I forgot I took some photos during AC, cause only had chance to take some during the finale as I had been serving for all the rest of the sessions.

I'm not a 'camwhorer', so just a few photos =).

Gordon and I. 'N' represents the 'Neo' family =D

'U'sher and 'S'ecurity combined!

Ashley and I. 'D' for Dota!! We love to Dota together =)

Haha thats all.

Just read an email my friend sent to me, and I think it is the best email I've ever read about the reality of God.

A VERY INTERESTING CONVERSATION

An Atheist Professor of Philosophy was speaking to his Class on the Problem Science has with GOD, the ALMIGHTY. He asked one of his New Christian Students to stand and . . .

Professor : You are a Christian, aren't you, son ?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, you Believe in GOD ?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD Good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor : Is GOD ALL - POWERFUL ?

Student : Yes.

Professor : My Brother died of Cancer even though he Prayed to GOD to Heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill.

But GOD didn't. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent )

Professor : You can't answer, can you ? Let's start again, Young Fella.

Is GOD Good?

Student : Yes.

Professor : Is Satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor : Where does Satan come from ?

Student : From . . . GOD . . .

Professor : That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this World?

Student : Yes.

Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn't it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor : So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer)

Professor : Is there Sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?

All these terrible things exist in the World, don't they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor : So, who Created them ?

(Student had no answer)

Professor : Science says you have 5 Senses you use to Identify and Observe
the World around you.

Tell me, son . . . Have you ever Seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor : Tell us if you have ever Heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor : Have you ever Felt your GOD, Tasted your GOD, Smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any Sensory Perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Professor : Yet you still Believe in HIM?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol,

Science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my Faith.

Professor : Yes,Faith. And that is the Problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as Heat?

Professor : Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as Cold?

Professor : Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn't.

(The Lecture Theatre became very quiet with this turn of events )

Student : Sir, you can have Lots of Heat, even More Heat, Superheat, Mega
Heat, White Heat, a Little Heat or No Heat.

But we don't have anything called Cold.

We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is No Heat, but we can't go
any further after that.

There is no such thing as Cold.

Cold is only a Word we use to describe the Absence of Heat.

We cannot Measure Cold.

Heat is Energy.

Cold is Not the Opposite of Heat, sir, just the Absence of it.

(There was Pin-Drop Silence in the Lecture Theatre )

Student : What about Darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as Darkness?

Professor : Yes. What is Night if there isn't Darkness?

Student : You're wrong again, sir.

Darkness is the Absence of Something.

You can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, Flashing Light . . . But if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and its called
Darkness, isn't it?

In reality, Darkness isn't.

If it is, you would be able to make Darkness Darker, wouldn't you?

Professor : So what is the point you are making, Young Man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your Philosophical Premise is flawed.

Professor : Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality.

You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a Good GOD
and a Bad GOD.

You are viewing the Concept of GOD as something finite, something
we can measure.

Sir, Science can't even explain a Thought.

It uses Electricity and Magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully
understood either one.

To view Death as the Opposite of Life is to be ignorant of the fact that Death cannot exist as a Substantive Thing.

Death is Not the Opposite of Life: just the Absence of it

Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your Students that they evolved
from a Monkey?

Professor : If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary Process, yes, of
course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a Smile, beginning to realize where the Argument was going )

Student : Since no one has ever observed the Process of Evolution at work and Cannot even prove that this Process is an On-Going Endeavor,

Are you not teaching your Opinion, sir?

Are you not a Scientist but a Preacher?

(The Class was in Uproar )

Student : Is there anyone in the Class who has ever seen the Professor's Brain?

(The Class broke out into Laughter )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's Brain,
Felt it, touched or smelt it? . . .

No one appears to have done so.

So, according to the Established Rules of Empirical, Stable,
Demonstrable Protocol,

Science says that You have No Brain, sir.

With all due respect, sir, how do we then Trust your Lectures, sir?

(The Room was Silent. The Professor stared at the Student, his face unfathomable)

Professor : I guess you'll have to take them on Faith, son.

Student : That is it sir . . . Exactly !

The Link between Man & GOD is FAITH.

That is all that Keeps Things Alive and Moving.

That student was Albert Einstein.

Wow, super good email. Even as a person who loves Science very much, God is after all the one who created Science. One may argue that the brain can be seen, felt, and touched if you cut the person's head up. But for that to happen, the person must be dead.

Well, you can also see, feel and touch God once you go to heaven, provided you die first. But once you die, there is no turning back, haha. Anyway, we CAN feel God even if we are alive, in the presence of God.

We can't see pain, we can't hear pain, we can't smell pain, we can't taste pain, but we can feel pain. Certain things need to be seen, when certain things need to be felt. I believe God is someone(not thing) that we can feel.

Hope this will help boost your faith and understanding about God. =)

Astarmist

I'm back from Asia Conference 2008!!!!

Actually I was back at 12.30am, but my friends jio me to play Dota with them, haha. 6 days without playing Dota, record sia, hahahahah. =D

Asia Conference was great, but I believe that there is still rooms for improvement. A lot of mistakes happened during the first day by my ministry. I think other ministry might have made mistakes too. But like what Thomas Edison said, 'There is no such thing as failure, just learning experience', we can learn a lot from the mistakes we made. Furthermore, this is the first time we have Asia Conference, so mistakes are somewhat inevitable. But praise God! It is not how we started, but how we finished. The finale is super duper imba hyper good!!! I love the 'bursting balloons' part =D.

I think I served for almost all the sessions except the finale. As a result, I felt sick due to exhaustion and dehydration and perhaps other unknown causes. When Pst.Bernard was preaching, I had difficulty breathing and almost fainted 3-4 times, if Chao Chung hadn't woke me up. I had a flu and my interior left ear and blocked by mucus, which was extremely uncomfortable and annoying. As I am typing this, it is still blocked, but I'm trying my best to ignore it, lol. At least I get to experience the life of a partially deaf person till I recover, so I can empathize with them. =)

I'm gonna miss Expo again, all the ushers there, the zones, the logis, the food, the stalls, the congregation, everything.

Looking forward to Asia Conference 2010, but I'll be in the army at that time. Nevermind, at least I got to experience the inaugural Asia Conference 2008! ^^

Time to sleep now, in order to recuperate and make up for all the lost sleep the previous 6 days.

Astarmist
Missing her very much~

Just came back from Benny Hinn's session and it was great! I think every session during the Asia Conference is just splendid. The sermon Pst. Kong preached on friday is one that I have never heard of during my 5 years in City Harvest Church and it was so inspiring. Even though I'm tired and have a slight flu, but it is totally worth it, to sacrifice 5 days of my life for this conference =). I'm excited for tomorrow, as Pst.Zhuang will be ordained and become a reverend! Tomorrow is the grand finale too, and I think there will be party poppers, wahahah =D

I've been asking God that I want to see him face to face, to see Jesus, the son of God, like what Benny has said. I used to think about this question, 'What if you've seen God face to face, and you backslide? Wouldn't it have been such a pity?' But when Pst.Benny said that once you've encounter God so personally, backsliding isn't even something to bother about. Then what about Adam? Adam haven't sin yet when God created him, so he was able to see God face to face, as the people in the old testament can't do that because God is too holy and anything that has sin will be destroyed in the face of him. But, how come Adam still sinned after seeing God face to face? Maybe sinning and backsliding is different, I don't know, lol.

Walking back from the MRT station to home, God reminded me this verse. Matthew 22:14 says 'For many are called, but few are chosen.' Now what is the difference between the 'many' and 'few'? The bible didn't describe quanlitatively, but qualitatively. I think the best example is Pst.Phil's 'calling' the specific people to the stage for anoiting. When he called the people, he called them in their identity(I.e which country they are from). I believe God will also call us according to the roles we play in the body of christ. 'are called' is in perfect present tense, which means God is still calling people every single day! So this is the example of the 'many'. God is doing a mighty work right now and in the future to come.

Pst.Phil didn't lay hands on everyone. He only chose particular people to pray for. Now this are the 'few' that the bible is saying. Why are these 'many' and 'few' contrasting terms used? Because not 'all' will be called, and not 'all' will be chosen. But notice, you must first be called, before you can be chosen. If the delegates are not willing to go to the stage in the first place, they won't be able to be laid hands upon at all, as I doubt Pst. Phil will walk down the stage to lay hands on the people.

So what kind of people does God call and choose? Anyone, who is willing to pay the 'price' Benny was talking about. For me, the 'price' that I will have to pay for is time. I'm not rich, so leaving my wealth behind will not be a price. I'm not in a relationship, so that isn't a price either. As a youth with a long life ahead, time is the only thing I have. I pray that as I sacrifice my time to God, he will multiply it and I will be able to do great and mighty exploits for him. Amen! =)

Astarmist

Wow, this is the first blogskin that I really spent a considerable amount of time to choose. Chose this after browsing through more than 20 blogskins. =)

For the past few weeks, I have been watching Slam Dunk, Death and One piece anime online in the early morning. Then my parents were quite angry with me initially, but since I'm having my holidays, they just allowed me to do so, haha. I have a great interest to learn Japanese since I was young, after being influenced by my dad. He went to Japan for 8 months to learn Japanese!
Speaking of my dad, he is an awesome man; he is multilingual. He can speak English, Mandrain, Hokkien, Japanese, Tagalog, Malay, Tamil and German. And it is not just a few sentences. That time when I went out with him for dinner, he was chatting with a Filipino and he said that my father speaks better than the native people! Same goes for Japanese, Malay and Tamil.

Edwin preached about communication during CG last week, and I think there is no greater communicator I know alive than my dad. He got a lot of connection and likes to communicate with people. I don't know if this skill comes with age, but apparently I see that people with greater experience in life knows how to communicate better. For me, I'm limited to topics like Dota, Maths, Food, Music...

Anyway, Asia Conference is starting this wednesday and I've never look forward to something so much before! I just received the 'Iserve' black shirt last week, given by my dearest Pin De Kor Kor =D. So from wednesday to friday I'll be wearing that shirt, wahhahaha. Benny Hinn is coming on saturday too! Those who know him, will be expecting a great movement of God during the conference. Thats why I'm not going to serve on Saturday and Sunday =P.

Lastly, I'm finally out of the mess I so willingly and unknowingly got myself into. No more street surveying in the future, unless circumstances leave me no choice. But I still want to work. Went to IMM with Danny yesterday and saw all the clothes, shoes, bag, etc. I need $$ to buy all these, so I must earn $$ asap-Christmas is coming soon! Have to buy presents for people, need $$ to do so. No money no talk, but money can't buy everything either. So, I have to make do without money for now, lol.

Won't be posting for quite some time due to Asia Conference, Study plans and blah blah blah...

At least I know that there are some people reading my post now, cause all the while I thought I'm writing for my own enjoyment =D.

Astarmist

I don't know where I heard this sentence before, 'Be careful of what you wish for; you might get what you wished.' Now the sentence is becoming a reality in my life.

Firstly, I wished for a job. More than just wishing for it, I prayed for a job too. And I really got a job as a street surveyor. Initially, I thought it would be fun and simple. The impression of a street surveyor in my mind is totally different from what I am supposed to do in my job. I thought that street surveying means going to people in the street and asking them do fill up a survey form. But, it was totally opposite.

For my job, I had to ask the people to do retails survey form, which means asking customers coming out of a retail shop that I have been assigned by the company. I had to hide like a turtle in its shell and sneak around like a thief/ninja. I think more than 50 people rejected me. It was really demoralising, as I thought that the people would be kind enough to spare 5 minutes of their time. I guess I'm the only guy willing to take flyers from people and accepting to do survey for people. I thought that we should do unto others what we want others to do unto us? Why didn't those people want to do my survey? Maybe I'm just too unattractive. I'm reckon that if Jay Chou went to do the survey, I think he can complete 10000 forms in 1 hour.

And the worst part I hate about my job is, I have to lie. I hate hate hate hate hate lying!!!! The company tell me to tell the people that I'm doing a school project and to act blur, not to reveal anything about the company. I got caught by the staff and I lied to them. I told them I didn't know which company sent me. They threathened to capture me(I wonder how they are going to do that, maybe use poke ball?). Although it is not illegal, still, I don't want to do anything against my conscience, behaving like a stalker and stuff like that.

Anything for money, except for one condition. Clean toliets? No problem. Eat faeces? Pay me 1 million dollars first. Lie and behave like a stalker? Give me 1 googol dollars also don't want.

I still need to earn quite a sum for my building fund. God please bless me with a decent job. Waiter, flyers, toliet cleaner, data entry, camp instructor. Not stalker/PI.

It has been quite some time after my last post. Lots of things have happened since 3 November. It will be one of my longest post.

4 nov
Didn't go to morning prayer meeting as I had Oral Presentation. Sadly, this is the only day which I couldn't make it, if not I would have gone for all, lol. My group mates were unanimously calling my hp at 6am to ensure that I have woken up. Being the person possessing the laptop for the project work, their grades entirely depend on me. So it is a somewhat huge responsibility for me, and I don't really like that very much. Unnecessary responsibility isn't what I seek for, unless I am really bored or 'chi bao fan mei shi zuo' =X.
We rehearsed for OP for the past 1 month, and I can memorise 6 pages of my script(total 8 pages). The last 2 pages was added 1 day before the OP, so I didn't really have time to memorise that.

We were the first group to present, and that means there wouldn't be any preparation time for us, unlike the other 4 groups after us. I practically thaw the night to complete the video and slides, transfer them to the laptop and wrote out my own script on cue cards. So I looked like a zombie(especially one from Resident Evil) when I reached school. I was afraid that it will affect my performance initally, but guess that looks won't affect my grades; maybe it will make them laugh instead, lol.

So we set up everything and started. I was the 3rd speaker, and was feeling nervous when the 1st speaker and 2nd speaker were talking. I know I shouldn't feel nervous, it is only a group of less than 10 people. But no matter what I said to my mind, my body just rejected that fact. Then it was my turn to speak. So I just regurgitate all that I have memorised for the past 1 month. Surprisingly, I was calm and even managed to control the speed of my speech, unlike some of my classmates who were speaking like a rapper, lol. Then, when I reached the last slide of my presentation, I blanked out.

Oh no! The last 2 pages of my script! What...is...it...? Panic immediately overwhelmed me. My whole body started to shiver and my hands were shaking. It was so obvious that the cue cards I was holding began to vibrate without any form of control. I also began to stutter and pronounce a few words wrongly. In my mind I thought, game over...

Then it was Q&A session. When I heard what the examiner asked the 1st and 2nd speaker, I was stunned. They only ask 1 questions, unlike our rehearsal when our teacher would ask 2-3 questions, and the questions are those that require inference and deduction. In my weary state of mind, how can I possibly think of infering and duducing?

But thank God, they ask a question which I was already prepared for, as my group tried spotting questions and I have prepared 7 questions in mind. So it was a breeze for Q&A session =).

After that, my friends told me that I did really well for the first 3 minutes, but kept looking at my cue cards and made some mistakes during the last 1.5 minutes. That means I would be penalised then. I thought I could hide it from the examiners, lol.

5 nov
Submission of I&R and officially the last day for PW. A extremely huge burden that was lifted off from me. I really detest PW. Not that I don't like working with people, but it is completely irrelevant to the education system. Does it mean that if you fail PW, you can't work with people? Ridiculous. Some people work well with a particular group of people, others don't. It is like the lock and key theory of enzymes. Not every specific key will fit a specific lock. So, if someone can't work with a group of people, how can you conclude that that person can't work well with everyone? That is why PW will be removed from the JC system next year. Too bad, if only I'm born one year later. Then I wouldn't have to go through 7 months of hellish experience.

6-7 nov
Been to morning prayer meeting on my own. Now I know that even if I walk alone, I will still follow God. Nothing can take him away from me. Even if my parents backslide, I will still follow. Even if the pastors, cgl, cgc all backslide, or even if the girl I like backslide, I will still follow. Even if the whole world backslide, I will still follow. Been praying for more faith, more faith, more faith...Don't want to depend on mathematical calculations and scenario analysing before I make my decision. If God says it, just do it. Nike is just a copycat, if you know what I mean.

8 nov
Edwin came to my house to practise for praise and workship for CG ^^! He told me he wanted to be creative, and I'll be playing the keyboard for the CG. I was super duper excited when he said that, cause I have always wanted to play the keyboard for the CG, since W146 time, when I was sec 3. We had a great time practising, and it was faster than I thought. Then he went to cut his hair while I bathed and we went to church together.

There was a pre-service praying meeting in B4, and I was ushering. I think that week was one of the most rushed serving ever. The doors were opened even before we laid the bulletins and prayer lists. Then it was very messy, so counting the people was arduous. And since it was a prayer meeting, the people were allowed to flow inside South 1,2 and 3. That means that Alpha will have a lot of loopholes. I was running helter skelter trying to fish for people. Worst of all, the first row had 4 empty seats! It will be super obvious to the pastors, ahhh!!! I was praying in tongues and fishing for people at the same time, lol.

Once again, God intervened. The seats were filled up unknowingly by an usher Ic, and I only knew that after I went back to check. So my zone didn't have any loopholes in the end =). But during the sermon, I was so tired due to lack of sleep and doze off around...10 times? Really felt guilty, especially when he looked at my direction. At least I was able to grasp the gist of the message, haha.

Then after service went bible study. I really like my bible study teacher, Jairus. He doesn't just teach according to the books, but gives illustration and crack jokes too, making the lesson interacting and engaging. If a teacher only says what is written on the book, then the student might as well just go buy a teachers' edition and fill in the blanks. I had a teachers' edition of my maths textbook, and I'm able to learn even without a teacher's help. So if the teacher doesn't give extra notes or examples, it will be pointless. This is definitely a lesson learnt for me, if I ever be a teacher/tutor in the future.

9 nov
Usually I will oversleep and take the cab to CG, but today is an exception. Too excited till I woke up at 7am instead of 8am, the time I set the alarm. Went to wash up, get ready, eat breakfast, everything. Edwin said I bathed like a girl cause my bathing time is usually 30 mins, lol. I thought that is normal? I got friends who bath for 2 hours...
Took the cab down to CG and set up the keyboard. Everything was working fine, and I couldn't wait for CG to start!

10.30am, CG started, and we were praying for I played some spiritual chords. Thank God for making me calm and able to move my fingers easily, hehe. Praise was good, but during worship, there was a technical error. The pads wasn't working, and the atmosphere plunged. Edwin told me to fix it and I tried everything but to no avail. So I was feeling a little bit dismayed, cause we practised so hard for this session.

Then Edwin took over and played some old worship songs. When he played, the presence of God just came. Even though he isn't used to playing keyboard and made some mistakes, but the presence of God was so strong and all of us knelt down and tears began to flow out of our eyes. Then God was reminding me, it is more than just having the skills, it is about having the anoiting. No matter how talented you are, but without the anoiting, you will just be an ordinary player. Then I told God that I want to be anoited, to have that kind of anoiting like Edwin as a worship leader. It was a holy dissatisfaction.

The love of God was so strong, that my cousin who came for CG only once, started to tear and Edwin prayed for him. Even I started tearing again when Edwin was praying for him. Then I gave him a 'cousinly' hug.

Thank you God for this awesome CG meeting today. It will be another 'memorables' in my life. So far there have been 4 'memorables' in my life. This will be the 5th. I believe that if one in the house is saved, the whole household will be saved.

Lesson of the day: The best lesson is given by God.

I should have gone to bed at 1am, but thought that I should do some reflections before sleeping. It may be a form of habit too, but that isn't the reason why I'm posting. Of course, I have to wake up at 5am later on, so that explains my unusually sleeping time. Usually I sleep around 4am during the holidays, lol. =D

Holidays have officially started but I'm not in any mood for holidays now. I mean, if the school is trying to be good to us, why do we still have to go through project work during holidays? Last week, have to stay overnight at my friends' house during the weekends, then saturday have to skip service again. This is what happens when you have non-christian in your group, I guess. That is why I will never ever want to go to a polytechnic, not that I abhor it, but having to do project work the whole year? I rather be a drop-out and start my own business, lol. I always dreamed of opening a LAN shop if I ever fail to further my studies, hahaha.

I think life is really full of surprises, and I mean life in general. Today I went to check my download files and found out among one of the files, that my brother is a CGC! I know he might be reading this, like he confessed to me a month ago he secretly read my blog, so I must be extremely cautious in writing this, lol.

When I recalled how resistive my brother used to be, always reluctant to come to my CG and staying for fellowship, I thought that maybe he will be serious after his NS life. But seeing his becoming a CGC amidst his NS life, it is really mind-blowing for me. I guess everyone has his place of belonging, the place where they will feel at home, even if the whole world doesn't feel like it. I can understand that feeling too...

Lastly, I think I'm really weird. At first I thought looking at bamboo poles of HDB flats to see if they will fall and kill you, or looking at flower pots above you to see if there is a strong gush of wind to topple the pot and hit you on your head, is normal. Not until Edwin said that having all these thoughts means you have a worried or anxious mind. He gave really exaggerated examples, like how you are afraid that the bed you are sleeping in will collapse and you will get injured, or how you are afraid that life will jam anytime and you will faint.

Of course all these thoughts are a bit too extreme. But I really thought that looking out for killer-litters is normal. Like what I told Wayne, that I wouldn't be afraid that the building may suddenly collapse because I trust all the architects and constructors, since building a HDB flat requires them to possess at least a degree or diploma; they have meticulously calculated all the angles, velocity of the wind it can resist, mass of substance it can hold, etc. But the people hanging the bamboo poles or placing the flower pot might not possess any certificate, lol. In other words, I'm only cautious when there is a need to. =P

Ok, 3 hours and 21 minutes for me to sleep, God please wake me up tomorrow.