My Wedding (Part 1)

Slideshow of my childhood photos - shown to the guests of our wedding banquet.

Just finished the hassle of preparing for my big day, and the hassle of the wedding day itself. Finally got the chance to get down to blogging again.

The wedding is a major spiritual milestone for me and my (newly wedded) wife. So many good things that has happened which i can see so clearly that God has been taking care of me. In the future I can point back to this day whenever I face trials, and remember how God has been faithful.

For this part I will share about how God brought along the right people to help us at a right time.

Hall Decorations

We have decided to use a hall beside the banquet ballroom for the wedding church ceremony. Since it is just for a short 1 hour event before proceeding to the banquet ballroom, we thought that it would be a waste of money to spend thousands of ringgit for the decorations.

We have decided that we would not stress ourselves with preparations, and will leave things to God. We would love to have a nicely decorated ceremony hall, but have to settle for a "simple and plain" ceremony for now.

Sometime later, when it is about 1 month before the big day, a friend called up asking for some help on some legal matters. I have known this friend for a long time, but not someone i would call a close friend, before this day.

While we were discussing about the case, she asked about my wedding preparations. Only then I came to know that her husband is an experienced event organizer, and has organized weddings numerous times.

They offered to "coach" us for the wedding ceremony, giving us valuable pointers on what to take note of, etc. Just what we needed at that time! In our "no-stress" attitude we have conveniently refused to worry about so many things, and thereby leaving out many important things.

That's not all. When we were at their house practising the march in and all that, they showed us some of the decorative items from their own wedding which they were still keeping. They let us choose the ones we liked, and even offered to put it up for us!

God provided these blessings when I offered to help a friend in need. This story will remind me always be ready to do good to others, because you'll never know whether God has brought about this opportunity as a channel to bless us.

Some of the decorative items borrowed from my friend. (Thanks! Daniel & Lydia)

I See Grace

Jesus my help

I call on Your name

I cast my cares on You

Jesus my hope

my tower of strength

my faith is found in You

[Bridge]

I see You pierced

wounded for me

when I look to the cross I see

[chorus]

I see grace

sealed by Your sacrifice

I see love

reaching for me

Precious blood,

washes and sanctifies

Healing flows

setting me free

I see grace

Bearer of sin

Afflicted and tried

You paid Redemption's price

Bearing my curse

You set me on high

Your death has brought me life

Lyrics Composer : Karen Lim, New Creation Church

Thoughts: Adam's Fall

This thought just came to mind yesterday when I was sharing the story of Adam's Fall to a friend.

When God commanded Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God specifically said to Adam:

"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2.16-17

So, the question is this: Why Adam did not die on the same day, but instead went on to live until he was 930 years old?

As I was sharing the story, this answer came to mind:

Adam did not die that day because an innocent animal died on his behalf.


We read later in Genesis 3.21:

"The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them."

Adam committed a sin that is punishable by death. God was merciful to Adam, but the sin had to be punished. An innocent animal died on that day to provide a covering for Adam's sin.

Today, Jesus Christ has died on our behalf as punishment for all our sin. Jesus was without sin but chose to die on our behalf, so that we who are sinful can live and not die.

For those who believe in Him, he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

"Trailblazer"

My care group leader, Corinne saw this picture when the care group was praying for me:

"You were in a wheat field, with the wheat ripe for harvest... taller than you. You were holding a sickle in your hand and were cutting off the wheat. I saw above it the word, 'trailblazer' ".

4 Times in One Day

It all started one day when a colleague showed me an article from a forwarded email about some "Latest Tactic From Christians". I got so annoyed with that email because of the blatant lies it said about Christians, and how it was simply ridiculous and illogical.

I had the weekend to think about how to answer that colleague in a convincing way (without offending her).

So as I was thinking i decided to make a search on the internet, on a related but different issue. I found one article particularly interesting. As I read that article, I was pleasantly surprised that the points put forward was rather good! It was backed up by references and the way it was presented was well done.

So the following morning I was excited to get my other colleague to chat with me about the things written in the article.

1. My first opportunity was with this guy colleague who was quite knowledgeable in the topic, so I asked him about the article I've found, basically trying to hear the other side of the story. Good conversation, and I get to share a bit from the Christian perspective.

2. Later in the afternoon, another colleague came into my room and asked, "come on, tell me what were you guys discussing just now?" I couldn't resist a good opportunity... I began to explain to her why she should begin to think about whether her present faith is the truth. She also asked some interesting questions, like why I believe in Jesus, and why I believe Jesus is the Son of God. Good question! I proceeded to explain to her about Christianity. The conversation ended by me asking her to go back and think. We agreed to discuss about this some other time.

3. Next, another lady colleague came in... We had some good chats some months ago, but had not really talked since then. She came in all out of a sudden, and just to hang out and casual chat. She told me earlier that she used to be a Christian. She used to teach bible classes in Sunday School etc. But she left the faith when she got married. I urged her to consider coming back to Jesus, and also told her about my conversation with my male colleague in my first story. She seemed to agree with what I said, but... its difficult for her now that she is married and changed to another faith.

4. Lastly, the girl who first let me read about the article about the christian tactics came in. I explained to her what I have thought over the weekend. How that tactic is not logical and so ridiculous. I pointed it out to her from that article itself, as the answer is found in the very article itself. How the so-called "Dr ..." who wrote the article, the supposedly learned person who claimed to having done extensive research on the issue, lacked common sense in what she said.


By the fourth time I was already getting tired, because discussing things like this, and arguing points, can be exhausting. But as I speak I actually got more energetic. I was passionate to talk about Jesus!

It was quite an experience for me. Sharing about Jesus is one thing, but the difficult part was to do it without offending the other person because it involves discrediting the other person's beliefs. The thing that I really need to thank God is that, the following days after this incident, I was still good friends with all 4 of these colleagues and we still joke and laugh together... I am very excited about what is going to happen next....

Illustration: The Man On A Cruise

This is something meaningful I learned from bible study lessons:

The Man On A Cruise

There was once a man who has used up all his money to buy a ticket to board a ship to sail to another country.

During the long journey, he would walk past the dining hall and look at the other passengers feasting and enjoying their food. He wished he could join them, but he had no more money to buy food.

He would then go back to his own cabin to eat the biscuits he had brought along, carefully eating it little by little everyday, hoping that it would last for the journey.

Then one day, the captain of the ship came up to him and asked him why he did not join the other passengers at the dining hall but instead ate biscuits at a corner.

"I have used up all the money I have to purchase the ticket, and now I have no more money for food." the man said.

The captain then said, "Don't you know that the ticket price included food as well?"


The Lesson of the Story:

Christians believe that once they have accepted Jesus as their personal Savior, they are assured of a place in heaven. However, many thought that that was the only thing they can have.

Some Christians even have a wrong belief that we can have all the good things after we reach heaven, but while we are still in this earth we are meant to suffer.

There are many Christians who live life like the man in the story. Many due to ignorance did not know that there are many other benefits besides heaven that we Christians can enjoy while we are in this earth, so we accept sickness and poverty as part of God's will and hope that one day it will all become better once we reach heaven.

However, the Bible says that we are meant to reign as kings and priests while on earth. We are meant to be overcomers!

We don't have to wait until we die and go to heaven to enjoy all of God's blessings. We can all enjoy heaven NOW!

The Bible is full of promises of God's blessings for us Christians, if only we would take time to find out. Our God is so wealthy and so kind, and He loves us so much. He has already given us the best He has - His Only Son, so would He not also give us all good things?

When we think of it, it makes sense... all God's promises are for us today, not for us only when we reach heaven. When we are in heaven, we won't need prosperity because we will be literally walking on gold! We won't need health and healing, and we won't need divine protection because there won't be any bad people or accidents in heaven anyway!

Psalm 103:3-5
Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who:

1. forgives all your sins
2. heals all your diseases
3. redeems your life from the pit
4. crowns you with love and compassion
5. satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's

Wisdom at Work

Today the bosses called together all the top management of the company to have an emergency meeting to discuss about an issue.

There has been a problem that has cropped up, and the bosses asked us what is the best way to solve this issue.

The boss asked around, and each person there gave a suggestion. When it came to my turn, I also came up with what I thought was the best solution.

Each of us gave a different answer.

After all have spoken, the question was asked to the big boss, "What do you think?".

And he answered, "I agree with what Arden said..."

I just smiled, and in my heart I kept thanking God, for guiding my mouth what to speak, and granting me favor with the bosses.

Jesus is my wisdom!