A side of me you might not have seen before.

Currently Brand New Eyes By Paramore see related

A measure of friendship.. not!

I had another one of my lapses in memory again, and I struggled to remember what I meant to blog about. Here it is as far as my memory serves me. I've still got this niggling feeling that I forgot something.

Today, in Damai, we celebrated Damai Aunty’s birthday. Not only that, but Didi Wong’s, Christine Majimbun’s, Abigail Teo’s, Andrea Teo’s, and Ridge Morrison’s birthdays too! Yes we sang the birthday song 6 times. Crazy. People were looking at us funny.

Also forgot to mention that 2nd Sept is also Nicholas Pang, Denise Lim, and Tammi Tan's birthdays too! Along with Uncle Philip Koh and Uncle Ken.. o_o

In recent times, I think yesterday was the quietest my phone's ever been. I only received 4 sms-es. 1 from mum, 1 from bro, and 2 from DiGi! If that were a measure of friendship, DiGi's my best friend HAHA! And my ONLY one too! Because the other 2 are from family hahaha!

Here’s a thought. Imagine someone, A, has just been asked to do a certain chore or task. A obliges, grudgingly. A goes off to start on the certain task, and inside A is grumbling and sighing and is thinking “Why now??” or “Not again..” and just before A leaves the presence of the person who assigned the task, B, A hears B praising A in front of a few others. “You see A, always so willing to do work.” or “A accomplishes a lot around here you know? You guys can learn from A.”

Does that person deserve to feel proud? Or guilty? Or..?

I don't know whether the recent rains and winds have destroyed a mouse den, flushing the mice out, or Mittens (my cat) just decided to go on a killing spree. Yesterday (2nd Sept as I'm writing this) she caught 3 mice and left them on the stairs, 1 half eaten. Today (3rd Sept) she caught ANOTHER one.

So how's everyone feeling today?

Ehhh! Just add something pretty cool I found on Darian's blog! Haha! Good stuff.

THIS YEAR IS CRUCIAL.

This will be a long post. Please bear with me, and read it fully. Don’t skim through. If you don’t have time to read it all, come back again when you do.

Red text is more towards the significance of this year.
Blue text are quotes, scripture and otherwise.
White text is everything else.

40 Days of Prayer and Fasting begins this Saturday (8^th of August), and ends on the 16^th of September.

Thanks to a combination of refreshing reminders and input from Kairos, Rev. Lee, Ps. Philip, my mum, and Dr. Joe Ozawa.. this year has really impressed on me. THIS YEAR IS CRUCIAL.

This year, if you go according to August 31^st, will be the beginning of the 53^rd year of independence. It’s Malaysia’s (more accurately, Semenanjung’s) 52^nd ANNIVERSARY yes, but it’s the beginning of the 53^rd year. Semenanjung has completed 52 years of independence, and is beginning it’s 53^rd year. I hope it makes sense to you.

If it doesn’t, try using this instead. When you are born, you are zero years old yes. But you have just begun living the first year of your life. When you reach 1 year old, you have lived 1 year, and are beginning your 2^nd. If you still don’t understand. Try reading again. Slowly.

Anyway, back to the topic. Do you understand what “jubilee” means?  It means year of restoration, kept every 50 years. So! 3 years ago (yes 3, not 2), Semenanjung entered it’s jubilee year. That means at the 49^th anniversary, they began their 50^th year, also the jubilee year.

Now, let’s draw our attention to Luke 13:6-9

6He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”

Rev. Lee brought to focus the three years. This coming August 31^st, it will be 3 years since the jubilee year began. Has there been change since the jubilee year of restoration in our nation? Yes. But not major change, and not all changes have been positive (in our eyes at least). Are we or is the nation going to be cut down?

Look at verse 8.

8But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it.

WE GOTTA WORK AT IT. What have we been doing? Praying? Yeah maybe. But have we REALLY been praying, praying with a passion to see change? To see this tree bear fruit? To see God’s hand move?

Ps. Philip talked about how the Koreans pray. They pray really extreme. Really LOUD. You can SEE their PASSION in their ACTIONS. They SHOUT OUT LOUD and SHAKE TREES and even in the prayer grottos you can hear them from the outside! Does this mean praying quietly, with eyes closed and head bowed and hands clasped together, has less of a chance of moving the hand of God? NO. God listens no matter how you pray. The difference is, IT DOES SOMETHING TO YOU. Man when the Korean team prayed for us, I felt like I got hit by a wall. It’s been a long time since I cried so much.

Ok. How many of you know the show Ultraman? XD HAHA I know this may sound a bit random, but just bear with me for a bit. Anyway for those of you who don’t know, it’s this cheap Japanese action series. Ultraman has this power where he puts his hands together in a sort of ‘L’ shape, and then it shoots a beam of something. Now two things about this move: 1) It almost always ends the fight (cuz it’s powerful), and 2) Ultraman always seems to only use it at the end, when he’s in trouble of getting clobbered. Now I don’t know about you guys, but I always used to think, “Why on earth doesn’t he just use that move in the beginning of the fight and get it over with straightaway?”

Same applies to prayer too though. Too often, we turn to prayer as the last resort, last minute, when the situation closes in on us. Prayer is such a powerful weapon God has given us! Even if we’re broke or physically unable to do something, WE CAN STILL PRAY. And that’s not saying prayer is a very “at least” thing to do.

Anyway, take a short U-turn off the topic of prayer and go back to more on the significance of this year. So we talked about August 31^st, and how the 3 years have passed. Now we bring up the topic of September 16.

This year September 16 will be the 46^th anniversary of the formation of Malaysia. That means we begin our 47^th year. THREE YEARS TO GO TIL THE JUBILEE YEAR. This year’s September 16^th is right in between two very significant dates for Malaysia. Also, this year, according to the Jewish calendar, the new year falls on September 16^th. Coincidence???

The closing to the 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting will be held in SIB Skyline, meeting in the church sanctuary itself on the 14^th and 15^th, and on the tennis court for the 16^th of September. Now, when Dr. Joe Ozawa, an extremely anointed prophet, came, they held an open prayer meeting for anyone from any church to go. Through an interesting sequence of events, he was led to referring to the 7 trumpets in the book of Revelations, whereby the 7^th trumpet proclaims the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of God. What happened at that meeting? He was given a shofar (a horn), and he asked who could blow it. Then he went on further to ask how many other shofars or horns did they have in that meeting and guess what, it turns out there were SEVEN. What more, the owners were all from SKYLINE. Who’s playing host to the closing? Another coincidence???

I’m joining this years’ 40 day’s, and I’m fasting computer entertainment. That means I won't be on MSN, not on games, no blogging, no surfing the web. I'll only switch on the computer to work, research if required, and check my mail and MAYBE facebook once a week perhaps. So if you need to contact me, just email me, call or send me a text message on my handphone.

I urge you to join in praying in fasting for Malaysia. Don’t let this year pass by. This year is CRUCIAL.

Dr. J. Edwin Orr said, “There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.”
Fraser said, “Work on your knees. I am feeling more and more that it is after all just the prayers of God’s people that call down blessing upon the work..”

2 Chronicles 7:14
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”

The end of the world? (as we know it)

First off, just felt like putting up what I put on my facebook status. For random fun XD

Justin Asher Chen
- almost lost his temper, whew
- needs to get a working phone
- thinks this status update will not have as amusing a commentary as the previous 2
- "They act like it's normal. So normal that sometimes I wonder whether I'm overthinking." "I guess for the older, senior ones, they're pretty grounded and it's ok. But what worries me is the message it sends to the younger ones."
- It's sad when your computer lags in 3D Pinball.

Oh, one more off-topic mention. I have a friend, who lost 10 pounds (about 4.5kg), because she spent a long time in the toilet today. Bombing. (and missing out on badminton) Yeah. Impressive eh? HAHA! Anyhow, now to the topic related to the title.

Yes I know there have been multiple song titles with that name. And I’ve only just recently understood the weight behind the line “as we know it”. No I’m not saying that the world is coming to an end soon. I have no idea when that will be. What brought up this topic is, in this one month alone, I've heard mention of the end times on 3 different occasions. It made me think.

On the first occasion, I was discussing the end times with a good friend. At the end of the conversation, it was mentioned, “God please don’t let it be soon.” I have reasons why I would think that way, and so does aforementioned friend.

A couple of weeks later, on a Saturday, I was helping out at a BM Kairos Course. For those of you who don’t know about Kairos, I highly recommend you go for it. I believe Bobby may be looking into organizing one for youth. It will definitely impact the way you look at the Bible, God, the world, and your life. Anyway, up popped a reminder, a familiar verse.

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

The message coming across is that, Once every single ethne (learn about this in the Kairos course!) has heard the gospel, then the end will come.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a serious challenge for me. Do I really love God and not the world? If I really do love God, that means working hard for God’s second coming, His coming of power. And that means working towards getting the gospel spread.

Why would one NOT hope that the end is near? This is an easy question. It’s hard to push aside thoughts of love, marriage and starting a family, or of further studies and future business endeavours. One hopes that one has a long life ahead, to explore and adventure and go through the motions. One does not wish to suffer during the end times. One does not wish for the end to come yet because one’s friends have not been saved yet.

Many, many reasons.

The next day, AGAIN, the end times topic came up. Freaky eh? I had to sit up and take note.

Anyhow, what struck me most this 3^rd time were two main things.

First was Rachel J. Scott (for those of you who don’t know, she’s the girl who was killed in the 1999 Columbine shooting), her view and stance on life.

"Just passing by, Just coming through, Not staying long, I always knew,
This home I have will never last."

"Tomorrow is not a promise, but a chance. It may not be there for you."

- Rachel Scott

Second, was looking at the far end. It’s ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!

            Revelations 21:1-4 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

God will dwell with us! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! No more death, nor sorrow, nor crying!!! This dispels all my fears of missing out on life if our current world ends before I die. “It’s the end of the world as we know it. And the new world is a gazillion times awesome!”

Now I focus on getting my friends saved before they pass from this world, or before this world comes to an end.

Ps Dave Soesbee said something, years ago, and it still sticks with me. I quote, not exact words, but the main gist of it.

            If you end up in heaven, the only hell you would have experienced, is on earth.
            If you end up in hell, the only heaven you would have experienced, is on earth.

"He said each day's a gift and not a given right." - Nickelback

Planning to revamp the layout and coding of this site. A lot of the codes don't seem to work anymore, which kinda messes things up =\ anyhoo. Have a nice day!

BTW! The phone I am currently using is dying! I cannot communicate through a call, because if you call me, I can hear you, but you can't hear me. And my keypad cooperates sporadically. The 1, 4 , 7, 8 and 9 buttons don't work most of the time. So I might not be able to reply text messages either. Yes I know I need to get a working phone. I'm working on it.

Um, how much of that did you understand?