have seen my whole transformation from Buddhist who went to temple every week to meditate on some scriptures to now a faithful Christ Follower…. I know now I am really been saved, thank God!

My Name Is Bond, James Bond

Calling out all agents in Singapore! The target is identified. It’s the challenge of the day; To cast someone like Mr Bond for a fashion label brand!

You may call CID. CNB. Geylang Police Station. Eunos Neighbourhood Police Post. CPIB. Or CMPB... Anyway here's your target:

Does God speak to us?

Does God really speak to us? I am unable to answer this question 10 months ago, but it seems to me very clear now that God is always just right there trying to talk to you… if you pay enough attention.

From the moment that I decided to let Elaine and the Joel’s CG to pray for me during my first visit to their bible discussion meeting 10 months ago, God has been talking to me on every issues in my life. From finding my business partners, making key decisions to my whole spiritual walk (from inviting Jesus into my life, taking the holy communion, water baptism, holy spirit baptism, speaking in tongues, giving tithes, giving to church building fund, praying for Reina’s salvation) God has been there speaking to me.

It is really amazing because everything seems to be evolving around me. Getting the right encouragement by church friends at the right time, prayers answered at the right time to listening to the right sermons at the right time, it just seems that the church is built specially for me… Or I have to say that God is waiting for the right time to introduce me to His church so that I can receive the timely blessings from Him?!

It happened again this morning. I supposed to play half of a soccer game at 7.30 am before rushing for church service at 9.00 am but I ended up playing the full game instead as we did not have any spare players. The game finished at 9.15am and I thought, “Sh*t! I am late!” My teammates were asking me if I wanted to join them for breakfast later and there I was contemplating to take a slow bath, enjoy my breakfast then attend the 11am service instead. However I decided to rush down to church, even if I would miss the Praise & Worship. Hence I went in for a quick shower and immediately took a cab down to Cuppage Plaza.

The time I reached Cuppage Plaza was 10am. It was very late as I thought the sermon should be on the way by now. However to my surprise, as I walked into church, I realised that they just finished with the Holy Communion! I still have time to walked down to sit together with my Care Group, “give” to God, greet my friends, listen to announcements and last but not least listen to the sermon. “God, are you waiting for me to start this sermon?” I asked myself…

The sermon for the day: Building Churches… Last week, I just finished and was very inspired by the book written about our Founder, Dr Kriengsak, The Apostle Of Hope… God, are you talking to me again? Then my next question to You, “How can I be ready, my Lord?”

As I stop typing, I hear the song “Call upon the name of the Lord, and he says…” – a worship song by Hillsong called “Here I Am To Worship”

An hour a Day, keeps the Evils away

An Hour a Day, keeps the Evils away.

Our God is good, no doubt about it. I have been doing an hour of quiet time each day for 2 weeks now and the changes I felt in my life is awesome! I can sense the Holy Spirit is with me in everything I do. That gives me faith and strength to do whatever I deemed fit as I know that the road have been paved ahead of me… Dear bro/sis, are you facing some forms of setback recently? Its time to get back that “loving feeling” with God!

In fact this month is a wonderful month as I sensed all sorts of graces that God granted me and I also experienced miracles that sprang up into my face. Besides graces, my vision is also much clearer as my mind becomes sensitive towards what is laid ahead of me. My life is full of plans and directions as I can feel that Im each step closer to His glory! Oh God, all I have is only 1 simple goal in this life; that is if your servant is pleasing in your eyes, please allow me to become your living testimony in this fallen world.

All I pray is that you take my body and soul and replenish me each day with your spirit so that I may live a righteous way that pleases you. I wish that my life can encourage my brothers and sisters in their spiritual walk, can bring another life back “Home” and provides a living testimony for those who doubted you. Until the day that you feel I have done enough, Im ready to head “Home” to be with you.

Nothing in this world can deny my faith in you, Lord. May I be your worthy servant!

Amen.

Hand In Hand With God

Back to my journal… what should I write? I asked for some feedbacks in my last post, but all I had was a reply by Claire who answered me with regards to some technical issues on setting up my template, which I couldn’t figure out anyway.

Heck! Forget about all the links and site meter, these journals are meant for myself and those “called” into this page. If everything is planned by God, then there must be a reason why you are in here reading this right? Since you are here, let me share the most profound secret that I recently encountered. Hand in hand with God. Sounds ridiculous? Read on!

I used to challenge my Christian friends over my last 28 years (ok, I only started to talk when I was one-year-old and only knew God when I first watched Ne Zha fighting with Er Lang Sheng!) if there is a God, then show me how God looks like. Many times, they were pissed off by my comments and decided to leave me alone. Now that I’m saved by Jesus, I have been asking Him to reveal himself to me, not just Words and Scriptures, but more intimately…

It was last Wednesday, 13th of April, I was back home around 10 plus pm. After reading Apostle Of Hope, I was so inspired by our Founder that he normally spent 2 hours doing quiet time with God everyday (1 hour in the morning 5am and 1 hour before sleep). The most captivating moments was his first encounter with God and the Holy Spirit when he went back to his hostel while studying in Australia late one night after celebrating his campus mate birthday, he fell to the ground and started to speak in tongues and wept. Although I had been Holy Spirit baptized, I’m always very amazed about such sudden encounter, as if God suddenly wanted to “communicate” with you out of the blue.

That night, there was only one thing in my mind that was to start doing 1-hour quiet time with God each day, before following the example set by our Founder, which is doing 2 hours each day. I had brought back my laptop so that I could play my Hillsongs in my room and I could fully indulge myself to Christ, My Saviour. As usual, I did my praise and worship (a soft one though as my parents and my brother were sleeping in the other rooms) and prayers in words and tongues. As I opened my eyes, it was only half an hour… probably it was due to a long day work, I got really tired seating on my bed, hence decided to lie back onto my bed and listened to the worship songs instead.

“This is also quiet time right?” I thought. I even spread out my hands on my bed as if I was opening up to God. As I lay on my bed enjoying the soothing music, I cheekily asked God to fill me up with the Holy Spirit so that I could last for the next half an hour in case I fell asleep. It was this cheekiness that I would never forget as I encountered the power of Holy Spirit! I felt some wind tickling down my fingertips. Though I knew the aircon was blowing directly at me, I sensed that it was a different type of feeling. It was as if someone was holding onto your fingers. I knew it was the Holy Spirit coming upon me, because this was the kind of feeling I encountered when I was worshipping in church during Sunday services. I felt joy flooding into my body and soul, even though I was feeling very tired…
Overwhelmed by this feeling, I prayed to God that He squeezed me tightly to give me an assurance that the room was filled with the Holy Spirit and true enough, I felt someone holding onto my hand. It was really awesome! I knew God was with me that night! Feeling overjoyed, I wanted to worship Him, my Savior. I prayed to God again that this time round He lifted both my hands up so that I could worship Him. The next moment, I felt my hands were both lifted slightly, next to my hand and eventually my whole arms were lifted towards the ceiling!

Oh my God, nothing could deny this experience. I could really feel the physical touch of the Holy Spirit! Both my hands raised in the air as if someone was pulling from the ceiling. I felt energized and joy flooding into my whole body. Joyful tears flowed out of my eyes, rolling now into the back of my head. I was empowered by God, no doubt about that!

For several minutes, my hands were hanging in the air without feeling numb or tired. The worship songs were so beautiful and the experience was certainly divine! If you think that I had enough, then you are totally wrong. Hungry for more, I requested for a last prayer; that was to ask the Holy Spirit to lift my body up from lying position into sitting. It sounded like I was asking for too much as I recalled Jesus saying in Mathew 4:7 “…Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” “Am I crazy?” I thought.

What happened the next moment was the most shocking experienced that I ever encountered in my life! I felt something was lifting my head… then to my neck… next to my shoulder… and my back… until I was completely sat up, with my 2 hands rising towards the ceiling! Hallelujah! This was the ultimate experience in my life! I knew for sure that these experiences were not from my own strength as I was dead tired after a long day of work.

There I was sitting on my bed, hands raised, mouth rattling in tongues, enjoying the intimate experience that God had granted me! It was as if I was lifted into heaven. There I was experiencing the grace and touch of God, communicating in a divine setting. I immediately prayed for everything that I could pray for: my family salvation, my business partners salvation, the church, my CG, Joel’s CG, Irving’s CG, Elaine’s unit, David’s unit, Tuesday prayer meet, Reina’s spiritual growth, my business and everything that just came into mind! I knew this was the moment I should never miss praying for. I thank God for this encounter as I felt “reborned” again…

Dear friends, this I called experiencing God “Hand-In-Hand”. If anyone of you still doubted God, then my best heartfelt advise is to ask you to invite Jesus into your life now and start to pray in your own words (with Faith), that you confess your sins and allow Jesus to be your savior and your Father in your life. Trust me, you will have your own personal encounter with God! I hereby give my prayers who are reading this right now!

May God be with you. In Jesus name, Amen.

Closer To God

I am currently reading a book by the name of “The Apostle Of Hope” – The Dr Kriengsak Story, by Carolyn Boyd. In fact this book is about the life of Dr Kriengsak, our Hope Founder. It is an incredible story of a Buddhist convert who has planted over 100 churches in just a few years and is pasturing the largest and fastest growing church in a most Gospel – resistant region (Thailand). The concepts and principles revealed can be applied in our lives, in fact in the world! A MUST READ!

As I read, I manage to learn a lot of things from Dr Kriengsak, especially his passion and faith towards the living God. Currently I’m practicing to build a really intimate relationship with God, His Son and The Holy Spirit by doing at least an hour of quiet time each day. (Dr Kriendsak did 1 hour in the early morning and 1 hour before sleep… I can only do it before sleep coz still struggling to wake up… ;p)

Since I started my first quiet time, I encountered tremendous experience with The Holy Spirit and I hope there are more great experiences to come. In fact my mind are so much clearer on my vision now and I am prompted to write a couple of topics on my life experiences which probably can help some people reading this blog…

Well, maybe before I start my “marathon” journals, I will just list out the topics I hope to cover and you guys decide for me which one come first:

1. Hand-In-Hand with The Holy Spirit
2. My vision on building the God’s Kingdom
3. European Outreach
4. Let’s talk about SEX
5. How God answered my prayers

Ok for now. Time to sleep, but stay tune to this blog for my journals… I'm praying for the Spirit to put what's in my mind into black and white...

Good night friends, may God speak to you in your dreams too!

Amen.

My Monday...

Its Mon morning… so lethargic today. Had a very bad sleep, that old aircon is giving off a cracking sound… a bad dream… woken up by some evil spirits… prayed upon the lord’s prayer… could not sleep… check out teletext… back to sleep and next moment, woken up by the alarm! A Mon greeted by all the SH*T!!!

Back to work! Prayed over breakfast… so expecting some good news in office. Ok, some clients replied, might have future opportunities... Reina, came up with a visual over the weekend, not too bad… but not what I want! RE-DO! But realized after that it’s not wise to propose to client… haizzz

Follow up on a long overdue (120 days) payment… threatened to post a lawyer letter… 10 mins later, cheque ready… now I know what to do in the future! But caught in the rain on the way there. What a SH*T client… low budget… few jobs… long payment… out of place location… attitude staff… and now bad weather!!! Wassup??!!

That partner came again, dressed in black polo-t and a black pants. I know its another bad news on this “black mon”. “ Is this the best quote?” he asked in his typical stuck up accent with eyes staring at you like a hungry fox… “ Yeah, of course. We are still taking a risk for this quote.” I hesistantly replied. “I only asked 1 time and I ask again, so is this the best quote?” he repeated slowly and in a more sternly manner. “Yeap. Its my best quote.” I confidently replied. Upon hearing this, “The other side quoted cheaper…” he turned and walked away.

Wassup!?? Is this the way you treat your biz partner? He didn’t even compare apple to apple! Does he really want to work with me on this one? Should at least sit down and tell me what is expected from me right??? Taking me as another damn supplier??? Should I still pray for his salvation? God d@mn it… ok, ok, its a test of faith… For you only Lord, for you alone I serve and obey!

The laptop is singing “Shout To The Lord”….

New SH*T On The Blog

Opening of New SH*T On The Blog

This place is created through an inspiration from my Bro Merv who had some SH*TTY friendships recently. Well, I guess everyone got their SH*TTY stories to tell, and I have mine too! So let's block out those SH*Tsss in here!

MY FIRST SH*T

A friend asked me recently "Are you willing to die for me"? As a staunch believer of Christ who was saved from my own grave 10 months ago, I told him YES! Well if we believe that everything that we have belong to God, then what is life to us right?

This friend is a "business partner" who shares the same office space with me (Ops, you roughly know who by now!). We are occupying the same office space because our business compliments each other. He is providing advertising services and mine-imaging services. So as a new setup, I trust him as a provider to my business, in turn giving him my full support. This partnership is wonderful as we have worked well for a few projects. His clients had tight budgets and I was hungry for jobs... so everybody benefitted!

Things beginning to change recently as they took on more high profile jobs... One day, he came to me saying, "Jon, we have this big project and we cannot screwed it up. So we are asking 1 professional to handle it."

??? "What the F**K!!?", this was the first thing that came to me. I realised that the trust and integrity that we talked about were just pieces of SH*T! Hey didn't relationships strengthen through thick and thin? Didn't love flourish through hardships? Didn't BROTHERHOOD survive through extreme conditions? Didn't SYNERYGY evolved through numerous spining?

I was totally blown off by his comment... I'm struggling now. I have "preached" the WORD of loving your enemy. I have "shared" the WORD that when someone slapped you on the left, we showed our right to him... I have prayed about forgiving all your debtors so that ours sins can be forgiven... Now here I am facing this piece of SH*T... I need GOD's guidance to the EXTREME! I'm experiencing the same situations our forefathers faced when they were persecuted by people they preached to... I suddenly see Jesus on the cross breathing his last breathe and said, "Eloi, Eloi, (Father, Father) please forgive them..." I realised that my trouble is just a breeze in life...

Ok ok, enough of the holy words. Friends, I realised that whatever relationships out there are just plain SH*T! If anyone's life is not evolved around GOD, they are living a life of their own philosophies, theories, believes, rights and wrongs. They are like dangerous animals who pounce on their preys when hunger strike, then claimed "Thanks bro, your sacrifice has saved me". Their words are their truth as Black becomes White...

So dear Bro/Sis, spend your time wisely building relationships for ETERNITY. Bring those animals to GOD so that they can too be saved... A broken glass can be stick back together but the cracks will always be there forever. However that same LOVE that held Jesus on the cross is the element to ensure the cracks do not leak anymore; so that the glass can be reused for its potential.

May you find the real TRUTH!

The Day My Life Changed!

There was a time when I used to make fun of my Christian friends worshipping a pathetic, helpless man who was pinned on a cross. I always mocked at this crazy bunch of people who had nothing better to do than to wake up every Sunday morning for church "jamming"... Worse still, church people seemed like "money suckers" to me as they always asked people to contribute money. I remembered been told by a friend who visited a "West Bound" church and the people there expect everyone to "tithe" even if you are visitors!!! Wassup???

However, May 2004, I was at the lowest point in my life. Having seen my dreams of promotion being broken after my previous company was bought over, I resigned. It was a period of hardship as I witnessed people backstabbing each other, friends betraying me and even girlfriend abandoning me for someone more stable. To sum it all, I was left with nothing... no career, no money and no honey. All I had in me were grievances and disappointments in life.

However, I was very fortunate to know Karen - who was actually my client from my previous company. She knew how excited I was when talking about the chance of getting promoted. During this period of darkness, I got to meet some wonderful friends whom Karen introduced to me. It was really a blessing as God has given me a group of people whom I now call my Brothers and Sisters in Heaven!

I have Mr Mel Gibson to thank for the movie, “Passion of Christ.” I watched it last Easter (2004) and was really moved as I saw how Jesus suffered during the last 24 hours of His life. I finally realized the reason why Jesus died. It caused me to do some soul searching; to deal with guilt and shame in my life. If this is really a true account of what had happened in history, then I better find out more about it... Karen then passed me this book called, "Case For Christ." It was a book that really answered my doubts and changed my unresponsive heart. I started reading the Bible... which changed my life.

As I read the bible, I began to see miraculous events happening in my life. I knew they were not concidental. Hence I made a decision to enter into a relationship with Christ. Since then I was totally "blown away" by the grace of GOD!

Let me share about the business I started last year. It began with my first visit to Care Group. At the end of the Bible discussion, Elaine, my unit leader offered to pray for me. I was hesitant at first, but finally decided to open up my heart to GOD. I simply asked for smooth planning over the next few weeks and the whole group prayed for me. The next day when I was at Hello! shop collecting my phone, I happened to share with Reina who is the staff serving me that day about my new setup (an all-round imaging hub providing digital imaging, photography and talent services) and to my astonishment, she told me that she was an digital imaging (DI) artist before?! Hesitantly believing her, I told her to meet up again and gave her some assignment to see her capabilities. Right now she is my DI artist playing a pivotal role in my business.

Besides Reina, God also gave me a wonderful Photographer! I remembered checking out his website and the first thing I saw was Genesis 1:3 "And God said, let there be light and there was light." Was that YOU- the ALMIGHTY GOD talking to me? Not surprisingly his company name is called Lighthouse Images.

I could not imagine someone so disappointed in life with only $20 in the bank to be able see all this happen! Prayers have been answered, people coming forward to help me, words of wisdom from God, etc. In Jeremiah 29:11-14 God says, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come to pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you…"

After so much Jesus has done, there is no way for me to "repay" Him than to commit my life to serve in His Kingdom. I love all of you who is reading this now, hence I urge you to take a step of faith in Christ because God first loved us...

God Blesses,
Jon

Intro to my life

April 1976 - May 2004. 1.7m, dark brown eyes, 60KG. Seasonal hair depending on mood. Used to be the guy on the street. Eat, sleep, work, play, getting laid. Vulgarity used to be my slag. Try to look BAD, but hated smokers and drugs... heading nowhere afterall.

Relationships like a breeze, when its cool everything's romantic. When it's hot, get's sizzling. When its still, find a better place.

Career: 8-5... draggy.
Pay: $1000 odd... boring.
Woman: 32b... tiny.
Life: Looking for pussy.
Religion: Buying 4D.
Education: Diploma... Good for dustbin.
Philosophy: Take things easy.

In the end, no career, no prospects, no aim, no goal, no fun, no luck, no strength, no mood, no money, no honey, no help, no pity, no skills, no vision, no life... Life? Wassup?!!!