happy birthday regen!

Regen turned three this weekend. An old friend, Big Mix, came back for the party (well, not really, he's actually here for another party next weekend, but hey). Here is the group pic from Mez's house.

Mez played the awesome host and made party pies and sausage rolls! Wooohoo! And we also had birthday cake (from some place) and coffee made by John Tan - barista extraordinaire. There was a bit of excitement when two drunk girls rocked up at Mez's house and then later kicked open the garden gate and tried to come in through the back door (!). We called the Police and they came by in record time - but by then the girls were long gone.

The night ended with a late-night game of Imagine Iff - an awesome-fun board game that Wendy had brought - and Adrian, Truc, Mez, Wendy, Micah, Darrell, Lynette, Juls, and myself discovered what we really thought of one another.

battle ready

It was 1400 hours and the soldiers were preparing to leave Base Camp for battle. Armed with swords in one hand, tracts and surveys in the other, and filled with the Holy Spirit - they made their way out to the battlefield in their four-wheeled-engine-powered chariots. Shortly after this, they assembled at the front line - Forrest Chase, and Murray & Hay Street Malls - and marched out in twos and threes.

Some dedicated soldiers remained in the Base Camp to uphold the troupes in much needed prayer. Troupes in the battlefield communicated with the Base using a highly-cryptic-code of telecommunication signals to relay their needs. Communications Officer, Private Wendy, interpreted these codes back at the Base and communicated these needs to the other troupes at Base.

Meanwhile in the Chase of Forrest and the Malls of Murray and Hay - the troupes continued to battle. I was privileged to accompany Cadet Claudia who entered battle for the first time. Cadet Claudia and I encountered hostile after hostile and managed to block several bullets with our shields of faith. We made contact with Base on a few occasions and were boosted by their prayers. As we continued to fight, we looked around and were encouraged to see our fellow soldiers in the heat of battle, fighting on for the name of our Saviour.

Time continued to pass and at 1700 hours we made our way to the pick up point where we returned to our chariots and headed back to Base. Following the debrief at Base, the soldiers enjoyed their home-cooked mess prepared by Private Jason and his crew. Though the battle was over today, we realised that the war continues to rage on outside of Base and we look forward to the next time we are called to battle.

OK... that went on longer than I planned. I was only supposed to do Army talk (albeit Rowena try-hard style) for the first paragraph and then share a bit about what I had learnt, but I got a bit carried away and three paragraphs later here I am... So the lesson I learnt starts here :)

I think one thing really stood out to me today as I walked around with Claudia for Street E. It just seemed as though we talked to one hardened heart after another - an old self-righteous lady, a middle-aged evolutionist/skeptic, a homeless man who just didn't seem to understand what we were saying, and a young Muslim girl (who was smoking and had no veil thing) who was obviously not devoted to her own religion but chose to continue with it without any real reason.

I felt kinda sad for them - their hearts had all been hardened to the point where I just thought is there any hope of salvation for them? Will they ever come to that point where they realise that the Bible is true, that they are sinners, and that the only way of salvation is through Jesus Christ? Some verses came to mind...

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Psalms 126:5-6 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

I don't know what's going to happen with these people - whether they will die without Christ or go home and somehow have the desire to find out more and, through God's grace, come to the saving knowledge of Christ. But whatever happens, I know that it is God's will and that I had done all that I could to let them know the truth. The rest is up to God.

I also realised that maybe, just maybe, if these people had been reached out to with the Gospel in their earlier years (especially the old lady and the middle-aged evolutionist), things may have been different and they may have ended up being one of the people in the group singing hymns with a piano accordion on Murray Street Mall. Wow, makes you wonder eh. It just really makes me want to evangelise more and more to people my own age lest they become another hardened heart in the city.

makes you wonder...

Today while sitting at the City Evangelism Registration Table, I was looking at the registration list thinking about all the people who had not signed up. Part of me started to get a bit disappointed because out of the many youth that we have at church, only a fraction had signed up to serve next Sunday. (As I have posted before, it's not that I feel sad that people aren't actually doing it, it's more that I feel as though they are going to miss out). But the thought that if more Christians got over their fear and went out to evangelise to strangers, then we would truly see a revival in this world wouldn't leave my mind.

I kind of realised today that despite my enthusiasm for people to sign up and join in, there will always be some people who will never, no matter what I or anyone else says, come along to City Evangelism (or if they do go once, will not go a second time). And though it is difficult to accept (knowing that it is a commission from God Himself), I realise it is true and that frankly, I can't do anything about it.

What struck me however, was that God must feel the same way - but even more so and with other stuff. I believe that God has a whole heap of blessings that He wants us as His children to enjoy, but often we end up making the choice to disobey Him and we ultimately end up missing out on the blessings intended for us. It must sadden God to see what we end up with especially while He also knows what we COULD have had. God must look down from Heaven at us all the time thinking 'Noooooooo! Don't do that! Oh how I wish you could see what you just missed out on! You would have loved it sooooo much - it was perfect for you!'. It must break His heart - especially because He has to pretty much sit on His hands and watch as we do what we do using the autonomy God gave us to make our own choices.

God doesn't (and never will) force us to do something. If He did, our response to Him would not be one of true gratitude and love, but rather one of inanimate, feelingless, meaningless, remote-controlled-obedience. In the same way, if I (or anyone else for that matter) try to get people to go to City Evangelism through persuasion, guilt, peer pressure (maybe not so much peer pressure seeing as the majority don't actually go), or any other means, the response of the people will likewise be less than genuine.

God can really only hint to us what the right thing to do is through His Word and I guess, similarly, with City Evangelism, all I can do is try my best to encourage people to go and just really hope and pray that God will continue hinting to them and through that give them the true motivation to serve.

gospel of john

The evangelism committee organised a screening of the Gospel of John movie today which was a real blessing for all who attended - well it was for me anyway. It wasn't just because we had a coffee machine (courtesy of Jason), fresh hot cross buns and good fellowship, the movie itself was really, really good. What better way to spend Good Friday than watching the book of John come alive through the screen, and really seeing WHY Good Friday is SO good.

I found that the movie brought to my attention a lot of verses that I had never really taken notice of. I would hear one of the lines in the movie and think - huh, I've never realised such and such. So it was pretty cool for that reason alone. But what was also really cool was seeing Jesus' ministry while He walked on earth. It just made me think - how COOL would it have been to be one of the Disciples and just follow Christ around and hear all the things that He said for the first time.

I mean, the stuff Jesus taught was head-turning-material in those days. The Pharisees and Scribes made the Jews jump through all kinds of hoops and were just so legalistic about everything, so when Jesus came along and told them they were wrong and that they had been missing the point of pretty much everything, and they were a bunch of hypocrites - man, that would have been awesome to see their reactions for real.

Funny bits: I just love how John refers to himself in his Gospel as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. What is also funny is in chapter 20:4 John writes So they (John and Simon Peter) ran both together: and the other disciple (John talking about himself) did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. Gold.

Interesting: that the guy that plays Jesus in the movie is also the same guy that plays Desmond on Lost (the Scottish guy that says 'brother' at the end of each sentence).

good friday

King of my life I crown Thee now
Thine shall the glory be
Lest I forget Thy thorn crowned brow
Lead me to Calvary

Lest I forget Gethsemane
Lest I forget Thine agony
Lest I forget Thy love for me
Lead me to Calvary.



Above all powers
Above all kings
Above all nature
And all created things
Above all wisdom
And all the ways of man
You were here
Before the world began

Above all kingdoms
Above all thrones
Above all wonders
The world has ever known
Above all wealth
And treasures of the earth
There's no way to measure
What You're worth

Crucified
Laid behind the stone
You lived to die
Rejected and alone
Like a rose
Trampled on the ground
You took the fall
And thought of me
Above all

toddler on the tube

This little guy is a whole bunch of cuteness in one pint sized package!! Apparently he is a bit of a celebrity in South Korea because there are a whole heap of other videos of him in TV shows. Anyways, hope you enjoy the vid...

the end of an era

Last night the last student in the Cheng Household finally graduated. This not only meant that another degree will be added to the lounge room bragging wall, but it marked the end of an era = everyone has officially completed their studies. Furthermore, Caleb also accepted a job offer, so it also was the start of a new era - all three children working full-time!

It's kinda strange really, because it seems not too long ago that all three of us were playing together without a care in the world - but now we are all 'grown up' with things called 'responsibilities'. Next thing we know, we'll all have our own families, mortgages and debts. That's a crazy thought...

Chancellor, I present to you Caleb JiLiang Cheng...