Lost... And never found?

Have you ever rushed through life, pushing, straining towards a goal?
Everyone has…
Then think nuclear…
A nuclear bomb dropping on you…
A dream, destroyed…
So what can you do…
Let me question you, a simple question that might give you insight…
Consider one’s heart as another being…
Let’s say you have a loved one, you give your heart to…
And that one takes it, how do you feel?
Then suddenly that being starts playing basketball with it, except they never pick it back up?
How would you feel?
Even if u ever retrieve it, will you ever be the same again?
Amidst everything a broken heart will never be healed…
A heartless you will become just like me…
Enslaved to your own heart?
Powerless to even fight it?
How now?
Will God ever heel you?
To tell you the truth…
I don’t know…
Sometimes I even doubt myself…
I realize that having a relationship with God relies on total trust…
But can it be done…
Think of it, you scream out and it seems like no one hears you…
You fall and no one picks you up…
You bleed but no one staunches your wounds…
You cry but no one dries yr falling tears…
All hope is lost in a dark world
But as you try to stand up you fall again…
How can you ever be whole…?

I cry out to Jesus now to make me whole…
But even in my mind I still doubt…
Will it ever be the same…
I ponder this as my troubles drown me in a sea of swirling and endless darkness…
Will I ever get out?
Jesus hear my thoughts…
Will you carry me through the sand with you?

White, black or grey?

Well, this is a response to Ethan’s post… ( His blog is at my links under Ethan )
Well, anyway, as I read his post, I found it to be interesting and challenging…
And I found his points strong and convincing…
But in ,my heart, I realize that not all people will fit into his statement…
Like me, for example…
But the thing is I have to back up my statement…
So anyway,
This is a question…
For example, you are a dranix rider…
Fighting an evil warlord and ruler of the land you live in…
You know what you’re doing is right but why is it right?
Can you answer me?
If you fight many people will lose their lives in open war…
So why are you opposing him?
Question yourself and put yourself in that aspect..
Well, Ethan, yes I agree that some people may just have a spiritual high when going to camps like TeenStreet…
But in objection, you are referring to a general community, not each individual like myself…
Some people may just get ‘high’ at the camp and forget everything when they get home, but what about others?
Some may really have a conviction and be touched by Jesus…
Then their lives will show a change…
It really matters on an individual…
Take these two scenarios…
One dude goes to camp, gets excited, comes home and gets back to an old routine…
Then this second dude, goes to camp, gets high and goes back home…
But what people notice in the latter is that he has changed for the better…
He is nicer, or more caring or thoughtful about others…
So this scenarios differ according to individuals if u get my meaning…
We have to view them from the many angles in a mirror…
But then again, sometimes the view from all angles maybe the same…
If someone well off and perfectly fine goes ahead and steals something for the kick of it…
Then he is in the wrong…
But most of the time, everything has a shade of grey and is never black or white…
So we have to be careful in judging and deciding things…
Its never easy but with God’s moral compass it is possible..
So I understand that Ethan’s views are correct at a certain point…
But not to the whole community…
That’s my point…
Please comment about this issue…

Learning to DELIGHT IN GOD

TeenStreet Day 2

Well, today another brilliant day by all accounts…
But I hate the wake up at 7.03 a.m. rule…
I can’t even go jogging or have a devotion…
But anyway, I woke up and quickly took a shower…
Then me and Sam headed to the canteen…
So as early as it was it was a good time to prey on sleepy heads so that’s what I did for the fun of it…
‘Contagious’ that day spoke of delighting in God…
Somehow that topic touched my heart, especially when one of the speakers asked what is worship?
What is delighting in God?
And that question stuck to me the whole time in camp…
But by all means I still don’t have the answer but and believe I am closer to finding it…
One of my convictions was that delighting in God means allowing him into all aspects of our lives, and I mean ALL!
So its never easy and it’s a learning progress…
Then again what never is?

Well anyway, back to NET 1 (day 2)…
The lost and the found…
Ever lost something really precious to you?
Well I have and I went nuts finding it…
I turned my house upside down, literally…
Well its such a wonderful feeling knowing that no matter how far we stray God will find us if we allow him to…
So as we went through Nehemiah we discovered how he delighted in God…
Its never easy but it can be done…
Also god really touched my heart through a simple picture of a tree with brown leaves around it…
I realized that if we do not stay through to him, we will end up like those leaves, cut off from a life source…
Sometimes God touches hearts in different ways…
Back to my NET, we were slowly bonding but not all barriers were down yet…

Throughout the day there was interaction time…
I just went to a photography workshop and then headed to a fun game of football…
Basically I had an injury from falling 20 feet before this camp but that’s atotally different story…
Maybe I’ll blog about that soon…
Anyway, at night we entered the throne room or worship session…
It was a refreshing time, but to me it was a time of reflection about my life with God…
I went to the back and quietly sat down to pray and just be lost in his presence…
Somehow, I found a place to be at a wild abandon to Him…
And rarely I find a place like that in my hectic life with studies, work and other activities…
My reflection of what happen that night was that I found a way to delight in God which is sometimes not easy for me…
That’s all for this day as I log off with a new sense of hope…

A time of CARING

TeenStreet Day 1.

The night before me and Samuel crashed at my place…
We slept at like 4…
In the MORNING!
Yes the next day…
Wait…
You got to hear this…
What happened…?
Samuel got to my place at 12…
AT NIGHT!
Then we talked and set up his bed 4 sleeping…
So Samuel wanted to log in to the net so we watched some funny and scary emphasize on the SCARY…
Okay…
That’s not the fun part…
Listen to this conversation…
It was 2 a.m….

Daniel : Dude, lets hit the sack…
Samuel : Wait… I want to log in again…
Daniel : Okaaayyy…
Samuel : Dude, you got to see this video…
Daniel : Okay… Just a quick one dude..
Samuel : Yeah…

So we watched this video called ‘Yellow fever’ and it was really funny…
So it was three when we finished, so we when to sleep…
Suddenly Samuel said, ‘Daniel, truth or dare?’
So it went on till 4 then I could finally sleep…

Early the next morning we woke up and then at 11 we headed to the bus stop to go to teen street…
On arrival we were greeted by weird smelling smoke…
Then after registration we headed back to our dorms…
Then I headed out to the main hall for the launch of teen street 2007…
Okay… Dinner then we had our first session…
I was suppose to meet up with the NET but din really get to..
So after the session I headed back to my dorm for NET 1…
Then as I walked in a strange sight beheld me…
A half naked guy was lying on the bed resting…
So I was like, is this my room and I double-checked my door… it was…
Turns out that was my coach…
Wow…
What a way to meet one huh?

So the first day was an eventful and learning one…
I learned a lot but I felt Jesus had not really touched me yet…
Sometimes we may have different ways, but ultimately we need to slow down for Jesus to speak to us…
I really realized that as I went through the NET 1…
The day’s lesson was CARING FOR OTHERS…
It really touched my heart how so many poor people could be out there in the world while we ‘rich’ people laze around enjoying luxury…
Most of the time we will be complaining that, he or she is better, has better stuff, has more money…
But can’t we for once look the other way and say look, I have more then them…
I should be thankful for that…
And now I really praise the Lord that he has opened my eyes…
Its like being blind and oblivious to the world and then suddenly…
You can see again…
It’s just like the proverb said…
You can see a glass, its either half empty or half full…
So now I urge others who have been touch to reach out…
To be that ripple…
To be that virus…
Spread out across the nations, impacting lives…
Because every slight change will bring impact…
Thank you, Lord.

Contagious - BEWARE!

Hey all friends…
So its been a week since I blogged …
The reason is because I’ve been at a camp called teenstreet…
Well basically it’s a camp for youths to experience and learn about God…
So that’s the main impression I had going into this camp…
But God proved to me that he works in wondrous ways…
Well…
The next few posts will be of my first-hand experience there…
It will be like I’m writing it while I’m there…
So hopefully my life will touch yours the way Jesus has touched me…
And be ready to be infected and contagious...
Happy reading…

'Buttprints or Footprints in the Sand?'

One night I had a wondrous dream,
One set of footprints there was seen,
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.

But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?"
Those prints are large and round and neat,
"But Lord they are too big for feet."

"My child," He said in somber tones,
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait."

"You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk of faith, you would not know.
So I got tired, I got fed up,
and there I dropped you on your butt."

"Because in life, there comes a time,
when one must fight, and one must climb.
When one must rise and take a stand,
or leave their butt prints in the sand."


Well, this was a poem my good friend Samuel Wong left me…
While I was reading this poem I realized something I didn’t see before…
I realized that sometimes we cannot let things or events affect us too much…
And we cannot expect God to do all the work…
We have to work hard and be one with god too be on the winning side…
Or as the poem puts it, leaving buttprints on the sand…
Don’t do that…
Stand up and walk…
And together with Jesus you’ll see on the sand…
Footprints…
Yours and his…
And finally you can leave…
Footprints in the Sand…

''Jesus Loves Me'

‘Jesus loves me’

Jesus loves me this I know,
For the bible tells me so,
Little ones to him belong,
They are weak but he is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me,
Yes, Jesus loves me,
The bible tells me so.


Then there are many verses to that song but I can’t remember them…
Well my point is, as I sang this song in church today, a revelation was revealed to me...
In our modern era loads of songs are being written…
Good or bad…
But the one thing that struck me is that how a simple, child-like song like this could touch my heart and reassure me of Jesus’ love towards and for me…
Amazing isn’t it?

But then again, I also thought of something…
Christian music or non-christian music…
Define the difference…
To me, I find there is a small difference…
Music is never neutral..
Take George Groban’s ‘ You Raise Me Up’…
In reality, that song could be meaning many things…
It could be meaning your love ones, friends, or even Jesus…
So then I realized many songs are like that…
It can be viewed from many different perspectives…
So we have to be careful in choices of music especially nowadays…
Then again Christian songs may have adeeper meaning in our walk and relationship with God…
So this post probably reflects my viewpoints…
But all in all sometimes Christian genre music might be still safer…
Take it from your viewpoint…


~ MusiC 4 ChrisT ~

Scars...

Scars…
Interesting metaphor…
What could it possibly mean?
In the terms of a dictionary I quote…
Scars are a mark or a symbol left by an injury or opening in the skin of one’s body…
My definition…
Scars are a mark which leave you a different person, for better or for worse…
Still with me?
Okay..
Here’s an example, take life for instance…
You could have just broken up with your girlfriend, had a fight with your best friend or simply fallen down twenty feet…
Well…
Any drastic or even small changes may leave scars in your life…
In my point of view, a simple ‘too slow reaction’ might even leave a scar…
Let’s say you saw your friend fall and was too late to catch him or her…
Then he or she dies…
Okay, fine…
It may be a little extreme scenario…
Hmm…
Well anyway, my point is that ‘slow reaction’ might haunt you and leave a scar in your life…
Scars can change a person…
Emotionally and physically…
For better or for worse…
But not all scars are bad…
There are some scars that leave a good mark on you…
Like if you mistreated someone and God punished you for it…
Sure, the punishment hurt, and left a scar…
But it was for the better, teaching you more about life…


Here’s a poem I wrote about life and the scars we experience…

‘ Scars ‘

As I walk through life,
With great strain I strive,
Reaching to those along my way,
And learning what God has to say.

Then an experience comes along,
Leaving a scar on my face,
And I know not where I belong
So only by his grace.

Scars mean so much in life,
With so many in our lives,
For better or for worse,
Can it be the compass?

Can it show us where to go?
Or leave us lost?
Emotionally drained with sorrow…
Our lives destroyed at all costs…

But soon I realize,
Scars have their way,
We may win the great prize,
If god leads the way.

Scars.
The ultimate difference to us,
Whether good or bad,
It changes us.


~ ScarRed 4 LiFe ~

'The Valley of Shadow and Death'

Trust…
A lifetime to build, a second to destroy…
Sometimes things in life are so ironic…
Maybe its human nature to break trust…
But I’m sure its not what God meant us to be…
Because time and time again he has given us his trust and he never lets us down….
He…
As the perfect example…
There are times in your life when things feel out of control…
Like mine right now…
Like my post ‘knife in the dark’…
Sometimes the hurt from betrayal of trust maybe to great to bear for us…
But take heart like I have..
As I was praying last night a deep revelation swept pass me…
No matter how hurt or broken we are, God will stick with us…
He can guide us through…
Giving us someone to trust and depend on…
No matter what you have done he will still be there…
He will never turn away from us…
I felt an inner peace knowing his presence is always with me…
Even in troubled times like now you can feel his pillar of strength supporting you…


A song I remembered from old times last night…
‘Valley of Shadow and Death’
As I walk through the valley of shadow and death…
I will fear no evil…
For you with me…
Your light and your strength…
They comfort me…

Knowing this truth I now set out, no matter how broken to defeat the enemy…
With God on my side who shall stand…
My friends with me and God…
We will claim the victory…
Eternal life…


~ComForTed iN GoD~

‘Footprints In The Sand’

Hey readers…
Today wasn’t a very good day…
I mean relationships, sometimes you wonder if you actually have one?
Are all your relationships fake?
Sometimes I wonder…
That sincerity…
That caring and loving…
That certain emotion portrayed…
Could it be all a drama written on script?
Could it be a wolfs in sheep’s clothing?
Sometimes I wonder…
When your world is upside down…
Your emotions tumbling around in turmoil…
Chaos reigns…
What do you do then?
Then I realized…
In the chaos and turmoil, you can actually come to a standstill in God’s presence…
That’s when all sincerity, love, kindness, grace becomes real to you…
For God never lies…
And neither does he ever abandon you…


I had a dream…
‘Footprints In The Sand’
I was walking on the beach, my heart weighed down by troubles and emotions raged…
I cried out to the Lord, why Lord am I alone…
The footprints in the sand…
How come there is only one pair?
Have you given up?
Have you abandoned me?
And I knelt down in pain and hurt…
Suddenly his voice called out to me, my son…
My faithful son, I have never abandoned you as I never do with my children…
The footprints in the sand…
The one pair you saw…
It was not yours but mine…
Because in your pain and hurt you were going through, I have felt them my son…
So in those troubled times when you felt alone…
It was I who carried you through…
Then I realized…
There is always someone out there for me..
Jesus…
My sole protector…
I’m never alone in this fight…
Jesus, my friend, my dad…
Thank you for always being there for me…
In my lifetime..
A place where I can call home…


~WalKing WitH JeSuS~

Running The Race

Yo! I’m back!
So today was the second day of VBS ( Vacation Bible School )…
Well all went well with the athletes performing really well…
Wow…
One has to be really watching these bunch of kids with their toilet needs and hungry stomachs with some hyperactive juice in them…
I mean they are like full blown steam with no fuel needed…
So anyway they all ‘graduated’ with certificates handed out to them…
We trainers should get a certificate too!
And it should be saying ‘We SURVIVED VBS!’
But all in all it was a rewarding and enriching experience to interact with them and helping them through stuff…
There was this sweet little girl who actually said I was nice!
Hmm…
Maybe something’s wrong here..
Well, anyway…
I watched these kids running around from one station to another and they were really enthusiastic about learning about God and how to be a true hero…
And I must say they really did learn with all their heart, soul and mind…


Most people would think we are to old…
Mature…
That we can’t learn from kids anymore..
But those who do are completely wrong…
We can!
I also have trained kids and learned techniques from them…
Values they stand for…
You watch them you begin to wonder…
Where has all the spark in my life gone…
Where has the enthusiasm and passion towards serving and worshiping God gone?
So I realized that we have to altogether be cleansed and give ourselves completely to God…
Trust him to work things out…
I mean basically we SHOULD be doing this…
But I think there comes a time in your walk with God that you tend to stray…
Troubled times where darkness consumes everything..
So for me VBS 07 has not only been me helping kids but kids helping me as well…
Learning and growing with each step they take…
I pray that these kids would someday grow to be strong men and women in the body of Christ…
Serving him with love and passion…
Well, VBS 07 was a time of reflection for me…
So I pray that God will send people or events my way to help me grow and be more like him…
As I run this race of my life…
Hebrews 12:1-2 : Run with endurance the race that lies before you, keeping your eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of your faith…

~ RunNing ThE GReaT race ~

A Step Back Into The Past...

Well, today was VBS ( Vacation Bible School )…
And I have only one question…
Where do kids get their energy from…?
They are like so hyper…
Anyway, after the hectic events of the day I managed to sit back and relax…
Thinking and pondering over the recent events…
Then I realized something that made me feel really…
Well you know that feeling…
These kids are so young that troubles have not overtaken them…
To them the worst trouble was that their best friend took something from them…
5 minutes later they kiss and make up..
Well maybe not the kiss part…
But my point is when did I as a teen start having so many troubles?
Maybe I went looking for them…
But maybe its part of growing up…
Watching these kids play and having fun made me realize that occasionally, we do have to slow down and forget our troubles for a moment…
These kids were really excited when it came to learning about God…
They could memorize a verse or two in about a minute…

I wondered how could it be so simple…
Then this wondering thought hit me, they have nothing much except that particular task on their minds…
Think about it…
When most of us have our devotions, usually as we talk to God and spend time with him we tend to pour out of troubles…
But as we are doing that we start to think a lot…
About the problems and solutions to them…
In a split second, your mind has strayed away from God…
So I realized that we also have to follow these kid’s examples…
Realizing that God can handle all our problems…
No matter how big or small or how many there are…
Sometimes we older people can learn a lot from the younger ones whose minds are still innocent…
So maybe we sometimes have to take a step back into the past…
Reflect and ponder the deeper meaning of things…
And realizing what God has in store for us…
So be ready to trust God and take that faithful step back into the past…

~ StePPIng closer To EterNiTY ~

What If...?

Well, another day another idea…
Have any of u ever wondered what if I had done this when I should…?
Would it have made a difference?
Actually I have been pondering my thoughts and this thought came to me…
What if?
What if you had been faster?
Would she still be alive?
What if you had been a little better?
Could you have won?
All this I wondered…
Then reality hit me…
Yes it could have made a difference…
But without God, it would not have mattered…
Lets put it this way, God is THE player or person you want on yourside…
You can never go against him…
Believe me, I have tried…
And time and time again, I fell to my knees…

So then I realized it finally what valuable lesson God had been trying to show me…
That he wants to be on your side…
The question is will u allow him in?
Will u allow Him to take control of your life?
My answer now is yes…
So I challenge all readers of this post,
Will YOU allow HIM to CHANGE and take over YOUR life?
So another step and piece of the never ending puzzle is there,,,
Now for the next piece..
Taking life one step at a time…

~ EmbracinG DestiNY ~

Knife In The Dark

Recently I have been through several hardships in Life…
So after going through all this I will ponder and think, why all these problems…
But the one thing that struck me is after fighting so many battles n wars, relationships hurt the worst…
I mean, as some of you know, a knife cutting you in reality hurts a lot…
But the ironic thing is that a knife thrown by a backstabber or best friend in a relationship hurts far worst…
I prefer calling it the emotional assassination…
And it seriously kills you…
You feel torn out…
But my question is here, can it ever heal?
Maybe so, but it will never leave without a mark…
Maybe we really need to trust God to work things through…
But can we actually come to a point of total trust with God…?
That’s the goal I’m striving toward…

Knowing God and completely trusting him is a goal all Christians should strive through..
Maybe my life has been to fast paced…
Living life always in the fast lane…
I think we sometimes need to slow down and relax…
Listen to God’s voice…
Like the verse goes… ‘ be still and know I’m the lord’..
So I guess that is something we should do once in a while…
I mean u can’t actually here God’s voice when you’re running around finishing a hectic schedule…
So slow down once in awhile ad listen to his voice..
I know that’s what I’m gonna do…

~ EmbRaCinG GoD’s CalliNG~

The Ultimate Revival!

My ultimate blog revival…
At first I was skeptical at blogging but lately the turn of events have changed my mind..
Just going through life has thought me valuable lessons God has sent my way, so I figured.. Well I need some way to share my thoughts…
Hence, the ultimate blog revival…
So from now on I will be blogging regularly so..
Watch out 4 the next post!
Happy reading…
Oh ya, comment on my posts if you have any thoughts…
I would love feedbacks n different views…
Thanks n God bless!

God THE Creator...

ASk yourself...
Where did we come from?
Did we spring from the earth?
Or evolution took its course on us?
My answer is God...
He made us wonderfully special..
He is the Creator...
So ask yourself this...
What do you believe?
As a christian, daily we are shunned upon...
But do you have the courage to say this four faithful words...?
God is MY Creator...
Think about it as you are reading this...
I feel as if this world is fake...
A neverending dream...
That there's no waking up too...
Till I met him...
God gave me a life I so longed for...
Finally...
I actually feel satisfied...
After striving after the wind for years...
I have come to a place where I can be utterly content to just be in his presence...
So I challenge you, anyone who is reading this...
Can you find one time when you did not want anything else and felt completely and utterly satisfied...?
My guess for most people, their answer would be no..
For now I know that without God or Jesus, we can never be fully satisfied...
So now I leave this entry to ponder,
Why am I here?
What's my purpose in life?
Ad the journey caontinues...
But this time..
I'm not alone...
Jesus is with me...
Along with people he sent my way...
Together..
The six of us will fulfill our roles on earth before eternity...

~dranix rider~