Merry Christmas

It was my first time presenting a live song in front of so many people for the Unit Christmas Party at Pasta Fresca. Thank God that it went well in the end.. :) When I first got to know that I am presenting this song, i was a little stressed intially. This is because I am not used to singing English songs (other than Praise & Worship plus the fact that my heart language is mandarin) and that I am a shy person by nature... (Haha, I bet many people will disagree with this!) Well, but I guess it is worth a try. Anyway, in order to do justice to this song, I reckon that I shall do a bit of research to it. I went to the net to find out the background of the bandgroup, the underlying message behind and getting myself emotionally ready for this song. I shall share to you my sentiments during the preparation of the song..

I have always wondered...

Human beings are such weird species sometimes eh? We all want to be loved, but somehow few of us love willingly or easily. So the net result is a severe dearth of love all round. We all search around for people to understand us but loneliness still perpetuates especially when your kind comes few and far in between. We start to cherish them more, because of the primal need of a human being to belong.

However, within that private world each one of us also wrestles with some heart-consuming battle that no one can understand. For one it may be the inner ache of suppressed cries; for some it may be the daunting and haunting specter of guilt; for all it may be the ultimate realities of our existential struggles.

If only...

If only we know that God is able to unify the deepest depths of our hearts. The intimacy with God which bridges what we knows with what we feels. Such knowledge takes what we know and what we feel seriously. This is not a fatalistic posture that says, "So be it," and resigned to accept what flies in the face of our circumstances. When we learn God’s profound answers to every sentiment we feel, we find contentment and courage and live a life of hope and confidence. We then make every day count with significance, while treasuring His thoughts and harnessing our feelings.

Presenting to you the lyrics
Jays Of Clay
No One Loves Me Like You
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Collapsing was much softer Still falling always hurt Only after sensing your love for always ever burned
You justified my folly My affluent disguise Removed revealing nothing Nothing unforgiven lies Unforgiven lies
No one loves me like you No one loves me the way you do No one loves me like you No one loves me the way, the way that you do

To touch the rose unfearful Is to meet the thorn And pierce the heart's emotions Feel the emptiness no more Emptiness no more

Took some time to realize i've fallen

Merry Christmas to All :)

A Spirit-Filled Marathon

Last Saturday (2 Dec 06), Dehua, Daisy and Jiayan was sharing excitedly about their preparation for the Standard Chartered Marathon run at the Hemisphere Cafe when suddendly, Dehua asked me whether I like to take part as his colleague went sailing & thus couldn't make it for the run. Hee..i responded by claiming that I will support them in spirit... (I didn't register for the run in the first place.)

Then Daisy cheekily replied : " You can support us further by looking after our bags on Sun morning!"

That's it! I have to run the race to salvage my pride...haha

Anyway I brought up this matter to God during Sat service. As Dehua's colleague had registered for the full marathon, I was praying how far can I run. I was deliberating that it would be sucidial to attempt the full marathon as I had not trained for it plus the fact that the longest distance that I have ever ran was 4.8KM. Yet somehow God resonated in my heart to attempt the full marathon...but being the faithless me, I rationalised with God that maybe I should attempt between 10 - 21 km at the end of the service. After all 21km is still a faith run for me...

Sun morning came, i ran with some brothers who was running the half marathon. As we started off at the gun-point, the host spotted my number tag and jokking announced to the crowd, " Hey, you are supposed to run the full marathon which started eariler!!" The brothers and the crowd bursted out in laughter!

Malu...haha I was telling God, this is the last straw! Since you showed yourself real thru Daisy and the Host, I will try to attempt the full marathon! God is faithful, I had 2 bledding toes due to abrasion and had muscle cramps but he substained me throughout the marathon. It was tempting at the 18km turn point whereby I have to make a decision to choose btw 21 or 42km but somehow I was led by the Holy Spirit to persevere on to complete the race for Him. As I ran through the finishing line ( I walked like the Penguins in "The Happy Feet" after the run), I felt a overwhelming sense of triumph in my heart.

Thank God. Thru this experience, I learned about this verse in Matthew 17:20. " I tell you the truth, you can say to the mountain. move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." :)