Selling Noodles or Hair?

Selling Noodles or Hair?, originally uploaded by Kansk.

Found this in Macau. Looks like you can have a hair cut with your noodles ;-p

My Journey to Knowing Christ

Since young, I am a very a logical and inquisitive person. I had always wondered about the meaning of life and the existence of God. I have read all kinds of books on religion and am familiar with most major religions. However, I did not have any breakthrough or know God. There were times when I had contemplated whether there really is a God or not. However, logic told me that there should be one, but which one?

When I was in secondary school, there is a Christian revival in my school where a few of my classmates were constantly going around trying to share the gospel. During those days, I relished engaging them and I felt very proud that I was able to out reasoned them. Without my knowing, those constant exchanges with my Christian classmates had planted the first seed to knowing Jesus in me.

I was always 'fascinated' with Christians as I'd always wonder why they were so nice people and at the same time, I find them 'spoil sport' as their clean living meant that I had always need to be careful with my speech and action in front of them. Weren't they missing out on a big piece of the worldly pleasures? I had also come across many so called Christians who utter God's name but behave in sinful ways. With these encounters, my view of Christians then was that they were hypocrites.

Somehow God didn't give up on me. Through out my growing up years, from schooling through army to working life, God put genuine Christians into my life. Through these Christians, I see the character of God. I see genuine love and concern for fellow man and most of all a genuine love for this God that I had yet to know. I still banter with my Christian friends about their beliefs. I used to have a whole list of 'killer' questions which would stump many Christians. Somehow, as I banter with my Christian friends, throwing them the difficult questions, the answers just came and my killer question lists got shorter and shorter.

Another turning point was how I have seen my mother turned to Jesus. My mother was illiterate and at that point in her life, I think she was searching for God. She had tried many religions, Taoism, Buddhism and even Shinto Zen Buddhism, which was popular then. Somehow, she could find no peace. Then Billy Graham visited Singapore (in 1977, I think) and someone invited my mother to attend his rally. To the surprise of the whole family, she accepted Christ on that day. And within the next day, she had asked the pastor to come and removed all the idols from our house. This is indeed a miracle as my mother was quite superstitious then. She later told the family that she had been going around praying to all kind of Gods but it was at the Billy Graham rally that she somehow sensed God and sensed the peace of God. I was indeed very intrigued by my mom's conversion. How can an illiterate superstitious Chinese lady be touched by an "Ang Mo" God? Well, my mom has been a Christian since that day and had never turned back till she went back to Jesus.

Even though, my mom had made a deep impression on me about this God called Jesus, I have never been able to bring myself to take the next step to go to church to find out more… until I started dating my wife. She was a new believer then and had started to follow her sister to the Church of Singapore (then at the Jurong Town Hall) every Sunday. In order to date her, I also followed her to Church. It was through going to Church that I began to learn more about Jesus. I remembered the first time I acknowledged Jesus as Lord and Saviour was when I was lying on my bed reading a Christian book called "Chasing the Wind". I believe God spoke to me through this book, it broke down all my arguments against Jesus Christ the Son of God. The book, like the title "Chasing the Wind", talks about many seekers of God are like people trying to chase and catch the wind to prove that wind is real…even though they can feel the wind and the wind is everywhere around us…like we can feel God and God is always with us. The book ends with a call to pray the sinner's prayer which I did in the privacy of my bed.

[The sinner's prayer is a prayer a person prays to God when they understand that they are a sinner and in need of a Savior. Saying a sinner's prayer will not accomplish anything on its own. A sinner's prayer is only effective if it genuinely represents what a person knows, understands, and believes about their sinfulness and need for salvation.

You too can pray the sinner's prayer:
"Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you into my life and heart to be my Lord and Savior. I want to serve you always. Amen"]

Eventually my wife and I got baptized. However, there was not much changes in my life. Perhaps my knowledge of God is still head knowledge and my pride had prevented me from establishing a closer relationship with God. Both my wife and I still attended church services every Sunday but we did not progress beyond being "Sunday Christians". After our children came, we stopped going to Church altogether.

I have learnt my lesson that once you have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour, He will not forsake you even as I have forsaken Him. God moves in ways we do not understand.

I had a very successful career as a project manager in a government organisation. This was my first job and I was promoted after one and half years to project manager, managing a team of six. I felt that I could never fail and pride overtook me. I wanted to go out to the private sector, to expand my wings and soar. I joined a reputed US computer company as a system engineer in July 1990. I was baptized on the Easter of 1991. After my first son was born in 1992, both my wife and I slackened in our church attendance due to the busyness of being first time parents. When my second son was born, we stopped going to church all together. As a result of my diminished enthusiasm for God, I believed God put me through 7 years of trial. Somehow, I was not able to duplicate my career success in my first job. From 1991 to 1999, I have been through 3 job changes. Each change was worst than the previous one. God put problematic supervisors in all my jobs. The worst was when I started my third job in a large pharmaceutical company. The boss who hired me resigned 1 week after I've joined and told me horror stories about the company and said that whatever he had promised me would not be realized. I started to look for another job on my second week of work. And very strangely, for 4 years, I had attended countless interviews and yet I could not land a single job. Throughout these 4 years, God put, in my view, a grossly incompetent boss on top of me. I had a very miserable time there. Nevertheless, throughout 'my ordeal' God also put good Christians as my colleagues and keep reminding me to go back to Him. Finally, I told my wife that we need to go back to church. We started to attend my mom's church, KYC. We were attending the Cantonese worship then. I was previously a very proud person, God has knocked down my pride through years of putting me down in my career. Thinking back I really thank God for this. I wonder what kind of person I would be if God allowed me to succeed on my own efforts. At one of the worship, there was a call by the pastor for those who are troubled to stand up and be prayed for. Previously my pride would've prevented me from standing up, but that day, for the first time I stood up to be prayed for.

After that day, I received a call from a company to attend an interview. This was for the post of Regional IT Manager. I actually wrote in sometime back without much hope of getting a reply as my qualifications were not an exact match. Through God's grace, I was offered the position. This job turned out to be a dream job for me. I was highly rated by my US boss.

Looking back, I think God knew that He needs to knock down my pride before I could establish a relationship with Him, so He put me through 7 years of 'suffering' until I came running back to Him and humbly submit to His authority. He then blesses me. Now, I've learnt how to humble myself and follow Jesus. It's no turning back.

Thank you Jesus…for not forsaking me and loving me.

An appeal of a concerned citizen

I wrote the following appeal to our Singapore Government:

For 46 years of my life, I have been contented to "remain under the radar" and "mind my own business", since we have such an honest and strong government to take care of everything. However, of late, it has been more and more disconcerting to me that there seems to be a subtle (if you may call that) lobby to recognise homosexual acts as normal acceptable behaviour. Many are calling for the repeal of Section 377A of the Penal Code. The silent majority like myself cannot be silence anymore lest what is wrong becomes right and normal.

I am a professional, with a good job which gives me the opportunity to visit other countries, including those so called "liberal" countries. I have seen the so called "freedom" and "individual rights" taken to the extremes (for e.g. gun ownership, legalized drugs, homosexual relations given equal rights as heterosexual). I would not feel comfortable living in such an environment where what was wrong is now right, and what was abnormal behaviour is now normal, or even considered "hip".

I am so proud to be a Singaporean because our Government have the moral courage to stand up against these modern decadent world views and maintained a clean strong Government with good old traditional values.

However, recently, I am concerned that the Government is wavering and tending toward the so-called social norms of the world today. I am alarmed when Minister Mentor told Reuters on 24 April 2007, "I would say if this is the way the world is going and Singapore is part of that interconnected world - and I think it is - then I see no option for Singapore but to be part of it.". This is with reference to whether Singapore should repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code. Having seen what is happening to the other countries; I would rather "Singapore … NOT to become part of it". When the world criticised us on our death sentences, our ISA detention law, our caning of Michael Fay, you, our Government, had stood firmly and showed that we are a better society. So why waver now?

The explanation which the Government gave on why it is "closing an eye" to homosexuality is because homosexuals are talented people which we should not missed out enticing to contribute to the Singapore economy. It is estimated that only about 10% of the world's population are homosexual. Is the Government going to compromise the country's moral value for the chance of attracting 10% of the talents?

I have a wife and 2 lovely sons which I hope to bring up as morally upright and responsible citizens. I believe the fundamental unit of a country is the family unit. How strong a country is dependent on how well each family brings up the next generation. If the family unit imbues the wrong values to the next generation; or, in this case, the sanctity of the family unit is breached (for e.g., a family unit comprising 2 same sex individuals with adopted kids), it will lead the country down the slippery path of decadent. I cannot imagine the day when we are out on the streets, every corner we turn, we see man kissing/cuddling man or women kissing/cuddling women. I do not want my sons to grow up in such an environment. If I were living in a big country, I could just move to another part of the country where tradition values still hold, but, Singapore is just a 647.5 sq km piece of land, there is no where else to go. If this day were to happen, I will have no choice but to uproot my family and leave my beloved Singapore.

I beg the government to take this into consideration, please do not trade our moral values to attract a small 10% of "supposedly talented" people and risk losing the true sons of Singapore who love their country because she has the moral courage to stand for what is right and moral.

*************************

It is indeed heartening when the Government reply to my appeal by assuring me that the government is not wavering on its position on Section 377A of the Penal Code.

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

That's me

Blessed Birthday Greetings

The anniversary of my birth has come and gone. On this day, what I
treasures most are the sincere and poetic birthday greetings from my
brothers and sisters in Christ; even though I deem myself to be
unworthy of these compliments. I will strive to live a life that is
worthy of Christ.
*****************
From dear brother KC:

See How You've Grown
Another year has past since we last blessed you on your birthday.
Another year of growth and experience in the Lord has taken place.
I say with joy that you're truly a little more like the Master
With more smiles on your face, and words which are so filled with grace.

Can see that your struggles now are more about meeting sales targets.
This is one major item in God's agenda for you which He'll never forget.
The pressure generated from this item which matters so much to you...
He uses to show you that He is trustworthy, and He cares for you.

Your participating in casting out the demons from our sister
Has added to you another opportunity to experience God's power.
You have seen for a fact that even the demons tremble at His name.
May this help you to trust Him, and under His covering you'll always
remain.

Watching Jeremy and Timothy growing in grace in the Lord
Is something I cannot help in thanking God.
From being 2 young lads whom you always nag at
They are now fast becoming 2 God-fearing youths who will make you glad.

Let not mundane things distract your focus from the Lord.
Rekindle the first love which is running low for which your busyness has
caused.
He will make sure that you not only have your targets met
He will transform you to become one who makes His heart glad.

So on this your birthday I humbly say
May God be with you, every day, and all the way.
May this be the start of many new things
Which God would do in your life which glory and honor to Him bring.
**************************
From dear brother Kenneth & sister Val:

Birthday wishes come and go,
But this is better than "silver or gold";
It carries with it precious greetings from the heart,
God's blessings and friendship that never depart.

Learning and growing together in the TTCell,
Brings joy and encouragement oh so well;
In serving & ministering to the brothers and sisters,
Your faithfulness is clearly in our mind register.

The breakthrough over your mind "dark & blank" space,
When you can now see and hear God's words in grace;
Indeed your hunger and thirst for God is showing,
And your faith and trust in Him is blossoming.

Continue to offer your gifts and talents for God's use,
That it will bring in a harvest that is so huge;
Till the house of God will no longer be lacking,
Through partners like you that God is blessing.

Keep sailing in the BIG Cruise that was given in the vision,
Trusting God always with His hand on the steering in position;
Never let Him go, even when times are bad and in doldrums,
Remembering that He is Sovereign Lord over all problems.

Val and I send you this day our very heartfelt greetings,
That the Lord's favour will be with you in all your doings;
Giving you grace and mercy along with many blessings,
Making you His channel of peace, love, joy and giving.
************************
From bro Heng Kwok & Constance (via SMS):

Constannce and I wish u a very blessed b'day anniv 2day.
God blessed u with wisdom plus totally honest n transparent heart,
amongst other traits.
U'll make a great guardian angel especially 2 those who may unknowingly
step onto thin ice along their of faith.
I want u 2 know I m one who wud appreciate yur guidance.
On yur special day 2day, we wask 4 Abba God's ever increasing blessings of love,
joy n peace on u.
With love in Christ
***********************
From sis Christine:

At this special day and the days to come in your walk with our
precious Lord, I bless you with the riches of His love and grace in
all His wisdom and prudence so that you may enter and enjoy intimate
relationship with Him daily. Bless you to be His workmanship for good
work in your family, the body of Christ and your career. As you hunger
to know the work and the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray that the
Lord will satisfy your heart desire and reveal ways for you to
partner with the Holy Spirit in wondrous healings and deliverance.

Shalom!
****************

My sincere thanks to all the other brothers and sisters who have sent
me their heart warming birthday greetings and blessings.

My Trial

I think God is putting me through a trial on the roads. I noticed that
everytime I change from a slower lane to a faster lane...there is 100%
chance of another car ahead of me changing into the same lane...and
guess what? inadvertently this car will turn out to be a 'slow coach'
!!!!!

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Visit my blog : http://elimsprings.blogspot.com

Da Vinci Code

Overheard a colleague commenting about the Da Vinci Code movie that
some of the information is true. Do you know that the even if 99% of
it is true, it takes only 1% of falsehood to demolish the truth? In
true or false, there is no maybe.

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Visit my blog : http://elimsprings.blogspot.com